I've got 768mb of DDR 400 RAM lying about here, possibly 1GB if I can find the 4th DIMM. They're all 256MB DIMMs, as of right now I have 2 that are matched, looking for the 4th to match the spare. Currently I'm in cali, so I'd have to ship them, but if you can wait 'til I get home in May it'd be easier.

DJ

DJ, I'd certainly like to meet up with you when you get back. No need to ship it. The 4th DIMM is moot because I only have 3 DIMMs open. If the need gets satisfied before you return I'll let you know.

Hrm, I'm assuming you're not worried about dual channel ram then, just want to fill the other slots up? I'll bring the 3 sticks home with me, that'll boost you a full gig of RAM, minus the onboard video requirements. Either way, it'll show a HUGE improvement :). I'll be home on May 22nd, I don't mind shipping them, as fedex ground would only be like 5-10 or so. Lemme know.

DJ

May 22nd...didn't realize you were returning so late. USPS in a padded envelope would probably be fine. That would be much less (~$2). Hit me up with your physical address at jeffbarnett513 (at symbol) gmail.com. I'll send you some cash for the postage and your time.

Email sent.

What type of ram does the comp use midnight? I may have some sdram laying around in one of our endangered computers.

It takes 184-pin DDR, PC2100/2700/3200

Found out I already have 512MB RAM (must have added a 256MB stick sometime in the past) so I wouldn't benefit from DJ's RAM. I Ordered a $30 video card and $30 worth of RAM from NewEgg this weekend. Also found I have a P4 2.0 GHz, not a Celeron. I did the math and decided that $60 was a sound investment to prolong my PC's life for a year or two. Here's what I'll be moving from:

P4 2.0 GHz
512 MB RAM (PC2100)
80 GB hard drive
Intel onboard video chipset circa 2002

P4 2.0 GHz
1 GB RAM (PC3200, not that the processor and mobo can take advantage of the extra speed, but it was cheapest)
80GB hard drive
8 GB hard drive from original Xbox (gonna install OS on this drive and move paging file to the 80 GB, increasing virtual memory)
Radeon 7000 64 MB video card (nothing fancy, but beats the hell out of onboard video and has DVI out. should make online streaming video a little easier to handle)

It feels strange to talk about upgrading junk with junk, but since it does the job I just couldn't substantiate a larger investment.

To satisfy the need for another desktop in my house (since Christina uses a PC for school almost every waking moment) I also ordered a refurb Dell Inspiron 530s slim tower PC. I finally caught a cheap one in the Dell outlet inventory. You have to camp it and refresh every few minutes. They update the inventory in real time and PCs less than $250 are snagged quickly. I got it for $229 minus a 20% online coupon which plus tax and shipping came to $230. It is spec'd as follows:

Pentium Dual Core 1.8 GHz (E2160, I think)
1 GB RAM
250 GB SATA hard drive
Vista Home Basic
DVD-ROM

Along with my NewEgg order for the defunct PC I added the following for this PC:
$20 GeForce 6200LE 64MB PCIe x16 low profile video card with DVI out
$17 1 GB PC2 5300 RAM

The upgrades from NewEgg should ease the pain for Vista and satisfy the small video requirements that I have. It'll also be easy to upgrade (socket 775 processor, PCIe x16 slot, Vista upgrade capability) when the time comes, unlike my oldest PC.

Overall I spent about $340 and got two mediocre PCs. I was really close to buying a rig like Shyzza got from Dell but decided that it just didn't fit my needs. Compromise sucks, but I guess it's sometimes the smart thing to do.