[rescue] Looking to rescue a PC

[Patrick Finnegan]

On Monday 15 February 2010, Scott Newell wrote:
> Where do you think the best bang for the buck is right now?  I'm
>  needing to step up from my ancient dual P3-450 box to something a
>  little faster and XP capable.  It appears I can get an old P4
>  2.something, 1GB, XP COA, and a small drive for ~$100 shipped.  (For
>  instance,
> http://www.surpluscomputers.com/348987/dell-gx-p4-2.2ghz-tower.html).
> 
> I don't have a good feel for current used pricing...is this on the
>  high side?  Would I be better off spending $200 for something more
>  modern?  (I probably should spend $1k and build up something nice
>  that will last me another 9-10 years, but I'm just not in the mood
>  to do all the research right now.)
> 
> Don't need much: one or two free PCI slots, a parallel port, one or
>  two serial ports, analog VGA.  Audio would be nice.  Fairly quiet,
>  too. (Nothing like an Octane!)
> 
> If anyone has anything suitable they're looking to get rid of, let me
>  know. I'm in the southern US.

I'd consider getting a Core2 CPU in a Dell Optiplex 745.  From ebay, it 
looks like you can get one for less than $100 for the single-core 
version.  The one you posted is probably a GX240, which might have some 
bad capacitors in it, and is old enough that I'd probably avoid it just 
because it'll be more expensive and harder to find parts for down the 
road (AGP graphics, PC133 ram).  However, it bothers me that they don't 
list exactly what model it is, as well (there's a lot of Dell Optiplex 
models with "GX" in the model number).

Also for less than $200 shipped, you should be able to get a Core2 Duo 
Optiplex 745.

Someone here posted a link to geeks.com.  Personally, I find them to be 
too pricy.

Pat
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