What's the cheapest tower I can get?

Question

I'm looking for a tower with a lot of raw computing power. What's the cheapest and best desktop tower I can get?

by cheap i mean around 400-600 dollars. Remember, I don't care about graphics cards, or any fancy gadgets. All I need is a super fast processor.

Answer 1

Well the processing power will be determined by the processor, motherboard and RAM combination- strictly speaking the tower itself is just a case to hold the components and power supply, so it doesn't affect performance. In your case with such a limited budget you'll have to look hard at your application- sometimes having a lot of RAM is more important to overall performance than your processor speed, so you might opt for a decent processor with 4gb of RAM, instead blazing fast one and having only enough money left for 1GB of RAM.

You'll get more bang for your buck buying a bare-bones deal from some online source like Newegg.com or even Ebay. But this approach requires that you a solid background in building machines, you must know what you're ordering and purchase right memory or power supply, video card etc. Otherwise have a generic system built for you by a computer shop or techy friend - this approach will yield more machine for your money than buying a brand name.

Right now the least expensive consumer desktop systems with excellent speed would be built around AMD X2 processors. The most powerful desktop systems (which will cost a little more) would be built around Core 2 Duo processors. While there are quad-core processors available, very few software packages can take advantage of them- meanwhile the cost shoots up dramatically.

I'd recommend looking at something around the level of an Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 or AMD X2 5600+ as your CPU, and add RAM, hard drives, etc from there. If you MUST buy through a source like Best Buy, CompUSA, etc then opt for a discount brand like Gateway instead of IBM, Sony or HP since you'd be paying a premium for that name. You may find a good deal at Wal-Mart, but many of their discount systems feature older processors that aren't even dual-core, or very poor performers like Pentium-D. So you'd have to look very carefully at what you're getting.

Just get good entry-level video card like a Geforce 7300GT for $50 - even if you're not interested in gaming at all, having a cheap dedicated video card with it's own memory saves your system from having to "share" system RAM with a built-in video controller.

I've included some links below from a 3rd-party computer seller (Magic Mciro) just as an example of a fully built system price- going though Newegg you'd have to make your own decisions about processor, hard drive, memory, dvd drives, etc.

Answer 2

If you are talking cheap...then that is like how long is a piece of string.

But, I think you should be checking out pre-built systems, as they really are cost efficient.

I build my machines, and I can't believe how cheap they are from the local department stores, from time to time.

Answer 3

Well, used is cheaper, so if that's what you're looking for try eBay. If you want a new cheap tower, look around on different PC hardware sites for cheap prices and the power you want. http://www.dell.com/ http://alienware.com/ http://emachines.com/

Answer 4

Check here www.outpost.com

Answer 5

A broken one. LOL

Answer 6

how bout e-machines