new el-cheapo PC for mother-in-law

[mcveigh]

What do you guys think of this?

case--EVERCASE E4252-ABV (BEIGE) 10-BAY MID-TOWER CASE w/ 300W P4 POWER SUPPLY - 38.00
mobo-- Asus A7N266-VM (nforce 220D) includes LAN/sound and vid card onboard--73.00
CPU-- AMD Athlon 1600+ --54.00
ram 256MB DDR2100-- 70.00
hard drive--30 gig maxtor 7200rpm-- 70.00
some generic keyboard mouse/speakers

total=305 w/o shipping.
I might pick some stuff up from ther fs/ft forum.
I'd prefer a microatx case but can'r find a good cheap one one a good cheap power supply. any suggestions?
any reason not to get an original nforce mobo?

 

[McCarthy]

Looks nice....except, make sure they're NICE generic keyboard/mouse/speakers. Remember, this lady has the option of poisoning you next Thanksgiving.

Looks like it's got a pretty decent power supply which is good, more than enough to push a 1600+. (According to the sticker it's above and beyond my Enlight 300w which is doing just fine with a stuffed box/1600+). Actually I had a Enlight 235w in here till I did something stupid and shorted it when...well, we won't get into that, but until then it was doing fine with the 1600/3 HDs, CD, GF2ti, etc.. Bet the Enlight EN-7150AP micro-AtX would work, nice 21A on the 5v even with a mere 200w PS. It's no beauty, but then neither is the Evercase and it'd take up less room. From Anand's article on the Shuttle SS51 XPC:

The power supply doesn't provide an incredible amount of current on its power rails, but it should be enough to cover the needs of anything you can throw at the SS51. The 200W power supply delivers 10A on the +12V and 20A on the +5V rails. The most impressive part of the power supply is obviously its size and its ability to deliver enough current to a power hungry CPU like a 2.53GHz Pentium 4.

Just pointing out a good 200w can do a good job.

--Mc

 

[Macro2]

I think you should get a 1700+ t-bred A from newegg for a few dollars more. Should run cooler. Get some kid of copper insert cooler like a Volcano.
If you do the coupon thing you might get a slightly better deal on the HD or get a larger HD from a local B&M store.
You're going to need a floppy. Also a CD ROM drive. In which case you might as well buy a CDRW because they can be had for similar prices w/rebates.

Mac

 

[mcveigh]

Ive used the evercase's before and had good luck w/ the power supply's
I might not put a floppy in, I don't know yet. the only thing this will be used for is surfing the net/email and maybe printing cards

 

[Arhra]

I seriously suggest you spend the 6-10 dollars for a generic floppy. No reason to be that cheap, seriously.

 

[Macro2]

Personally I'd get an Enlight 72xx case because I know their power supplies are good. Evercase may be good, I just have no experience with it.
No floppy? Ah come on...lol. I can't live with one yet.

Mac

 

[Elcs]

With referrance to the topic, I see fit to attach many Delta Screamers into this case to get your own back.

Seriously though, it looks alright. Id prefer to see my EPoX 8KHA+ in there for its stability but im sure more advanced boards are even better than this one. 30 gig should be fine for the sweet darling (shadow moves accross the background wielding a dagger).

DVD Drive might be good as long as the graphics card can decode (if i remember correctly). Keeps her sweet for a while so you dont have to buy a DVD Player for her

CDROM would be handy.

 

[mcveigh]

I'd love to put an 8kha+ in there (i'm typing from one now)

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

i would recommend a board with onboard sound/vid/lan and which uses regular sdram, as the cost of the ram will be less than half, and the 10% difference doesnt really matter.

 

[KaGee]

I agree about the SDRAM mobo. ECS makes a solid mobo with everything onboard. Add 256mb of sdram, processor and drives, should be way cheaper than the system you proposed. Would be a very good system for her.

 

[mcveigh]

well I still have doubts about the sis 735 chipset although I haven't used it my self. but if I wen twith ecs I would still have to buy a video card.

I figure $20 more for geforce2mx graphics isa good deal....or is it?

 

[Ionizer86]

Check hot deals: they got like 8mb cache drives for around $50 right now.

 

[holdencommodore]

Check the prices of the ECS K7SOM. They are usually fairly inexpensive. Has a SiS 740 chipset with intergrated SiS 315 graphics and both DDR and SDRAM support.

Cheers