Ok, here's the deal. I'm doing the Certification collection thing right now. I'm a consultant and working to build up the number of acronyms I can stick on my business card.

Anyway, I'm working on my MSCE for Windows Server 2003 (don't laugh). I really need a new box to play with it on without having to be concerned about accidently messing up important data and such. The thing is that the machine won't be running Windows long at all. Just long enough for me to study, then I'll be putting Gentoo on it and putting it to good use as a test webserver.

So I'm looking around for a lower end machine that both Operating Systems can happily reside on. Ideally, I'd like to have one of those fancy-pants Athlon64 processors in there, but that's not a priority. I would like 512MB of RAM and at least a 40GB drive. Graphics and Sound can be onboard, and 802.11b/g would be a plus, Ethernet and USB are requirements. No monitor, speakers, printer or any other peripherals needed. Really, I don't even need a keyboard and mouse if it saves me money.

But here's the kicker. I'd really like something under $1000 in a minitower/tower (it's going to be at my house).

Do you know any systems or vendors that create such a beast? I'd really like to not have to spend time collecting parts from various retailers and building this beast myself.

Aberdeen Inc, Monarch Computer Systems, Newegg are good.

You can get a very good system for $1000. I do not know why people want wireless networking because it is hard to control its range and it is useless on a desktop/workstation system that does not move at all. Wired networks are better than wireless networking.

For me the 802.11b/g thing is laziness. My cable modem goes into one room with the family computer. However, I work in my office down the hall (where I have neither cat5 nor coax wiring). Throwing a Linksys router onto the cable modem and an Orinoco into my desktop is much easier than running cat5 through the attic.

From time to time I convince myself I'll actually run the wire, but every time I come up with a plan, I run into some architectural oddity with the house that prevents me from running wire up a particular wall (an odd cross beam) or through a spot in the ceiling (the base of the furnace). And a 300ft. ethernet patch cable running down the hall isn't quite attractive, practical, or safe with 2 big dogs in the house.

Rather than buy a new machine for this temporary need to have Windows, have you considered just setting up your existing machine as a dual boot? Perhaps you could just install another hard drive on your current machine, put Windows on it, then either remove it or put Gentoo on it as you describe. Just a thought -- J.W.

Problem with that idea for me is that I already have a 2nd disk dedicated to Win2k. Well really dedicated to Cubase. Plus, it's an older machine and has a lot of junk hanging off of it like my M-Audio USB MIDI controller, iPod, fancy soundcard, printer, cardreader, extra USB2 controller, and PCI IDE controller. I don't want to start up Windows 2003 server and get a million "Found New Hardware" messages for things that I'll never find (nor want to look for) drivers for, etc.

I really need to be playing in a sandbox here seperated from accidently messing up my work and play.

Thanks for all the suggestions, though. I gave up on finding a prebuilt system I like for a price I want. Seems that I have odd priorities (ie. I don't play games but want an Athlon64).


I ended up purchasing an Athlon64 3000+, Asus K8V-X, 512MB of fancy pants DDR 400 RAM, etc. from Newegg.com and I'm going to throw it all in a case I have tucked away. Overall cost was just over $600 with all the extras.

Actually here's what I got:
ASUS K8V-X K8T800 retail Motherboard (Socket 754)
Corsair 512MB DDR400 VS RAM
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ retail (for the warranty)
CMAX 400W CX-400 SL power supply
SAMSUNG SP1213C 8MB 72RPM 120GB SATA HDD
ASUS Radeon R9200SE 128MB Video Card
Arctic thermal paste
Venus12 Fan
rounded SATA cable


The ultimate fate of this machine is to use for the MCSE stuff as a sandbox for a while and then to play parts swap with my current PC, putting the nicer newer stuff in my everyday work/play machine and having a second lower end experimental sandbox to play in.

Right on -- that looks like a sweet rig and IMO, Newegg rocks. Plus I always think it's a better approach to build your own than to buy a prebuilt.

Good luck with the cert test -- J.W.