I went to the Alaska State Surplus warehouse today to look for a generic computer for WoW. The best one I found was a Compaq mini-ATX box with a 1.6gHz P4, 512mb RAM, 20gb HD and Intel generic video. No OS, and it was labeled $135. So I'd be looking for another stick of RAM, a bigger hard drive, a better video card, and a copy of Windows (possibly a slightly faster CPU as well, depending on what it would support). By the time I got done putting it together, I'd probably be ahead just buying a low-end Mac Mini.
Good times.
I did, however, manage to snag a HP JetDirect J2552B IPS card for my LaserJet 4M.
www.hp.com sells this baby for $248.00. I picked mine up for a buck.
This will replace a borrowed JetDirect EX Plus.
That's all for now.
Good times.
I did, however, manage to snag a HP JetDirect J2552B IPS card for my LaserJet 4M.
www.hp.com sells this baby for $248.00. I picked mine up for a buck.
This will replace a borrowed JetDirect EX Plus.
That's all for now.
posted by Package Ninja at 4:27 PM
6 Comments:
Hmm, interesting. I was at State Surplus as well.
You can get a decent graphics card for under $100. 20GB hard drive is fine for Win+WoW. Win <5GB, WoW = 4-5GB, half empty. Another 512MB RAM should run you under $100 as well (no link without model of computer), so you're talking about $300 total. Mac Minis have Intel Integrated Graphics = bad. iMac is the cheapest mac with a real graphics card.
Yeah, they sell all their cards for dirt cheap there. Computers aren't a steal, but the cards are (and their wide format scanners are also a steal).
You can even get an AGP Graphics card for under $50 (plus NewEgg is a great place).
When/if you get ram, get Crucial Memory. Other brands may be cheaper, but you'll regret any other brand.
I'm thinking of this card and a 1 gig stick of ram. With two sdram slots, that'll give me 1.5gb. Crucial says I can mix and match types (the 512mb stick I have is 266mhz PC2100, and their recommended 1gb chip for my motherboard - MSI K7 Master-S - is PC2700).
Make sure you have an AGP4X slot, or it won't work.
0.8V (AGP 8/4X) vs 1.5V in AGP 4/2X...
9550:
Core clock 250MHz
PixelPipelines 4
Memory Clock 400MHz
Memory Size 256MB
Memory Interface 128-bit
Memory Type DDR
vs
9250:
Core clock 240MHz
PixelPipelines 4
Memory Clock 400MHz
Memory Size 256MB
Memory Interface 128-bit
Memory Type DDR
It depends on what your AGP slot will support...
Ok, that makes sense. I was assuming that an AGP 8x/4x card would be backwards compatible with a 4x/2x slot. My mb only has a 4x/2x slot, so it looks like your pick is the way to go.
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