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Barebones Systems

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by jcrump71

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Can you tell me what if anything comes with a barebones system. I am looking at purchasing one and from what I read about it all I need to do is add memory, cd rom, and a hard drive. Is that a basic barebones system?

James

9 replies

by hinrgman

Be careful, different companys vary in what they call bare bones, basicly a bare bones system has the minimum of what you need to have the machine work. Some call bare bones just a box , power supply, and mother board depending it my not have a processor. The term "barebones" is a loose definition. Basically you get what you pay for.

by thechas

Barebone systems also require an operating system and software.

Make sure that you know what motherboard comes with the system, and that the power supply has enough capacity for your full system.

In my opinion, it is better to select the motherboard and then build the system around it.

Many of the barebone systems use "cheap" motherboards.

You didn't mention video, sound, or modem cards.
If the motherboard has these built-in, I would find an alternate system.
On-board video in particular is very slow compared to even cheap AGP cards.
On-Board modems can take out the whole motherboard if damaged by a voltage spike.

Chas

by dmiles

Their are different variations of a barebones system
Some are case power supply and motherboard
Additional parts needed
CPU
Hard drive
Memory
Operating System
Video Card
and other peripherals that you will need to complete the system
Some offer Combo of Motherboard and CPU,with case at additional cost,which is still considered as barebones system.

by ann777

I purchased a barebones system with Linux, 733 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM, 20 GB drive, network ready, modem, the works for $199 + tax (on sale, the normal price was $349.95). But I took the drive, put win98 on it and it works just fine without anything extra. It included a systemboard cd with all the drivers for all the hardware in serveral OSes. I added an IDE extension drawer and have three hdd that I swap into and out of this computer.

"Barebones" term is not clearly defined. Make sure you know what is included before you purchase it.

Building around a processor is okay too. But probably more expensive in terms of time and cost to gather all the parts and "make it work."

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