Need Help....must build or buy computer for church

[craigsexton]

Hello fellow camels.

I'm hoping that someone out here can offer some assistance to me. I'm wanting to either build or buy a starter computer for our church to be used in the youth group side. This will also double as our Celebrate Recovery computer. Celebrate Recovery is a 12 step biblical process for basically "any of life's hurts". I volunter in it as on the worship team. Anyway, I've been using my laptop for this as we hook it up to the sound system and dual overhead projectors. The church has already invested about $10,000 in the sound system so I wanted to help out on the computer.

So, at first I have this older windows 98 computer that I thought I'd upgrade. I'm not even sure if its worth it.

I basically want:

1.5 Mhz or higher processor
2gig memory
cd drive
dvd (maybe burner) drive
256 video card
100gig hard drive

So, I went to newegg.com and priced out everything but a new mother board for around $380.00. But I don't know or even understand how to find out if the mother board will even support the new equipment. I would like to try and stay under $500 total and really closer to $400, this may not be possible though.

So, I've been looking on ebay thinking I should buy a used but newer machine and just throw some more memory and video card in it. But still just don't know what to really look for.

Anybody, got an old one lying around and would like to help out? Or just some good advice would be good. The most I've ever done is put a video card and memory in.

Craig

[brian.austin]

If you haven't done this before, get some local help or farm it out to someone. If you walk in with it from a self-build, you'll own any support issues, including compatibility, etc.. You also neglected to include an operating system, which is NOT part of any build-it-yourself system but could be bundled with some kits that you buy.

Do your church a favor and get a legitimate copy of whatever OS you choose (probably WinXP Home but that's your call). Licensing is not something to mess with and can get very expensive to fix.

Personally, I'm not a fan of eBay for used computers.

You don't need both a CD and DVD drive unless you're doing a lot of copying. A DVD drive, burner or not, will read CDs.

Where are you based? There might be a local Camel around to help.

[digitalzed]

You should also check places like www.outpost.com (a branch of Fry's Electronics, or go to a Fry's if you have one near you) and always have screaming deals on entire computers (screen included) with at least the spec you're looking for. And under 500.00. These are new, brand name computers from companies like HP, Compaq, and others. It comes with a real copy of an OS, usually has a DVD ROM that will play and burn CD's and DVD's. Don't count out Costco or Sam's Club either. Good deals, honest warranties, and no questions asked returns if you must. You won't save that much money building it yourself and as Brian so honestly stated, any issues with the computer are yours from day one.

[phototakeouter]

Originally Posted by craigsexton

I basically want:

1.5 Mhz or higher processor
2gig memory
cd drive
dvd (maybe burner) drive
256 video card
100gig hard drive

Look at your requirements again and see which ones are more wants than needs. For example, my main development computer doesn't even have 2GB of RAM and it does the job fine. You could save as much as $50 by going with 1GB instead of 2GB. Which may not sound like much, but at $400 it's more than 10% of your budget.

Not sure how much you need the other specs that I bolded, but those may be other items you can economise on.

[Morgan Starr]

An other place to try is TigerDirect.com Best Deals - Computer Parts, PC Components, Desktop Computers, Laptops, Notebooks . They always have good deals on bare bones systems.

[angelsfort]

craig, there are a couple of websites that I would recommend to you...

The Freecycle Network

this is a website for giving and getting free items. It's basically been created because of the old adage "one mans junk is another mans treasure"... if you've got something to give, post an "offer" and you'll get e-mails from people asking if they can have it... likewise, if there is something you are in need of, post a "wanted" and explain what it is you want (a brief reason you want it may be necessary, but not too detailed... the mods get irritated about that)

when you click on the link above, you will be asked to enter your City and State... more than likely a LARGE list will pop up, you simply need to search the list for the nearest location to you... then you'll have to join the group... but it's completely free to join!!

another site you might try is

craigslist: orlando classifieds for jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events

that's another site where you might find what you are looking for... this is VERY different from the freecycle site... this is more of a "classified ad" site... but very useful indeed. It's not just for Orlando... don't be alarmed... on the right hand side of the screen that you come to, you can choose another state... or location...

Good luck! I hope you are successful!!

[craigsexton]

Thanks everyone. I apologize for not replying sooner. Been super busy. I just decided to go ahead and buy a brand new one. I got a Dell. Pretty good deal too, 2ghz, 1gig ram, 160 hard drive, 256mg video card and dvd+rw. All for like $380 shipped.

You know, I looked and studied and compared for at least 2 days. Finally I just Lord show me the one. And that's the rest of the story as Paul Harvey says.

Thanks again to everyone.

Craig