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Cheap setup for kids

M

Moohooya

Senior member
I am looking for a VERY cheap setup for the kids. Basically they want email, web and to run their old 486/P75 games. They don't need anything fancy as they play the new games on the PlayStation.

I have a bunch of SDRAM, a K6-II 450 and an ATX case and a sound card and a NIC. (The mobo died.) What is a decent but cheap mobo for this. Also, if I was to scrap the K6 and go with a low end duron (700 for $29), what board would I then be looking for?

Thanks all
 
I'd go for the Duron, it's so cheap so why not? Its not gonna add much to the cost. What mobo? I'd go for a KM133A board (MSi 6340M probably's a good one). I've been using for the past 8 months a ECS KM133 (K7VMA) board, and really, I haven't had non stop major issues with it but there has been some wierd things that I haven't been able to pin down. Things like it being wierd (crashing, instability in 3D games, and general apps, but then setting the memory to PC100 rather than PC133, etc) so, I personally think that it's the mobo not the chipset so I'd go for MSi's line of KM133A boards. Savage4 provides performance a tad lower than a TNT2 M64, and sure it's not even close to modern, but aside from nForce, Savage4 is probably the best integrated video you can get, that's why I chose K7VMA over K7SEM (SiS 730S). That's another board that has been praised by many is the K7SEM, so I'd look into it. I'd say go for MSi's 6340M just so u can use 266fsb Athlon's in future upgrades.
 
You can get a celeron 400 barebone for $80. Just have to add an OS, HDD, and supply the obvious. (Monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. ) Here's what I'm thinking of. I think I built a complete one for about $300.
 
You can find used P2 mobos and P2 / celeron CPUs dirt cheap in AT Forsale if you can't find a super7 - ATX mobo (might be cheaper anyway). The old cache-free Cellies (266 and 300-not-300A) will even perform like their old P75 🙂
 
Thanks for all the replies. I'll have to balance the cheque book tonight and see what I can afford 🙂

Moohoo
 
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