Building a couple of workstations, need advice...

[ZeroSleep]

I'm surfing around newegg.com and I'm trying to price/piece together a couple of identical workstations for my new job and I'm curious if I'm getting a good system together. Here is what I have so far: http://zerosleep.com/rwe-stuff/workstations.html

Anyone have some advice/recommendations? The systems will be running win2k and will be used primarily for coding and listening to mp3's =)

Any ideas appreciated. I'm trying to keep the system below 1200$ each.

- Brian

 

[flexy]

sounds good !

but i dont know why someone would need a 430W PSU...and/or a $170 case

i'd maybe also rather go with the maxtor dx740 instead of the 'old' diamondmax...and i'd get crucial ram instead of mushkin (because me knows no nuthin' about mushkin, their reliability etc....

my personal choice for a cooler would be alpha8045 (instead of sk6)...but they both should be fine....excpet that i dont know if the sk6 fits on the MSI-nforce board. (the alpha fits). And...i almost forgot i'd probably not get the MSI nforce board but instead wait for reviews of other companies....but this depends on the timeframe you want you system being assembled...and right now there only is MSI of course

Besides of this it sounds like a very good system.

 

[ZeroSleep]

Thanks! I may in fact go with Crucial/Newer Maxtor. Mushkin memory has always been good to me. Anandtech used to recommend it all the time.

As for the PSU. I mainly want a beefy one in case I decide to add more drives, external devices. I own an enermax already and it works like a charm.

I'm choosing the MSI board because we're going to build these next month.

 

[ZeroSleep]

almost forgot. My boss wants the 170$ case because "it looks cool"

Good enough for me =)

 

[dullard]

My thoughts (yes some of these were already covered):

1) Quite an expensive case,
2) Quite a large powersupply,
3) Do work machines need a DVD?
4) Can you network these together and then share a single Zip drive?
5) Depending on the work you do, you might want a separate video card. What are these going to be for?
6) Since you are getting such nice workstations, why not spend roughly $80 more and get the 1800+ XP?
7) Are you budgeting for an OS and any licenses for programs you use at work?

 

[Journeyman]

Other than the crucial suggestions and questioning the case/ps that's already been done...

You probably don't need to spend the cash for rounded cables - with all those fans you should have more than adequate cooling for a standard workstation using the regular cables that come with the motherboard. I'd buy the retail CPU and use that HSF (you get the warranty that way, too - these are for a business, ne?). If these are being used just for coding and listening to MP3s, do you really need firewire cards?

If you're using expensive HSFs anyway, and you don't mind ordering from an extra source, Thompson's Computer Warehouse has 1600+ OEM for $113 on Pricewatch right now. I only see 1500s at Newegg.

Just a few minor cost-cutting thoughts... Sounds like some sweet systems. Those Lian-Li cases sure do seem like a waste of money, though. *shrug* What the boss wants, the boss gets... ^_^

 

[ZeroSleep]

<<
1) Quite an expensive case,
2) Quite a large powersupply,
3) Do work machines need a DVD?
4) Can you network these together and then share a single Zip drive?
5) Depending on the work you do, you might want a separate video card. What are these going to be for?
6) Since you are getting such nice workstations, why not spend roughly $80 more and get the 1800+ XP?
7) Are you budgeting for an OS and any licenses for programs you use at work?
>>



1) I know. It's a decor thing.
2) What do you recommend? I want something name brand, reliable and something that will give me headroom for future devices
3) Yes, msdn libraries/subscription come on dvd now.
4) No, we need seperate zip drives
5) On-board Geforce 2MX is overkill for what we do, but it's a nice bonus
6) xp 1600 seems more than enough cpu power for coding/compiling
7) No. Already own those.

 

[ZeroSleep]

The firewire is for an external hard drive. Just one machine will have it.

There is 2 of us in the company, so we're spending a little more than what would be found in a typical corporate environment.

On slow days we may play movies, games, etc -- so it's nice to have a little more power. However, we still don't want to go COMPLETELY overboard and buy the fastest cpu, the latest video card, etc.

 

[ZeroSleep]

Crucial doesn't make 512mb modules?

 

[jcmkk]

It all looks pretty good, the only thing that I can see is that you might want to buy shorter cables. You could always make your own for cheaper.