Motherboard bundles

We've been digging through the junkyard at work (and in my home office) and we're trying to use up some old ATX towers and other misc parts to build new systems this fall. In some cases, this just means buying a MB/CPU/RAM combo along with a copy of WinXP Pro and Office 2003. In other cases, the older ATX power-supply can't do the job and we have to purchase a new PSU.

The unit that I'm currently working on is an Athlon64 3000+ system. The MB/CPU/RAM bundle cost me approximately $265 from MWave for an Athlon64 (BA21443), Kingston 2x512MB (BA19405) and an Asus A8N-VM CSM motherboard (BA22045). Because the PSU that I'm using is a slightly older ATX+12V PSU (20 pin + 4 pin connectors), I had to also purchase the 20-24 pin PSU adapter (BA20019) for $9.

Note #1: If you're using the PSU cable adapter, make sure that your existing PSU can handle the required amperage (in this case, the Asus manual says 15A on the 12V line).

Note #2: The advantage of motherboard bundles is that I can pay MWave $9 to put it together for me and verify that it works. That means I don't have to worry that CPU X goes with motherboard Y which is compatible with memory type Z. Well worth the $9.

The Asus motherboard comes with integrated video (that uses system RAM). It's not going to be fast, but since this system is for light-duty office work, it's good enough to do the job. At least as well as the low-end Dell Optiplex systems that we had been buying (which also use integrated video).

I was able to purchase OEM copies of WinXP Pro and Office 2003 to go with the motherboard bundle. It saves a small amount of money to do it this way and since I'm building a new system, it's legal.

All of the other miscellaneous parts I already had on hand (floppy, CD-ROM, ATX tower case, cables, wire ties, screws, 80GB IDE drive and a 20+4 pin ATX 330W PSU).

Total out-of-pocket costs:

$0265 Athlon64 3000+ bundle (Asus A8N-VM CSM + 2x512MB Kingston RAM)
$0010 24-20 pin PSU adapter cable (BA20019)
$0135 WinXP OEM (AA15070)
$0300 MSOffice 2003 OEM (AA24200)
$0030 shipping
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$0740

Costs are lower then what it would cost to get an equivalent system from Dell ($1300-$1450 with software). The big advantage is that it uses up old parts and the system is very expandable because everything is plain vanilla (no proprietary parts). I can easily bump the RAM to 2GB or 3GB in a few years or add in a more powerful video card.

Some other parts that I may have to purchase once I run out of good PSUs, good cases or other parts:

$10 Floppy drive
$40 BA30087 ThermalTake TR2 430W W0070 PSU
$99 BA30107 Antec Sonata II w/ SmartPower 2.0 450W PSU
$50 Small 80GB hard drives
$20 DVD-ROM
$80 1GB to 2GB upgrade (to a 2x1GB configuration)

There are also a few, more powerful, motherboard bundles that I'm considering for future systems:

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The first configuration is slightly more powerful then the Athlon64 3000+ (or equal? dunno). The primary advantage is that it's a dual-core CPU. Given that these are basically a fire sale leftover from the old NetBurst architecture, they might be worth using for light-duty office tasks. The dual-core nature will make it much more responsive to the user.

And it's about the same price as a 2GB Athlon64 3000+ system.

$320
BA20518 2GB DDR2 533 (2x1GB)
BA22418 Asus P5RD2-VM motherboard (ATI Radeon X200), 24+4 PSU
BA22375 Pentium D 805 2.66GHz 533MHz

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An X2 system would be something I'd consider for a power user (which are few and far between at the office). Overall, it's only $80 more then the single-CPU system once the price-drops take effect in early August. Which means that I'm strongly considering simply paying the premium and putting dual-core systems in.

$540 ($400)
BA21810 AMD ATHLON 64 X2 3800+ (goes from $303 to $155 on July 24th)
BA22045 ASUS A8N-VM CSM, 24+4 PSU
BA20959 2GB Mwave PC3200 2x1GB RAM

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I'm still waiting on Core Duo and Core 2 Duo systems to be sold as motherboard bundles. The pricing on the chips is still a bit high.