Building a PC Equal to XBox for the Same Price or Less?

Lonnold asks: "Every time the topic of Linux on the XBox and/or XBox modding comes up, some one always responds, 'I can build a better PC from scratch, why waste time modding a game console?' So that's my challenge, can anyone demonstrate that it is cheaper to build a PC comparable to the XBox specs?"

Comments

Impossible

[GigsVT]

build a PC comparable to the XBox specs

There's no way you could find hardware that will only run signed binaries on the open market. Only an idiot would buy such crippled hardware, and the company that came out with it would go under quickly, unless maybe they were some kind of monopoly or something.

Um, loss leader anyone?

[ByronEllis]

Well, since Microsoft is taking a loss on the XBox hardware so you might not be able to accomplish that. Its pretty standard Gillette-style marketing practice (give the razor away and make a killing on the blades).

Of course the 'killing on the blades' part is proving to be more difficult than they anticipated, but so it goes.

Re:Um, loss leader anyone?

[ivan256]

Of course the 'killing on the blades' part is proving to be more difficult than they anticipated, but so it goes.

Perhaps they overlooked the fact that blades wear out, but game discs don't. You can't trade razor blades with friends or sell them back to "Razor Stop" and replace them with other used blades unless you like pain.

We won't even get into the fact that Gilette using existing patent law to protect their business model and didn't have to lobby congress for new protections that didn't exist to prevent reverse engineering.

Lets see here

[Glonoinha]

CPU : PIII 733MHz w/ 128k cache
RAM : 64M
Video card : GeForce 3ti or maybe even a low end GF4.
Sound card : Regular ol' sound card.
Media : CD/DVD reader.
Hard drive : 8G

$220 without a floppy drive, keyboard, or OS? I think we can probably do that pretty easy, or should I say yes, very easy. Probably do twice as much performance (Celeron 1.4GHz or even higher cpu, twice as much memory, hard drive space) for $250.

Including lawyers fees?

[anthony_dipierro]

Is this with or without the cost of defending yourself from a DMCA lawsuit?

Re:Try this...

[KurdtX]

* MSI motherboard w/ generic "3D" video - $50
* Athlon XP 1700+ CPU - $45
* Kingston 128MB SDRAM - $24
* Seagate Barracuda 30GB 7200RPM drive - $50
* Dynapower METIS ATX Mid-Tower /w 300watt PSU - $22
* NEC 52x CD-ROM drive - $15

Realizing you don't have to make Linux run on something "just 'cause it's there" - $priceless