How does this tower only system look?

[Piano Man]

Title says it all pretty much. I'm builing a tower for a friend going off to grad school. He doesn't plan on gaming, just productivity such as using Word, Finale, Audio Ripping, and Internet Surfing. Only catch is that he wants this computer to last for 5 years. I know that isn't possible, and I told him that, however, I tried to get the fastest I could for $850(that was his limit). Tell me what you think.

CPU AMD 1.2Ghz with HS/Fan $126.00

Memory Crucial 256MB DDR 2100 $62.36

MotherBoard EPox EP-87KA $124.00

Case Enlight 7237 with 80x80fan $50.00

Power Supply 300w(included) N/A

Video Card MSI Geforce2 MX $75.00

Sound Card Onboard Audio N/A

Hard Drive Maxtor 20 GB 7200rpm $80.00

CDRW Lite-On 12/10/32 BP $87.00

DVD/CD Rom Toshiba 16/40x DVD $55.00

Cooling Fans Probably not needed N/A

Cables and Wires $10.00

Ethernet Card NetGear 10/100 PCI $13.00


SubTotal(with S&H): $728.65
Labor: $121.35
Total: $850.00

 

[Piano Man]

Anyone there?

 

[zzzz]

<< Labor: $121.35 >>

whoa!
Looks good!

 

[Piano Man]

Am I charging too much for labor? I really don't know since I'm not a business man. He really isn't a friend, just more of an aquaintance.

 

[MrHelpful]

I hope you are willing to be tech support.

 

[Piano Man]

Of course. I told him I'll give him help whenever he needs, plus I'm going to teach him how to use Finale.

 

[ProviaFan]

I would suggest a PCI soundcard. The Sound Blaster Live Value can be found for about $40, iirc.

 

[Piano Man]

I'm already at my max for price, if I did that what should I downgrade?

 

[Budman]

It looks good but i would Replace that MX card With a nice Radeon LE,i am sure he will apreciate the better loking 2D on those all nighters staring at his monitor.

Fuzzy text is very hard on the eyes.

 

[Piano Man]

I'm using a MX at 1280*1024 and its fine for me. Plus he has a 17&quot; monitor, so he'll probably be at 1024*768 or 800*600

 

[Budman]

The Radeon LE is a much better choice in 2D &amp; 3D and it's ever cheaper that the MX.

 

[NelsonMuntz]

IMO the tower looks great and you are not charging too high for that. I just charged a guy $200 labor for his computer because of the time I spent researching and assembling plus the aspirin I would have to buy for the headaches I would get trying to show him how to use it. That setup should make him happy for at least 2-3 years and will probably run the software he needs for maybe five years, but who knows what will be around in five years?

 

[Piano Man]

Hmmm. I'll have to look into that.

 

[nortexoid]

drop down to a chaeper DVD-ROM...like the NEC 12x...i've also seen super cheap 6X samsunsg...

faster DVD = faster DVD rips, and that's it...
get the radeon LE over the MX...everything else looks fine.