Well i have been shopping around for a buget computer for a friend of mine. He doesn't much on the computer, but he would like to get a second machine. I came accross this one
Refurbished AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 2GHz Desktop for $190 + $22 s&h on TechSpots Bargain page.

Just wonder what you guys/gals thing of it. As far as the price goes it seems like a good buy, but am I missing something? The hole 'refurbished' makes me nervous.

Ok if you know what you're doing
Xp OS is selling here for another $90, and you still need a Monitor to go with it. I don't like the PowerSupply minimum wattage though.

Yah i noticed the power supply minimum wattage looked really low.

For the OS I think either I can come up with something or my friend can. I think I can find drivers for it.

how did it work out in the end mate ?

It was for a friend and he decided not to get it. So i dont know

you could do a similar comp for similar money, if you know how to build yourself.

there would be 2 problems here:
brand/motherboard-specific power supply. these branded comps often have a power supply that is shaped differently from a typcial ATX form factor power supply. and i bet the power supply was not so good. swapping it out would not be too much trouble, and might cost $40.

socket 939 motherboard not easy/cheap to replace if this one goes bad.
if the mb goes bad, you could put the processor in another mb, but you would have to spend maybe $50 to get a basic, functioning decent mb. not a big selection for the cpu's format nowadays.

so
you could get a modest am2 cpu for $50, get a modest, decent mb, with 'integrated' video card and sound card, for maybe 70 - 90. get a modest, decent case with power supply for 60. get a modest similar hard drive for 50. get some decent ram 1gb on some rebate or sale for 30.

get some 'free shipping' deals from newegg.

so, for maybe 220, you have something that is also modest, but actually newer faster cpu, and where parts can easily be swapped if something (mb, power supply) fails.

->>>then take your buddy's operating system from his old comp and load it on his new comp. take his old monitor and use it.

i myself might look at a low-price deal like this if it had windows already installed, and so was ready-to-use straight out of the box.

my comp has this amd 3800 and it runs very well.