enorbet wrote:

>Hello
>  Regarding getting the biggest and/or best bang for the buck it is a 
>good practise to put google and pricewatch to use and for common items ( 
>like cases ) also search local stores.  Recently I discovered newegg.com 
>has factory refurbished mobos including Asus and Abit for very low 
>prices and many still have some factory warranty.  For example an Asus 
>K8N- Deluxe, normally around $180 US can be had for $78.  AMD Semprons, 
>as mentioned in your article link, are mostly rebranded Athlons, start 
>at around $50 and there are others that can be had for $35 or so that 
>are just monsters of performance compared to just a very few years ago.  
>$113 for roughtly 2GHz at near 3 instruction per clock and well over 
>300MHz FSB has to be amazing to all but the most jaded, especially when 
>you consider this is not some no-name mobo but a deluxe of the deluxe.  
>Obviously one can save even more than that by accepting a slightly lower 
>standard which will still just sneer at anything prior to Socket 370.  
>In the other direction subbing a 64 bit CPU for about a $50 difference 
>means no system in existence on the desktop has any right to sneer at 
>it.  I'm not actually concerned with "pissing contests" but it is a 
>measure of how much can be had for how little these days if one knows 
>where to look.
>  On the local level, I recently bought a mid-tower case for someone on 
>a budget.  W/O PS it cost me $20 US.  Although it was obviously beige it 
>was well designed.  When I bought it all I could see was that some 
>attention had gone to function since the power button was recessed in a 
>bowl-like elipse putting it out of the way but making it easy to find 
>w/o looking.  I was absolutely shocked when I opened it up.  First, it 
>included a decent ball-bearing 120mm fan which blew right across the 
>hard drive bays which stretched from floppy-to-floor and were slightly 
>recessed from the front fan housing.  It sported rolled edges kind to 
>one's fingers ( and family ears ) and also had front-mounted sound and 
>USB ports, with cables.  20 BUCKS! I couldn't believe it but I suppose 
>it's just that these features are basic now in the new market.  When I 
>spotted a special sale at CompUSA for a Maxtor 7200 rpm 250Gb 16meg 
>cache drive for $99 AND w/o any need for mail-ins ( that's 2.5 Gigs per 
>dollar  or 40 cents per Gig ) I really started to see how this pivotal 
>time, where many formats are being phased out and others show longevity 
>on top of long years ( in PC years )  of service already, like the full 
>sized ATX format, has affected features and prices beneficial to the DIY 
>builder.  I had been impressed with a recent visit to Fry's while in 
>Phoenix which had an off-brand mobo WITH a Sempron 2800+ for around $80 
>US but subbing an Abit mobo almost doubled the price ($135) so I think 
>that Internet deals have begun to influence local prices, but a little 
>searching can yield champagne on a beer budget.
>
>Jimmy
>
>PS Cool articles BTW
>  
>

Hi Jimmy,

It's amazing what links one sometimes encounters on unrelated pages.
Thanks for all the good tips. I wish prices here were equivalent to what 
you see over that side of the Pacific!
In the larger centres of population they are a lot closer of course -- 
unfortunately I don't live in one of them. :-(

-- 
Regards,
Mike

Failed the exam for
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MCSE - Minesweeper Consultant and Solitaire Expert
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