The shock of it.....A sensible question in "Other"

People, I need your advice. I recently built a machine for my step-father's daughter, a beautiful machine, XP2600+ on an Asus nForce2 mobo, WD 80GB 8mb buffer HD etc etc. You get the picture, all top brand stuff. Good price as well, just over $900US. I didn't make any money on the rig, as my step father does an awful lot of favours for us through his business, so this was me paying him back somewhat.

Anyway, after casually mentioning it to a couple of people who work for him (he owns a big heating/plumbing company), 3 people have expressed more than a passing interest in getting PC's for home. Now, he knows that's they'd walk into a shop and pay WAY over the odds, and figures that I could do everyone a favour and build one for them. They'd get a cheaper machine using better componentry, I'd make a nice profit (he suggested 15% on top) and everyones a winner.

OK, let's cut to the chase. I want to standardise around one mobo and build different systems depending on usage, I.E. a value machine, high spec machine etc. I was thinking of <A HREF="http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=398&MODEL=MS-6570" target="_new">this one</A>, as it has everything needed. I know on board graphics aren't exactly the best, but most of the prospective customers want internet and word processing etc.

Basically, what do you guys think? I know I should be posing this question in the Motherboard forum really, but I don't want some lame arse who I've never spoken to ripping into me. In here, I know you lot and respect your opinion, so I'd value your comments, and not just on the mobo, about the whole scenario.

<font color=blue>"When you participate in sporting events, it's not whether you win or lose: it's how drunk you get." - Homer Simpson.</font color=blue>

Yeah, that's what I figured. Run the ram in dual channel and should kick ass. Reckon 512Mb should suffice. Plus if people want to upgrade to broadband internet later on, it has onboard network.

<font color=blue>"When you participate in sporting events, it's not whether you win or lose: it's how drunk you get." - Homer Simpson.</font color=blue>

One thing you might want to think about.
All those Options and Accesories take upto 4 card slots.
On my computer I didn't want this and connectors in
the back were inconvienient. I moved all of them to a
bay cover up front. I have a Lian-li case and it was very
easy to dremmel the alluminum cover.
You might want to offer this "Optional Service" for a modest fee.

The Pen is mightier than the Sword, but the Sword is better if you need back up.

My advice...
Don't do it...
Whenever you build a system for someone, they call you for every little problem. Save yourself some grief, tell them to call Dell.

Get your own sig!!!

My experience building PC's for family is rather aggravating. ANYTHING that goes wrong is on your shoulders. Spyware or their kids playing in the registry...no matter. It's your fault.

Make sure that you specify to them that they are saving an ungodly amount of money but that you will not provide after sale service without charging them an hourly fee. It's business. If they don't agree then the few pounds you make aren't worth it. It really isn't worth it. If you don't make this clear they will call you and waste so much of your time that you will essentially eat your profit.

As for building a system...

The Nforce Mobos are easy to work with. I'm not up to date on the newest ones, but use integrated sound, LAN, and even video for a budget system. The less cards, the easier. Buy good memory and a good PSU so that you avoid a headache later. If it's not your case, skimp on it. They won't know the difference. Use WinXP. There's nothing easier than just installing the chipset drivers for the Nforce2 mobo, some videocard drivers, and maybe modem drivers.

In my systems I dont' even install a floppy anymore. It's nice to work in a system without one. You probably can't do that on somebody elses system though.

Don't buy a cheap CD-rom drive. They make an unbearable amount of noise and in my case the cd-rw won't work with it on my mother's pc.

<A HREF="http://forums.btvillarin.com/index.php?act=ST&f=41&t=389&s=1fee5dab901bebe29da7aa1c2658fc6f" target="_new"><font color=red>dhlucke's system</font color=red></A>

<font color=blue>GOD</font color=blue> <font color=red>BLESS</font color=red> <font color=blue>AMERICA</font color=blue>

Wow, that's exactly what I was thinking. No money = No repair. I've already spoke to my step father and told him I'm not a charity. They fubar it, they pay. No exception. He agrees and mentioned a flat fee of £30 per hour. This is what he charges for call outs on his business, and he makes a very nice profit.

As for components, again you've repeated what I was going to suggest. The spec I've drafted, based around an MSI nForce 2 with on board vid/sound/lan, includes a cheap, but very nice looking case without PSU. I plumped for an Antec 350w SmartPower to go with it. I'd personally never build any system without a good quality PSU. Memory, I went for 2 sticks of Crucial 256mb. I've always used Crucial and know what to expect with it. Very reliable RAM. DVD-ROM and/or CDRW is an LG. Again, selected from personal experience, as these are used in our machines at work and are very good drives.

As for OS, I had included a legit copy of XP. First time I've bought a copy. Although I use Win2k, I figured, as you did, that XP will be far less of a headache for them to use.

<font color=blue>"When you participate in sporting events, it's not whether you win or lose: it's how drunk you get." - Homer Simpson.</font color=blue>

hes doing better than most pre-built options, by having an open AGP slot aside from the on board video



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no siggy applicable

I do a lot of PC jobs for friends/family/neighbours... pays nice and gives me more and more experience, never had any problems with calling for every little thing too (well only with a friend but that wasn't for a long period).

And I can sell my old PC hardware to them.

I love my Delta 60HP 7000 RPM fan that puts out more dB then CFM

Lucky u!


<b>dont start with me, u'll never win</b>