DIY: 155 Dollar PC

Paul Stamatiou recently did an entry on how to build a basic PC for close to $200 bucks (without a case). Although his tips were good, some of the hardware used could have been cheaper. Obviously you could get a used box from your local PC wholesaler for next to nothing but if you wanted brand new components to piece together yourself for a small File Server/NAS, Firewall or a simple web surfing/word processing terminal for the kids how cheap could you go?

I wanted to give it a shot, so here’s my Do-It-Yourself PC for just under 155 measly dollars –

I picked out all of the components from the ever popular NewEgg.com so if you really wanted you could easily purchase this setup and build the computer. Unlike Paul’s rig mine has a case included in the original price but no optical drive and only 512MB of ram. Still, this little machine could easily do the tasks I mentioned running Windows XP, Server 2003, or your favorite Linux distribution.

Small form factor motherboards are cheaper than ever but for some reason the cases are ridiculously expensive. For a case I went with an Athenatech A100SC MicroATX with a 200W SFX Power Supply, $42 seems a little steep for a generic case but it has decent user reviews.

The motherboard + CPU I found is a PC CHIPS M789CG with a VIA C3 Samual 2000+ (800MHz) low voltage CPU. Very basic, very low power consumption which again is ideal for a small file server. This motherboard also has the typical integrated video, ethernet, and sound, for 50 bucks you get what you pay for.

Next up is memory. There are plenty of name brands that offer low priced ‘value’ RAM and if you dig around the internet enough you can find a good deal. For this project I went with a 512MB stick of PQI Power Series DDR 400 (PC 3200) memory which again is sufficient for basic tasks but you could always spring for more.

If your building NAS or media center box you’re going to want a bigger hard drive, but if you’re going cheap then this 40GB (7200RPM) Western Digital Caviar Hard Drive will fit the bill at just 38.99.

The only thing this little PC doesn’t have is an optical drive which you might need for installing an operating system and device drivers, after that I think most people could manage without. I have no doubt that you could find better hardware on sale somewhere, I was disappointed to see that most of the stuff on Paul’s List is no longer available and the entry is just a few days old.

This is really just a proof of concept that you can build yourself a PC for next to nothing. If anything, putting it all together could keep you busy for a few hours and if you run into cheap faulty components the RMA process will give you even more time to enjoy the DIY computer goodness.