BAREBONES SYSTEM 1

[ZylaWonder]

Has anyone purchased and built some of the "barebone" systems that are advertised pretty cheap on the net? If so, a) How did they work for you? b) Which is the best supplier?

Thanks in advance for your response.

 

[edfair]

I'll propose an alternative. Try a barebone system from a company that is near you. Warranty problems from across the country more than make up the difference.
I've not done any net barebones, but the barebones I have done are better than 95% successful over a period of time.
You'll be better off with a name M/B in the long run. Power it well and cool the processor well and you'll eliminate at least 3/4 of the problems. Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[ZylaWonder]

Ed:
Thanks for your response. As you can tell by the fact I asked the question, I am kinda scared. If it were my money I would not be as hesitant. This purchase will be for a Police Dept that has either old or very poorly equiped boxes. A local hardware vendor has charged $1500 - $1800 per box for systems that are not as good as the barebones stuff. As with most municipalities, we have a budget. However, I would like to get them the most bang for the buck. I am performing services at no fee in hopes that we may raise the standard for our city. Thanks for the warranty tip as that was one of my greater concerns.

 

[Stealer]

I just today built a system using parts that I purchased from tigerdirect.com. With shipping it was under $350.00.

Nothing fancy but a good cheap system.(The customer I built it for does not need state of the art.)

It has a 20gb hd.
Shuttle A161 slot A MB
Athlon 850 cpu
and all the regular stuff.

 

[ceh4702]

I purchased one form

http://www.adamant.com.

They will sell you a barebones system where they let you decide on the motherboard, case, Floppy and whatever else you want to buy at the time. They are probably not the least expensive. They will also sell you a motherboard CPU whatever combo.

I purchased an Asus TUSL2-C Motherboard and a boxed 1.2 Gig Celeron from them and they mounted the CPU, cooler and fan for me. Great combination. Runs Great.

You might look at

http://www.newegg.com

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[paparazi]

You cannot beat buying local, face to face and direct backup if you have problems, you may save a few dollars by buying off the net but it aint half a problem when something don't work!
You know as well as I do that the simplest of jobs can go wrong and you just carn't beat handing the offending item back over the counter to an understanding retailer.
Martin Vote if you found this post helpful please!!

 

[ZylaWonder]

Sorry for the dealay in response. Thanks everybody for the input! I am going to try a combination of all suggestions. I will search for "name brands" at the best price, either on the net or local.

 

[jexster]

I have recently built a computer from a bare bones system.Less the video card which i already had i built a AMD 1.7 xp 40g hdd 256sdram.For $370.00 and it supports up to 1g ram sd or ddr it was a gift for my brother thou so i just went with the 256sdram.

 

[Joshs328]

this is kinda unrelated but ZylaWonder where u at the IGN board before b/c i swear seen that same ? asked there and the same reason for building them for a police dept. I was a memeber there to I think that sucked how they did that and i think ur ? was a pretty fresh 1 before every1 left. but anyways now for some input toward ur ? I heard alot of ppl liked their barebone system but like edfair said the cooling and power supply went on some systems and they had to ship it across country they saved money buying online but they ended up paying for it in the end i would for sure look into a close by dealer

 

[jexster]

yeah but there is also a problem with buying local you cant or hardly ever find competitive pricing.Believe me i checked just for a AMD 1.7 cpu a few places i called around here wanted like $250.00 plus and consediring i got a barebones system and everything else (posted above)for only $370.00 total after some price hunting it was well worth it to buy off line.Becuse locally they know the compotition is very limited while online its a mass market and they try to offer you the best deal at alot of places.

 

[ceh4702]

I've bought local before only to find out I got ripped off. Most of these local shops aren't smart enough to realize you can get cheaper prices by going through an on-line wholesaler/retailer. They tend to order from the same people all the time because it is easier. They order things in smaller quantities and then get outrageous shipping costs that they pass on to the customer. Then you go back and find out the business is under new management. Sometimes a large on-line retailer or chain store has low prices on the best gear. They also sometimes have a rating system where the customers rate the products like at

http://www.newegg.com.

If you live in a small town there aren't many good computer stores, and they may not want to make what you want to buy.

I do use local shops when I can't figure out what is wrong. They often have good diagnostic equipment. They don't care much about where you bought the stuff from. Last time it was a power supply problem and I couldnt figure it out, so I let them fix it.

I bought my Visiontek Geforce2 GTS-V 32 MB DDR (OEM) Video out only card for just $50.00. It runs absolutely fantastic. I ordered it together with a sound card and a fan. The sound card cost about $18.00 and the fan $8.00. All OEM parts.

The best thing is it comes pretty fast through federal express. You dont have to wait for some shop to order it and put it together for you. ATX motherboards are easy to install everything just fits right onto the same mounting risers I used last time. Basically it is all plug in and go. I like knowing that I can do it myself. I switched to buying Asus Motherboards, because they are just more stable; however at a shop, they may give you anything that is on sale.

You can get a pretty good deal for things like e-machines, printers, monitors, video cards, etc at Best Buy for really low prices. e-machines makes pretty good computers in Pent 4 and Celeron computers. You have to be careful. If you want integrated stuff it is easy to find in a bare bones system. If you want Asus as a motherboard it may be more difficult to find. Monitors and printers are best bought through a big store like best buy. They order in bulk and do not have to pay much for shipping. I just bought a MAG 19 inch color monitor from Best Buy and I like it a lot. They also have an on-line store. You can buy from them and get some limited support anywhere there is a Best Buy Store.

Where ever you buy stuff from check mutiple sources for the best prices and dependability. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[ZylaWonder]

jexter and ceh4702; Thanks for your response. Logic always makes a good basis for a decision.

Joshs328; I have only participated on this board. However, I have precious little extra time and participating in multiple on-line chats is just not my style. I have no clue what you are talking about.

Thank you for your opinion. I have priced components locally and online. I am discovering that local dealers are selling inferior products for 3-4 times the price. I am gauging "inferior" products by the Microsoft HCL and input from others. For example, a DAVICOM ? NIC card on line costs about $3 and my local dealer wants $41 plus tax. Power supply (300) on-line for $20 versus $71 plus tax for the same brand. And the list goes on. At this point I am going to try best price for "name brands" to build 2 machines and see how the performance is. If it is good well then, I will have the most obvious answer. I think Ed Fair was right in cooling and power 1st!! I have also heard very good things about the ASUS motherboard and FYI it is on the Microsoft HCL.