Saturday's hardware cheapness o' the day

IF YOU know of any good value IT sales (auctions, rebates, one-off, clearance, surplus, classified ads) going around in the United Kingdom, France, USA or Singapore, don't hesitate to contact me, at least 24 hours before the sales end.

UK
Dell also sells second hand stuff for those who were unaware of it. It has an online outlet where it flogs some returned second hand kit. You can check its available stock in real time. And as you can guess, you can get some very good deals. For example, a Dell Dimension 8300 with a Pentium IV 3.0GHz with 1MB cache - a Prescott member - costs only £434.48. Its specs are more than commendable. 512MB memory, a huge 120GB hard disk with 8MB cache, a 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card with DVI and dual monitor support, a fax/modem, keyboard and mouse, a 48x CDROM drive and a 8x DVD+R/RW DVD writer as well as the the usual onboard LAN and audio. Other software include Windows XP home and MS Works. Still, you would obviously have to pay for VAT and for delivery which might add £100 to the prie but you are getting a branded PC for not that much money after all and certainly much less than what you would pay for a new one.

Get yourself a brand new monitor and get rid of that old CRT. HireIT is selling a 15in CTX PV520 LCD monitor for only £90, arguably the cheapest LCD display in the UK. It is an ex-rental item with 30 day guarantee. it has a slight cosmetic damage on the outer casing but is otherwise OK. The native resolution of the screen is 1024x768 and it has a contrast ration of 300:1, fairly average. The PV 520 was CTX's top of the range back in September 2001. It will however no longer get heads turning as other screens now put it to shame. It was reviewed some time back by Bit tech which gave it a Highly recommended star. But beware, It has no USB hub, although it can rotate, there is no software to support it and there is no DVI as well. But heck, for £90, less than a quarter of its original price, there is not much that we can dislike with this model. Recommended at the price.

You will be hard pressed to find a better system deal. For £212+VAT, buy yourself an Acer T120E system from ebuyer, an evolution of a system which we had already reviewed here. Packed in a Micro Tower, you get an AMD Sempron 2600+, 256MB memory and a 40GB hard disk. Other features include three PCI and one AGP slot all controlled onboard by a VIA KM400+ chipset with built-in video and audio functions. There are four external bays, two of each. You also get a 6-in-1 memory card reader as well as onboard NIC, modem, speakers, mouse and keyboard. If this was not enough, you get some software as well - Windows XP, MS Works, Cyberlink Power DVD and NTI CD Maker.

USA
Thanks to Yuriv for this one. Newegg is selling a socket A AMD motherboard for a mere $9.99 after two mail in rebates. On top of that, you get a free Newegg Silver Ink Pen. The motherboard is a Mach Speed Venom V2DP and uses a VIA KM266 Pro chipset - never heard about that brand. As one can guess, there is nothing spectacular about it. It is merely a basic integrated motherboard with two DIMM sockets, one AGP and three PCI slots as well as two ATA connectors. The board is not well designed though with not enough space around the socket if you want to have a large HSF. Its small size however will allow you to plug it into most casing without any difficulties. Other specs include six USB 2.0 ports, integrated Graphics module - VIA S3 Unichrome, integrated AC97 5.1 speaker support and integrated LAN.

Dumpinggoods is giving away some free stuff. First, an Intel Pentium II 233MHz slot I processor with heatsink. Cheep and cheerful, you could probably use it to build a hardware firewall for example though you might get something better on Ebay. Dumpinggoods is also giving away a Micro ATX case without power supply though. It comes either in black or white and can be used vertically - stands are provided - or horizontally. I believe tht only a small 180w PSU will go in. The case has one full size bay, and can accommodate two 3.5in components, one of them being the floppy disk. You also get two front USB ports as well as the usual audio ports, all four hidden under a flap. A fairly good deal for the price you are paying. Nada.

Tigersurplus is selling a 2.4x DVD+RW/16x10x40x12 DVD Writer for $32.88, the cheapest DVD writer available without rebates. It comes with a one year warranty and a retail package including Pinnacle Systems Instant CD/DVD software package. You basically get the usual stuff. Nothing much to say about it though. Good cheap product if you want to add DVD writing function to your computer. µ