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Ahh crap, you're right. Just checked my Newegg order history and I paid $65 for the PVR150MCE. That's what I get for posting before my coffee.

The silent 6200 was right though. Here's a decent one for $35:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16814127204

Ahh crap, you're right. Just checked my Newegg order history and I paid $65 for the PVR150MCE. That's what I get for posting before my coffee.

The silent 6200 was right though. Here's a decent one for $35:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16814127204

Buy a Samsung ML-2010 for $69 http://shop4.outpost.com/%7BdvG+uA4pjhcymGxusl-wvg **.node3%7D/product/4515497;jsessionid=dvG+uA4pjhc ymGxusl-wvg**.node3?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Get a Buffalo Print server for under $50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16833162203

Works flawlessly with Windows/Mac/Linux

(My printer is the ML-1710 and I bought it for $99)

I got this printer for my birthday a little while back, and I love this printer.

Fast as can be, small but beastly looking, nice good-high quality picture printing (I have done a few), very very very fast (first page out in around 8 seconds), and comes right up to your price range.

Complimentary NewEgg Link (The exact one that I bought, and I did buy it through newegg)

That particular printer is USB and LPT, however it has a cousin or two floating around with an ethernet hookup if thats what you really want.

Recap: It's a fucking awesome printer!

I reviewed the hp LaserJet 1320 on my web site. In short, it's cheap (maybe not under $300, but definitely under $400, and often discounted on Newegg), has awesome text quality and very good graphics quality, prints relatively quickly, duplexes (an uncommon feature in such a cheap printer!), and conserves toner (I haven't replaced the cartridge yet, in several years of use.

A 750 mhz PIII? Please, I got an 850 mhz PIII machine for FREE (craigslist). How much did you pay for your Xbox? Try comparably priced machines and the results get much better (plus on a PC you have internet / media capabilities [not forced to buy Xbox remote to watch DVDs] / etc). Am I ripping on consoles? No, I love consoles -- I can't wait for the Wii to come out and I thought about the 360 (if I wasn't a poor college student). Spend thousands on a machine they're going to play games on? Please, try less than $600 --
$499.99 decent compy http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16883102668
+ $89.99 decent graphics card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16814131007
= less than 600 bucks (cheaper than a PS3)
Now tell me -- if you're a college student (I am), wouldn't it be smarter to buy a computer than can play games AND be productive (and it has a DVD burner so you can copy your roommates' movie collections)? Plus, when you get out of college and get a full-time job, having a PC you can upgrade (not like it's a bad PC: 64-bit AMD 3200 + ATI x850 = some good stuff) seems like a better idea than being stuck with a never-changing console.
That machine will play games with better peformance and graphics than the Xbox-360 (I have a 2.8 Ghz P4 Northwood and an ATI Radeon X700 -- a machine inferior to the one I priced up - it beats the 360).
Would I still buy a 360 if I wasn't on a tight budget? Of course! There are some very fun games for it (plus Halo 3 will be an exclusive) -- but I don't have the means to buy everything I want (otherwise I'd beat Japan to that moonbase).
For my money, PC gaming trumps console gaming.

A 750 mhz PIII? Please, I got an 850 mhz PIII machine for FREE (craigslist). How much did you pay for your Xbox? Try comparably priced machines and the results get much better (plus on a PC you have internet / media capabilities [not forced to buy Xbox remote to watch DVDs] / etc). Am I ripping on consoles? No, I love consoles -- I can't wait for the Wii to come out and I thought about the 360 (if I wasn't a poor college student). Spend thousands on a machine they're going to play games on? Please, try less than $600 --
$499.99 decent compy http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16883102668
+ $89.99 decent graphics card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16814131007
= less than 600 bucks (cheaper than a PS3)
Now tell me -- if you're a college student (I am), wouldn't it be smarter to buy a computer than can play games AND be productive (and it has a DVD burner so you can copy your roommates' movie collections)? Plus, when you get out of college and get a full-time job, having a PC you can upgrade (not like it's a bad PC: 64-bit AMD 3200 + ATI x850 = some good stuff) seems like a better idea than being stuck with a never-changing console.
That machine will play games with better peformance and graphics than the Xbox-360 (I have a 2.8 Ghz P4 Northwood and an ATI Radeon X700 -- a machine inferior to the one I priced up - it beats the 360).
Would I still buy a 360 if I wasn't on a tight budget? Of course! There are some very fun games for it (plus Halo 3 will be an exclusive) -- but I don't have the means to buy everything I want (otherwise I'd beat Japan to that moonbase).
For my money, PC gaming trumps console gaming.

Processor = $114
Mobo = $82.99 + $6.13 S&H
Video card = $155.99 + $5.64 S&H
600 watt power supply = $69.99 + $8.02 S&H
case = $64.99 + $16.21 S&H
20 gig hard drive = $79.99

2x1 gig memory? Here.

This isn't even a top-of-the-line system, but good (i.e., best customer-rated) memory is going to cost more than anything else. The cheapest on that page that is rated 5 out of 5 is $174.99, not including shipping.

Processor = $114
Mobo = $82.99 + $6.13 S&H
Video card = $155.99 + $5.64 S&H
600 watt power supply = $69.99 + $8.02 S&H
case = $64.99 + $16.21 S&H
20 gig hard drive = $79.99

2x1 gig memory? Here.

This isn't even a top-of-the-line system, but good (i.e., best customer-rated) memory is going to cost more than anything else. The cheapest on that page that is rated 5 out of 5 is $174.99, not including shipping.

Processor = $114
Mobo = $82.99 + $6.13 S&H
Video card = $155.99 + $5.64 S&H
600 watt power supply = $69.99 + $8.02 S&H
case = $64.99 + $16.21 S&H
20 gig hard drive = $79.99

2x1 gig memory? Here.

This isn't even a top-of-the-line system, but good (i.e., best customer-rated) memory is going to cost more than anything else. The cheapest on that page that is rated 5 out of 5 is $174.99, not including shipping.

Processor = $114
Mobo = $82.99 + $6.13 S&H
Video card = $155.99 + $5.64 S&H
600 watt power supply = $69.99 + $8.02 S&H
case = $64.99 + $16.21 S&H
20 gig hard drive = $79.99

2x1 gig memory? Here.

This isn't even a top-of-the-line system, but good (i.e., best customer-rated) memory is going to cost more than anything else. The cheapest on that page that is rated 5 out of 5 is $174.99, not including shipping.

Processor = $114
Mobo = $82.99 + $6.13 S&H
Video card = $155.99 + $5.64 S&H
600 watt power supply = $69.99 + $8.02 S&H
case = $64.99 + $16.21 S&H
20 gig hard drive = $79.99

2x1 gig memory? Here.

This isn't even a top-of-the-line system, but good (i.e., best customer-rated) memory is going to cost more than anything else. The cheapest on that page that is rated 5 out of 5 is $174.99, not including shipping.

Processor = $114
Mobo = $82.99 + $6.13 S&H
Video card = $155.99 + $5.64 S&H
600 watt power supply = $69.99 + $8.02 S&H
case = $64.99 + $16.21 S&H
20 gig hard drive = $79.99

2x1 gig memory? Here.

This isn't even a top-of-the-line system, but good (i.e., best customer-rated) memory is going to cost more than anything else. The cheapest on that page that is rated 5 out of 5 is $174.99, not including shipping.

Processor = $114
Mobo = $82.99 + $6.13 S&H
Video card = $155.99 + $5.64 S&H
600 watt power supply = $69.99 + $8.02 S&H
case = $64.99 + $16.21 S&H
20 gig hard drive = $79.99

2x1 gig memory? Here.

This isn't even a top-of-the-line system, but good (i.e., best customer-rated) memory is going to cost more than anything else. The cheapest on that page that is rated 5 out of 5 is $174.99, not including shipping.

Hey, thanks for the info. Looks like promise has the same enclosure with FC and plain SCSI ports. What are the advantages/disatvantages of iSCSI, FC, and plain SCSI? I am specifically wondering about M500i, M500f, and M500p? Seems like they all have the same features, but plain SCSI is faster.

Hey, thanks for the info. Looks like promise has the same enclosure with FC and plain SCSI ports. What are the advantages/disatvantages of iSCSI, FC, and plain SCSI? I am specifically wondering about M500i, M500f, and M500p? Seems like they all have the same features, but plain SCSI is faster.

Hey, thanks for the info. Looks like promise has the same enclosure with FC and plain SCSI ports. What are the advantages/disatvantages of iSCSI, FC, and plain SCSI? I am specifically wondering about M500i, M500f, and M500p? Seems like they all have the same features, but plain SCSI is faster.

Right now, you can purchase an OEM copy of XP2 from Newegg for $137.99. You don't even have to purchase additional hardware as was required in the past. Does MS assume people are going to follow the EULA?

Reinstall the system with known-good media. If the OS is pirated, it probably has activation cracks, and who knows whether it has a rootkit or other malware installed. The safest thing to do is to get a new, OEM copy of Windows XP (must be purchased with hardware, but "hardware" can include a power splitter). Newegg sells legit copies for $90, which is a lot less than the retail price. You get the holographic CD and the COA, along with a valid product key, so you know that it's genuine.

You cannot upgrade from an OEM CD, nor would you want to. The system should be considered insecure because it is not in a known state. You wouldn't install from Fedora media with the wrong sha1sum; why would you install from an unknown copy of Windows?

Or a Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB for $79 ($69 after MIR).

You make the assumption that these things can be checked at registration; I don't think this is a fair assumption. Most people receive their copy of Windows "pre-activated" by their OEM rather than installing it themselves and never personally go through the registration process.

How can someone distinguish between a pre-activated but legit copy, and a modified and pirated copy? From Paul Thurott's article, it looks like the answer is the activation key; Microsoft knows which keys are computationally correct but widely pirated, and WGA can tell if you're using one.

Given the OEM problem, though, Microsoft needs a chance to check this after the initial install. WGA gives them that -- when you want to install additional updates.

... As for taking your copy of Windows and installing it on any machine, of course you can do this -- if you buy the full, retail copy of windows, whose license permits this. Instead, you cheaped out and only paid for a copy that can be installed on one machine. Why is that Microsoft's problem? To assist you, I'm pointing you at newegg, which will gladly sell you the Windows XP Home retail upgrade for $99.99. As this is under your stated price of $100, and will meet your requirements -- legally -- I hope you'll consider purchasing it.

Sure, the inventory's huge, but Amazon is cumbersome to browse. More and more of their listings are obsolete and no longer stocked, and too many are just listings for 3rd-party sellers. Amazon's prices aren't that great, and the customer feedback is actually more limited than what some other sites offer. Customer support is bureaucratic too.

In the brick and mortar world, a big department store can beat small specialty stores because one-stop shopping really saves time. But it doesn't take long to hop from one website to another. If Amazon's corporate goal is still growth through diversification, it could become a dinosaur and lose business to more-narrowly focused competitors, which often sell at lower prices (e.g. Bookpool) and are easier to shop (e.g. Newegg).

I say DLP, without a doubt. Crisp color reproduction, higher resolution than lcd or plasma.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16889253029

Dimensions : 18" deep. Unless your conference room is exceptionally crowded, a foot and a half shouldn't make any difference.

And best of all, plug in a high definition disk player and watch HD movies, or an Xbox 360.

Or, connect a PC up and the onscreen text readable since this is more of a monitor than a television.

You owe me a new keyboard. Slashdot is no place for hilarity, mister!

You can get 750GB drives these days, so you could store quite a few movies to watch "someday".

You can get 750GB drives these days, so you could store quite a few movies to watch "someday".

Core 2 Xeons (Xeon 5100 series) are available now. You can go online and buy them. Er, well, most e-tailers are out of stock, but OEM's always get first pick. Go to this page and click auto-notify: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16819117100

I'd like to experiment with ZFS on the cheap. In particular, I'd like to start off with two drives, and slowly add drives as my storage needs increase. Great, but: which controller card(s) to use to maximize my eventual capacity while spending the least on cards. I don't need hardware raid (with cards like the 3ware 9500S-4LP that someone else mentioned starting at $315). Does it make more sense to use 4 port cards for performance reasons? Or can I use 8 or twelve port cards? I imagine performance will suffer? Or is it more constrained by the total bandwidth of the bus? In which case should I use PCI-Express or PCI-X? I'm wondering where the price/performance sweet spot is in terms of SATA cards; obviously, I'm limited to 3-4 cards total, but if I could get by with only one (eg 12 port) card, I could go with a smaller form-factor case. Can anyone shed some light here? Recommended brands?

Just to see how reasonably low I could go, I spec'd out an even cheaper do-it-yourself Micro-ATX software raid5 box:

$34-44 - MicroATX MINI-tower case w/ 300-400W PSU, 4x int 3.5" bays + 1-2x ext 3.5" (or 5.25" bays w/ brackets)
$79 - MicroATX Asus Socket 939 MB w/ 4x SATA2, 2x PATA, pci-e, gigabit, integrated vid&audio
$92 - AMD Athlon64 3000+ (cheapest socket 939 cpu)
$22-$40 - 256MB DDR400 (or $40 for 512)
$25 - 1GB CompactFlash (80X)
$12 - IDE-CF Adapter
$14 - 1x SATA PCI-e controller (1 + 4 onboard = 5x sata and no PATA crap); micro-atx MBs with more than 4x sata aren't common. Would like 6x for a hotspare option.
$0 - FreeNAS, or roll your own.
= $278 - $306

Add 5X Seagate 320GB SATA2 drives @ $100 each, which comes to $773 total for a 1,280GB RAID5 NAS box. Not too shabby. Could get the drives even cheaper than $0.31/GB by waiting for a better with-rebate-hassle deal.

Biggest downsides to this kinda of thing:
1) setup time for h/w and s/w
2) no easy hotswap bays with blinken LEDs to tell you "THIS DRIVE IS DEAD/DYING; REPLACE ME!", so you have to rely on mdadm alert emails and SMART monitoring, then crack the case open and KNOW the sata order so you replace the RIGHT sdX drive.
3) ugly and bigger than it needs to be

When some company comes along and sells a 5-6 drive raid5 box like this for $150-$250 (instead of triple that) I bet it'll be a HUGE hit.

Just to see how reasonably low I could go, I spec'd out an even cheaper do-it-yourself Micro-ATX software raid5 box:

$34-44 - MicroATX MINI-tower case w/ 300-400W PSU, 4x int 3.5" bays + 1-2x ext 3.5" (or 5.25" bays w/ brackets)
$79 - MicroATX Asus Socket 939 MB w/ 4x SATA2, 2x PATA, pci-e, gigabit, integrated vid&audio
$92 - AMD Athlon64 3000+ (cheapest socket 939 cpu)
$22-$40 - 256MB DDR400 (or $40 for 512)
$25 - 1GB CompactFlash (80X)
$12 - IDE-CF Adapter
$14 - 1x SATA PCI-e controller (1 + 4 onboard = 5x sata and no PATA crap); micro-atx MBs with more than 4x sata aren't common. Would like 6x for a hotspare option.
$0 - FreeNAS, or roll your own.
= $278 - $306

Add 5X Seagate 320GB SATA2 drives @ $100 each, which comes to $773 total for a 1,280GB RAID5 NAS box. Not too shabby. Could get the drives even cheaper than $0.31/GB by waiting for a better with-rebate-hassle deal.

Biggest downsides to this kinda of thing:
1) setup time for h/w and s/w
2) no easy hotswap bays with blinken LEDs to tell you "THIS DRIVE IS DEAD/DYING; REPLACE ME!", so you have to rely on mdadm alert emails and SMART monitoring, then crack the case open and KNOW the sata order so you replace the RIGHT sdX drive.
3) ugly and bigger than it needs to be

When some company comes along and sells a 5-6 drive raid5 box like this for $150-$250 (instead of triple that) I bet it'll be a HUGE hit.

Just to see how reasonably low I could go, I spec'd out an even cheaper do-it-yourself Micro-ATX software raid5 box:

$34-44 - MicroATX MINI-tower case w/ 300-400W PSU, 4x int 3.5" bays + 1-2x ext 3.5" (or 5.25" bays w/ brackets)
$79 - MicroATX Asus Socket 939 MB w/ 4x SATA2, 2x PATA, pci-e, gigabit, integrated vid&audio
$92 - AMD Athlon64 3000+ (cheapest socket 939 cpu)
$22-$40 - 256MB DDR400 (or $40 for 512)
$25 - 1GB CompactFlash (80X)
$12 - IDE-CF Adapter
$14 - 1x SATA PCI-e controller (1 + 4 onboard = 5x sata and no PATA crap); micro-atx MBs with more than 4x sata aren't common. Would like 6x for a hotspare option.
$0 - FreeNAS, or roll your own.
= $278 - $306

Add 5X Seagate 320GB SATA2 drives @ $100 each, which comes to $773 total for a 1,280GB RAID5 NAS box. Not too shabby. Could get the drives even cheaper than $0.31/GB by waiting for a better with-rebate-hassle deal.

Biggest downsides to this kinda of thing:
1) setup time for h/w and s/w
2) no easy hotswap bays with blinken LEDs to tell you "THIS DRIVE IS DEAD/DYING; REPLACE ME!", so you have to rely on mdadm alert emails and SMART monitoring, then crack the case open and KNOW the sata order so you replace the RIGHT sdX drive.
3) ugly and bigger than it needs to be

When some company comes along and sells a 5-6 drive raid5 box like this for $150-$250 (instead of triple that) I bet it'll be a HUGE hit.

Just to see how reasonably low I could go, I spec'd out an even cheaper do-it-yourself Micro-ATX software raid5 box:

$34-44 - MicroATX MINI-tower case w/ 300-400W PSU, 4x int 3.5" bays + 1-2x ext 3.5" (or 5.25" bays w/ brackets)
$79 - MicroATX Asus Socket 939 MB w/ 4x SATA2, 2x PATA, pci-e, gigabit, integrated vid&audio
$92 - AMD Athlon64 3000+ (cheapest socket 939 cpu)
$22-$40 - 256MB DDR400 (or $40 for 512)
$25 - 1GB CompactFlash (80X)
$12 - IDE-CF Adapter
$14 - 1x SATA PCI-e controller (1 + 4 onboard = 5x sata and no PATA crap); micro-atx MBs with more than 4x sata aren't common. Would like 6x for a hotspare option.
$0 - FreeNAS, or roll your own.
= $278 - $306

Add 5X Seagate 320GB SATA2 drives @ $100 each, which comes to $773 total for a 1,280GB RAID5 NAS box. Not too shabby. Could get the drives even cheaper than $0.31/GB by waiting for a better with-rebate-hassle deal.

Biggest downsides to this kinda of thing:
1) setup time for h/w and s/w
2) no easy hotswap bays with blinken LEDs to tell you "THIS DRIVE IS DEAD/DYING; REPLACE ME!", so you have to rely on mdadm alert emails and SMART monitoring, then crack the case open and KNOW the sata order so you replace the RIGHT sdX drive.
3) ugly and bigger than it needs to be

When some company comes along and sells a 5-6 drive raid5 box like this for $150-$250 (instead of triple that) I bet it'll be a HUGE hit.

Just to see how reasonably low I could go, I spec'd out an even cheaper do-it-yourself Micro-ATX software raid5 box:

$34-44 - MicroATX MINI-tower case w/ 300-400W PSU, 4x int 3.5" bays + 1-2x ext 3.5" (or 5.25" bays w/ brackets)
$79 - MicroATX Asus Socket 939 MB w/ 4x SATA2, 2x PATA, pci-e, gigabit, integrated vid&audio
$92 - AMD Athlon64 3000+ (cheapest socket 939 cpu)
$22-$40 - 256MB DDR400 (or $40 for 512)
$25 - 1GB CompactFlash (80X)
$12 - IDE-CF Adapter
$14 - 1x SATA PCI-e controller (1 + 4 onboard = 5x sata and no PATA crap); micro-atx MBs with more than 4x sata aren't common. Would like 6x for a hotspare option.
$0 - FreeNAS, or roll your own.
= $278 - $306

Add 5X Seagate 320GB SATA2 drives @ $100 each, which comes to $773 total for a 1,280GB RAID5 NAS box. Not too shabby. Could get the drives even cheaper than $0.31/GB by waiting for a better with-rebate-hassle deal.

Biggest downsides to this kinda of thing:
1) setup time for h/w and s/w
2) no easy hotswap bays with blinken LEDs to tell you "THIS DRIVE IS DEAD/DYING; REPLACE ME!", so you have to rely on mdadm alert emails and SMART monitoring, then crack the case open and KNOW the sata order so you replace the RIGHT sdX drive.
3) ugly and bigger than it needs to be

When some company comes along and sells a 5-6 drive raid5 box like this for $150-$250 (instead of triple that) I bet it'll be a HUGE hit.

Just to see how reasonably low I could go, I spec'd out an even cheaper do-it-yourself Micro-ATX software raid5 box:

$34-44 - MicroATX MINI-tower case w/ 300-400W PSU, 4x int 3.5" bays + 1-2x ext 3.5" (or 5.25" bays w/ brackets)
$79 - MicroATX Asus Socket 939 MB w/ 4x SATA2, 2x PATA, pci-e, gigabit, integrated vid&audio
$92 - AMD Athlon64 3000+ (cheapest socket 939 cpu)
$22-$40 - 256MB DDR400 (or $40 for 512)
$25 - 1GB CompactFlash (80X)
$12 - IDE-CF Adapter
$14 - 1x SATA PCI-e controller (1 + 4 onboard = 5x sata and no PATA crap); micro-atx MBs with more than 4x sata aren't common. Would like 6x for a hotspare option.
$0 - FreeNAS, or roll your own.
= $278 - $306

Add 5X Seagate 320GB SATA2 drives @ $100 each, which comes to $773 total for a 1,280GB RAID5 NAS box. Not too shabby. Could get the drives even cheaper than $0.31/GB by waiting for a better with-rebate-hassle deal.

Biggest downsides to this kinda of thing:
1) setup time for h/w and s/w
2) no easy hotswap bays with blinken LEDs to tell you "THIS DRIVE IS DEAD/DYING; REPLACE ME!", so you have to rely on mdadm alert emails and SMART monitoring, then crack the case open and KNOW the sata order so you replace the RIGHT sdX drive.
3) ugly and bigger than it needs to be

When some company comes along and sells a 5-6 drive raid5 box like this for $150-$250 (instead of triple that) I bet it'll be a HUGE hit.

Just to see how reasonably low I could go, I spec'd out an even cheaper do-it-yourself Micro-ATX software raid5 box:

$34-44 - MicroATX MINI-tower case w/ 300-400W PSU, 4x int 3.5" bays + 1-2x ext 3.5" (or 5.25" bays w/ brackets)
$79 - MicroATX Asus Socket 939 MB w/ 4x SATA2, 2x PATA, pci-e, gigabit, integrated vid&audio
$92 - AMD Athlon64 3000+ (cheapest socket 939 cpu)
$22-$40 - 256MB DDR400 (or $40 for 512)
$25 - 1GB CompactFlash (80X)
$12 - IDE-CF Adapter
$14 - 1x SATA PCI-e controller (1 + 4 onboard = 5x sata and no PATA crap); micro-atx MBs with more than 4x sata aren't common. Would like 6x for a hotspare option.
$0 - FreeNAS, or roll your own.
= $278 - $306

Add 5X Seagate 320GB SATA2 drives @ $100 each, which comes to $773 total for a 1,280GB RAID5 NAS box. Not too shabby. Could get the drives even cheaper than $0.31/GB by waiting for a better with-rebate-hassle deal.

Biggest downsides to this kinda of thing:
1) setup time for h/w and s/w
2) no easy hotswap bays with blinken LEDs to tell you "THIS DRIVE IS DEAD/DYING; REPLACE ME!", so you have to rely on mdadm alert emails and SMART monitoring, then crack the case open and KNOW the sata order so you replace the RIGHT sdX drive.
3) ugly and bigger than it needs to be

When some company comes along and sells a 5-6 drive raid5 box like this for $150-$250 (instead of triple that) I bet it'll be a HUGE hit.

Just to see how reasonably low I could go, I spec'd out an even cheaper do-it-yourself Micro-ATX software raid5 box:

$34-44 - MicroATX MINI-tower case w/ 300-400W PSU, 4x int 3.5" bays + 1-2x ext 3.5" (or 5.25" bays w/ brackets)
$79 - MicroATX Asus Socket 939 MB w/ 4x SATA2, 2x PATA, pci-e, gigabit, integrated vid&audio
$92 - AMD Athlon64 3000+ (cheapest socket 939 cpu)
$22-$40 - 256MB DDR400 (or $40 for 512)
$25 - 1GB CompactFlash (80X)
$12 - IDE-CF Adapter
$14 - 1x SATA PCI-e controller (1 + 4 onboard = 5x sata and no PATA crap); micro-atx MBs with more than 4x sata aren't common. Would like 6x for a hotspare option.
$0 - FreeNAS, or roll your own.
= $278 - $306

Add 5X Seagate 320GB SATA2 drives @ $100 each, which comes to $773 total for a 1,280GB RAID5 NAS box. Not too shabby. Could get the drives even cheaper than $0.31/GB by waiting for a better with-rebate-hassle deal.

Biggest downsides to this kinda of thing:
1) setup time for h/w and s/w
2) no easy hotswap bays with blinken LEDs to tell you "THIS DRIVE IS DEAD/DYING; REPLACE ME!", so you have to rely on mdadm alert emails and SMART monitoring, then crack the case open and KNOW the sata order so you replace the RIGHT sdX drive.
3) ugly and bigger than it needs to be

When some company comes along and sells a 5-6 drive raid5 box like this for $150-$250 (instead of triple that) I bet it'll be a HUGE hit.

$91 Athlon 64 3000+ CPU which will spend most of its time in power-saving mode, depending on how often the array is used. This also allows you to use a 64-bit Linux distro. AMD64 mode gives a very nice performance boost to encryption, if you're into that. There are cheaper 64-bit Sempron series chips if you don't mind sacrificing some L2 cache. Eventually there will be some cheap dualcore CPUs too.

$85 ASUS M2NPV-VM Socket AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6150 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard. Everything you need including the best onboard video available. I'm using its Socket 939 predecessor in my home server.

You'll need to be more careful about the memory you choose though. Spring for a good high-efficiency power supply too, probably Seasonic S12 or Enermax Liberty.

$91 Athlon 64 3000+ CPU which will spend most of its time in power-saving mode, depending on how often the array is used. This also allows you to use a 64-bit Linux distro. AMD64 mode gives a very nice performance boost to encryption, if you're into that. There are cheaper 64-bit Sempron series chips if you don't mind sacrificing some L2 cache. Eventually there will be some cheap dualcore CPUs too.

$85 ASUS M2NPV-VM Socket AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6150 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard. Everything you need including the best onboard video available. I'm using its Socket 939 predecessor in my home server.

You'll need to be more careful about the memory you choose though. Spring for a good high-efficiency power supply too, probably Seasonic S12 or Enermax Liberty.

sure, you could get 5 and have a NAS like everyone else does. Or you could get 24

Well, you can get a 1 Gb PQI for $19.99.
http://shop2.outpost.com/product/4359955?site=sr:S EARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

The PNY 2 Gb is $35.99 after $10 mail-in rebate.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16820178085

NewEgg has a couple others that hit the $40 mark w/o rebates.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16816116036

How about DVD9 + $CODEC? It's cheap, proven, and already availible on the market. Not to mention, improvements could be made with code updates to players.

1) Buy Bunches of Dual Layer DVDs, 8-Processor Motherbord and 8 Dual-core processors (And other stuff)
2) Restore Movies from Film onto RAW avi in 1080p
3) Transcode into $CODEC
4) Burn transcoded video to Disk as Data
5) Build DVD player with HDMI port
6) ???
7) PROFIT!

That CPU is only $145.99 at Newegg. So you paid about $400 after rebate plus sales tax on $550 for 1GB of RAM, a 250GB 7200 RPM SATA disk, a Lightscribe DVD-burner, and a non-transferrable OEM license for XP. Maybe not a horrible deal, but not a no-brainer either, considering the time to remove the HP ad/spy/bloatware if you really want to run XP.

Cite? I'm looking at Newegg's site now and the cheapest 3ware card I can find is $175 and doesn't even do RAID5.

Here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16816116036 a nice 3ware, hardware RAID controller for ~$100.00. I use this.

Software RAID is good for speeding up your disks, but I would never do Software RAID for data redundancy. Nor would I use it for east of recovery after a failure. I have used it for several years and the failures are nothing but trouble to get going again.

Hell there are only a few OS that can boot from software raid partitions. And your own personal education level will have to go way up to get it working anyway.

This $100 hardware raid card is no worries. Disk crash? put new disk in, reboot, tell RAID in BIOS to add disk to array. Finished. BTW, you get an email when the disk is acting funny or when it drops from array. Also supports smart. Can't be beat.

I'm just trying to ponder this one out logically - $779 edu-discounted Mini + LCD (19" widescreen is a fairly close match, same resolution anyways, ~$175) + Apple Keyboard and mouse ($70), about $1,025. Versus the educational iMac, $899 as-is. I'm sure you can get an external USB DVD burner for a good bit less than the difference (or just make your own with a caddy). Feel free to nickel and dime the extras - iSight, hard drive space, whatever. I think the iMac will end up coming out on top overall, but like you said, they really are for two different markets.

Why waste money cooling a mid range card with liquid when air is just fine

Here is a link to a Legit copy of XP Home Edition that would have no problems with an OEM key.
http://newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=206035 0368+1179212227&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=368
legit |= Retail

Here's a news flash for everybody!!

There are video cards out there that cost almost $600. There are processors that cost over $1000 dollars, and there are games that cost over $150 per year to play on top of the $50.00 you pay for it up front. Oh, and guess what? People buy them.

You want to know WTF Sony is thinking? For starters, how much money they are going to rake in. I for one am going to laugh my ass off when Sony sells out of the PS3 this year. This zealot attitude that so many (certainly not all) people have on this site toward anyone with market share really amazes me sometimes. Don't like what Sony's doing, don't buy it. Just don't go around predicting the demise of Sony, cause it ain't gonna happen. Sony is not Sega, the PS3 is not the Jaguar, and $600 is not going to be too expensive for a lot of people.

Mod me a troll, call it flamebait, but somebody has to say it.

Here's a news flash for everybody!!

There are video cards out there that cost almost $600. There are processors that cost over $1000 dollars, and there are games that cost over $150 per year to play on top of the $50.00 you pay for it up front. Oh, and guess what? People buy them.

You want to know WTF Sony is thinking? For starters, how much money they are going to rake in. I for one am going to laugh my ass off when Sony sells out of the PS3 this year. This zealot attitude that so many (certainly not all) people have on this site toward anyone with market share really amazes me sometimes. Don't like what Sony's doing, don't buy it. Just don't go around predicting the demise of Sony, cause it ain't gonna happen. Sony is not Sega, the PS3 is not the Jaguar, and $600 is not going to be too expensive for a lot of people.

Mod me a troll, call it flamebait, but somebody has to say it.