Cheapest Place for Comp Parts?

[SIRCOOKS]

What places do u guys visit for the "least expensive" comp equipment...ebay..newegg..anywhere else.....in america please?

[videobread]

I buy on ebay. Great deals on whole systems. Buying individual parts is harder to get a deal. I swear by HP Workstations. I bought an XW4100 for $137. Bought another XW4100 for $304. It came with a 74 gig Raptor, an Nvidia Quadro FX 3000, 2 gig of PC 3200 ram, An Adaptec SCSI controller with an internal SCSI cable, XP Pro COA, 8X HP DVD burner and a P4 3.2. I have purchased four XW4100 from ebay. They have great cases and are really cheap. Parts on the other hand, like P4's, are a commodity. They systems with the parts, or for the parts, is the steal.

[redwudz]

NewEgg is hard to beat most times. I also use Directron, Computergate, MWave, ZipZoomFly, ComputerGeeks and occasionally TigerDirect. With any company you need to look at the 'fine print' in their parts descriptions. Some items, like computer cases, can be really flimsy with lots of sharp edges. If they seem too much of a bargain, watch out. Places like NewEgg that have customer feedback does help to weed out the junk.

Main parts or more expensive parts like hard drives, motherboards, etc. where I have a specific brand and model in mind, I usually do a price search for. Then if the company with a lower price seems to be well enough known, or I have dealt with them before, I order from them.

[budz]

I have to with redwudz that Newegg is hard to beat. From Newegg I mainly buy cpu, motherboard, ram, dvd burners & hard drives. I also buy rounded ide cables, case fans & cpu heatsink fans from Svc.com. I've bought pci controller cards and dvd burners from Computergeeks.com as well. I also buy pci-e & agp video cards, pci sound cards, pci controller cards off of Ebay. I buy my computer cases locally from Compusa since shipping to Honolulu, Hawaii is quite expensive.

[Des]

I rotate around between Newegg, Tigerdirect, ZipZoomFly and Geeks. Locally if I need something quickly Microcenter is pretty good, not the best prices but fair and they usually have things in stock.

I have also used J and R Music and Amazon from time to time.

--dES

[videobread]

Am I the only ebay fan out there? I like to stay a fews years behind the curve. Dual core and Vista are overkill. There are no 64 bit programs to run. For the money I go used. High end P4 works great for me. Nothing I do requires the latest greatest computer on the market. They are not even PC's anymore - they are animals on steroids.
As an example, when the Epson R220's were discontinued I bought 4. I stayed below the curve and did not jump out and go R260 with pixia ink. I sold the 3 sets of Epson carts on ebay for $175.76. Check it out. Genuine Epson R220 cart sets are going for $50-$65 on ebay. Lucky I did. Seeing that Epson is screwing with the 260 carts to make you buy genuine. Also, the aftermarket R220 carts are great and cheap and there are all sorts of CIS's available. It has paid for me to stay behind the curve. Give ebay a second look.

[Des]

I've buy a lot of stuff on EBay, used is OK with me too, but sometimes I like Shiney.

Problem with EBay is it can be hit or miss depending upon what you are looking for and the prices may not always be that different from stores. I like EBay but I am sometimes reluctant to recommend it.

--dES

[freebird73717]

I've bought and sold a lot of computer stuff on eBay. For the most part I've done pretty well there. But you have to be careful. Alot of times the prices are not much better than buying from a major company like newegg.com. Also you can get some great deals buying used but again be careful. Alot of stuff is sold "as-is untested" which is pretty much guaranteed to be "non woking we won't refund your money".

[t0nee1]

Have to agree with others about newegg....
http://www.pricewatch.com/

[valvehead]

Am I the only ebay fan out there? I like to stay a fews years behind the curve. Dual core and Vista are overkill. There are no 64 bit programs to run. For the money I go used. High end P4 works great for me. Nothing I do requires the latest greatest computer on the market. They are not even PC's anymore - they are animals on steroids.

If that works for you then go ahead. You can save a lot of money by not buying the fastest cpu available. Hey, I'm still using a computer I built four years ago. It's a P4 2.4C running at 3.0GHz with 2GB of ram. It's not slow, but with video encoding I'm really feeling the strain. If I went out and bought a new C2D system I could cut my render times in half! Even a laptop with a T7700 2.4GHz would blow my computer away. The kind of performance that used to be attributed to expensive Xeon workstations is now available in mainstream desktops and laptops. I'm ready for an upgrade.

I agree with you about Vista though. I'm avoiding it like the plague. I've read about too many problems running the software that I use. No thanks. OSX is starting to look really attractive right now.

[Soopafresh]

Consider this Mobo for low end work, as it is quite unique

ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA LGA 775 VIA PT880 Ultra ATX Intel Motherboard - $65

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157107

It has support for DDR-1 and DDR2 RAM, plus has slots for AGP and PCI Xpress video. In other words, you can use some of your existing hardware, then upgrade to faster stuff later.

Pair it with an Intel Duo Core e4400 for $125

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115014

Voila

[isogonic]

iam probably the only person left who has never purchased anything on ebay. i have used mwave, newegg and directron without any problems. a good stop before any purchase is here:

http://www.resellerratings.com/topstores.pl

[stiltman]

iam probably the only person left who has never purchased anything on ebay.

Nope, you're not alone. I have never bought anything either. Doubt I ever will too

[oldandinthe way]

Picking from dumpsters, computer recycling areas at town dumps, yard sales and church rummage sales yield used equipment of quality equal to or higher than Ebay.

Newegg and Meritline offer new equipment at better prices than Ebay and much higher quality customer service. And the ability to use your credit card without PayPal or other complications. There are some fine Ebay sellers but also a lot of folks who cleverly shade the truth. The Ebay feedback system fails to help you know the difference.

Ebay prices are often influenced by absolute idiots who bid. Prices at Circuit City's Ebay store for distressed equipment often exceed their store prices for first quality gear.

[t0nee1]

oldandintheway wrote,
Picking from dumpsters, computer recycling areas at town dumps, yard sales and church rummage sales yield used equipment of quality equal to or higher than Ebay.
Ebay prices are often influenced by absolute idiots who bid.

Couldn't be further from the truth!,but you're kidding right?

[Bullworth]

I have to agree with oldandintheway. I have bought stuff from Ebay before but the feedback system sucks. The feedback is so limited and so many replies simply read "Excellent buyer/seller A+++++++++++++." If you could write more like Newegg allows and rate on a 1-5 scale I'm sure it would be a different story.
I buy from Newegg, ZipZoomFly, Directon, Mwave, search on Pricewatch. Ebay is a last resort when I can't find something or for a reasonable price. You are taking a big chance though as many sellers will not offer any guarantee if it's defective and charge ludicrous shipping. In many cases the shipping is more than the cost of the item, and that's just for regular USPS shipping.
One thing I really dislike about Newegg is how often the reviewers will give a bad rating because of slow shipping.

[t0nee1]

Guess I'm one of the lucky ones then! I've never had a prob with Ebay thus far with over 67 transactions and counting...But Newegg is my fav comp place, and no bad rating from me.....to each his own!!

[zoobie]

maybe your secret is sticking that spear in your eye...

mfg's offer discount lots on items that may or may not work. sellers then part these out on ebay for the buyer to determine. refunds are another matter.

www.newegg.com

[t0nee1]

zoobie wrote"maybe your secret is sticking that spear in your eye...

LOL , yeah maybe so, but ya gotta love newegg...

[fritzi93]

Consider this Mobo for low end work, as it is quite unique

ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA LGA 775 VIA PT880 Ultra ATX Intel Motherboard - $65

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157107

It has support for DDR-1 and DDR2 RAM, plus has slots for AGP and PCI Xpress video. In other words, you can use some of your existing hardware, then upgrade to faster stuff later.

Pair it with an Intel Duo Core e4400 for $125

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115014

Voila

That's the same board I got a couple months ago when I built this computer.
I got it for all the reasons you listed. And it's EM64T compatible as well. Friends sneered when I told them it's an ASRock, but it's been just fine, no problems at all.

I agree about NewEgg, their prices are good. Furthermore, if you have to return something, you'll be glad you went with them.

[redwudz]

Ebay prices are often influenced by absolute idiots who bid.

A while back I saw a 17" LCD monitor with a bullet hole in the upper part of the screen. There was a bid of $20, not including shipping.

I have seen quite a few Ebay prices in auctions higher than the retail price. Not to say there are not bargains at times, but buyer beware.

[oldandinthe way]

I do not kid. There is an enormous amount of used equipment which is still functional at the places I mentioned.

If you have any computer skills you do not have to wait until you find a complete working system, you can build one from the parts of several systems which have been junked.

We have reached the point that any system which needs more than one upgrade at a given time is not cost-effective to keep. There are fully loaded systems at the big box stores for just over $200 several weeks a month.

Lots of people have figured this out and decided to buy new and dispose of their current system. You'd be amazed how many Ebay sales of used equipment had their source in the places I named.

You are not likely to find a dual core processor in the trash but plenty of PIIs, K7s, PIII and an occaisional Celeron or P4.

Also some IDE drives 80gb or under. Notebook drives 20 or 30gb which make great external USB drives with a $10 box from NewEgg, Meritline or Acortech.

Need a wireless interface. Compusa often has wireless cards for $5.00 or $10.00 after rebate. You can also find these cards on Ebay for more - hint - description says carefully removed UPC code from the unopened box. Or the description fails to tell you the UPC has been removed. Want to see it for your self - search for Trendnet. These cards and routers were $4.95 after rebate at Compusa and there was a free shipping coupon available.

Software not exempt you can find many antivirus offerings on Ebay without UPC, and any other software which has had a big rebate.

Are you the sort who puts extra hardware on the shelf. Go to Compusa.com click on the advertised specials, show all, and sort by price (low to high). You'll find free after rebate, $4.95 after rebate and $9.99 after rebate with some frequency. You'll find many of the same items on Ebay without a rebate.

Also check out stores like Staples when you have a need. Bought an HP2600n networked color laser printer which includes $300 worth of full toner cartridges for $200 after rebate and got to use $25 in coupons bringing my cost to $175. Check them out on Ebay - either the offerings are refurb, or without toner, or priced higher, or have a huge bogus shipping charge. Or some combination of the above. By the way Staples took only 4 weeks to get me my rebate.

[videobread]

There are some great deals on ebay, but you have to know your parts. All my sytems run 800 mhz and P4 3.2's. Three of my four HP workstation I bought on ebay. I did have to soup them up, but I bought a lot of the parts on ebay. I run XP Pro and don't need a the newest 64 bit operating system, Vista, or the high powered system required to run it. How many 64 bit programs are out there other than Vista itself. I don't render anything and I'm fine at P4 800mhz.
I'm a big ebay fan. I seel stuff on ebay also. Today I sold an Adaptec SCSI Ultra 320 PCI-X controller, with internal SCSI cable and drivers for $29. I sold an 800 mhz Prescott P4 2.8 for $26. The people who bought got good deals just like I get good deals.
There are some things I would never buy on ebay. HD's, Monitors and RAM. I have two 250 gig HD's in each system. I buy them new at retail for about $50 - $70 each. I buy whole systems on ebay from reputable sellers and them upgrade the processor and add HD's and burners. I buy burners new on ebay - never a problem. Sometimes I really get lucky. I bought a system with a 74 gig Raptor. I was going to sell it, but fell in love with it and am now using it as a video drive. It works fine. Also got an Nvidia Quadro FX 3000 in a system. Works for me.
You won't find any of my systems in dumpsters or at the Goodwill. I bought my first P4 800 mhz workstation new in 2003. It was the right way to go at the time. Today I don't need to upgrade to 933, 1066 or 1333 mhz FSB. When I do I will.
LONG LIVE EBAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[videobread]

In addition: Today I sold three P4's on ebay. They all went for $25 - $30. One was a P4 2.4 @ 533 mhz. One was a P4 2.6 @800 mhz. One was A P4 2.8 @ 800 mhz, Prescott. Funny thing the 533 mhz had three times the interest, watchers in ebay terms, as the others. The majority of people out here and probably on this site are running 533 mhz FSB. That's the reallity. Dual core and a FSB over 800 mhz is dreaming for most.
If your loaded, go to ebay and search XW8400. You will save at least $1000 on a $2500 system still under the HP factory warranty. I'll let you know when I get mine. :-)

[oldandinthe way]

Watchers could also mean folks who have a unit to unload and want to know what you get. There are a hell of a lot of folks with 533 FSBs, many of whom will place them in the dumpster before they go through the effort of selling them for $25

[TBoneit]

iam probably the only person left who has never purchased anything on ebay. i have used mwave, newegg and directron without any problems. a good stop before any purchase is here:

http://www.resellerratings.com/topstores.pl

You aren't the only person. I have bought a few things from Amazon, the last two Harry Potter books as gifts for fans. I avoided having to wait in line and they had the books day of release.

Ebay, Sorry I don't want to have to worry. Even the best go bad.
We had long time customers 10+ years for example suddenly start bouncing checks. Previous history is no indicator of future results.

I remember way back going into a Crazy Eddies for a Music CD. Listening to teh saleperson pushing the extended warranty on computer systems. "Just bring it back once a year for cleaning and checkup". Ha, Next week bankrupt.

Asrock, hmmm.... I'm conflicted about them.

I tried their 478 socket Mobo with 1 gig and celeron 2.53 and Vista Ultimate dual boot with XP Pro.

After Vista died twice, I rma the motherboard to our wholesaler and two times more vista died. Xp kept on going. Pulled it. Put in ASUS, My first choice anyway but I wanted to see if the Asrock were anygood.

[budz]

For the last few months I've been buying used pci-e video cards from Ebay. No problems with the video cards or the transactions. From Ebay I also buy pci controller cards and older ram like pc133 & pc3200 for computers that I may fix for friends/family or help to upgrade. In the past I've had problems with used motherboards so I no longer even consider purchasing them from Ebay.

Newegg is the best online retailer for computer components. The customer service is top notch.