Please advise. Need an AMD mobo/case for an OLD PERSON. =)

[paawk]

Here's the sitation. I have a 1.4 tbird and 256 megs of 2100 DDR ram. I'm still not sure on whats the best mobo/case/ps.
My problem is it's for an elderly-ish person who won't be able to "flash the bios" or tweak any strange usb fix if a problem
arises. There won't be any overclocking, but a good performing mobo that will last *gasp* 12 months would be nice. 🙂

So a board thats very stable, very few hardware/software issues, and reliable is my main objective. Now if I put a 1.4 Tbird
in it what kind of ps do you suggest? 300? 400? Are there any places then sell a good case/ps combo without the bells
and whistles?

Most of the hype/talk is about the new mobo's coming out, but in general that involves patches, work arounds that this
person most likely won't be up to. I've been looking for good comments about 3-6-9 month old mobos but I'm not up on
AMD and the chipsets to know what the best course of action is. Thanks for any help you can offer!

 

[SgtZulu]

Try Dell

 

[o1die]

I use the Fic AD11 motherboard, with the AMD 761 chipset. Very stable and only $101 at newegg. For cases, I suggest Inwin or Enlight. Newegg has the Enlight 7230x3 case on their homepage for only $47 with an AMD approved 300 watt power supply. Another popular board is the ECS K7S5A sis 735 board for only $65. Remember, with almost any motherboard, you may have to move the 133 fsb jumper to enable it. Most boards come set at 100 fsb for the default setting.

 

[clumsum]

Would you be available to help with simple Microsoft Windows up-dates and that sort of thing?

What os will they be using? I am assuming some version of MSWindows, say ME or 98SE?

Once your system is up and running with no conflicts, there should not really be alot of tweeking necessary unless you make some changes or additions to the hardware.

I have up-dated my 87-year young Aunt's pc a year or so ago and she has had no problems since then, at least that what she tells me.
She lives in FL and is a regular net-surfer and she plays some games and puzzles on her pc.
We meet frequently on MSN Messenger service and my Brother in NC also joins in.

You will probably need a relative or someone, who could help if/when problems arise, that lives fairly close by in the event of a major component failure. Or someone who will do in-home service in such cases.

I'm in the process of up-grading her pc again to an Athlon 1.something DDR system, she is limited to using a dial-up modem connection due to her rural residence ................ nothing else available yet.
She is becoming more house bound now as her health declines and I hope to help keep her interest and enthusiasm up by keeping her pc up to date and with adding slightly more challenging new programs.
My last hardware addition for her included a Sony E-400 19" flat screen CRT ........ as the glare of her old monitor was causing her some problems.

I would think a 300w AMD approved psu would be plenty of power and the ECS K7S5 mb using the SiS 735 chipset would be just the ticket ........... cheap, fast and Anandtech says they are very stable.
That will probably be my choice and since it has on-board audio that also helps cut costs........
Good luck ...............