Life with a 486! - Canadian computer wanted BADLY!

[bluemax]

Remember me? Yes I've been away a few weeks... computer sold and gone. 486 incapable of getting on the 'net yet.

I've found what seems to be the best deal on a Canadian computer yet - an IPC machine. "Select 933"
P3 - 933
Chaintech 799 "i815" mobo (although I can't find it on the Chaintech site!)
using onboard video - no games is fine with me.
256MB PC-133
30GB drive (can't remember mfr...)
8x4x32 HP CDRW
8x Raite DVD
19" Sceptre P98V
no OS
Microsoft Office 2000 SBE

All for $1400 Canadian. Super deal.... (that's about $900-950US)
Any real reason NOT to go with IPC? I can't buy the parts for that price, let alone Office since I don't even have a previous version to upgrade!

Well... this library terminal just beeped I have 5 minutes left. Wonder what responses I'll get in that time? I'll check more tomorrow... keep this active for me!

 

[Noriaki]

Seems like a decent price to me.
I just speced out a similar system at MemEx for about $1000 (w/o Office, that's $289 extra).

It's an Asus CUSL2 not some weirdo chaintech, but no monitor.

Did that system have a Keyboard, Mouse, Soundcard, Modem or NIC?

 

[Helznicht]

No OS but comes with MOSBE ?

 

[Dark4ng3l]

Hmm werent you suposed to wait for nForce

 

[Noriaki]

lol @ Dark4ng3l, that's what I was thinking to, but hey...it's up to him

 

[DClark]

I'd stay away from the 815 chipset - it doesn't have an AGP port. You may feel the onboard graphics card is fine, but should you need to upgrade your graphics card you'll end up needing a new motherboard or have to make due with a PCI graphics card. It also looks like the Chaintech 799 is also a MicroATX board, so there are only three PCI slots - put a sound card in one, a modem in another, and you only have one more slot for anything else you may need. Being a MicroATX board also means that there are probably only two SDRAM slots (instead of the three or four in an ATX motherboard). The reason it's cheap is because it's a cheap motherboard.

It may look like a decent price, but you're going to pay through the nose when you try to upgrade. I'd suggest to find a system with a full size ATX motherboard, and with an AGP port. The 815E chipset has onboard video and an AGP port, so that might be a good way to go. You may end up paying a bit more now, but you'll end up with fewer headaches when you want to upgrade.

If you're not using it for games, then there really isn't a need for a 933mhz processor in the first place. Any Celeron2 or Classic Athlon/Duron can handle a desktop faster than anyone can type. You would probably be fine with a 600mhz processor. I think you should get a quality motherboard that has the greatest upgrading potential, then round out the system with budget parts. You can then upgrade in the future without getting a whole new system.

If you buy one of the new FC-PGA2 socket motherboards, then you'll be able to upgrade to a Tualatin processor (the next version of the P3 that hasn't been released for desktops yet) in a couple years.

 

[Slapstick]

I?m a little confused by your statement ?I'd stay away from the 815 chipset- it doesn't have an AGP port ? . Could you be confusing it with the 810 chipset?

The only difference between the 815 and the 815E is that the 815 only supports up to ATA66 while the 815E supports ATA 100 other than that they are the basically the same. I looked at Chaintech?s site,(chaintech product listings) and all the 815 based boards listed, (both standard ATX and Flex) have AGP slots, the ATX have 6 PCI and 3 Dimm while the Flex have 3 PCI and 2 Dimm slots. The number of Dimms isn?t that important since the 815 only supports a maximum of 512 Megs of rams, ( and only 2 double sided at that).

Of course I could be totally wrong about the Chaintech 799 having an AGP slot since I can?t find a description of that model anywhere.

 

[DClark]

D'oh! My mistake. The 810 was the pathetic piece o'.... - the 815 uses ICH while the 815E uses ICH2.

I saw a thumbnail pictue of the board on the IPC website - I couldn't see the AGP port but it was a very small and blurry picture; brown doesn't show up nearly as well as the white pci slots. I still don't like the MicroATX form factor though - and as I said in the above post, if you're not going to play games, you don't need a P3 933 processor when a 600mhz processor will do the job just as well.

 

[Keego]

onboard with a dvd drive and no decoder card.. that doesn't sound tasty to me

 

[bluemax]

I ran DVD software with zero decoding before (SiS, Voodoo3, etc.) and it looked GREAT! In fact, I liked it BETTER than the "hardware assist" mode from the Geforce DDR. Less choppy.
i810/815 does have DVD assist though and it looks good from my experience. I'll get a Radeon LE down the road.

I found out "Chaintech 799" is simply an IPC "codename" for the board. It's an 815E with ATA100. MicroATX, but 3PCI/1AGP is good enough.

Seriously though - nForce would be better... but WHEN will it be available? Will the first incarnation be a good one?
I've been out of the loop for a few weeks... has there been any nForce hot news? Good/bad?

And that machine I mentioned gave the OPTION of either WinME or extra hardware. I have Win98... I'll take the hardware. I added Office myself. Excellent OEM price!

 

[grant2]

it sounds ok if you never ever want to upgrade. I know that's blasphemy to people in this forum, but 95% of computers don't get upgraded in their life.

Since you're looking for a deal though, nforce is the way to go, that's what I'm waiting for.

 

[thraxes]

yippiiiieeeee

I am one of the 5%
I feel honoured!!!
had my P2B-F for almost 2 years know and I still use it. I upgraded it from a P2-400 to a P3-800@960 MHz I think that qualifies me

 

[Burn]

DClark - You don't have PM or your Profile enabled so I will just ask you in this thread. Are you a university student? If so what school? Your handle and the way you talk remind me of someone...lol

 

[NaughtyusMaximus]

I've heard bad things aboug IPC's business practices. The price seems decent though, so if you don't want to build yourself, or can't find a better deal I'd say go for it.

 

[Burn]

I'll second that. Working at a shop, we had many probs with IPC and since dropped them.

 

[Odoacer]

I'm wondering just one thing. Why do you need a Canadian PC, whats wrong with ordering from dell or something

 

[DClark]

lol - no, I'm not a University student (though I may decide to go to BCIT in the near future); I'm a 28 year old jail guard from British Columbia.

I just tend to read lots of stuff (when guarding a sleeping prisoner you've gotta' read something or you'll go nuts of boredom), so I tend to have a bunch of random computer specs, Maxim magazines, and Patricia Cornwell and Stephen King novels stuffed into my head.

I also don't like the "vibe" the IPC computer guy on the The Shopping Channel gives out when he's hawking his wears. He gives me the feeling that I want to know what his left hand is doing while he's showing me the shiny trinket in his right hand.

 

[Burn]

Hehe. Anyway, thanks for answering.

 

[smp]

1400 Canadian?!!! I'm Canadian and I think you're getting ripped off .. look here.. you can go to there system quote page too. I don't know if you live in Toronto, but better deals exist. This machine is 1195.oo and it's a 1.4Gig Tbird and comes with a monitor (Samsung 750s 17" Monitor) and all other necessaties (keyboard, mouse etc.).. check it out. Canadacomputers.com is my favourite supplier here in Toronto, cept that the salesman can be arrogant d!cks sometimes (you guys read the forums? ) so yeah.. check em out.. good prices, and a quality store too.
<Edit>Go to the bottom left system of that page</Edit>

 

[grant2]

BZZT

the ipc system comes with:
-19&quot; monitor
-128 more ram
-CD burner

Your system come with:
-free mouse pad

Gee, do you think maybe there's a reason the IPC is $200 more? =)

 

[nortexoid]

blue, do u know how to build yoru own computer?...anyway, if so, buy the pieces individually, and from Canadacomputers if u can, like smp suggested....u can get a better computer for the same price (i..e an oced amd duron system)...

u can get a samsung 12x DVD for like 75 bucks, and an NEC 12x/10x/32x w/justlink CDRW for 145...craziness...

if u can't put it together yourself, still buy one of their systems from the quotes page and pick the pieces yourself, or buy one of their preconfigured system and drop in another 128mb pc133 memory if u want, and a cd-rw....easy upgrades...also, ask if u can opt for a better/larger monitor if u want...guaranteed they'll let u.

 

[grant2]

nortex, if bluemax's city is anything like mine is (vancouver) it's cheapest to have a computer custom-built at a local shop. Since you're buying everything from one place they drop the price, so you just can't get ahead by buying individual components.

I think that's the best option if he can do it... especially since if something fails you can walk into a physical store and demand it be fixed.

 

[bluemax]

Thanks for all your input, guys. IPC is not my first choice and I'm now starting to lean against it. They weren't that great when they sold me my first 386. They haven't improved... gotta' love their &quot;no returns - no refunds&quot; policy. If you don't like it - tough!

I found a local guy (here in winnipeg) that will put together an entire system for the price of parts (which are quite reasonable) MINUS 10% for buying a whole system. Monitor is -15%!

I think he's my guy... I don't need Office that badly... I'll find it on here for trade or something.

I just have to firmly decide on WHAT to buy! I suppose I can hold out a while longer with the 486 until the nForce arrives. Provided I can get 4x4MB 30-pin SIMMs and a hard drive between 500-1000MB. (Yes, sub-gig.) If anyone can help me out, I'd GREATLY appreciate it... I only read my mail periorically at public terminals.

If someone has a hard drive for me, I need the specs: heads,cylinders, etc... this old BIOS can't auto-detect squat. :|

 

[cdrsft]

Try here

If you can't find what you want / price you want, email them, they are very helpful.

 

[bluemax]

dead link there cap'n.