$350 AMD
Part
|
Model
|
Price
|
Case
|
CPU
|
AMD Sempron 3200+ |
46
|
|
Motherboard
|
Asus M2N8-VMX |
65
|
RAM
|
1GB Corsair DDR2-667 kit |
49
|
Hard Drive
|
80GB SATA HDD |
45
|
Optical Drive
|
18x Pioneer DVR-212D SATA |
46
|
Graphics Card
|
Onboard from motherboard |
-
|
Sound Card
|
Onboard from motherboard |
-
|
Case
|
Asus TA-881 |
59
|
Power Supply
|
Included with Case |
-
|
Cooling
|
- |
-
|
Additional
|
- |
-
|
Total Cost
|
- |
310 + Postage
|
Some people are on a limited budget, and want a nice basic desktop for Internet use and the like. This machine should be fine for basic tasks. This system, a cheap keyboard/mouse, a copy of Vista Basic or XP Home and a secondhand 17" CRT would provide a nice basic machine for just over $500.
The Sempron 3200+ has built-in Cool 'n' Quiet technology, which enables the CPU to lower its clockspeed and fan speed at lower load, which makes the system quieter, and uses less power.
$350 Intel
Part
|
Model
|
Price
|
Case
|
CPU
|
Intel Celeron 420 |
58
|
|
Motherboard
|
Asus P5GZ-MX |
69
|
RAM
|
1GB Corsair DDR2-667 kit |
49
|
Hard Drive
|
80GB SATA HDD |
45
|
Optical Drive
|
18x Pioneer DVR-212D SATA |
46
|
Graphics Card
|
Onboard from motherboard |
-
|
Sound Card
|
Onboard from motherboard |
-
|
Case
|
Asus TA-881 |
59
|
Power Supply
|
Included with Case |
-
|
Cooling
|
- |
-
|
Additional
|
- |
-
|
Total Cost
|
- |
326 + Postage
|
Here is an Intel version of the workstation, for those who prefer Intel's products.
$500 AMD
This is a fairly good base system. The AMD chipset means it has reasonable ATi X1200 video. The case isn't too bad, its cheap but not sore on the eyes.
$500 Intel
$750 Intel
With a Core 2 Duo CPU and 2GB of RAM, this machine is a very quick workstation. Now this system uses an Intel DG33BU motherboard, which uses an Intel G33 chipset, which has superior performance to the 945G chipset (including video, uses the GMA X3100 chipset). This board also supports 1333FSB CPUs, for future proofing :)
$1000 Intel, CAD Machine