System Guide: Bargain Box, April 2014
 

The Bargain Box is the most basic box in the hierarchy of Ars System Guide rigs. It has no intent beyond a minimalist goal—creating a solid, affordable, basic computer. Think of it as the basic "office" box or "mom/dad/grandparent" box, if you will.

Unfortunately, this places it squarely against the cheap, pre-built boxes from the big OEMs. Dell, HP, Lenovo, and their ilk all benefit from vast economies of scale that the individual builder could never hope to emulate. By the time the big OEMs add up hardware discounts alone, building a cheap computer yourself is at best a so-so idea in terms of value. Add in the cost of the operating system, and this really goes out the window.

Factor in setup time and...well, those worrying about setup time, of course, probably aren't those looking at building their own Bargain Box. Build-enthusiasts are likely ready to sacrifice a bit of value as well. They already know the cost and have done the math, which gets into the real reason to build one's own Bargain Box...

Because you can.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/...april-2014/#p3