Hello all, I am planning on building a windows based pc. I have a few questions:

1. I have an upgrade edition xp pro cd and an OEM edition of vista. Will any of them work?
2. Would the use of used parts be a better deal?
3. What are ALL the items that i need (below, am i missing anything)?
4. How much should a used parts system with the (listed below) configuration cost?

Intel Core 2 duo @1.8ghz
A standard case
Ethernet NIC card
1GB RAM
80GB HDD SATA or IDE
Lower end video card
Standard Mother board
DVD burner drive
either xp or vista, whatever i can get to work
I already have speakers, CRT monitor, and ethernet cable.


Please let me know if i am missing anything!!!

Add another gig of ram for vista. But then again, if that OEM Vista was activated on another computer, changes are it won't activate on the new one. It uses some kind of thingy based on your hardware. As for the XP pro, I really dunno.

Just to be an ass, might I ask why you're building from scratch? While I don't know how much used parts will cost, you can certainly get a system with those specs (prebuilt and with genuine Windows) for a low cost. Might I suggest this site? You can find some good deals there (they also has refurbished and open-box systems if your budget is constraining).

oem vista is was activated, but uninstalled. as for building a new pc, i want to see if i can actually get a decent one to work for testing purposes.