A friend in need for a desktop computer to be used in office as printer server also to be used for Microsoft office, outlook express and surfing the web, his budget about us$550.

He got an offer from his friend who owns computer shop for a brand new Dell equipped with P4 2.2 (FSB 400), 256 ram, intel integrated graphic, lan and audio, 7200 HD 40 gb, 17 Dell monitor plus mouse and keyboard. All this at the price of US$540 including the tax and delivery.

I suggested that I build one for him with the following specifications:
AMD 2500+ barton: $80
Simpletech ram 1x256 (pc2700) cl2.5: $45
WD40JB hard disk: $60
Case+mouse and keyboard: $60
CTX 17” monitor: $85
Lite-on 48x24x48x16: $43
Tax + shipping: $120
MB: ??

The price for both systems is almost the same, but I think the AMD system is better as price/performance, I need your opinion in this point

Also shall we go with 2x128 or 1x256 for the AMD system ram?

Which motherboard you recommend for the AMD (integrated graphic, lan and audio is must) not more than $70? And which is faster and more stable via or nforce 2 ultra? And do we need the ultra?

We need to make our mind within couple of days.

Thanks

wish if there was UnDo in the life<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by blue_heart on 06/13/04 01:46 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

The nforce integrated graphics is the best of it's kind available. Problem is, this has a cost premium Nforce boards with onboard graphics star at $80. If that is too much, go sis chipset. They are stable, great performers, and cheap. Asrock (an asus susidiary) has a sis 741 with graphics, lan and sound for under $50.
Without nforce, get whichever ram solution is cheaper.
For listed apps, the Amd solution will be 15% faster.

Get the AMD based setup.

You don't need the "nForce2 Ultra400" features. Simple nForce2 IGP is enough. I recommend ABIT NF7-M (nForce2 IGP based) for mobo. It's very reliable and doesn't cost much.

2 x 128 MB is better for the AMD setup, especially if you're using IGP. But I will recommend 1 x 256 MB, for better upgradability in future.

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Nforce2 by leaps and bounds. and no, you don't need the Ultra. Just nforce2 400 would be fine - you only lose Dual Channel RAM, which will make next to no difference anyway.

Considering no overclocking is going to be done, any cheap Nforce2 IGP mobo should be fine.

<A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-150-056&depa=1" target="_new">This Shuttle Mobo?</A>although it is $76, it has all you need.... or maybe <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-152-024&depa=1" target="_new">This Chaintech one</A> which is $55, but you'd need to buy a cheap AGP card, as it's not IGP.
These are just what newegg.com has to offer, there are others IFAIK..

A Point to note:
The Dell System will probably come with Windows XP & some basic office application stuff - have you included these in your spec?

The AMD-based system will easily outperform the P4, but you'll have a hard time matching whatever software bundle it comes with.

---
Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
Summer's here! so ease off the overclock...
XP1700+ @166x12 (~2Ghz), 1.475 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL 2-2-2-4
Sapphire 9800Pro 400/730

Asus A7V8X-MX is a very cheap motherboard with integrated Audio/Video/LAN. I recently recommended one of these to a friend that needed to build a low cost system. It works fine!

Pricewatch price starts at 54$

Or the A7N8X-VM/400 that starts at 62$ nad havea better chipset.

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What's the <b><font color=green>AMD Mobile Athlon 64</font color=green></b> overclocking potential? <b>It's huge!</b> Humm... Maybe not that huge...

I strongly recommend 2x256Megs of RAM. for today'S computing, it's essential.

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What's the <b><font color=green>AMD Mobile Athlon 64</font color=green></b> overclocking potential? <b>It's huge!</b> Humm... Maybe not that huge...

Doesn't sound like your friend needs an uber-machine - I'm sure either configuration would perform fine for his needs. One thing nobody's mentioned - the Dell probably comes with a warranty - does your home-built system?

In this day and age, who gives a sh!t about 20 bucks? You want dual channel and a trouble-free install, the ABIT AN7-S is one of the best choices out there. A one-armed monkey could build one and it is fast!

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. Now, let's eat!

well who really needs a warranty. if he is willing to do work if it needs it, he will have the warranties for each of the parts. its unliekly he will have any big problems that wont show up during install. I was suckered in a 3 year warranty and never used it, wont do that again.

Whatever's cheapest. He could actually get by with an old Athlon or P3 system. Check into used eMachines! LOL.

Actually I have the perfect office system sitting right here. It's an old Gateway mid-tower with a nice heavy steel case, Intel WS440BX motherboard, PIII 700, TNT 16MB, Windows 98SE, and 128MB of RAM. It runs office apps slick...and I'll be taking it to my retailer next week.

BTW, before anyone harshes 98SE, this IS an Intel motherboard, no stability issues. Old Creative Ensiniq PCI card, more stable than the SB Live. Etc etc, it's stable.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

Oh, and 256MB is kind of meager for WindowsXP.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

Thanks guys for your help

Regarding the software, its gonna cost us nothing since he has a copy of windows xp and office, i can install for him free copy of AVG anti-virus,and he does not need any kind of software that come bundled with Dell or others.

Regarding the warrantee, all the parts have individual warranty therefore any part that fails we could replace it, so no problem here either.

yesterday i found great deal on best buy for 256mb viking memory pc2700, the price after rebate is $33 <A HREF="http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1061769821106&skuId=5993133&type=product" target="_new">link here</A>, i think we would get this one as long as he does need that much of memory and in case he does we can add another one in the near future.

since everybody is recommending the nforce2, the best deal i could find is <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-138-234&depa=0" target="_new">Biostar M7NCG 400 nForce2</A>, is this board good?
i want to limit my buying sources between newegg and zipzoomfly because of the reputation they have, i dont want to go other places with less price but painy services

the motherboard is micro atx, so do we need a case that marked with micro atx, or any atx case will be fine? if so then <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-154-017&depa=0" target="_new">this one</A> looks good with the power supply.


wish if there was UnDo in the life

Since you're not overclocking, that board should be fine.

and a Micro ATX board will fit happily in a standard ATX case. In fact if I had to get a micro ATX board then I'd still use a full-size ATX case anyway, as I <i>really</i> hate small cases.

It might be worth trying to get a cheap 80mm case fan for an exhaust fan too. It'll only add a couple of $ to the price, and would help keep the system temps down a bit.

---
Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
Summer's here! so ease off the overclock...
XP1700+ @166x12 (~2Ghz), 1.475 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL 2-2-2-4
Sapphire 9800Pro 400/730

did you read what that guy wants? He needs a MB with integrated video. The AN7 don't have integrated video.

--
What's the <b><font color=green>AMD Mobile Athlon 64</font color=green></b> overclocking potential? <b>It's huge!</b> Humm... Maybe not that huge...

Sorry Rod, I drank too much wine last night! I'll try and STFU when that happens next!

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. Now, let's eat!

HE HE HE!!! Actually, I find it more funny to play online games when I'm a bit drunk... I mess everything!

--
What's the <b><font color=green>AMD Mobile Athlon 64</font color=green></b> overclocking potential? <b>It's huge!</b> Humm... Maybe not that huge...

yep


in any corporate environment youll see Intel based work stations. but that means nothing. AMD is faster for "windows" stuff, like work processing and office apps and whatnot..


my mom has my old Duron 1ghz, which i used this past weekend for the first time in 9 months and i was blown away how fast windows loaded and how fast i could open/close windows and manipulate things. in win98, that old duron was way more than fast enough for even me. and im used to my 2.4ghz Barton.


her system is as follows:

Duron 1ghz
384megs/SDRam 100mhz (-lol)
ECS K7S5A (SIS 735 chipset. very good even today. has 2 DDR slots as well)
Radeon 7200 64megSDR
20gig 5400rpm HDD



she probably wont have to upgrade for another 2 years or so , for the basic stuff she does like talking on MSN, emailing, web browsing, and she usually does about 2 hours of paper work every night for work. she has only had a few blue screens so far, and that can easily be the fault of Windows98

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<A HREF="http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/you.html" target="_new">please dont click here! </A>
<A HREF="http://www.subhi.com/keyboard.jpg" target="_new">This is you, interweb junky</A>

my mom has my old Duron 1ghz, which i used this past weekend for the first time in 9 months and i was blown away how fast windows loaded and how fast i could open/close windows and manipulate things. in win98, that old duron was way more than fast enough for even me. and im used to my 2.4ghz Barton.

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Now who's been hittin' the bottle? Mesmorized by a 1 ghz Duron?

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. Now, let's eat!

today we purchased the parts but not from newegg, we purchased most of them from frys (yes frys) why? i will tell you why.

i checked their web site yesterday and found great deals, and here the deals we got

- ESC N2U400-A motherboard (nforce2 400 ultra chipset) + AMD barton 2600+ oem for $84 (no mail in rebate) and we purchased cooler master fan and heatsink @ $15, so the total is about $100

- WD800JB 80gb 8mb cache for $40 after mail in rebate

we have also pruchased the following (they are not deals, but good prices compared to newegg and no wait or cost for delivery and fast replace in case there is a problem with any: -

- generic case with 300w power supply: $30
- graphice card geforce2 mx400, AGP: $30
- mitsumi 54x32x54: $40
- cooler master 80mm case fan: $9

and we purchased the following from best buy:
- pny 512mb pc2700: $70 (i think it is cl3)
- 17" hp mx703 flat crt: $150 (we could not find good monitor less than this price)

we could get the monitor at cheaper price from newegg, but he got a job and has to do it urgently therefore the pc should be ready by monday therefore the idea of buying from newegg was not usefull anymore.

tomorrow i will assemble it and hopefuly everything goes fine and face no problem.

thank you again for your help

wish if there was UnDo in the life