Trying to build a computer lab - help needed

[mrSHEiK124]

Hello all!

Just a LITTLE bit of background here - I work part-time for a student based relief agency, and this summer we took on the responsibility of building a computer lab [10 PCs] for some Haitian schoolchildren.

I thought a lot about how best to do it, since the higher-ups were initially planning on just collecting donated computers. We all know how that works - I did not want to deal with crappy, inefficient [more on that in a bit], big [more on that too] clunkers. I also like uniformity in my work.

So I decided to build one of these, as a proof of concept:

Case: ANTEC ISK300-65

SAMSUNG 8X Slim Internal DVD Burner, OEM Package Without Software Black SATA Model SN-208BB - OEM
Item #: N82E16827151242
$25.99

ASUS VE198T Black 19" LED BackLight LCD Monitor w/Speakers
Item #: N82E16824236107
$109.99

G.SKILL ECO Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL8D-4GBECO
Item #: N82E16820231317
$31.99

ASUS P8H61-I (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813131727
$79.99

Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I32100
Item #: N82E16819115078
$124.99

Rexus NMB-MAT (Panaflo) 80mm Case Fan
Item #: N82E16835705016
$11.99

Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Item #: N82E16820148441
$114.99
Subtotal: $499.93

Now, before you freak out - the build went this way for a couple of reasons:

1. Power efficiency
2. Size & Weight
3. Longevity
4. Durability
5. Performance

Electricity is a commodity in Haiti. I did not want to deal with POS boxes that idle at 50-60W. These suckers use 40W at load [Folding@Home]. When running Office programs or the like, with the LED monitor they will be hard pressed to draw more than 40W as an entire system. I do believe that's approaching laptop efficiency?

We do have to get these down there. My entire systems weigh 20 lbs - boxed and ready to ship. A laptop would indeed be much cheaper to get there, but I am not sure I want to use laptops? Store bought PCs are 40lbs+. Screw that.

Look up the Antec case - it's $60 shipped, it's smaller than anything [ANYTHING] you can buy prebuilt short of a crappy nettop, and it comes with an external Delta PSU!

I feel like I've done a lot towards eliminating points of failure. That SSD is way less likely to fail in a hot environment than a mechanical disk drive. It's also a lot less likely to get screwed up in shipping. Hard drive space is not a requirement here. All of the units have run LinX & memtest extensively, so I'm convinced they're solid. If the PSU blows? They can find laptop power bricks in Haiti! I also downclocked the processor a bit, turning it into a 2100T for all intents & purposes. And Panaflos are tits.

These are faster than anything they could've found for this price, barring scratch & dent and refurbs. They are smaller. And they boot in 15 seconds.

So I guess I have two questions:

1. Would I be better served buying cheap Sandy Bridge laptops? I asked a friend who works at Staples and is arguably a bigger techie than I am, he was impressed with the mITX builds and told me :thumbsup: because $300-400 laptops tend to be :thumbsdown: after a year or two as far as durability is concerned. If these kids trash a keyboard or something, that's less than $10 for them to replace down there. If you trash the keyboard on a laptop, well, you've got a problem.
   
2. Do any of you know how I could save money doing this? I've been buying up SSDs and i3 processors from FS/FT, but supply is limited :'(

 

[heymrdj]

Have you called up one of the places like Newegg or Microcenter to see if you could get a not-for-profit discount on the parts for 10 systems at once? They would probably be willing with proper documentation.

You did good. I was with an org that did laptops and desktops to africa, and the laptops were always a horror story. They couldn't stand the heat, the dust and dirt ect. The laptops all had price parts be it screens, keyboards, ect. And none of those parts were easily accessible. I can walk someone over video phone how to change out a PSU or a fan, hell even a proc and mobo with enough patience (I got my fiance to do that when she was in Indiana and me and GA, took her 3 hours but we got through it lol). No amount of videophoning will walk a non-geek through the disassembly required to change parts on laptops (especially like the cheap toshibas that are built as much of one piece as possible, break something every dang time you take it apart). Even a touchpad or keyboard is a pain and forget tearing it down to the cooling system to clean it out.

You did good man.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Have you called up one of the places like Newegg or Microcenter to see if you could get a not-for-profit discount on the parts for 10 systems at once? They would probably be willing with proper documentation.

You did good. I was with an org that did laptops and desktops to africa, and the laptops were always a horror story. They couldn't stand the heat, the dust and dirt ect. The laptops all had price parts be it screens, keyboards, ect. And none of those parts were easily accessible. I can walk someone over video phone how to change out a PSU or a fan, hell even a proc and mobo with enough patience (I got my fiance to do that when she was in Indiana and me and GA, took her 3 hours but we got through it lol). No amount of videophoning will walk a non-geek through the disassembly required to change parts on laptops (especially like the cheap toshibas that are built as much of one piece as possible, break something every dang time you take it apart). Even a touchpad or keyboard is a pain and forget tearing it down to the cooling system to clean it out.

You did good man.

Thank you! No Microcenters here in FL, so I wouldn't be able to get CPUs from them, but I will ring them, TD/CompUSA, and Newegg up anyways. Gotta find our tax ID.

One question I forgot to ask! I've actually built two, but the second has a Pentium G620 in it. Switching down to the Pentium will actually pay for another computer [or the 10th one, whatever].

Do you think it's worth the extra $20-30 for hyper-threading? I don't think they'll be using Photoshop or anything intense, but will it add any "future-proof"-ness? I know with the accumulated bloat of an old Windows install the extra threads might come in handy. If I can get the planned budget, I'll be going with the i3-2100 - I guess I just need to plan for possible cuts/constraints.

 

[sangyup81]

If they aren't using it for all that much and electricity is a premium, why not go with a 35w socket 1155 CPU like the pentium g620T?

you could also get a smaller and more efficient PSU this way

actually, did you already have a case and PSU in mind?

 

[DaveSimmons]

SilentPCReview compared the i3-2100 against the -t version and at idle there was no significant power savings despite the 30w spec difference. So I wouldn't pay extra or give up CPU speed for a -t version.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I would go with the G530 celeron dual-core 2.4Ghz SB chips. Much cheaper than the i3-2100 chips.

Not a huge difference in performance, unless you are gaming.

Edit: Unless you need quicksync, I think that is disabled in the SB Pentiums and Celerons.

 

[Zap]

My suggestions:

Case
Mini Box M350 with Pico PSU and VESA mount kit
Cheaper than Antec case by a hair, VESA mount so out of the way, aluminum so lightweight. Use one external USB optical drive for the whole group for installs.

Pentium G620T
Cheaper than Core i3, bit less power usage.

Cheapest notebook HDD
Notebook HDDs are already more robust than desktop drives.

 

[JWade]

why not go with something like this:

•Processor: AMD Athlon II X2 P340, Dual Core (2.2GHz, 1MB)
•Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
•Inspiron Zino HD - 410 Desktop
•500 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
•2 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
•8X DVD +/- RW Drive
•512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5450

this setup is currently 339 on delloutlet, they have other ones which are more and are less. they are lightweight, the zino HD 410 has laptop processors and laptop ram in them, they have desktop hardrives though. I would think power efficiency on them should be pretty good.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Like DaveSimmons said - the T versions of Sandy Bridge CPUs aren't any different. The ASUS motherboard I'm using allows me to change the max multiplier and set a TDP limit - instant 2100T without paying the extra $10-20. The stock cooler easily fits in the Antec case.

I looked at the M350 when I was initially deciding what to use, and decided against it for a couple of reasons. The Antec comes with a Delta power brick. This is win. The Antec has two 80mm fans. These computers are going to be running in Haiti. Without air-conditioning. The single 40mm fan in the M350 isn't worth risking it - these Antecs are dead silent even with a Panaflo in them. If I was building an Atom box I'd def go with the M350 though.

Notebook HDDs? I really can't vouch for SSD reliability, but something tells me they're less likely to die due to chance or under high temperatures. These PCs won't be seeing too many read/write cycles, just booting Windows and running Office/productivity applications.

I was told to put an optical drive in each unit.

If I get knocked down in budget, I will definitely go for a G530 or G620. I went with the i3-2100 because I figured they really wouldn't need to replace these PCs for 3-4 years. They [the school] have no budget of their own for this, so to speak, our organization is donating the entire lab.

Thanks again!!!

 

[mrSHEiK124]

why not go with something like this:

•Processor: AMD Athlon II X2 P340, Dual Core (2.2GHz, 1MB)
•Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
•Inspiron Zino HD - 410 Desktop
•500 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
•2 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
•8X DVD +/- RW Drive
•512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5450

this setup is currently 339 on delloutlet, they have other ones which are more and are less. they are lightweight, the zino HD 410 has laptop processors and laptop ram in them, they have desktop hardrives though. I would think power efficiency on them should be pretty good.

D:

It's $399 at Dell.com. And it doesn't include a monitor.

I'm using a $109 LED monitor. And 4 GB of RAM. And an SSD. Why is this a better deal?

Power efficiency and performance on the i3 has got to be 2x that Athlon. Seriously. If I switch down to a G530 or a G620 there literally is no price difference of which to speak.

 

[Zap]

Notebook HDDs? I really can't vouch for SSD reliability, but something tells me they're less likely to die due to chance or under high temperatures.

You ever peek in the Memory and Storage forum here? SSDs may be shock and temperature resistant, but they often come with the self bricking firmware feature. :\

 

[Broheim]

OP, have some metal containers that fit around the case and can be bolted down produced, without those it wont matter what build you decide on as everything will get stolen within the first few hours.

 

[JWade]

it comes with legit windows OS, the one i listed wasnt the cheapest, i listed it because it had a dedicated mxm video card. there were cheaper ones with 4gb of ram, they even had one with a blu-ray that was under $400. you went to dell.com, need to go to delloutlet.com

they are already put together and ready to run, they all come with a Dell 1 year warranty, granted you will be using them outside the country, but they weigh less overall too and wont cost much to send back to get fixed if they fail within that 1st year. their 1 year warranty covers everything, to include the hard drive.

here is another example of one with 3gb of ram, no dedicated video.

•Processor: AMD Athlon II X2 P340, Dual Core (2.2GHz, 1MB)
•Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
•Inspiron Zino HD - 410 Desktop
•320 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
•3 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
•8X DVD +/- RW Drive
•Integrated ATI Radeon HD4200 Graphics
price $289

I understand about the reliance of an ssd also, but having built dozens of systems for use by people in both Iraq and Afghanistan with little to no AC, I hadnt had one hard drive failure from the systems being used in 2 years.

I think you are trading a fear of failure for space. computer lab i would thinky uo would want more storage space for programs and such. Having spent 6+ years in hot countries outside the US, as long as the systems have ventilation and are not in an enclosed space, as well as get cleaned once in awhile, failure will be minimal if at all.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

You ever peek in the Memory and Storage forum here? SSDs may be shock and temperature resistant, but they often come with the self bricking firmware feature. :\

I've poked in there before to bash SandStorm - do the Crucial SSDs do the same thing? I hope not :'(

OP, have some metal containers that fit around the case and can be bolted down produced, without those it wont matter what build you decide on as everything will get stolen within the first few hours.

We are considering that. We previously did a computer drive for an Internet cafe as a sustainable microfinancing project - its doors were open and in the several months since it opened, not a single laptop or desktop has been taken. I'll look into it.