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need help building a machine

M

MrPG

Senior member
Hey guys,

I want to get a little gerl, age 6, a computer this xmas... so a couple things are't key, speed and power unless you need a dual athlon setup to run blues clues adventures 🙂

anywho.. what i'm looking for is a tiny setup... very smell footprint, and possible pretty colors and matching monitor ... becuase if a bring a generic looking pc into her room of bright colors and such she might not like that 🙂

i'm looking for micro atx boards and cases but not much luck.. or even bare bones setups as tiny as possible...


thanks
 
Get something based on the VIA PLE133 (P3/Celeron) or KLE133 (Duron/Athlon) chipset. The boards are very stable and a great buy at around $50. It comes with integrated Trident Blade 3D graphics with is comparable to the Matrox G200. 2D is razor sharp and great for your average kid games. The audio is software AC97. The mATX for factor means its compact and can fit into various "cute" cases.

When building such systems, I usually use the Enlight 7150 case which is really tiny. The 145w power supply is sufficient for almost every P3 or Celeron. For Durons it usually only good for around 900Mhz. Don't even consider a TBird in such a case. One great feature is that with the new Seagate Barracuda IV, it is nearly silent.

The average system with a Biostar PLE133 mobo, Celeron 850, 256MB PC133, 10 - 20GB 7200RPM HDD, 52X CD-ROM, modem or NIC, speakers, keyboard, and mouse runs around $350 shipped. Not too bad for a basic system. For kids I usually go with the Little Tikes series of iput devices. They are colorful and rugged to stabd up to the wear and tear of kids. The mouse is also made to fit smaller hands.

Goto Newegg for the above parts. Check Directron for a variety of mATX cases. There is nice silver Enlight case available. If yoy have the $$$, get the Shuttle FV24 package. The mobo comes in a aluminum case the size of a shoebox.

Windogg

Sorry, it was Inwin, not Enlight.

Used one but quality was borderline. Cute though.
 
I think Windogg's system is an excellent choice and will last for a good while if she's just playing those kiddy games.

If you thinking short term i'd say a 700mhz system w/ 128 and a 10gig HD is fine.

Paint the Case! 🙂
 
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