If the big boys can so easily roll cheap PCs, I thought: Why not see if the readers of "Wintel Watch" can do it better? More a bout that later; first some background.

I'm congratulating myself because I predicted this trend last year, when I coined the term "blue-collar" PC to describe these sub-$1,000 systems. The thinking was that the blue-collar PC would come on strong because the very low end of the market is the only virgin market that's left. Consider that 38 million U.S. households have a PC. Of households earning more than $40,000, 57 percent already own a PC. In short, just about everybody who wants a $2,000 to $3,000 PC and can afford it already has one. To get new customers, OEMs have to go downmarket.

Acer was perhaps the first to realize this, launching last summer a super-cheap box for sale in the Far East. Called the AcerBasic, it sold for $500 and was outfitted with Windows 3.1 and a 133-MHz 5x86 microprocessor from AMD -- a chip that's often called a "486-and-a-half" because it delivers the performance of a 75-MHz Pentium.

The out-and-out cheapest setup you can buy in the U.S. seems to be the aptly named $999 PC from Packard-Bell. The system has a 120-MHz Pentium, 16-Mbytes of RAM and a state-of-the-art 33.6-kbps modem. Sure, the monitor is decidedly low grade, but what do you expect for a thousand bucks.

Another interesting spin comes from Compaq, in the form of the Presario 2100, a $999 (sans monitor) machine built around the new MediaGX processor from Cyrix.

Compaq's decision to use the MediaGX is a huge win for Cyrix. Indeed, it's the first non-Intel chip Compaq has used in several years, when it built some systems with 486 clones from AMD. Clearly, cost was a big factor in selecting the MediaGX, w hich comes as a two-chip set that sells for $79 at 120 MHz and for $99 in its 133-MHz version.

Now, back to my $1,000 PC challenge. I looked at all of the above systems and figured I could configure a PC just as good -- and just as cheap -- as any real OEM. So I took out my stack of computer catalogs and launched my Web browser in search of the cut-rate components I needed. No vendor was too far off the beaten path, no price too low. The only requirements were a minimum 120-MHz Pentium CPU and 16-Mbytes of RAM.

The centerpiece of any PC is the motherboard. There are literally thousands of choices. I whittled it down and came up with an Asus T2P4 motherboard from -- appropriately enough -- Motherboard Express. At $324, the board seemed like a good deal, what with a 120-MHz Pentium, Intel Triton HX core-logic chip set and 512-kb of secondary cache. (Attention K-Mart shoppers! W hen I last logged on, Motherboard Express was running a "one hour sales spectacular.")

What's a motherboard without memory? In search of RAM to fill the four, 72-pin SIMM slots, I ended up at RAM 4 Less, where I could get 16-Mbytes for $72. (Hmmm. Motherboards from Motherboard Express, RAM from RAM 4 Less; there seems to be a pattern developing here.)

For my PC's enclosure, I went to Case Depot. (Talk about a niche business!) I picked out a bare-bones desktop case for $65.

The 230-W power supply set me back another $40.

So far, my bill of materials is at $501, and I'm still without a video card, modem and hard-drive. CompUSA Direct has a cheapy 16-bit Super-VGA video card from a vendor I'd never heard of -- SIIG -- for $79.99. A Quantum 1.2-Gbyte hard drive set me back $185 at US Computer.

Throw in a Teac 3-1/2-inch floppy drive for another $30 from Worldwide Technologies and a Boca Research V.34 modem for $70 from PC Mall and the package is complete.

Toting up my intellectual exercise in PC configuration, the final damage so far comes to $865.99. There's just one problem: Both Packard-Bell's $999 PC and Compaq's Presario 2100 come with an 8X CD-ROM -- something I haven't accounted for yet. And a Creative Labs add-on multimedia kit equipped with an 8X CD-ROM drive, sound card and speakers clocks in at $225 at Midwest Computer Works.

I'm now at $1090.99 -- over my target by $90.99.

Moreover, adding in a decent reconditioned 14-inch monitor (1280 x 1024 maximum resolution, 0.28 dot pitch) for $179.98 at the PC Zone pushes me up to $1279.97.

It looks like Packard-Bell has me beat. But my quest for a home-grown $999 PC isn't over yet. Now it's your t urn. I'm asking all the readers of "Wintel Watch" to see if they can cobble together a comparable PC for less dough than I was able to do. But don't e-mail me your results. Repeat: Don't e-mail me your results. Instead, post them on our "Wintel Watch Forum" for all to see and comment on.

One caveat: please verify that you've got correct prices. Gathering the pieces of my PC, I learned that prices posted on the Web are often out of date. In the computer business, memories and chips get cheaper by the day. Indeed, I almost always got better quotes over the phone.

So let the games begin. We'll crown the winner in a future column. And what can you win? Probably nothing but my accolades and the envy of your peers. Or maybe a mug or something if we can find one. Oh, and the decision of the judges-that's me-is final.

Free Subscription to EE Times First Name Last Name Company Name Title Email address   Click here for your Free Subscription to EETimes Europe