I had an unusual request from a customer today and I figured a few of you might benefit from my leg work. I had to configure a cheapo deluxe (but reasonable) computer. My customer lost 5 computers to a lighting strike so the budget is important. This is what I found:
Start with Soyo KT600 Barebones Kit with AMD Athlon XP 2600+, Case, Keyboard, Mouse and Speakers for 150 bucks INCLUDING Processor!
Then add 512MB Memory for 75 bucks
And then get a Hitachi 80GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive for 73 dollars
Get a Sony Black 52x32x52x16 Combo Drive, (DVD-ROM CD-RW) for $45
Toss in a PNY GeForce4 MX440 Video Card / 64MB / AGP 8X / TV Out for only 20 bucks
That's a total of $363 (plus freight some of which is free)
If you are driving a computer that is less impressive than this, you have no excuse not to upgrade. For $363 you get a very respectable computer complete with keyboard, mouse and speakers. I also gave them DVD drives and SATA hard drives. You could probably get the cost down to 300 with 256MB memory, a CD-ROM drive and an IDE drive. But why?
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Comments (7)
sorry, all my hardware cons... (Below threshold)1. Posted by TC-LeatherPenguin | May 28, 2004 2:54 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
sorry, all my hardware consultations end up with, "shut up and buy a Mac, 'cuz I'm not living here, okay?"
1. Posted by TC-LeatherPenguin | May 28, 2004 2:54 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 28, 2004 02:54
2. Posted by McGehee | May 28, 2004 8:20 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Hm. I match the RAM and beat the hard drive, but the CPU leaves me in the dust (mine's a Celeron 733, so I don't even have to look up the performance of the 2600+).
How many HDD slots does the kit have? My data is spread cross three disks for a total on the order of 115 GB, and I see no reason to physically move data if I don't have to.
2. Posted by McGehee | May 28, 2004 8:20 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 28, 2004 08:20
3. Posted by Paul | May 28, 2004 8:37 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
TC- I freaking agree-
I never spec hardware but when a Windows customer loses half of his network, you do what ya gotta do.
McGehee
(ahem ;-)
Ya know if ya followed the link it sez
- 4x 5.25' External Drive Bays
- 1x 3.5" External Drive Bay
- 2x 3.5" Internal Drive Bays
But if you get a 250ish SATA you'd be one happy puppy.
3. Posted by Paul | May 28, 2004 8:37 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 28, 2004 08:37
4. Posted by pylorns | May 28, 2004 10:16 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
im staying away from soyo boards after i had 3 fail on the fdd controller and the nic card.
4. Posted by pylorns | May 28, 2004 10:16 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 28, 2004 10:16
5. Posted by Paul | May 28, 2004 5:31 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
wow- and the little PC work I do, I love them - go figure???
I've had customers with maybe 5 or 6 and they all worked flawlessly... Guess that law of averages has to bite somebody huh?
5. Posted by Paul | May 28, 2004 5:31 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 28, 2004 17:31
6. Posted by Aaron's Rantblog | May 30, 2004 5:36 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
What would you do to your configuration if you wanted a VHS-in -- DVD-out machine? My next dream is to convert 400 VHS tapes to 4 spools of DVDs. I'll also want to burn DVDs from my MiniDV tapes.
I play no games.
I'm running XP Home on an Intel-P3 600MHz 384MB RAM. Been thrilled with it. Of course it was an upgrade from a P1-66. (Yeah... I had an original Pentium chip with the math error.)
Well... I get whiplash from PCs and want to smack folk who think computers are slow. Of course, I started on punchcards in Dartmouth's computer lab in the 1960's when BASIC was being invented and I still have a few of my paper tape programs from high school in the late 1970s and can recall getting our first monitor to replace the teletypes I used to program on.
And I'm only 41.
Convince me out of the Sony VAIO I was looking at from Circuit City. $899. Oh... and there are $150 in rebates with that.
P4 HT;2.8MHz;800MHz front side bus;512MB PC2700 333MHz DDR;120GB 7200RPM ATA-100;DVD+/-RW
And a bit of software:
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Productivity Software Included Microsoft® Works® 7.0, Office 2003 (60-day trial), Intuit Quicken® 2004 New User Ed., Adobe® Acrobat® Reader, Norton® Internet Security® (90-day trial), VAIO® Recovery Wizard, Support Agent, VAIO Media™
Educational/Entertainment Software Included Click to DVD™, PictureGear Studio®, DVgate Plus™, SonicStage™, InterVideo® WinDVD®, MoodLogic® 2.5 trial (fees required), RealNetworks® RealOne™ Player, Apple QuickTime®
6. Posted by Aaron's Rantblog | May 30, 2004 5:36 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 30, 2004 05:36
7. Posted by Paul | May 30, 2004 12:53 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Ok Computers are fine and all.... but DON'T use a computer to make those DVD's. Get a good DVD burner and hook it up directly to your VCR. Running them thru the computer is an exercise in frustration.
Check out the Panasonic DMR-E50. Good bang for the buck and DVD-R. (and DVR RAM which is very cool)
7. Posted by Paul | May 30, 2004 12:53 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 30, 2004 12:53