Please help vote for the best computer!

[SP33Demon]

All he NEEDS is computer 2... but it depends how much shipping is... if it's anything over $25 I wouldn't do it, or would try to talk them down on the price. This is assuming that the 512 MG of ram is the same as #5! If not, then go with number 5... b/c an upgrade of 256MG PC-133 on #5 will probably be cheaper than an upgrade on CPU for #2, although I could be wrong b/c I don't know what kind of MOBO #2 has. #5 also has higher upgrade possiblities than #2, mainly CPU (the IWILL board can accept up to A.XP1900+ according to website). What is the mobo of #2? That is what would seal the deal, b/c the Iwill is going for around the $80-100 range making it highly desirable. As far as #1 is concerned, I wouldn't touch a Compaq with a 10 ft. pole. Too many horror stories from my friends. 🙂

 

[SP33Demon]

Originally posted by: crazygal
I was just given this offer:

-K7S5A Pro (rev 5.0)
http://www.ecsusa.com/products/k7s5a_pro.html
-AMD Athlon 1200mHZ
-Crucial 256mb PC133 cas2 (part#CT32M64S4D7E.16T)
-ATI Radeon 64MB DDR VIVO
http://www.ati.com/products/radeon/radeon64ddr/index.html
-20GB Maxtor ATA-100 7200 RPM HD
-generic case
-300w (powerline)
-56k modem
-175 shipped

That's the best deal yet IMO! Great mobo, decent speed CPU, with plenty of upgrade possibilities if this is too slow for him... for example, you can upgrade to DDR Ram instead of PC133 if he is having trouble multitasking. It can also accept all A.XP's (not sure about T.Breds though) so the CPU can be upgraded too. If he needs more than 20GB (you said he wasn't gaming etc) then hard drives are cheap now. Mainly, price and scalability are why I would choose this one over #5 (#5 has scalability but the price is steep and has feature he might not need like a dual head video card).
-Rob

 

[crazygal]

Yeah, both #5 and that last offer I got are good deals. I was told that the K7S5A was flakey though, any truth to this (currently looking it up online)

 

[manly]

Originally posted by: crazygal
Yeah, both #5 and that last offer I got are good deals. I was told that the K7S5A was flakey though, any truth to this (currently looking it up online)

I don't think flaky is the right word, but it's a budget board. Fry's has sold thousands of them by the pallet with weekly Athlon CPU/ECS motherboard combos. As with anything cheap that pushes so much volume, you get a fair amount of bad impressions (not to mention infamous Fry's returns).

The main problem with the board (that doesn't apply to you) is that it's a dated two-year old design. Fry's is still selling the combos at a very low price though.

If your dad does not need dual-head, then this is clearly a better deal. Like we said earlier, $270 is really pushing things for computer #5 (maybe different if you could deal down to $240ish).

I think whoever said the P4-1.5 GHz outperforms the Athlon T-Bird 1.4 GHz is stretching the truth at least a bit. Athlons are well-known to excel at business office apps, and the P4 early release history was both (eventually) successful and a mixed bag.

 

[crazygal]

Thank you for all the advice and information. I have decided to go with computer #8 (see 5 posts above). It was $175 shipped and he threw in a 52x cd-rom. Hopefully my dad will be surfing the net (AKA: checking email) very soon!