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topic: 512How low can you go - cheap PCs for Templot
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posted: 2 Aug 2008 23:40

from:

Rextanka
 
Scotts Valley - California USA

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This is pretty off topic for most people, however I wanted to point something out for people on a budget who want a new PC. I just built a PC for home use for $350, not including Windows Vista Home Premium (another $114). Now all of this is in US money, but you can mail order it and pay the VAT/import duty, or get this stuff locally for a little more (because of the excessive UK VAT rate).

The beauty (and curse) of technology is how, over time, it gets progressively cheaper. I was looking for the cheapest machine that would run vista and ubuntu linux, and still be capable of running things like templot, the 6 year old copy of Matlab student edition that I have, and some TI software for programming microcontrollers, whilst still having enough juice to do some programming under both vista and Linux.

Intel just released a new PC MLB (Main Logic Board) based around their ATOM processor.

http://www.intel.com/products/processor/atom/

This processor is specifically designed for low cost, low power applications, but it turns out that it runs vista and linux really well.

Here's the board:

http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/motherboards/D945GCLF/D945GCLF-overview.htm

To build a system around this you need the following:

OS (it runs XP or Vista, the vendor you purchase it from should be able to supply a lower cost OEM System Builder Version) - $114
Case/Power supply - $65
Memory - 2Gb DDR2 RAM DIMM - $55
SATA Hard Disk Drive - depends on how much you need from $55 for 80Gb to $150 for 500Gb (80 will be good for most apps unless you need storage for video or music). Actually vista takes around 6Gb so even 40G would be good for most people.
Optical drive PATA DVD drive - $26
Main Logic Board D945GCLF - $79

Total for hardware - $256 plus sales tax (if you were exporting this, there is no tax, for CA residents its 8.25(?)%).
Total for software: XP or vista seems to range from around $96 to $114 depending on which version you want.

Of course you need a keyboard and mouse and a display. The neat thing about this is that it takes either USB or PS-2 style connectors. I paid $9 for a new Logitech OEM keyboard and $12 for a Microsoft optical mouse. I used an old flat panel display I got 6 years ago, which has a VGA connector on it (this unit does not have a DVI connector, so newer displays will need an adaptor, these are very cheap).

I was stunned at how well this runs vista. It has an intel 950 graphics solution on board. The other reason I like this so much is that it has an Intel 945 based chipset (a couple of years ago this was their "premium" chipset (this is the north bridge and south bridge - the chips that control video, memory, disk, usb and the other peripherals). The previous version of this board used an SIS chipset which really didn't have a lot of oomph, particularly with regard to graphics. For the Linux inclined you need a version of Ubuntu later than June 2nd this year (that's when they rolled n support for the realtek ethernet controller that is on the board).

Finally this will also run Mac OS X. I won't be doing that, because it is illegal. This board is almost identical to the MacBook (not MacBook pro) in terms of the core chipset. If you want to find out more google for "OSX86 Intel ATOM". It is potentially the cheapest Mac on the planet, though I really don't recommend attempting this unless you are very computer savvy, since it's really, really easy to destroy other partitions on your disk while attempting to partition your drive to accommodate dual or tri boot configs.

You could save a little money by using only 1GB ram and a smaller disk drive.

Also there will be a flood of these systems soon (the ASUS EEPC - 2nd generation - based on the atom and is a $600 solution). A number of far eastern vendors will be selling these in the $300 to $500 range for pre built systems.

I'm going to be trying templot out on this over the next week or so, so I'll post back here with my findings.

I hope this is useful to anyone looking for a cheap but robust templot solution. Of course a used PC is probably cheaper, I liked this because I could configure it how I wanted it, it's very low power (therefore quiet), and I generally don't trust used computers (with the exception of used VAX systems, but let's not go there :)

Some references:

My local gear supplier

http://www.centralcomputers.com/index.htm

The mini-itx website

http://www.mini-itx.com/

And of course the Intel site has tons of reference. Intel are not the only people making these boards, but to be honest I've built around 30 systems over the last 4 or 5 years for work, home and friends and I've had the least amount of hassle with intel boards, asus are a close second, the rest can just be a pain.

Also please follow anti-static handling procedures when working with this stuff, hold boards by their edges, avoid touching connecters and board traces, use a grounding strap (a couple pounds well spent) and avoid scraping the board on the case when installing it. If in doubt have a systems integrator build it for you.

posted: 3 Aug 2008 03:34

from:

John Lewis
 
Croydon - United Kingdom

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Rextanka wrote:
This is pretty off topic for most people, however I wanted to point something out for people on a budget who want a new PC. I just built a PC for home use for $350, not including Windows Vista Home Premium (another $114). Now all of this is in US money, but you can mail order it and pay the VAT/import duty, or get this stuff locally for a little more (because of the excessive UK VAT rate).

And because of Microsoft's iniquitous (IMHO) pricing policy.

John



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