JANUARY 2006 MA XIMUMPC 55
Just as David Blaine spends his idle time
envisioning new ways to “magically” make
an ass of himself, the crew at Maximum PC
is constantly searching for new PC-related
challenges. Though our
goals are typically along
the lines of cramming
as much horsepower
as possible into an ATX
enclosure, this month
we decided to head in
the opposite direction.
We’ve already built a
no-holds-barred $12,000
Dream Machine, and
we’ve plied our craft put-
ting together a best-bang
-for-the-buck $1,200 Lean
Machine; the only un-
charted territory left was
the mysterious land of
über-cheap PCs. Thus, in
the name of well-round-
edness, we decided to
build a $300 rig that sac-
rifi ces all-out horsepow-er for penny-pinching real-world usability.
We knew going in that this wasn’t going
to be a pretty rig. Onboard video was
unavoidable. And our only operating sys-
tem option was Linux.
Indeed, building this
rig would pit the entire
Maximum PC staff
against its Kryptonite—
craptacular hardware.
But we faced our dark-
est fears in the name of
knowledge.
After we got our $300
PC to POST for the
fi rst time, we raised our
fi sts in triumph. We built
the unbuildable—a $300
rig that could do any-
thing... well, anything ex-
cept play Quake 4. You
too can build this very
machine, but be warned,
such a task is not for
the faint of heart; it’s for
the faint of wallet.THIS IS NO STUNT! WE BUILT A PC FOR JUST THREE BILLS.
DOES IT KICK ASS? IS THIS A WORTHY MACHINE? WHAT DOES
A FEW HUNDRED BUCKS BUY YOU? FIND OUT! MAXIMUM PC STAFF
Naturally, this whole exercise in PC frugality
could have been avoided if we just rang up Dell
and shelled out $400-$500 for its cheapest PC,
but where’s the fun in that? We’ve always been
ardent supporters of the “build, don’t buy” ethos,
and we’re sticking to our guns for several rea-
sons. First, you get to pick the exact parts you
want, rather than being forced to run whatever
old hardware Dell needed to unload. Second,
cheap, off-the-rack PCs often contain proprietary
components that will limit your upgrade possibil-
ities—some don’t even have PCI Express slots!
Third, because you’ve built it yourself, you know
the parts intimately, and know where to get BIOS
and driver updates, and will have a better idea
where to start when things go pear-shaped.
That said, we’re not oblivious to the ben-
efits of a prefab rig. If we were to buy a Dell,
the price would probably include a 17-inch
LCD, keyboard, mouse, Windows XP Home, a full
warranty, and tech support. Although the latter
might be a mixed blessing—for so little money,
you’re sure to end up at the ass-end of the tele-
phone support queue.TO BUY OR BUILD ON A
BRUTAL BUDGET?BUILDING THE
BUDGET PC
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
MARK MADEO