Need input on *five* new PC's

[EricW]

As my 2nd PC just died last night, I finally am getting off my duff and buying my entire family (spread out across the country), new PC's, since they all have Pentium 233's or P2 450's etc, and most are misbehaving.

I'd like to keep it relatively cheap, but not too cheap , I prefer AMD (price + performance). I currently am using my "new" PC which is a AMD 1800+ with an Epox mobo, no problems, love it, built it 1.4 years ago.

Mainly, motherboards are the problem, hard to find reviews of which are good, which are bad. Money is really no object, but they'd get mad if I splurged on them like I do myself.

 

[optimistic]

Dell?

Yes, seriously consider getting Dells for everyone since tech support for people accross the country will be a pain

 

[WarCon]

EPoX 8RDA(+) is a good bet for a great motherboard. Has great onboard sound.

 

[EricW]

Hehe, only my brother lives far away (in Idaho, I'm in Texas), so the support isn't a big deal, he's something of a computer geek too, just with a family

Dells are what I am replacing lol. And buying the parts seperately is so cheap its not funny, especially not having to buy new monitors for them all, made them buy good monitors. 17" trini's back in the day were good, honest .

 

[Sid59]

make all 5 PCs exactly the same. then all you need is 1 ghost. excellent.

 

[BigFatCow]

how much are you looking to spend?

 

[Malladine]

For best performance/price i'd recommend the latest ECS K7S5A mobo. Supports PC2700 ram, upto 2600+ athlon xps and is 4x agp compatible. For the basic pc user you can't really beat it (and it makes for a decent gaming machine too). I built my wife's system using this mobo, ddr ram, an athlon t-bird and a geforce2 and have never had any issue with it, stability or otherwise.

Considering you can pick a rev. 3.x up for around $50 it represents a pretty good deal!

To offer another option, not based on personal experience but just on reviews and trolling these boards for a few weeks, the Epox 8rda+ seems to be a popular mobo with few, if any, problems.

As far as total price goes, by my reckoning, considering you won't need a monitor, you will be able to build a powerful system for around $800.

B.T.W. I respect your dedication to "the family"

 

[SUOrangeman]

SCHWING!

Modify to taste (and to save a few bucks!)

-SUO

 

[EricW]

Thanks for all the input

 

[Cerb]

Forget the K7S5A...
L7S7A2!
NF2 speeds, only falling slightly behind in benchmarks where the dual-channel memory helps out, and for $66 comes w/ a 6-in-1 card reader.
If none of them are gamers, go for MSI's newer NF2 board (w/ onboard everything).
And if you encounter problems, remember: 90% are user error, so post again here and at amdforums.com

 

[tkistre]

I don't think I'd get the ECS K7S5A. I build computers on the side and I have used the K7S5A in probably 15-20 machines in the last year and a half for price/performance. Although about half ran flawless, the other half did not. Most of the problems related back to the K7S5A. The computers I built with this motherboard are the only customers who call back for support.

My best luck has been with ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI. I have used several models from these manufacturers, mostly being integrated DDR motherboards. I have had great luck with these. If you want better performing computers, go with the nForce2 chipset or the VIA KT400A chipset models.

 

[everman]

I just recomend doing a dual install of the os in case it craps out. Then they can switch to the 2ndary install instead of you even having to ghost or fix it Although I'd just buy dells or something because I'd hate to do all the tech support.

 

[mechBgon]

The Asus A7N266-VM is worth a look too. More info and testimonials in this thread.

 

[magomago]

First of all I'd agree with the idea of getting 5 Exact Pcs and then ghosting it.

Secondly, toss in this 1700+ http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=19-103-352&depa=1

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=20-145-059&depa=1 - 512 crucial pc2700

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?description=27-131-603&DEPA=1 16xliteon DVD - 36 dollars

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=&submit=Go&description=L7S7A2 l7s7a2 66 dollars

Instead of plopping down 50 bucks worth of burners just get 5 burners at Bestbuy or circuity city in those 9.99 deals they always have. If they put a 2 limit per customer just ask your neighbors to fill it out in their names when you send the rebate or somethin \

Then just get a 40-80gig hdd for each. If they are not gamers a cheap 9000 should be fine for ~60 but if they game I'd go with the 9500pro

 

[Jhhnn]

Gotta go with MechBgon on the Asus a7n266-vm. Maybe one of the best motherboards ever built for general purpose use, and the price is right. Add an xp1700 and 256 megs pc2100.

When folks upgrade from much older machines, they often find the size and noise of a modern box objectionable. Since the asus board is matx, you can go with a matx case. I like the LiteOn ST050 from Casedepot w/300w ultra quiet Seasonic psu, item #c36600. Plain jane, but it breathes well with just a single panaflo 80mm L1A exhaust fan, and will accomodate 2 optical drives. Get the gc68 hsf's from svc, helluva bargain, and quiet. Add a Seagate barracuda IV hdd because they're the quietest, and an Asus cdrom, same reason.

To be perfectly honest, some of the Dells are actually a better buy, check the hot deals forum. They can't be making much on some of the recent deals on their 4550 model, but I suppose they get a tremendous price break, ordering 10K units of anything will do that....

 

[Gatsby]

If your willing to do tech support and trouble shoot for them all do build it yourself.

Wiht that many PCs I'm personally going fr dell just to remove the trouble.