Computer build for wife work, seem ok to you guys in the know

[KEV EB XR8]

Reference: QU0045


Dear Cindy


The details and prices for the computer/components you requested,

-


Description Quantity Units Unit Price Price
AMD Sempron 2600 CPU (socket 754) 1 110.00 110.00
Gigabyte GA-K8U, ULi 1689, S754, DDR400, AGP,SATA, RAID, LAN, ATX (main board) 1 95.00 95.00
Kingmax 512Mb DDR400 RAM 1 85.00 85.00
6200 256MB AGP Xpertvision 64 bit DDR2 (graphics card) 1 115.00 115.00
80GB 7200RPM SEGATE IDE HARD DRIVE 1 95.00 95.00
ASUS DRW-1608P 16 X DUAL LAYER 16 X +/- RW-- 8 X DVD+RW--6 X DVD-RW-- 6 X DVD +/- R(DL) 1 85.00 85.00
Case and 450 watt power supply 1 75.00 75.00
postage 1 60.00 60.00
17" Polyview V372 8ms +DVI 1 345.00 345.00
Floppy drive (Optional) 1 13.00 13.00
16 x DVD ROM (Optional) 1 40.00 40.00
Sterio speakers (Optional) 1 12.00 12.00
Keyboard & mouse 1 25.00 25.00
Sub Total 1,155.00
GST 115.50
TOTAL 1270.50


Payment terms are strictly 30 days. If you have any questions, please give me a phone call.

Yours sincerely

Double that Ram
And make sure this is a flat slimline LCD 17" Polyview V372 8ms +DVI 1

[ON_DUBS]

get a pci express motherboard and video card, agp is old technology and you'll have problems upgrading in the future.

i agree with stampy on the ram.

[KEV EB XR8]

Received a pm, and also the above info, will be inquiring into the changes via email this arvo.

Thanks again for your knowledge to assist us in the build guys.

Originally Posted by aussiefalcon

get a pci express motherboard and video card, agp is old technology and you'll have problems upgrading in the future.

i agree with stampy on the ram.

Being for a work computer only (no games) PCI express may not be needed

If on the other hand you are doing heaps of graphics and playing games ,it may pay to get the best

[foxtrot]

Yep, go a gig ram for sure with the programs out now days you may need it.

Only other thing i would be worried about is the case with power supply. If it's a budget case and it come's with a 450w supply they are usually dodgy and don't remain within the 5% fluctuation tolerance on the voltage lines (this can cause random re-boots and computer turning off, especially in hot weather)

Made the same mistake building my computer (cheap case, nasty Power supply)... rectified with an $80 decent supply
Made the same mistake in dads computer also (dads computer is a 2600+ also where as I have a 2.8ghz P4)

yet to fix dads computer :P haha .. he can put up with the re-boots lol

[foxtrot]

Originally Posted by Stampy

Being for a work computer only (no games) PCI express may not be needed

If on the other hand you are doing heaps of graphics and playing games ,it may pay to get the best

I have a 6600GT running at only 4x AGP (my chipsets limitation)

this runs all the latest games at 1024 x 768 with decent frames and looks nice too

[KEV EB XR8]

Stampy, wont be any games or the like, but she does use her existing one and same the new one for simple ACD applications for info pics to be sent to customers abroard.

Foxtrot, You just solved another problem for me with the computer i am using now, with the rotten re-boot thing. rang a few times to ask the bloke for help and all he said was to de-frag and disc-clean. And by the way, fix your dads computer ya mongrel son "lol".

[foxtrot]

Yep, so many people get that when they use el cheapo cases. had a friend whos computer was doing that and told her it was the power supply.. her parents wouldn't beleive me and would not fork out for a new one and paid some computer "expert" to come around.. 30 bucks an hour he charged took it to his workshop left it on for 2 days.. didnt turn off and said it was fine (because it usually needs to be under load not just sitting there)

anyway point is a few days later the "expert" found out it was the power supply

I laughed.

they wasted lots of money on that guy

Just dont take my word 100% because if something else is faulty you can't blame me :P

Will fix dads computer as soon as he buys new Power Supply! had to replace his dvd drive the other day.. gahh...

[DivHunter]

Who are you getting it from? Is there an MSY near you? They could probably do a better package at a similar price.

[KEV EB XR8]

Originally Posted by Fairmont99

Who are you getting it from? Is there an MSY near you? They could probably do a better package at a similar price.

Sorry to sound naive but who is MSY.....

The company we are getting it from is in bathurst and has had a pretty good reputation so far, this is the 4th computer as we run 3 of them for each of our businesses.

Yep I recommend MSY, cept for their customer service. I have many times been waiting standing in Auburn for almost an hour in some cases.

[DivHunter]

Originally Posted by BlackLS

Yep I recommend MSY, cept for their customer service. I have many times been waiting standing in Auburn for almost an hour in some cases.

Yeha that can be a problem as they are all about moving large volumes of hardware with low margins.

http://www.msy.com.au/

the website is terrible but you can get the info you need off it.

[Steffo]

double the ram and its all good

[pauljh74]

Originally Posted by KEV EB XR8

Reference: QU0045


Dear Cindy


The details and prices for the computer/components you requested,

-


Description Quantity Units Unit Price Price
AMD Sempron 2600 CPU (socket 754) 1 110.00 110.00
Gigabyte GA-K8U, ULi 1689, S754, DDR400, AGP,SATA, RAID, LAN, ATX (main board) 1 95.00 95.00
Kingmax 512Mb DDR400 RAM 1 85.00 85.00
6200 256MB AGP Xpertvision 64 bit DDR2 (graphics card) 1 115.00 115.00
80GB 7200RPM SEGATE IDE HARD DRIVE 1 95.00 95.00
ASUS DRW-1608P 16 X DUAL LAYER 16 X +/- RW-- 8 X DVD+RW--6 X DVD-RW-- 6 X DVD +/- R(DL) 1 85.00 85.00
Case and 450 watt power supply 1 75.00 75.00
postage 1 60.00 60.00
17" Polyview V372 8ms +DVI 1 345.00 345.00
Floppy drive (Optional) 1 13.00 13.00
16 x DVD ROM (Optional) 1 40.00 40.00
Sterio speakers (Optional) 1 12.00 12.00
Keyboard & mouse 1 25.00 25.00
Sub Total 1,155.00
GST 115.50
TOTAL 1270.50


Payment terms are strictly 30 days. If you have any questions, please give me a phone call.

Yours sincerely

Considering it is for work, maybe an all in 1 motherboard with onboard video would be cheaper. If a separate graphics card is preferred, I've seen the ASUS 6200 with 128MB memory for $79 and the 256MB version for $99 - ASUS is a better brand than Xpertvision. If 2D graphics and not gaming is the main thing it's used for, you don't need a 256MB graphics card

512MB RAM is sufficient for a business PC unless memory intensive programs are used. 256MB is considered the minimum for WinXP. 1GB wouldn't hurt. Onboard video uses system memory - usually 32MB minimum up to about 128MB if the user specifies it in the BIOS setting.
The floppy drive can be useful - especially for some driver discs and I think it is worth the extra $13 to avoid the problem if you ever need to use a floppy disc. A DVD-ROM drive in addition to the burner isn't necessary.

I doubt many, if any Socket 754 chipsets support PCI Express, and I think with most business PCs, they will be sold off next upgrade in full and a new PC will be bought, so upgrading graphics cards in this PCs lifetime will not be an issue.

I agree with the point about the case and power supply. A cheap case isn't so bad, it's the power supply that is more important. Something like an Antec SLK1650B (B for black) would be a good balance between quality and reasonable price at $115. It comes with a 350W power supply, which will be sufficient for the proposed system. When you start introducing things like multiple hard drives, high end CPUs and graphics, then power demands shoot up towards and sometimes past 500W. The Antec rating will be a true rating, whereas generic power supplies are a tad "optimistic".

As you aren't in the city, I can see why your PC vendor's prices aren't as competitive. They're probably as good as you'll get out there.

[Steffo]

Originally Posted by pauljh74

512MB RAM is sufficient for a business PC unless memory intensive programs are used. 256MB is considered the minimum for WinXP.

Personally I consider 768MB the minimum for XP, especially running SP2. All my previous experience with XP on machines with less then 768MB of RAM show of horrible, shocking performance.

Get 1GB. 512MB is so 2001. :

Id say 1GB is so 2005 as well

Id get a all in one mobo and the money you save spend on getting 2GB of ram

[Kapn_Kiwi]

Originally Posted by Stampy

Id say 1GB is so 2005 as well

For a work PC? I'd say 1 GB is plenty in that case. For proper gaming it's reasonable but work, that's fine.
And I definitely agree on the DVD ROM count: Quite unneccesary unless you're doing loads of work with disks.

[foxtrot]

woops didnt notice you had dvd rom and burner on the list

you only need the burner, dont bother gettin the rom as well.

as for ram just get a gig. ignore the people who are saying 2 gig because if you take latency into account this could be even slower than a gig

with 2 gig the computer will take more time searching through the ram for the information it needs etc (with that motherboard).. i think that's how explain it

maybe in a high end PC with a crazy motherboard etc but remember people its a WORK COMPUTER.. 2 gig is nutz!! I play every game out there on 1 gig ram and 4x agp

[KEV EB XR8]

Geez you fellas are a wealth of information, many of you obviously work in the field, but im handing this over to my missus as she understands more about the makeup than me. she will probably print off the posts and read them tonight,

Thanks again guys/gals
yours sincerly Kevin

[DivHunter]

Originally Posted by foxtrot

woops didnt notice you had dvd rom and burner on the list

you only need the burner, dont bother gettin the rom as well.

as for ram just get a gig. ignore the people who are saying 2 gig because if you take latency into account this could be even slower than a gig

with 2 gig the computer will take more time searching through the ram for the information it needs etc (with that motherboard).. i think that's how explain it

maybe in a high end PC with a crazy motherboard etc but remember people its a WORK COMPUTER.. 2 gig is nutz!! I play every game out there on 1 gig ram and 4x agp

Have you tried to play FEAR? : I don't think it even supports any 4x AGP cards.

About RAM 'latency' the actual hole in performance is with an AMD and 4 ram sticks however the slight loss of performance is overcome by the shear volume of extra RAM. The performance loss we are talking is in the >10% range, much less in most cases. 1GB is sufficient for this application though and cheaper in a 2x512 config (preferably in dual channel mode). Anything up to 4GB is quite sane as the OS can handle it and will use it. More RAM will never hurt the over-all performance of a system unless you have to cut corners and buy cheaper, slower RAM to make it up.

[foxtrot]

Originally Posted by Fairmont99

Have you tried to play FEAR? : I don't think it even supports any 4x AGP cards.

About RAM 'latency' the actual hole in performance is with an AMD and 4 ram sticks however the slight loss of performance is overcome by the shear volume of extra RAM. The performance loss we are talking is in the >10% range, much less in most cases. 1GB is sufficient for this application though and cheaper in a 2x512 config (preferably in dual channel mode). Anything up to 4GB is quite sane as the OS can handle it and will use it. More RAM will never hurt the over-all performance of a system unless you have to cut corners and buy cheaper, slower RAM to make it up.

I play counterstrike source everday fine

Pre-ordered FEAR got it the day it came out.. finished it.. ran fine (alright @ 1024 x 768 but PERFECT on 800 x 600)

pre-ordered quake 4, came out around same time as fear. yet to finish it.. runs fantastic

pre-ordered COD 2.. runs perfect also with anistropic filtering or watever u call it at 4x i think?

My Motherboard supports 4x agp at the most.. although i have a 8x agp 6600GT.. its just running at 4x

I bought my motherboard when 533 bus P4's were all the rage.. the next week they released 800mhz FSB and 8x AGP to go along with it and i was like AWWWWWW!!

I heard too much RAM on the chipset Im running could slow it down quite a bit

[DivHunter]

As I said I don't think it supports any 4x AGP cards. Anisotropic and anti-aliasing are a bit different if that's what you meant. Sure it may have played without a stutter but it won't look like it's supposed to, turn the graphics back up and you'll have a slide show. All completely irrelevant to building a business system however.

[foxtrot]

Originally Posted by Fairmont99

As I said I don't think it supports any 4x AGP cards. Anisotropic and anti-aliasing are a bit different if that's what you meant. Sure it may have played without a stutter but it won't look like it's supposed to, turn the graphics back up and you'll have a slide show. All completely irrelevant to building a business system however.

yep it was anti-aliasing
sorry im not into technology much anymore.. since i got into cars.. and having a fulltime job etc

nah fear looked great.. how it was meant to.. at 1024 x 768 anyway.. but after a while it would stutter a bit so i turned it down half way through the game

[ON_DUBS]

Originally Posted by foxtrot

I have a 6600GT running at only 4x AGP (my chipsets limitation)

this runs all the latest games at 1024 x 768 with decent frames and looks nice too

at 16bit colour, low-res textures :

[pauljh74]

Only 6 months ago I was running 384MB RAM on XP - SDRAM too. It ran fine. It now has 512MB and I haven't noticed much difference, even when running games. I don't run SP2 though. People that used it when it came out said their machine ran slower and some experienced problems immediately after it was installed.
If you bring up the task manager when you have your typical set of programs open and check the RAM usage, it doesn't get near 512MB unless playing games or running some other resource hungry app. Right now my PC is using 252MB out of 1GB in 33 processes. Firefox is using 50MB
My work PC has 256MB and runs fine running while having typically 4 IE windows open, a spreadsheet perhaps and remote desktop connection open.

If you want to "future proof" the new PC a little, get 1GB of RAM. While it can help, it is not necessary at this point for typical business use.

[max^power]

polyview are cheap rubbish aren't they? Beware of a saleman that can't spell stereo!

512mb ram? AGP? IDE? BA BOW.. Three strikes. This guy is getting rid of a $600 machine for double what it costs.

$60 for postage! WTF? Get the guy to install it & do your housework as well for that price! what a joke. Shop around, you'll get a better price than that surely.

[pauljh74]

Originally Posted by max^power

polyview are cheap rubbish aren't they? Beware of a saleman that can't spell stereo!

512mb ram? AGP? IDE? BA BOW.. Three strikes. This guy is getting rid of a $600 machine for double what it costs.

$60 for postage! WTF? Get the guy to install it & do your housework as well for that price! what a joke. Shop around, you'll get a better price than that surely.

The motherboard is capable of SATA. But for the drive going into it, is it worth spending another $10 on SATA? No, because at this point in time the drives (at least budget ones) aren't fast enough to take advantage of the extra bandwidth of SATAI or II. Their burst speeds don't exceed 133MB/sec. Also, as I previously mentioned, Socket 754 is mostly, if not totally AGP - I don't think there are any PCI Express ones. Max^power, you have to realise that in country NSW, prices won't be as good as in the city - their turnover isn't as high and they face higher costs to get stock. Nor will they be likely to get the bulk discounts the city chain stores can get.

With the monitor, I suggest you should buy one with a 3 year warranty, or stick with a 17", or 19" CRT monitor as they will give you more for the money. I got a premium LG 19" CRT last year for $330. Monitors don't need upgrading as often and it is more important to buy a brand that has a reputation for reliability. I've had a monitor die just outside it's 12 month warranty. The next one required 3 repairs inside the 3 year warranty period. Like alot of electronic products now, it is rarely economical to repair them outside warranty. Out of what monitors your vendor offers, do a google search with the brand, model number, followed by "review" It should give you an idea how good they are as you read up on them.

[max^power]

Sorry mate i owned an online pc store for 3 years, what do i know. I'll keep out of these new pc discussions in the future.

BTW: A CRT will cost a FORTUNE to ship out.