Low budget system -- your advice please?

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Blaustein
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J

John Blaustein

Hi,

I just built my first PC -- P4P800-E Deluxe, P4/3.0, 2GB Mushkin RAM. With
the help of many people in this newsgroup, my first PC building experience
went without a hitch.

I may need to build another system and this one needs to be about as "low
end" as possible. It's for my 87 year old mother who only uses the computer
for Quicken and word processing with MS Works. She is now using an old
Pentium system that's at least ten years old.

I have an extra Antec ATX case with a 350w PSU, an extra floppy drive, a
couple of extra Maxtor and WD EIDE drives, so all I really need is a mobo,
CPU, RAM and video card. Looking at newegg, I came up with the following:

ASUS "P4PE2-X" i845PE Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU -RETAIL
Specifications:
Supported CPU: Socket 478 Intel Pentium 4(HT)/Celeron Processors
Chipset: Intel 845PE + ICH4
FSB: 533/400MHz
RAM: 2x DIMM for DDR333/266 Max 2GB
IDE: 2x ATA 100 up to 4 Devices
Slots: 1x AGP 4X, 4x PCI
Ports: 2xPS/2,1xCOM,1xLPT,RCA SPDIF Out,6xUSB2.0(Rear 4),1xLAN,Audio Ports
Onboard Audio: AD1888 6-Channel Audio
Onboard LAN: Realtek 8101L 10/100Mbps Ethernet
Form Factor: ATX more info-> N82E16813131496 $64.00 $64.00

Intel Celeron 2.4 GHz 400MHz FSB, 128K Cache - Retail
Specifications:
Model: Intel Celeron(Pentium 4 based)
Core: Northwood
Operating Frequency: 2.4GHz
FSB: 400MHz
Cache: L1/12K+8K; L2/128K
Voltage: 1.525V
Process: 0.13Micron
Socket: Socket 478
Multimedia Instruction: MMX, SSE, SSE2
Warranty: 3-year MFG
Packaging: Retail box (with Heatsink and Fan)
more info->
N82E16819112176 $67.00 $67.00

Mushkin Basic Green 184 Pin 256MB DDR PC-2700 - Retail
Specification
Manufacturer: Mushkin
Speed: DDR333(PC2700)
Type: 184 Pin DDR SDRAM
Error Checking: Non-ECC
Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
Cas Latency: 2.5-4-4
Support Voltage: 2.5V
Bandwidth: 2.7GB/s
Organization: 32M x 64 -Bit
Warranty: Lifetime
more info-> N82E16820146214 $40.00 $80.00

SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 7000 Video Card, 32MB SDR, 64-bit, TV-Out, 4X AGP -BULK
Specifications:
Chipset/Core Speed: ATI RADEON 7000/150MHz
Memory/Effective Speed: 32MB SDR/150MHz
BUS: AGP 1X/2X/4X
Ports: VGA Out(15 Pin D-Sub)+TV-Out(S-Video Out+Composite Out)
Support 3D API: DirectX®7, OpenGL®
Cable/Accessories: Driver CD
Max Resolution@32bit Color: 2048X1536@60Hz more info-> N82E16814102215
$31.50 $31.50

For $242.50 plus tax, that seems like a very reasonable system (given I
already own so much of it).

Any thoughts? Do all the above components seem compatible? I checked the
specs on the ASUS site and to the degree I understand all these specs, I
think the mobo, CPU and RAM are all compatible.

Thank you!

John
 
Follow-up to first post...

Perhaps this ASUS mobo with built-in video would be an even better choice:

ASUS "P4G800-V" i865G Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU -RETAIL
Specifications:
Supported CPU: Intel Pentium 4/Celeron Processors
Chipset: Intel 865G + ICH5
FSB: 800/533/400MHz
RAM: 4x DIMM support Dual-Channel DDR400/333/266 Max 4GB
IDE: 2x UltraDMA 100 up to 4 Devices
Slots: 1x AGP 8X,6x PCI
Ports: 2xPS2,1xLPT,1xCOM,8xUSB2.0(Rear 4),1xVGA,1xLAN,Audio Ports
Onboard Audio: AC97 Audio Codec
Onboard Video: Intel Extreme Graphics 2
Onboard LAN: 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet
Onboard SATA: 2x Serial ATA
Form Factor: ATX more info-> N82E16813131439 $91.00 $91.00

Any thoughts?

Again, thank you.

John
 
Ermm.. if all shes going to do is basically word processing.. why are you
even considering getting something half decent? Just grab a 486. Done.
 
That's more than horsepower. Better think more about ergonomics for a
"seasoned" user as well, meaning: good chair, large enough display, wrist
support for KB and mouse and remember to lock down the machine with AV,
anti-spyware and a good firewall. Having the security apps, as well as the
OS set to "auto-update" is a good idea as well.

This assumes that your mom isn't a savvy computer user, she may be but I
just offer it as generic advice for people who are building machines for
parents or other newbie's. A separate partition that holds an image of the
boot drive is also a handy thing.
 
An old P1 200, PII, or even something around 500Mhz would be more than
enough.
check out your local classified you should be able to find a complete system
for well under $200 that will do more than enough of what is required.

Who really cares about specs when it's basicly going to be used for quickin,
etc.
 
Michael-NC,

That's all good advice. Thanks. My mom's setup isn't bad right now -- good
chair, monitor, wrist support, etc. As much as I try, I can't get her to
use the Internet or e-mail, so the AV stuff isn't as critical as it is for
you and me. The fact is, once I deliver the system, she is not likely to
connect to the Internet at all -- even for updates! And, she only has
dialup, so "always on" isn't an issue.

My mom is by no means a savvy computer user. We used to use pcAnywhere,
then VNC so I could connect to her computer and help her when she was stuck
with something (mostly in Quicken).

Blaedmon... you may be right that the system I described is over-kill for
the use. The current system is so old and slow that I thought a new system
would be nice, but a used P3 is cheap and would be just fine. I'll look
into that.

John
 
_chris_

You guys are right. I feel a little dumb now for having made my original
post without first thinking it through. Sorry about that!

John
 
John Blaustein said:
Michael-NC,

That's all good advice. Thanks. My mom's setup isn't bad right now -- good
chair, monitor, wrist support, etc. As much as I try, I can't get her to
use the Internet or e-mail, so the AV stuff isn't as critical as it is for
you and me. The fact is, once I deliver the system, she is not likely to
connect to the Internet at all -- even for updates! And, she only has
dialup, so "always on" isn't an issue.
Click to expand...

That used to be so but today you have virii and exploits around that can
infect a user without them doing anything. Dial-up is just not as safe as it
used to be. A firewall is a must today. Of course, if she _never_ connects
to the net, that's a different story.

My mom is by no means a savvy computer user. We used to use pcAnywhere,
then VNC so I could connect to her computer and help her when she was stuck
with something (mostly in Quicken).

Blaedmon... you may be right that the system I described is over-kill for
the use. The current system is so old and slow that I thought a new system
would be nice, but a used P3 is cheap and would be just fine. I'll look
into that.

John
Click to expand...

I think you're fine those parts. Besides, it's only 240 bucks, why fool
around with a used machine?
 
John Blaustein said:
_chris_

You guys are right. I feel a little dumb now for having made my original
post without first thinking it through. Sorry about that!

John
Click to expand...

Think again, your parts are only 240.00 dollars and you'd have a quality
machine. If your Mom does get on the internet, 200MHz machine is challenged
today. Besides, _you_ have to support that machine. Would you rather send
her something you built that has new parts and that you burned in or an old
clunker?
 
I'd rather send her a new machine, burned in, tested thoroughly, with all
Windows updates applied. That's what got me thinking about assembling a new
machine, particularly since I have an extra case and the other components
already. And, yes, 240 bucks isn't much these days.

As of now, my mom _never_ goes online!

John
 
John Blaustein said:
I'd rather send her a new machine, burned in, tested thoroughly, with all
Windows updates applied. That's what got me thinking about assembling a new
machine, particularly since I have an extra case and the other components
already. And, yes, 240 bucks isn't much these days.

As of now, my mom _never_ goes online!

John
Click to expand...

Besides that, you get to build a machine!

Be careful, it can get to the point where you have a spare stick of ram and
a video card and you start to think... dam, all I need is a case, hard
drive, motherboard, CPU and optical drive and I got a new machine here!
 
You are right... I had such fun this month building my first machine, that
my thinking was working just as you describe!

My mom's current machine is a P166DX, Intel Endeavor2 mobo. I have the old
invoice from when I first bought this machine in 1996 and it's showing only
16MB of RAM -- 2x8MB 72PIN SIMM 60ns. Is that possible? Can a PC really
run on 16MB of RAM? This machine is very slow, that's for sure.

I have another "old box" sitting in the closet -- PII/400 -- Intel
Seattle440BX -- PII, 512K cache, 100MHZ FSB SPD MMX. It's got 128MB RAM,
but looking on eBay, it would be cheap to add 256MB more (there are 3 slots
for RAM). With 384MB RAM, this box might be the answer. I suspect it would
be quite a bit faster than the P166.

Lots of choices.

John
 
For low cost consider Amptron ( importer ) systems which can usually
be found in local computer shops and computer shows. It is possible
to get MoBo, CPU, Memory, with integrated Video, 10/100 LAN, Sound,
USB 2, and 56k soft modem for a whole lot less than $200. I have a
Sis chipset Amptron M810 costing me ~ $100 with 1200mhz Duron and
SDRAM memory running Win98SE.

You did say cheap! Yes, the onboard Video steals memory and reduces
memory bandwidth but only a gamer would notice. Boards come with an
AGP video slot to bolt-on horsepower if desired. 2 memory slots and 2
PCI slots and AMR slot ( for modem ).

Killer applications: Trillian, Copernic, Eudora, Ebay, Mozilla 1.5,
digital photos, Hotmail, Freecell, Shanghai, etal

arthur
 
"John Blaustein" said:
You are right... I had such fun this month building my first machine, that
my thinking was working just as you describe!

My mom's current machine is a P166DX, Intel Endeavor2 mobo. I have the old
invoice from when I first bought this machine in 1996 and it's showing only
16MB of RAM -- 2x8MB 72PIN SIMM 60ns. Is that possible? Can a PC really
run on 16MB of RAM? This machine is very slow, that's for sure.

I have another "old box" sitting in the closet -- PII/400 -- Intel
Seattle440BX -- PII, 512K cache, 100MHZ FSB SPD MMX. It's got 128MB RAM,
but looking on eBay, it would be cheap to add 256MB more (there are 3 slots
for RAM). With 384MB RAM, this box might be the answer. I suspect it would
be quite a bit faster than the P166.

Lots of choices.

John
Click to expand...
A 440BX would be an excellent choice for this application.
Give her a new power supply (as it is the weak link) and
the rest of it should be pretty easy to throw together.
A PII/400 should be OK, as long as there aren't a lot of
soggy web pages to load. For multimedia on a 440BX (like
software DVD playback), a 1GHz processor would be a better
choice, but for email/spreadsheet type stuff, a 400 would
be acceptable. I was certainly pretty happy with a Celeron
300a overclocked to 450 on my old P2B-S.

And, when the 440BX leaves your computing room, it makes room
for a hot new machine :-)))

What are you planning on using for an OS ?

Paul
 
A fdisk and fresh install of Win9x may work wonders.

I just did one for MIL and the old HP went from unusable to brilliant.
I was about to start ripping out mobos, give her an Athlon 1600 with 512 MB
Ram.... new graphics card.... new.... why not a new system?

Win95 does load in a flash on such a machine...

- Tim
 
Paul said:
A 440BX would be an excellent choice for this application.
Give her a new power supply (as it is the weak link) and
the rest of it should be pretty easy to throw together.
A PII/400 should be OK, as long as there aren't a lot of
soggy web pages to load. For multimedia on a 440BX (like
software DVD playback), a 1GHz processor would be a better
choice, but for email/spreadsheet type stuff, a 400 would
be acceptable. I was certainly pretty happy with a Celeron
300a overclocked to 450 on my old P2B-S.
Click to expand...

I still use one of those at work. I had an old Cely 300A laying in a closet
and put it together for work to replace a 200MHz Compaq. It's clocked at
450MHz and runs XP pretty good with 384 MB ram.

IMHO once you get to 1 GHz, productivity apps are covered well. Video
editing and gaming are a whole other ball game but users rarely need the
latest machine. Even Doom 3 will be playable on a 1.5GHz CPU with 384MB ram
and MX grade graphics. I say this just one day after upgrading my machine to
1 GHz ram and installing a pair of 75GB Raptors in a raid 0 array... It's a
sickness...
 
Hey, looks like a good motherboard for your mother. don't waste your time with a
slower system, you still have to
install shit.. Don't buy the Celeron Processor, go Intel Pentium 4 Northwwod
2.4ghz or something, you can build a pretty desecnt system
without monitor for just under $800.00 , Get a Asus Geforce FX 5700 - on up.
screw ATI. Buy onE stick of 512
Corsair ddr400 ram for it... go Fortron 350 for PSU. Anything will be overkill
for here, but you still want to build a somewhat
decent system for here. She will need to speed of that system still for
surffering and other Programs and stuff . 2.4ghz

I know you can cutt cost alot. theres lots a way to go,. I have tested my
combos and I have stable running systems over here
I still keep my dos boxes incase.. I love my computers.. I take pride in making
them.

I think now is a good time to snag up agp cards, as there on there way out..
I would again buy a Geforce fx 5700 if you can NOW.
you won't be able to buy these cards new down the road. That motherboard
deserves something better in it.. don't be to cheap.. goood luck
 
Paul,

Thanks for your comments. My mom's use will continue to be Quicken, word
processing, and maybe the Internet at some point. The PII/400 should be
fine, particularly if I add a little more RAM (it has only 128 now).

I'll do a fresh install of Windows 98SE on the PII/400 box -- I don't need
to buy another copy of XP.

Good idea about the power supply. Are power supplies "universal?" That is,
can I look on eBay for any PSU? I assume 300-350w is sufficient.

As for the "hot new machine," I already did that! I just built a P4P800-E
Dlx, P4/3.0, 2GB RAM in a very handsome Antec SLK3700-BQE case. In fact,
over the past month, I've asked a number of questions here and you have been
extremely helpful to me as I've been learning the ins and outs of this
stuff. I've owned PCs since the days of CP/M and the original IBM PC, but
this is the first time I've built my own system. With help from you and
others, I ended up with a system that worked perfectly from the moment I
first booted up and continues to work like a charm.

John
 
Tim,

I had to use acronymfinder.com to get MIL! A fresh install of any OS always
seems to work wonders.

John
 
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