4 ms·

Build a $200 Linux PC

51 points by edw519 16y ago

samratjp 16y ago
It's really not that impressive of a form factor or specs for this price range today. What's interesting is that Pstammy had a similar budget but had similarly priced components two years ago - http://paulstamatiou.com/diy-200-dollar-pc http://paulstamatiou.com/diy-200-dollar-pc (sans the dual core but great form factor and larger HDD).
- PStamatiou 16y ago
  thanks :) Yeah that was a fun mini-ITX project. Since then there are lots of mini-ITX dual-core options.. would be interesting to re-do the same series but with 2010 hardware.
w1ntermute 16y ago
Print version, so you don't have to click through each page: http://www.extremetech.com/print_article2/0,1217,a%253D252995,00.asp http://www.extremetech.com/print_article2/0,1217,a%253D25299...
- w1ntermute 16y ago
  Huh, that link is now (or has been all along and I didn't notice because my browser was pulling up the cached version?) redirecting to the regular, paginated, version of the article. Does anyone know how this is done (HTTP referrers?) and/or how it can be circumvented?
hippich 16y ago
All my desktop PCs were assembled by me from random parts when I was in school. As long as you can read about compatibility between parts online, you can assemble desktop pc without any problems. The only time i bought assembled PC was when I switched to use laptops =) And yeah - assembling PC yourself gives you opportunity to drop microsoft tax completely!
- thebigshane 16y ago
  But also note that sometimes the "microsoft tax" manifests as a discount. Getting a cheapo Dell with windows, at least used to be, just a tad cheaper than assembling a similar spec'd one yourself. But I still assembled my own because it was a fun learning experience and you can focus more on getting a (more) future-proof motherboard and a solid PSU.
dotcoma 16y ago
I bought one - a used Thinkpad T43 - on eBay a couple of months ago for that sum...
- martey 16y ago
  While the T43 is a laptop, and therefore more portable than the desktop built in the article, it is also 5 years old. Unless it was upgraded, it will have a smaller hard drive and slower CPU, giving you less performance. The T43 is a great computer (I used to own one), but being that the author specifically wanted a machine that was upgradeable, it would not be useful in this situation.
pcarmichael 16y ago
At $38.99 for a 160GB drive, they're paying $0.244/GB, which is pretty bad. Of course, at the low end of the price ranges, the price/capacity ratio goes up a lot. Their part selection still leaves another $7.05 available, which means you could afford a drive up to $46.04. For that price, you could get a Hitachi Deskstar 500GB 7200RPM drive for $42.99 ($0.086/GB). If you don't like Hitachi, there is a Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB for $44.95 ($0.09/GB). During the evenings I've been working on a site that tracks hard drive prices and price/capacity ratios (http://pcpartpicker.com/partscharts/internal-hard-drive/overall-list/ http://pcpartpicker.com/partscharts/internal-hard-drive/over...). If you're willing to spend over $80, you can get drives at $0.053/GB.
- kiba 16y ago
  Whoa. That's an awesome web application/site you got there. Is implementing dual-core, quad-core price ratio CPU on your list of TODO, and how soon will you implement it?
  - pcarmichael 16y ago
    Thanks! I'm glad you like it. It's still very much a work in progress - I was debating whether I should post the link or not given how much I left to do before it's really "ready". For CPUs, were you looking for a price/core ratio?
    - PStamatiou 16y ago
      Likewise - Interesting site. Though I think it currently misses some of the info that true DIY builders need. Not just comparison of listed specs but real worlds performance results. Overclockability and best CPU/mobo pairings for that. If you would like to research more about your ~target audience, email me in my profile.
    - Sukotto 16y ago
      What you've got there is pretty sweet. Certainly worthy of a Tell HN.
    - 16y ago
jim_h 16y ago
They're missing a monitor, keyboard and mouse. Also speakers.. This is a good setups assuming you have all those parts laying around and not being used by anything else. Otherwise you might also need to get a KVM to share those peripherals. The missing peripherals will probably add at least $100 to the total.
joshu 16y ago
So for my home dev machine, I got an MSI wind ($120) and a 32gb SSD ($70) and a 4gb stick ($20) IIRC. It's pretty nice, but I don't run X on it, I SSH in from a mac.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
harshpotatoes 16y ago
7 years or so I built my computer for around this price. It was fairly nice and could play most of the modern games at a mid range resolution. A year or two ago i got a new graphics card, and some more ram, and it still seems able to play the Sc2 demo, and run everything else fine. So, I've had no complaints. Someday there'll be a lot more programs to take advantage of multicore systems, and when that day comes I'll wait a bit longer before buying a new computer. :D
ehnus 16y ago
I put together a Linux computer this week based on an Atom D510 (dual core, hyperthreaded). It came to $250 with a 500gb HD, 2gb RAM, case and DVD drive, though I could have saved $30 by omitting the opitical drive and installing from a memory stick. It has the added benefit of being passively cooled -- it is almost silent, the only noise being what is emitted by the harddrive. It's even quieter than my Macbook Pro.

51 points by edw519 16y ago

It's really not that impressive of a form factor or specs for this price range today. What's interesting is that Pstammy had a similar budget but had similarly priced components two years ago - http://paulstamatiou.com/diy-200-dollar-pc http://paulstamatiou.com/diy-200-dollar-pc (sans the dual core but great form factor and larger HDD).

PStamatiou 16y ago
thanks :) Yeah that was a fun mini-ITX project. Since then there are lots of mini-ITX dual-core options.. would be interesting to re-do the same series but with 2010 hardware.

w1ntermute 16y ago

Print version, so you don't have to click through each page: http://www.extremetech.com/print_article2/0,1217,a%253D252995,00.asp http://www.extremetech.com/print_article2/0,1217,a%253D25299...

w1ntermute 16y ago
Huh, that link is now (or has been all along and I didn't notice because my browser was pulling up the cached version?) redirecting to the regular, paginated, version of the article. Does anyone know how this is done (HTTP referrers?) and/or how it can be circumvented?

hippich 16y ago

All my desktop PCs were assembled by me from random parts when I was in school. As long as you can read about compatibility between parts online, you can assemble desktop pc without any problems. The only time i bought assembled PC was when I switched to use laptops =) And yeah - assembling PC yourself gives you opportunity to drop microsoft tax completely!

thebigshane 16y ago
But also note that sometimes the "microsoft tax" manifests as a discount. Getting a cheapo Dell with windows, at least used to be, just a tad cheaper than assembling a similar spec'd one yourself. But I still assembled my own because it was a fun learning experience and you can focus more on getting a (more) future-proof motherboard and a solid PSU.

dotcoma 16y ago

I bought one - a used Thinkpad T43 - on eBay a couple of months ago for that sum...

martey 16y ago
While the T43 is a laptop, and therefore more portable than the desktop built in the article, it is also 5 years old. Unless it was upgraded, it will have a smaller hard drive and slower CPU, giving you less performance. The T43 is a great computer (I used to own one), but being that the author specifically wanted a machine that was upgradeable, it would not be useful in this situation.

pcarmichael 16y ago

At $38.99 for a 160GB drive, they're paying $0.244/GB, which is pretty bad. Of course, at the low end of the price ranges, the price/capacity ratio goes up a lot. Their part selection still leaves another $7.05 available, which means you could afford a drive up to $46.04. For that price, you could get a Hitachi Deskstar 500GB 7200RPM drive for $42.99 ($0.086/GB). If you don't like Hitachi, there is a Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB for $44.95 ($0.09/GB). During the evenings I've been working on a site that tracks hard drive prices and price/capacity ratios (http://pcpartpicker.com/partscharts/internal-hard-drive/overall-list/ http://pcpartpicker.com/partscharts/internal-hard-drive/over...). If you're willing to spend over $80, you can get drives at $0.053/GB.

kiba 16y ago
Whoa. That's an awesome web application/site you got there. Is implementing dual-core, quad-core price ratio CPU on your list of TODO, and how soon will you implement it?
- pcarmichael 16y ago
  Thanks! I'm glad you like it. It's still very much a work in progress - I was debating whether I should post the link or not given how much I left to do before it's really "ready". For CPUs, were you looking for a price/core ratio?
  - PStamatiou 16y ago
    Likewise - Interesting site. Though I think it currently misses some of the info that true DIY builders need. Not just comparison of listed specs but real worlds performance results. Overclockability and best CPU/mobo pairings for that. If you would like to research more about your ~target audience, email me in my profile.
  - Sukotto 16y ago
    What you've got there is pretty sweet. Certainly worthy of a Tell HN.
  - 16y ago

jim_h 16y ago

They're missing a monitor, keyboard and mouse. Also speakers.. This is a good setups assuming you have all those parts laying around and not being used by anything else. Otherwise you might also need to get a KVM to share those peripherals. The missing peripherals will probably add at least $100 to the total.

joshu 16y ago

So for my home dev machine, I got an MSI wind ($120) and a 32gb SSD ($70) and a 4gb stick ($20) IIRC. It's pretty nice, but I don't run X on it, I SSH in from a mac.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

harshpotatoes 16y ago

7 years or so I built my computer for around this price. It was fairly nice and could play most of the modern games at a mid range resolution. A year or two ago i got a new graphics card, and some more ram, and it still seems able to play the Sc2 demo, and run everything else fine. So, I've had no complaints. Someday there'll be a lot more programs to take advantage of multicore systems, and when that day comes I'll wait a bit longer before buying a new computer. :D

ehnus 16y ago

I put together a Linux computer this week based on an Atom D510 (dual core, hyperthreaded). It came to $250 with a 500gb HD, 2gb RAM, case and DVD drive, though I could have saved $30 by omitting the opitical drive and installing from a memory stick. It has the added benefit of being passively cooled -- it is almost silent, the only noise being what is emitted by the harddrive. It's even quieter than my Macbook Pro.