I Should Be Studying

Even though my final is about 5 hours away, I'd rather talk about my new computer. It all started about a month ago when I found a barebone computer case for 100 dollars with a 100 dollar rebate. Yes, free. A barebone's computer, if you don't know, is usually just some sort of computer tower in combination with a mother board and a power supply, you have to put your own stuff in. This motherboard in particular has 10/100 network too.

So free computer? Why not, i said. Lo and behold, a week later, there was a deal for a 250 gigabyte harddrive. It clicked. Why not build a modest system that can hold alot of harddrives? The fact that it has all the stuff it needs to go on the internet, I could do something cool like a server or just have a common file storage area for everyone in the house. Since the case was free, I made it a goal to build the computer as cheaply as possible, reusing as many old parts as I can.

So with some brainstorming with BT, resident tech expert, we decided the computer should be able to do these things:

-An above average processor to handle lots of tasks at once, especially if multiple users are going to be logging in on it while a multitude of programs are running in the background.

-With three slots available for ram and since we're not building a power pc, two 512 mb ram sticks will save money and do what I need.

-A DVD-writer will help free up clutter. Even though there will be alot of harddrives, some things won't always need to be on there and can be archived.

-Lots and lots of freakin harddrives.

Here's the estimated total price of this budgeted "server"

-Barebones PC tower: $15 (after shipping and rebate)
-2.4 ghz p4: $120
-2 Crucial 512 MB ram sticks: $150
-Pioneer 16x dvd+-rw: $100
-250 GB Maxtor hd: $120
-200 GB Maxtor hd: free from other computer
-120 GB Maxtor hd: free from other computer
-64mb video card with tv out: free from other computer
-Miscellaneous parts (cooling fans, extra ribbons): $35

To a grand total of about $540 for a 2.4 ghz p4 with 1 gb of ram, 570 gb of harddrive space, and the ability to burn dvds and watch movies on an actual TV... all while serving my internet needs.

I can't wait.