building system for neighbor

shawn_16

Banned
Oct 9, 1999
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what should i get? looking for stability
celery II 533@800/duron 600@800/athlon oced to 800? mobos?

rest of the system looks good?

AIW radeon
128 meg PC100
soundblaster live! *got it*
phillips 5x/32x DVD *got it*
nice case w/250 amd approved PS *got it*
floppy *got it*
Plextor 12/10/32
microsoft intellimouse w/intelli eye *got it*
20-30 gig 7200 rpm hdd maxtor/ibm
win98
office2k

any suggestions for a good cheap 19" monitor? printer?

 
Apr 5, 2000
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You listed pretty much top notch components there, so go for a 550e P3 or a 633 and go for 800+/933 (respectively), or a TBird (not too familiar with AMD though), and some Micron PC133.
 

Animefreak

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Jul 10, 2000
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like ragingbitch said these are top notch components...what does the neighbor intend to do with this computer? if gaming/surfing/and lots of burning then it looks good...for an average user...then go lower on the vid card and the burner...save some cash there. Printers go for an epson good image quality and price is good too. Monitors are tricky...there's 300-450 dollar monitors out there. I love my samsung 900NF and heard good things about the kds 19TF or something.
 

Fokks

Senior member
Oct 31, 1999
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Looks pretty good...

How well do you know this neighbor though? And how computer savvy are they?
Just asking this because it can be asking for trouble to sell an oc'd system to someone who won't/can't take care of it. I.E. turning you into their personal 24/7 tech support. (It's not fun, I've been down that road.)

When you're asking for stability it sounds like you don't want to hear from them again. In that case, although it's not the best bang for the buck, I'd go with the Celeron. Their motherboards are much more bulletproof. Sure for people like those that post on here getting and installing the latest VIA 4-in-1 patch is no big deal. But for average people giving them a home built athlon is asking for a call at 11pm some saturday night because some crazy peripheral or video card the got isn't working right.

I'm sure there's alot of people on here that will have the same experiences.
Go Intel, go name brand, don't overclock unless you're absolutely POSITIVE everythings cool. (i.e. you've been using the chip yourself for awhile.) Because if they see a problem, they'll blame you.

Ok enough of my ranting... sorry
Looks like a nice setup although I'd recommend a Geforce 2 (MX? if they're not hard core gamers) over the ATI.

EDIT
Oh yeah and for the monitor I second KDS for a decent 19"
 

Cybordolphin

Platinum Member
Oct 25, 1999
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Great point Fokks! I have built systems for others.... and usually they trash their OS right away adding software incorrectly (not shutting down windows apps., viruscans, etc.) Then they blame you. Sucks. It is never ending. I almost prefer to have them buy a "retail" system first.... so that they can see that ALL systems can be trashed if the user is not at least a little computer savy.

Windows98 is buggier than a sonofabeeeetch to begin with.

Overclock or not.... good luck.

Personally I would go for a MSI 6163 Master MB and a Pent III 700e then they can have you over later to overclock it for em after they use the system awhile and figure out what and what not to do. Just me ol 2cents worth. :)

Monitor: Viewsonic PF790
Printer: HP 882C (excellent speed/print quality/ink cartridge longevity)
 

shawn_16

Banned
Oct 9, 1999
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I meant to say neighbors (it's a large family)
they don't want to upgrade in the near future and want the best that they can get with out being ripped off
their knowledge of computers is like: should i get a mouse or a modem? i've known them for years, they're decent people but don't know much about computers
but the majority of it is going to be used by kids my age for burning/surfing/gaming/schoolwork
i'll probably go towards intel and stick with the 100mhz FSB


thanks for your input :)
 

Cybordolphin

Platinum Member
Oct 25, 1999
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Ooooooh.... kids will have it locked up within a week no matter what you give em. lol.

Well at least they live close..... you won't have to travel far to clean up behind them..lol.:)

The Pent III 700e with the MSI 6163 Master Motherboard... will allow you to stay at 100Mhz FSB or increase that later with ease. The components you have chosen to use... will all hit the 133Mhz FSB (should). This could get them near the 1gig range down the road with no more outlay of cash! That should last them awhile.... until its time to upgrade to the newest latest stuff.

IMO.