Build Computer for Low Price
 

Alright, So I have a few security cameras that run into my computer (currently) and the program takes images whenever there is movement. I have a problem, It's on MY computer, I don't want to have to leave my computer on 24/7 just so that it can record. So I was wondering what you guys thought I should do for a new computer. I'd prefer to spend under $300 if I could. Lower would be better. Here are the requirements:
# 1 GHz
# RAM: 128MB
# Hard Drive Space: 80GB
I will Need:
Everything but the OS, keyboard and mouse, probably the Cd Drive. No floppy.
I'd prefer to have 512 or 1024 ram, but 512 will work. Probably at least a 250 or 320 gb hard drive. What kind of processor should I get, all that info. If you have the time. This is a little side project.

here is a good forum for computer questions http://computerforum.com/

I would try to setup a head less system(no kb mouse monitor) that was connected to a Networked Attached Storage device. invest in dedicated raid controlers and load up on hard drives. i think you will be spending most your money on storage rather than processing.

check here for products http://www.newegg.com/

check out www.newegg.com for parts or www.pricegrabber.com

I just looked at one on dell.com for $359.00:
http://www.dell.com/content/products...=19&l=en&s=dhs

AMD Sempron™ 3400+
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Basic
NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Integrated Graphics GPU
512MB Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 1DIMM
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
No Monitor
48X CD-RW/ DVD Combo Drive
Microsoft Works 8.
1Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor - Next Business Day


A suggestion, get an Western Digital MyBook for external storage, I have a 1TB MyBook and it works great... also, maybe a CD or DVD burner to archive from the system itself, unless you are going to share the drive across a network via Samba and use an existing burner for the archives.

I've been looking into doing this myself. Would you tell me more about your setup, in terms of the camera hardware and software... and/or if it is compatible to linux?
I'm primarily looking for some equipment for outside use and night vision would be a plus.

I would say try ebay, you can get amazing deals on there.

Scavenging
 

Have you considered scavenging (aka skip diving here, or dumpster diving in the US)? Last machine I got this way was a dual PIII 550 with 256Mb of RAM and a 20Gb disk. It didn't cost much to up this to 1Gb of RAM - it's now a media playing and software development workstation. I added a DVD burner to it that I had sitting around in a drawer and ended up with a respectable, reliable and amazingly quiet little media box that runs Eclipse just fine for about £20 all in (that's just under $40).

You don't have to physically climb into skips to do this either - usually if you ask around someone's about to throw something useful out.

(Edit: for the curious, it's currently running Fedora 6, will be getting 7 shortly; I play video with VLC an audio with XMMS; the machine is also running vsftpd and Apache and takes about a day to rip and transcode a full-length movie, which is not bad for a couple of old Katmais if you ask me).