So how much did you spend?

According to the thread title it must be less than what bamccaig was going to (about 3000), but I guess it's more than what he did end up with (less than 1500)? I could of course click all your links and look for prices, but I'm too lazy

Neil's bike is cooler tho

How well do you want it to run, and do you mind it installed in an old used beige ATX case?

(I imagine it could be done for $150-300, depending on how much you care about things like the windows performance scores, and how smooth you want the windows compositing to be)

A quick play with ncix.com gives me $270.02 (including shipping) or $283.50 with GST.

• Hec 6T Series 6T10BB Black 0.6MM Secc Steel Micro ATX Mini Tower Computer Case $39.99

• Antec Neo Eco 450C Power Supply ATX 12V Active PFC 80PLUS 120MM Fan $34.99

• MSI K9N6PGM2-V2 AM2+ GeForce 6150SE NFORCE430 mATX DDR2 PCI-E16 PCI-E1 2XPCI SATA LAN $44.99

• Kingston ValueRAM KVR667D2N5/1G PC2-5300 1GB 2X1GB DDR2-667 240PIN DIMM Memory $34.12

• AMD Athlon II X2 250 Dual Core Processor Socket AM3 3.0GHZ 2MB L2 Cache 65W $65.94

• Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA2 3.5IN 8.5MS 7200RPM 16MB Hard Drive OEM $29.99

Could drop the CPU down to a:

AMD Athlon II 160U Energy Efficient Processor 1.8GHZ AM3 1MB Cache 20W 45NM $33.51

To save about $30, but I didn't think it was worth it. The drop in performance would be significant.

That should do Windows 7, web surfing, as well as office and school type work fairly decently.

append: added the hard drive.. can't believe I forgot.

append2:

And if you wanted a new license of windows 7:

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 32BIT DVD OEM $118.80

For a total of:

 $368.82
+ $21.91 (shipping)
*   1.05 (tax)
=========
  $410.27

including shipping and tax.

append3:

Now, would I actually buy most of those parts for me? Hell no. But hey, it'd work for the average joe.

I could probably find a cheaper mobo and cpu, and maybe drop the ram down to 1G. It would likely only save another $10-20 though.

So without windows, and with the more expensive cpu, it comes to:

 $250.02
+ $20.00 (shipping)
*   1.05 (tax)
========
 $283.52

Or $249.47 with the cheaper cpu.

I didn't look very hard for any bundles, ncix tends to have some, but usually with higher end components than that.

I don't understand.

Antec TWELVE HUNDRED Full Tower Gaming Case NO PSU	$209.00
OCZ 60G Vertex Series SSD				$128.00
AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4GHZ Black Edition		$167.00
Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5 MB - AMD 890FX AMD SB850		$201.00
Mushkin 8G(2x4G) DDR3 1333MHZ PC3-10666 SL CL9	x2	$298.00
MSI R6870 1GB Twin Frozr II		(AMD HD 6870)	$329.00

Total : $1357.00

I already had a:

SeaSonic M12 700W Modulate with EPS 24pin SLI, Active PFC 12cm Fan Pow $199.00

for PSU, as well as keyboard / mouse / monitor

Also for GPU cooling, you might conisder getting a card that uses the reference PCB layout and then putting a fullcover waterblock on it. I'm currently considering getting a second 6870 for crossfire as well as waterblocks for the GPUS and 1 for the CPU as well. Because my case has to holes in it for the cooling pipes I will use an external radiator / pump, and keep the heat outside of the case.

Most of the parts came today!

Royal Mail failed to obey a 'deliver on Saturday' instruction for the SSD, and tried to deliver it while I was at work; so that ended up at the Post Office, and I had to enlist a colleague's help in obtaining it without missing any of the other deliveries. He now has an Easter cake for his troubles.

More failfully, when ebuyer's website warned me that timed delivery wasn't available for the memory, apparently it meant it was going to be delivered reaaaally sloooooooowly. Fail.

So when I went to PC World to pick up Windows 7 for £99.95, I spent a further £24.99 on the cheapest DDR3 memory I could find: 2 GB at 1066 MHz. I'll probably flog it to someone at work when my other memory arrives.

So, without further ado! My actual camera I bought in Japan in 2004 seems to have gradually and completely lost the ability to detect light, so I'm left with my phone's camera - but here we go ...

{"name":"30042011105.jpg","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/0\/d\/0d4fc0104801621bf6f50e7d28407647.jpg","w":800,"h":600,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/0\/d\/0d4fc0104801621bf6f50e7d28407647"}
First lot of deliveries!

{"name":"30042011106.jpg","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/e\/2\/e29a421773a2dbed5abed8c1e8176ebd.jpg","w":800,"h":600,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/e\/2\/e29a421773a2dbed5abed8c1e8176ebd"}
Moar stuffs!

{"name":"30042011107.jpg","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/1\/6\/161b5c9fe559d36326563a8682d9ef97.jpg","w":800,"h":600,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/1\/6\/161b5c9fe559d36326563a8682d9ef97"}
Look at all those features~

{"name":"30042011109.jpg","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/a\/6\/a66f50633d4a9953d686f07faa204b8c.jpg","w":800,"h":600,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/a\/6\/a66f50633d4a9953d686f07faa204b8c"}
Japanese @.@

{"name":"30042011110.jpg","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/c\/2\/c2e14b3ef898a58bae08c0f3c420a2c1.jpg","w":800,"h":600,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/c\/2\/c2e14b3ef898a58bae08c0f3c420a2c1"}
Mmm, tsunami power.

{"name":"30042011111.jpg","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/e\/e\/ee85c9b146d8ecc76cc46dbe290bb72d.jpg","w":800,"h":600,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/e\/e\/ee85c9b146d8ecc76cc46dbe290bb72d"}
Motherboard mounted!

{"name":"30042011112.jpg","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/8\/6\/867d8d8fc0f55e7b8f18b39683b19d01.jpg","w":800,"h":600,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/8\/6\/867d8d8fc0f55e7b8f18b39683b19d01"}
PSU, CPU, heatsink and Blu-Ray drive are in, as well as the SSD, though not everything is connected.

This is where it gets interesting. The heatsink is actually supposed to go 180° rotated compared to how I've mounted it. When I was ordering, I looked at measurements of the heatsink and fan between them, assumed they'd be centred over the processor, and determined that I would be able to access all the memory slots. But the heatsink by itself is centred, and the fan would have been in the way of the memory. So I decided to be creative: I turned the heatsink round 180°, and mounted the fan on the other side away from the memory; but I didn't rotate the fan. It will therefore be pulling the air through the heatsink instead of pushing it, and the air will still blow towards the rear of the case. Good, huh? It's possible that the lower-pressure air will not pick up as much of the heat as higher-pressure air would have, but we shall see ...

{"name":"30042011113.jpg","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/e\/6\/e69b81192d264d41a175cebe39772a61.jpg","w":800,"h":600,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/e\/6\/e69b81192d264d41a175cebe39772a61"}
Watch out, it's the flying spaghetti TX950W! Somewhat more stuff is connected up now, and the graphics card is in. The PSU's still splurging out of the bottom of the case.

{"name":"30042011114.jpg","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/6\/2\/621fa8396bc2e2cc6e590c23b185dc1d.jpg","w":800,"h":600,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/6\/2\/621fa8396bc2e2cc6e590c23b185dc1d"}
I worked out what to do with the splurge. You can't see it here, but I also finally decided to fit the 3.5" USB 3.0 front panel that came with the motherboard. First, the 5.25"-to-3.5" adapter had to come out so I could screw the panel into it. Getting the combination back in past all those wires was like trying to solve one of those metal puzzles. Except I succeeded.

{"name":"30042011115.jpg","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/1\/c\/1c4eb4e8a9b7b5abec9f4b72a1da7131.jpg","w":800,"h":600,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/1\/c\/1c4eb4e8a9b7b5abec9f4b72a1da7131"}
Power on! Shiinyyyy @.@

{"name":"30042011119.jpg","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/4\/4\/44f73fc78bc352c6e417fdc4c536e516.jpg","w":800,"h":600,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/4\/4\/44f73fc78bc352c6e417fdc4c536e516"}
That looks healthy, doesn't it?

{"name":"30042011120.jpg","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/8\/a\/8a37cacebfa079a167832086de02b84f.jpg","w":800,"h":600,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/8\/a\/8a37cacebfa079a167832086de02b84f"}
Poweeerr @.@ I'll peel the protective covering off later ...

{"name":"30042011122.jpg","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/1\/4\/14a9e85808d3b34f14d3140316eb83ba.jpg","w":800,"h":600,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/1\/4\/14a9e85808d3b34f14d3140316eb83ba"}
Mouse-controlled BIOS! @.@ And it can be set to Japanese! @.@ Waaaaaai~~~ <33333

AHEM

So Windows 7 is now installed and seems to be working. I configured it not to use the SSD for swap, and I didn't really feel like doing anything else today, so I shut it down and it switched itself off in about two seconds.

And here's the best part. With the sides off the case, I pretty much couldn't hear it over my existing computer - unless I put my ear to it. Once I put the (soundproofed) sides on, I couldn't hear it at all. I haven't tested it with my old computer off yet, and nor have I tested it under load - but still!

So I think we can call it a (not so) resounding success

In fairness, I still have a BBC Model B in the cupboard. But it does make a noise when you turn it on. It goes BAWWWWWWW-beep. And then you can hear all its processing in the form of interference in that speaker. Oh, the memories

There were two slight hitches I didn't mention above. I lost one of the four bits of rubber from under the PSU. I have a feeling it might actually be in the PSU, since one of the others ended up stuck to the grill over the fan. And one of the clips broke on the 5.25" blanking plate with the 3.5" hole in it, which is a shame; so that's a bit loose. I might see if Fractal could send me a replacement at some point. But these are minor woes

Status update!

Running a computer with Windows 7 64-bit, "only" 2 GB of memory, and swap disabled since it's bad for SSDs, turns out to be rather limiting. If I run more than two or three things, I get frequent "Low memory" popups, sometimes offering to close things for me, and if I ignore them then I get random crashes as things presumably fail to check their mallocs. I kinda got Portal to run for a bit if I reduced the desktop resolution first, but it's precarious. I expect it'll be fine once the remaining parts arrive.

I also had a strange issue with the audio. When I plugged my speakers in, I got a relentless buzzing sound. After lots of fruitless option raiding and thread reading, I eventually ended up with the computer switched off, the speakers plugged in, and the black flat-panel monitor you see above plugged in. If I turned the monitor on, then it would display "No signal" and the speakers would buzz; and then it would deactivate itself and the buzz would stop. If I did the same with the monitor unplugged from the computer, it didn't buzz. I don't know enough about electronics to have a clue what was going on there, but a forum thread somewhere suggested a "ground loop" whatever that is, and it doesn't happen with my other monitor, a white CRT, luckily! The CRT can go to a higher resolution anyway, so I'm happy for now. I'll have to learn more about it before I think about new monitors ...

Anyway, apart from the memory issues, it's brilliant! Everything is completely responsive and smooth. Things load almost instantly. I can put Youtube videos into fullscreen with impunity. Demanding Flash cartoons such as the Madness series actually run at the intended frame rate. That may sound normal for everyone else since I'm sure no one else is silly enough to still have thought 512 MB of AthlonXP 1800+ goodness was actually sufficient any more, but it's a huge change for me. I now really notice when something is DVD-read-speed- or Internet-bound!

Oh yeah, I'm also going to have to do something about the Microsoft MIDI synth at some point. >_>

64-bit, 2GB RAM... ARE YOU NUTS?!