Sycamore's New Computer
 

Let's talk about this here.

Here's what I suggest, why, and prices.

Case - Enlight Model# EN-7150AP - Nice looking case, cheap, and will have enough PSU power for this system. $36

CD-ROM Drive - Lite On Model LTN-526 - Cheap, but good drives. No need for DVD-ROM drive since he wouldn't want to watch DVDs on his shitty computer monitor, I'm sure. $19

CPU - AMD Athlon XP 1700+ - the 2000+ isn't that much faster and costs a bit more. This is cheap, super fast (compared to what he's used to) and cheap. That's important. $42

CPU HSF - Thermaltake Volcano 5. Great quality, low price. $4.75

Hard drive - Maxtor 40GB 7200RPM Model # 6E040L0. What's he got now, like 2 gigs? What will he ever do with such a vast hard drive? 30 gig drives are a good $8 cheaper but hey, why not splurge? $60.

RAM - Crucial CT6464Z265 512MB PC2100 DDR stick. Duh. $61.99

Motherboard - Asus A7N266-VM AA. I've built two systems around these (and recommended it to Bryan as well). It's cheap, it's got built-in video that's good, built-in ethernet, built-in sound (that's also very good), fits in a small case... the bonuses are many. Great motherboard. Works flawlessly with RH9. $70.99

So there, without modem and including shipping, I've got a price of $317.73. That ain't too fuckin' bad, considering it's a pretty decent system. Tony's gonna throw in a CD-RW drive, I will throw in system build if so desired (that includes a super neat job of the cables with tie wraps and everything!) and I can probably dig up a modem. Great, huh?

What do you think, The Tone? I have a great idea.

You guys could come down one Saturday, and I've already got all the components. We eat Chipotle for breakfast, work on computer. Joe's for lunch, finish work on computer (dual boot RH9 and XP, maybe?). Eat <b>MOTHER FUCKIN' PAD GAI!</b> for dinner, and send you guys off. Oooooooh.

The lad has already specified that he wants to burn CDRs and is willing to pay for the additional capabilities, so we are free to go an additional $40 to get that done.

I was shooting for decent video in case he wants to do some gaming but I guess we need some guidance from the man.

I'm happy to show my face at a build party but please, only one meal.

I had the Enermax CS-501WW3 because I feel you need 350W PSes for the Athlons because they are power sinks. For a while AMD was only certifying 300 W units. Also, the CS-501WW3 is teh pimp as you would say:

http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage....124-047-02.JPG

What were you throwing in then? I thought it was a CD-RW drive. That's why I didn't include it.

The A7N266-VM includes a GF2MX video, which isn't great, but it's decent enough for some gaming. It's fine for workstation use.

Assuming the newer case (I agree, Athlons use a lot of power, but I still think 200watts would get it done - though just barely), we have $329.73, which is still pretty okay.

Anything else we need to consider?

I was just gonna throw in an old CDR so that there would be one in the box. I was also throwing in cables and I have about 20 spare keyboards, and I was assuming the modem from Syc's old system.

The mainboard I had in there was the MSI KVN2G-L @106. It was well-reviewed and has that 440MX. Syc needs to tell us what he really wants to do -- that's supposed to be the first step, but you know us, always too excited by the chance to buy and build.

I tell T-$ what to think. Trust me, this will do just fine. MWAHAHAHAHA!

I was aiming for three things: 1) low price, 2) small form factor (as to fit in a smaller, cheaper case) and 3) good motherboard all-around. I prefer Asus over other brands just because I've never had a problem with them (whereas I've had at least one problem with basically every other brand I've ever used and multiple problems with a few brands).

At the very least, we have made a good step in the right direction. He'll appreciate a fast CD-RW, so that's probably worth the extra money. He probably <b>does</b> have a modem from the old system, and again, if not, I can probably dig one up.

As I said, we've got a good step in the right direction. Upon further input from him, we can make some more decisions and perhaps get the ball rolling.

What we really oughta do is sell these $300 units for no money down and $19.95/month for two years with RH9 installed. Or develop an Internet House concept with wireless networking and a terminal in each room. Oh damn, I got ahead of myself.

Syc actually called me tonight to speed up the process since his system is dead. I told him to call back Sat afternoon and I'd have it worked out so we can move ahead real fast.

He doesn't care about gaming, so we will go the ASUS route. He would like a combo DVD-CDRW if possible; I put one in my main desktop and it's OK. The egg has a Sumsung for $81 or there is a Plextor for $110.

Either one will probably be fine; we can probably get a CD-RW and a separate DVD drive for fewer dollars, but I'll leave that as an exercise for you to check out. It also gives him the option to do on-the-fly <strikethrough>illegal</strikethrough> copying, which is always cool. And if one drive dies, he's always got the other to read CDs.

Shipping will be a few days, but we could probably have most of the stuff here by Thursday; I could have it together and mostly ready to go by Friday, along with a Red Hat 9 install and whatnot. Or you can do it too and you guys don't even need to come down here. But I'm dead sexy and would love to hang with you studs.

Well the important thing is that we get the guy up and running. We can admire each other's supple, graceful bodies at some other time.

Could we meet in Amsterdam?;)

It occurs to me that I have a half-decent case that can be used, and it even has front-panel USB on it and a 300 W PS so that's OK. I will sell it to Syc for like $20.

And with a Lite On 16x DVD at $33, and an Asus 52x CDRW at $44, that's cheaper than the combo drive, and more functional.

Substituting 256 MB for that 512, then, brings the whole thing down to $297.17 plus shipping (not incl any software or the case).

Really, I had 256 MB in my main desktop for ages and it ran everything. Win2K and Photoshop + multiple Mozilla windows + Eudora + many folders and notepads and it ran fine and never swapped. I upgraded it to 768 MB, but I never noticed a difference. The only time I ever had a problem with less memory was when trying to edit about 40 huge images at the same time in Photoshop.

I think Syc is more limited by the video on this system. But his main use will be music. That argues for a larger hard drive, but that's very easy to expand later if need be.

I would put in the Lite On CD-RW. The price is probably the same, it will have similar looks as the DVD drive and it comes with Nero, the Pimp Daddy of All CD-RW Programs (except Roxio Toast on OS X, which, surprisingly, they did a hell of a job on).

Are we going to run the "T-$ tries Red Hat 9" experiment? I think it could work!

I already told you, I'll pick up the difference for 512. If you want, I'll paypal you the money.

I just picked up the Toshiba 15-inch Satellite 1135-S155 laptop.

Specifications

Intel® Celeron® Processor (2.00GHz)
512MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM (256MB x 2)
15" XGA Display (1024 x 768)
32MB internal integrated Intel® 852GM video memory
40GB HDD (4200 rpm)
DVD/CD-RW
Microsoft® Works¹53;
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
3-USB (2.0) ports
S-Video port
10/100 Ethernet
V.92/56K modemº
ECP Parallel port

$999 from Circuit City - $150 in rebates (already mailed in) = $850.

Is that a typo, or is the machine extremely slow? Maybe that's why you got it so cheap? :D

Most laptop hard drives are 4200 rpm, with the fastest being 5400 rpm. I don't think a notebook drive exists at 7200 rpm.