building a shuttle type PC....need some critique

[MrMiyagi]

I just want to make a little comp for my sisters for X-mas. They don't do anything but schoolwork, surf the net, listen to MP3's, and tons of instant messanging

What I've decided on so far from newegg:

Shuttle XPC Barebone System for Socket 478 (model SS51G) $176
Intel Celeron 2.0 GHz 400MHz FSB, 128K Cache - Retail $63
Kingston Value Series 184 Pin 256MB DDR PC-2700 $41
Seagate 120GB 7200rpm EIDE Hard Drive, Model ST3120026A, OEM $100
Lite On LTC-48161H 48x24x48x16 Combo Drive, 2MB, OEM $50

Total of $430

Whaddya think? I plan on using the shuttle's onboard audio and video.

I could spend a bit more, so if there is a much better deal of a steup for $550 or something suggestions are welcome.

Thanks

 

[dcdomain]

I believe $7 ups your CPU to 2.4 GHz.
How is the Kingston ram compared to the Crucial stick? It's the same price, at Crucial you get two day shipping I think. Same price at Newegg with free shipping.

Why not go for AMD? In Anandtech's article, it's either AMD for low end, or P4 for high end. Celeron was beaten bad in all benchmarks. Even if you are able to overlock the Celeron easily, it falls behind comparable AMD chips.

I'm building a system for my home theatre system, getting the 25th anniversary one (wanted a black case, cheapest one was $300, figured I'd splurge the extra $70 to get the DVD rom, wifi, and memory card rader). If they offered that system as an AMD system, I would have picked it up. I'm also going for a celeron, 2.4 and going with Crucial.

I know nothing about the optical drives these days... though my ASUS burner just died in my main system, so it looks like I need to get a new one.

 

[tefleming]

Originally posted by: dcdomain
I believe $7 ups your CPU to 2.4 GHz.
Why not go for AMD? In Anandtech's article, it's either AMD for low end, or P4 for high end. Celeron was beaten bad in all benchmarks. Even if you are able to overlock the Celeron easily, it falls behind comparable AMD chips.

Yeah, you can get the SK43 and an XP 2100+ for around $50 more,
which would give you/them a much more robust system

 

[brentkiosk]

I would suggest a second plain CD drive. They are eventually going to want to copy CDs

 

[adams828]

i agree, go with amd. especially for uses of this system, amd wins value hands down. 512mb value ram couldn't hurt either.. and even with a ton of mp3s, if you want to lower cost, 120GB HD could be made smaller. unless she's going to rip uncompressed audio or download lots of divix, mp3s won't take up that much space


just my $.02

 

[MrMiyagi]

Thx for the advice thus far...

The truth is I don't know anything about AMD (or building an AMD system).

I might just get a P4 1.80A for $111 instead. (will this still be not as good as your AMD recs?)

As for the 120 gb hd, I'll prolly switch that for a WD800JB which is $25 cheaper. I don't know though, I hate WD ever since I've had two of 'em go bad on me. My Seagate now is dead silent and reliable.

I would suggest a second plain CD drive. They are eventually going to want to copy CDs

Take a look at the pick buddy , it only holds one drive...hehe (I'm not going to reccomend they do any on the fly anyway).

Thanks all, and if anything to add by all means do.

 

[Ionizer86]

Maybe you can get a DVD burner for $80ish. You'll be able to read DVD's, burn CD's, and in addition, burn DVD's for just a bit more money.

Go buy a drive locally. Much cheaper when on sale. Unless you really want a 3 year warranty on the Seagate. Seagate 120GB's usually run $60 and WD800JB's usually run $40 or $50 locally when on sale.

And yes, switch to an AMD setup. Much more performance for the money. The graphics on the nVidia chipset AMD setups are also much better than the P4 graphics, and the sound is much improved on the nVidia chipsets too. So switching to AMD boosts your speed, video, and sound

 

[blodhi74]

building an AMD rig is just like Intel.Better value and performance for a mid end machine with AMD. Might wanna take a look at this

 

[adams828]

Originally posted by: blodhi74
building an AMD rig is just like Intel.

yup yup.. same concept of assembly all around. and you can find tons of advice on the boards/online if you need any extra info.

 

[Kremlar]

Sorry to hijack this thread for a sec, but I've been considering one of these units, but need a 2nd 5.25" drive. I'm willing to give up the external 3.5" bay. Anyone know of a unit that has 2 5.25" spots?

 

[Ionizer86]

Kremlar, if I'm correct, Soltek ones have two 5.25" bays.