Background
Rewind to 2010. I got divorced, and ended up with next to nothing. I always thought the TV was kidding when they said the man gets it all taken away! Anywho, I was broke, and had a mad addiction to raiding (yes, WoW) that I had to get a fix for (since she got the gaming rig somehow).
Luckily, I had a friend who was willing to part with his computer for $100:
When your budget is $100... you can't be too picky. He was honest about it, said it might run for a month or two. I call him Hank. Well, he's still the family computer today (yes I remarried to a much better woman).
I've had a few other computers since, mostly laptops and work computers provided. However, any gaming I do, I still get on that blue beast. I won't say that running at below minimum settings is great, but the budget has been tight. Well thanks to Dave Ramsey, I'm ready to start investing in fun again after putting in the work! So I've spared $100 monthly to use for whatever I want.
The Challenge:
Take this $100 rig, and add to it monthly, using ONLY the $100 from the budget, and hopefully end up with a beast, without wasting money along the way, and making headway on a monthly basis.
In other words, I don't want to spend the first three months saving up for some huge component. At some point, that will be necessary, as not every component on the way to a gaming computer will come in sub-$100, but I'm considering maybe buying two or three GPU's in the $100 range, then selling them and purchasing one $300 card afterward.
Because I have that terrible luck with auctions and thatguyslists, I'll be buying parts new for the most part.
How will I know if I've succeeded? Well I'll just have to measure it with FREE benchmarking software tools (any ideas are welcome).
The Subject
So it seems like an easy challenge, throw a few parts in here and there, and end up at the finish line with a good looking machine right? Well, let's look a little more closely at Hank first!
What we see above is the wonder of window case designs... showing off your mess. It's like carports, they just show off crap you should have in a garage, without a garage. Worst idea in architecture besides "open concept" kitchen and living areas. NOBODY wants to watch TV while somebody is cooking or doing dishes. Oh, but the dishwasher thinks its cool to feel like a part of the family? Great. Let's get inside:
Here we see his organized interior, and wrapped cables. With heatsinks like those, who needs water cooling right?
Pretty sure that's not how it is supposed to fit.
3 out of 4 RAMS agree, dual channel is like Picture in Picture on a screen less than 70", pointless right? Now for what it's all attached to:
That's right, socket 939. Makes things interesting! Here's a full breakdown on what's inside:
Motherboard: ASRock 939 Dual SATA 2 (with AGP8x AND PCIe first gen!!!)
CPU: AMD Opteron 150 (Single Core 2.4 GHz, 90nm process)
GPU: EVGA Nvidia GeForce 7900 GS (256MB memory - PCIe x16)
RAM: 2x 512MB DDR400, and 1x 1GB DDR400 for a total of 2GB.
HDD: 1x 300GB Seagate Barracuda 7200, 1x 120GB Seagate Barracuda 7200
ODD: MIA
Floppy: MIA
Network: Linksys LNE100TX v4 (besides the onboard LAN)
Audio: SBLive! Value
Power: Thermaltake Silent Purepower 480W(with fan control!)
OS: Windows XP Pro.
AWESOME RIG AMIRITE? Where to spend my first $100?
Firstly, I don't have a copy of any OS for use on this PC if/when I need to reinstall.
Secondly, the OS is loaded in a crackpot fashion by it's previous owner. When I boot up, I have to spam F11 for the boot menu, select the proper drive, then hold the Up arrow after the beep, until the Selection pops up allowing me to choose Vista or Earlier Version. After selecting earlier version, I wait for another screen which has XP Pro highlighted, at which point I push the Down arrow and select the BLANK SPACE on the screen, and hit Enter. Then XP boots up. Any error along the way results in a reboot. No idea how he managed that. I can't believe I go through this on a daily basis.
Thirdly, you may have noticed the DVD drive is missing. Well, it's in there, but it's mechanically jammed. It's eaten a few test CD's in a matter of seconds, so it's a no go. Not sure if I can boot from USB.
The Roadmap
Here's my thoughts on a roadmap, subject to change monthly as prices fluctuate and my wife cuts my budget on a whim:
1. Mobo/CPU/RAM:
$95 all together $5 left on table - hopefully able to use my existing XP install on this by USB. Notice that I have ONE WHOLE STICK of RAM. What a budget. Maybe somebody wants an old 939 board ???
2. 8 GB RAM and DVD
$74 ($5 + $26 = $31 left in budget!!!) Maybe I'll be able to sell my crutch RAM stick...
3. CX600 PSU
$68 $63 left in budget...
4. FX4300
$120 Leaves $43 in budget...
5. GPU 1- 5 months out... anybody's guess on what will be $143 around xmas!
6. GPU 2
7. Sell GPU 1 and 2, add in my $100 and get whatever's in that range?
and beyond!!!
I'm looking forward to this little build, we'll see where we end up!
Edit: Roadmap