Best place to buy a PC (no OS)?

[Ninten-doh]

Not surprisingly, my P3-500 just ain't cutting it.

[JonnyBoy]

Most people will reccommend Newegg.com. For good reason though, it has a great balance of great prices and impeccable customer support. If you are comfortable building it yourself, it's probably the best solution.

If you don't want to build yourself, then you could always go to tigerdirect.com. But be warned, some shady happenings with the mail-in rebates have been reported. They sell very cost effective barebone kits (just add the needed drives and accessories). I've never bought from them, I'm just going off what I've heard before.

And as always...ebay? 

[Ninten-doh]

I can put in memory, cards, drives, etc., but I think going to the processor/motherboard level is too extreme for me.

[AtomSmasher]

Computer geeks often has good deals on refurbished computers: www.geeks.com

I've bought a few in the past and they always worked great.

[Rio Rebel]

I've been building computers and buying parts for almost 15 years now, and for the last couple of years I have stopped going anywhere other than Newegg.  They are consistently among the very cheapest price, and absolutely the best support I've seen.
Here's a complete system from there for under $400:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16883102810
It has onboard video but you have the option of adding an AGP card later.

You might also consider a Dell refurb, like one of these:
http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/topics/global.aspx/arb/online/en/InventorySearch?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh
There are several under $400, including two that are P4's with 512mb of memory.

Good luck.

[nostrebor]

I was building PCs for work from newegg, but they have had some smokin deals lately on complete PCs, especially if you are ok with AMD processors. I have never had an issue with Newegg. Perfect service is the standard.

[Roughy]

I spent right around $200 at TigerDirect on a pretty decent 1.8 system.  I already had the hard drives and picked up some eBay RAM to get me into the thing for right around $240.

Haven't missed a beat.  But stay away from rebates, like everyone says.  They have some decent stuff, and I think I started out by searching on the Wintergreen Systems...

[Ninten-doh]

I liked the deals at geeks.com, but the whole "integrated or PCI or AGP" crapshoot doesn't thrill me. 

Roughy - does the 1.8 play most games?  Maybe I'm being stupid for targeting a 2.8 or better, especially at my price point.

I'll look at the newegg deals in the morning.  I've had very good experiences with them in the past as well.

[SOAPboy]

I've been building computers and buying parts for almost 15 years now, and for the last couple of years I have stopped going anywhere other than Newegg.

[AtomSmasher]

1.8 with decent vid card will run most games, but you'll have to turn the graphics way down on most newer games, but I doubt it'll play many games that come out in the next year or so.  If you can scrounge up another $50-100 in the next month or so, I'd buy the machine with the best cpu and most memory now and upgrade to a $50-100 vid card as soon as you can.  If you won't be able to get any more money then get the 1.8 with a decent vid card.

[Roughy]

1.8 plays mostly everything that I want it to play.

I bought Blitz 2000 on PC and have to still set it up to play (stupid configuring of the controls!) and that works great.

It suits my purposes; I mostly wanted the retro stuff and don't really give a crap about anything new... and to be honest, I don't really know what the "arcade scene" is like out there today--only know what I like from what I grew up with.

[brained]

you can check ZipZoomFly... they've got good support and also offer free shipping on most of the stuff.

Sometimes it's even cheaper than newegg

[Bloinkxp]

If you can install Memory and Video cards a modern processor and motherboard will be no problem for you.  And AMD Sempron 64 and S754 Motherboards are terrific in terms of Price/Performance.

Good Luck,
David

[Ninten-doh]

Thanks so much everyone.  I have an nVidia MX4000 64mb card that I can use, so I think I'm getting a Dell refurb and sticking that card in.

[pmc]

And, if it were my money, I'd go light on the pc at first.

[ptpeter]

if you can, build your own.

[gonzo90017]

Hold your horses! Before you go an buy from Dell. Just want to let you know that most of those computers don't have AGP SLOTS!

That Ebay deal seems pretty good compared to the cheapest pc I found on dell.

[Roughy]

I'm not kidding when I say I'm seriously considering swapping out my current box for one of these:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1698848&CatId=1224

Damn.

[Farmboy90]

Is there a Fry's electronics near you?  Just today they have an ad for an AMD 2800+ with 40GB hard drive and 256MB ram for $279.

Actually I got my cab PC there as well.

It comes with an OS though - XP Home I think.

Not sure if you care that much though.  I *always* wipe out any machine when I buy them and just load up my own stuff anyway.

I think Fry's online version is outpost.com.  Maybe poke around over there.

Nevermind I just did.    Here ya go:

$199.99 -  http://shop2.outpost.com/product/4568777

[guytalbot]

I would highly reccomend newegg if you want to build you own, really installing a motherboard and cpu is not that hard just make sure you get the heat sink and fan on well. 

I would NOT use togerdirect they have a very bad reputation for not returning rebates and a few years ago they had an incident where customers credit card numbers were provided to a 3rd party. 

[Ninten-doh]

That TigerDirect deal looks great, especially since I have an HD and video card already.  What about USB ports?  I didn't see anything on the mobo specs about how many/type.

[fatfingers]

Wow.  I'm surprised to hear the TigerDirect comments.  I have purchased a few items from them and have been pleased each time.  I have also done the rebate thing with TigerDirect with OnRebate.com and it was the nicest rebate program I've ever dealt with.

[Roughy]

Wow.

[guytalbot]

Frankly, Tigerdirect has a horrible reputation, just go to any of the hardware forums on the net and do a search for them.  They are sometimes cheaper by a buck or two but really why spend the extra few dollars and save yourself the potential for a lot of hassle.

[Ninten-doh]

Does anyone have an idea for what a Celeron 3.0ghz would roughly translate into Pentium 4 processing power?

[DrewKaree]

One tip - Newegg IS the bomb-diggety, however, they recently (or mebbe not-so-recently, I don't remember having the option last time I ordered) started offering UPS shipping instead of the FedEx they used to use as standard.

SKIP THE UPS!

The only reason to use UPS is if you honestly and truly don't care if it gets to you within a week or so.  FedEx is WAY easier to pick up from (if you're not home, they leave a pick-up slip, and their hours are WAY better than UPS') and they seem to be tons faster than comparably priced UPS service.  I've ordered stuff from Newegg FedEx - LATE at night, and it hit my doorstep late the next evening.  And that was the standard FedEx service, not overnight or anything.

[ArcadEd]

Maybe go with a shuttleXPC.

The are pretty cheap, and it's easy enough to install a drive, cdrom, memory and cpu.  The board comes preinstalled in the case.

[JONTHEBOMB]

Here is another option that comes with no OS:

http://www.krex.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1347

This deal is probably for a limited time.  I purchased a board, memory, graphics card and power supply from www.krex.com and built my own PC.  I bought a harddrive at Bestbuy and I had a sound card laying around.  Krex may not have the best deals but they have excellent service.

[USSEnterprise]

Both Circuitcity and BestBuy have $300 eMachines Sempron systems on sale . Tomorrow is the last day.

[quarterback]

Hold your horses! Before you go an buy from Dell. Just want to let you know that most of those computers don't have AGP SLOTS!

I don't know if "most" of them don't have AGP (particularly if you're looking at the outlet) but gonzo is correct that, if you're buying a Dell, you should make sure it has an AGP slot (assuming that you want one) because it's not a given that it'll be there.

My Dells have AGP slots and I, like a number of people, have switched from building-my-own to buying-from-Dell.  There are some spankin' deals to be had, particularly if you're not in a "I have to buy it tonight!" mode.  I'd suggest you visit FatWallet's Hot Deals forums and hang out until you see a deal and then strike while it's hot.

[DrewKaree]

Both Circuitcity and BestBuy have $300 eMachines Sempron systems on sale . Tomorrow is the last day

That doesn't really help when you have to spend more money to upgrade everything and still have to deal with the other crap components they have in those things.

Those things are perfectly suited for mom, dad, grandma and grandpa to surf the intra-nets and check e-mail.  Oh, and they make good doorstops.

[Ninten-doh]

Thanks Quarterback.  One of the annoying things about the Dell Outlet site is there is no easy way to find out if the mobo has an AGP slot or not.  Any idea what's the easiest way to find out?  Probably just a Google search on the model plus "AGP"?

[quarterback]

Thanks Quarterback.  One of the annoying things about the Dell Outlet site is there is no easy way to find out if the mobo has an AGP slot or not. 

Yeah, I know.  They've got a knowledge base thing somewhere that lists all the specs, manuals etc, but I can never find it when I'm looking for it (or maybe it's only accessable after you log in and only for models you've purchased?  I can't remember)

If you happen to hit on a Dell thread on FatWallet, you can be sure that somebody will ask if it's got an AGP slot.  That question is sort of a running joke there (and is thrown into random non-computer conversations) because whenever there's a Dell deal, people want to know if it has AGP.

I'll go cruise the Dell site and see if I can find a link to their manuals, but otherwise Google/Fatwallet might be your best bets.

[quarterback]

I'll go cruise the Dell site and see if I can find a link to their manuals

See if this works:

http://support.dell.com/?~ck=mn

Then you can select the Model # and go to "User Guides and Manuals".  After clicking a couple more choices, you should get to the "Technical Overview" of your selected model and be able to see a diagram of the mobo. 

You could probably do a preemptive strike and scan through a bunch of models so you know what to look for.  The outlet is funny because the prices will fluctuate wildly.  Sometimes there are a lot of systems there and other times, not so many. 

Things are a little tougher these days because people have written scripts that constantly query the outlet and will literally snag up the best priced systems immediately.  Once you've put it in your cart, it'll be taken out of the inventory for some amount of time until you purchase it, or let it go.     But the best deals usually come as some combination of coupons, luck and timing.   The end of Dell's financial quarters are usually the best time to buy because Dell loves to report that they've moved tons of merch and that sometimes means great sales (new Dells as well).

Good luck

[USSEnterprise]

Both Circuitcity and BestBuy have $300 eMachines Sempron systems on sale . Tomorrow is the last day

That doesn't really help when you have to spend more money to upgrade everything and still have to deal with the other crap components they have in those things.

Those things are perfectly suited for mom, dad, grandma and grandpa to surf the intra-nets and check e-mail.  Oh, and they make good doorstops.

eMachines isn't considered good anymore? I got one prior to them being bought by Gateway, and it had damn good quality parts

[Ninten-doh]

Quick question...
If I only plan on using a PC monitor, and I have a PCI GeForce4 video card I plan to use, is there any reason why I should get a Dell Outlet PC with an AGP slot instead of one with PCI-e?  Seems like the PCI-e would suit my current needs and be more future-proof.  Thoughts?

[DrewKaree]

No reason at all unless you feel like buying a second video card and letting that one sit unused for however long it takes you until you find another use for it.