Building a system for a friend, looking for some suggestions/comments...

[Viper GTS]

Next month I'm going to be building a system for a female friend to take with her to college. She's made it through two years of a poli-sci degree with a 486 with Windows 3.1, & I intend to fix that. Stability is concern #1, noise second, & speed third. She doesn't need a fast PC, this will mainly be used for word processing & internet access over a wireless LAN (once her school gets their network up). I will be responsible for supporting this system from across the country (Oregon to Pennsylvania), so I want to keep it as simple as possible. The OS installation will be ghosted & burned onto a CDR so that if necessary I can walk her through restoring her system by phone.

So far I've come up with the following:

Motherboard: ASUS CUSL2-C
Processor: 133 MHz Pentium III at 733 or above (a guy here is upgrading his system so I may be able to pick up a 733 for cheap)
Memory: 256/512 MB of Crucial PC133
HD: IBM 60GXP (x2?)
Video: Either onboard or a Matrox G450
Storage: CDRW/Zip 100/floppy
Software: Windows 2000 Professional, Office 2K Pro

I considered Micro ATX, is that even worthwhile? A smaller system would make it easier for her to transport it, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to sacrifice the ready availability of ATX motherboards. Also, the motherboard options for Micro ATX aren't nearly as nice.

My questions are:

1) Is it worth the extra money to pick up a Matrox G450 as opposed to the onboard video?

2) Is 256 MB sufficient, or should I go ahead & give her 512 MB?

3) What steps should I take to make sure that a) The OS is secure b) The OS is easily restored if necessary c) Data is stored separately from the OS. One HD with two partitions? Two HD's? I haven't played much with Win 2K since I haven't been able to justify buying it for myself, but I definitely want it for her.

4) How difficult is it to ship a PC? I really want to build her one as opposed to ordering her one from a pre-built vendor, because I can guarantee my support will be better than theirs. But if shipping is dangerous/difficult then I may go with the pre-built route. I would have her purchase a monitor locally, & have a keyboard/mouse/speakers sent directly to her house. So the only thing I'd be shipping would be the tower + software/restore discs/documentation/etc.

Thoughts?

Viper GTS

 

[NelsonMuntz]

1) if she has been dealing with a 486 for the last while, the onboard video will probably be fine.
2) see 1) won't need extra memory.

3) and 4) not much experience here, so I won't comment.

 

[sykopath79]

Build her an AMD Duron system, hell even an Athlon system. Not only are the processors dirt cheap, they run all kinds of circles around the Pentium III at a lower price, meaning a cheaper computer that will last her longer. For a motherboard, the FIC-AD11 is at the top of almost all the benchmarks and it's only $108 at www.newegg.com. It takes DDR memory, which is just as cheap as SDR memory these days - newegg.com also has PC2100 DDR SDRAM in 256 meg sticks for a measly $58. Go with a 800-900 MHz Duron and you're looking at $250 or less altogether for the core components. I guarantee you will spend more than this if you build a Pentium III system.

 

[Adul]

Seperate partitions for the drive. One for data, one for os.
Formatted in NTFS
CDR for backing up data would be nice
Install a good antivirus program, and install zone alarm for security.

256 MB is sufficient, I built my mom a duron system with 256 MB of ram and win2k. Stable and secure for her. It meets her needs just fine.

Shipping, make sure it it pakage very well with lots of padding.


Actually you could build a quiet duron system, I know I have, if cost are a concern at all.

 

[Viper GTS]

AMD is not an option. I have an AMD system myself, but I'm going to stick with Intel CPU's & chipsets for this one. My BX experience was MUCH better than my KT133A experience has been, I wish I'd never switched.

I have no doubt that AMD CPU's are just as stable & reliable as Intel, but until a better chipset hits the market I won't build an AMD system again. Even if the chipsets were equal, I'd still choose Intel due to their superior thermal properties. I'd much rather have a cooler running, slightly slower CPU than the power sucking monster that is an AMD processor.

While cost is somewhat of a concern, the specs I've outlined are well within my budget.

Viper GTS

 

[Tbirdan]

Wow, unless she's holding codes from the CIA, I don't think security will be a problem. Since the system is basically for IE and Word, you won't need a big beast. I'll take it she doesn't play Q3. Here's my list of parts.


Microstar K7 Master (uses AMD760 chipset) $141
AMD Duron 900MHz processor $58
Cyber Cooler Copper heatsink w/fan and compund $17 (www.2cooltek.com)
Mushkin 256MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM $40
1.44 MB floppy $8 (from anywhere)
Plextor Plexwriter 12/10/32A IDE CD-RW drive $142
Promise Fasttrak100 Ultra ATA/100 PCI RAID card $74.45
2x Western Digital Caviar 30GB 7200rpm Ultra ATA/100 hard drive (RAID 1 for added security) $186
Visiontek Geforce2MX 32MB AGP $79

The heatsink is quiet and it'll keep the CPU cool. I don't know what to tell you about case. Look for something from either Antec or Enlight.

 

[Viper GTS]

By secure, I mean that it's safe being used by people with little to no working knowledge of an OS. She will have the administrative password, but she won't use the admin login unless I'm telling her exactly what to do. I want it locked down tight enough that it's virtually foolproof.

I really do want to stick with Intel for this, most likely a P3. The cost savings for an AMD system aren't that significant (only the CPU & motherboard will be cheaper, & not that much cheaper). If I can pick up the CUSL2 + a P3 733 it'd only be $75 or so more than a comparable Duron system.

Viper GTS

 

[m2super]

Just got back from a trip to Bend/Madras Oregon for a wedding!

For I2k 256 is ok go for more if you can!Its a resource hog!

The G450 is a really good 2d(better/crisper resolution) card so go for it you can find them cheap!
The Radeon is another alternative.

Use ghost to make a backup of the system and burn it on a disk for her.Thats the easiest way to be able to restore the system!We use it at work and I use it at home.

It shouldnt be hard to ship the pc the tower will come with a sturdy box that you can pack the system in and use it to ship to her! The keyboard/mouse she can bring with her and the monitor can be shipped in its own box. Im with you on the build your own system you will know what went in it and how you configured it!

Good luck

 

[iamfried]

If you want easy to keep running and possibly restoring the os, I would think that onboard video and sound would make that easier.
Also, why does she need 2 60G HDs? I understand why "you" would want them but it doesn't sound like she would be all into downloading all of god's creation to her computer...

 

[Viper GTS]

They won't be 60 gig drives. They'll be 60 GXP's, but only the 20 gig version.

Quiet & fast, which is exactly what I want.

Viper GTS

 

[MrMilney]

I have some experience shipping computers and what I can tell you is it's not as expensive as you may think. A few months ago a I helped a friend ship her computer from Oregon to Texas. We went to Mail Boxes Etc and had them make a boxes for and pack both her computer and monitor. All told, after she insured it the cost came to around $75 (I can't remember exactly). The boxes that monitors come shipped in are pretty good so you should probably be able to use that one. The boxes cases come in usually aren't all that great, do a search here and you will find many horror stories about cases that show up with the box mangled! Also, pay the extra money for the insurance. I really believe that they treat insured packages better than uninsured ones - especially UPS.

Come to think of it, the shipping was $75 but their packing it was an additional $50. That may be a little too much money for your budget but I tend to go with "better safe than sorry."

Just my 2 cents...

 

[Tbirdan]

Be it AMD or Intel, that';s your choice. I suggested the K7 Master because it uses the AMD 760 chipset, not the VIA KT133A. I've read around, I have seen that the 760 is more stable than VIA's. Besides, she might have to woory more about it being ransacked in the physical world rather then the virtual world. :frown:

 

[Wingznut]

LOL, it took but two posts for someone to recommend an AMD system, even though you stated that you wanted to build an Intel one.

What you have listed should do fine for her. I wouldn't bother with anything other than onboard video and sound. That being said, the CUSL2-C doesn't have onboard video. So you'll have to go with the regular CUSL2. Or, you could save a few bucks and go with the Intel D815EA, since there won't be any overclocking involved. And, 256mb of Crucial is more than sufficient.

 

[bigbootydaddy]

go Viper, stick to intel!!

hehe

booty

 

[Viper GTS]

OK, with 256 MB RAM & the D815EAL for the motherboard it would be something like:

Decent 250W ATX Case: $51.00
Intel D815EAL w/Audio/Video/LAN: $129.00
256 MB Crucial PC133 DIMM: $43.19
20 GB IBM 60 GXP ATA/100 HD: $85.00
Sony 8x4x32 CDRW: $79.50
Teac Floppy: $11.50

That's under $400 & all I'd have to do is add a CPU/HSF, OS, Office 2K, keyboard, mouse, & send her the money to pick up a monitor locally. If & when she needs a wireless LAN card I can send that to her as well.

Not bad, really.

Viper GTS