What about this bare bones system?

[Jeffwo]

I am looking for a computer for my daughter (12 y.o.).

I found this deal on PCInfinity for $199.00.

But I am not familiar with the PC chips 810 mobo.

What do you guys think? And, oh, yeah, I already have a harddrive, memory (PC133) and a burner
put back for it.

Can I add a sound card? Is this going to be upgradable?

• Motherboard: PC Chips M810 (Vid, Snd, Lan, 56k) Motherboard
  Processor: AMD Duron 1.0GHz (200MHz FSB) CPU
  CPU Fan: Approved Heatsink/Fan Combo
  Memory: 256MB PC133 SDRAM Memory
  Hard Drive: None
  Case: 300Watt Mid ATX Case
  Floppy Drive: None
  Video Card: Onboard 64MB AGP
  Sound Card: Onboard 32-Bit Sound
  Modem: 56K V.90 AMR Modem
  Networking Card: Onboard 10/100 NIC
  CD-ROM Drive: None
  DVD-ROM Drive: None
  CD-RW Drive: None
  Other: None
  Speakers: None
  Keyboard: None
  Mouse: None
  Monitor: None
  Operating System: None
  Warranty: 2 Years Parts & Labor
  
  
  
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jeff

 

[Iron Woode]

Its not bad as a second system to do simple tasks. The price is decent too. A sound card can be added as well as a vid card.

As for expansion, that depends on the board's revision #. It is located in the lower left corner of the board when it is mounted in the case. You must have version 5 min for 1000 duron support. Version 7 or better will give you AMD XP support.

here is a good place to check out this board.

PC Chips Lottery

PS: i have built a system using this board and all the built in stuff. It works great. Its not perfect but it is running win XP just fine.

 

[Buz2b]

The only thing I would add is additonal memory if you are going to use the onboard video that shares the RAM. 256RAM minus the 64 for video equals 192MB and XP needs 128 minimum. For me that just wouldn't be enough. Add an additional 64 or 128 (even better) to keep things "happy". Other than that, it sounds like an OK deal.

 

[Iron Woode]

Buz2b:

I just thought I would share this:

I put 256 megs in the system I made. I set the video at 32 meg and turned off the excess eye-candy. Not all of it, just some of it. It works great. I am not kidding. That's with the 1000 duron too.

 

[Buz2b]

Iron Woods,
Interesting to say the least but I'd still add additional memory. Thanks for sharing though. If it comes up in the future I might try it.

 

[Jeffwo]

Well everything I can find on the PC Chips "M" 810 says it supports the Athlon XP 2000+

And I am planning on putting my 32 meg M64 video card in there for her (gives me a
good excuse to move up to a 64 mb. card for my machine).

I have another 256 of PC133 SDRAM if needed and I will stick a cheap sound card in
there if there's any lag.

Just wanted to make sure I wasn't buying something that was known for poor quality
or performance before I jumped into this.

Thanks for the advice guys, maybe one day I can help you in some way.

Jeff

 

[Peter]

PC-Chips M810LR. There's a neat FAQ on this board (note, it is kind of picky on AGP cards, see that FAQ). Now where's that link ...

http://radel.inet.net.nz/m810lmr.html

That said, the board in itself is a fine product for where it's intended to go - low cost home and office computers for getting some work done. This is not a gamer's rig obviously, although if you keep the resolution low, it's good enough for the occasional 3D game too. A TNT2-M64 won't really be an improvement.

The onboard sound is using a pretty decent chipset integrated engine (Trident 4D-Wave) and (on newer revisions of the board) a C-Media 9738 4-channel codec. No need for a sound card.

regards, Peter

 

[Peter]

(dp)

 

[skoonen78]

You didtn give a link to the pc, so I couldnt check out all the specs, but you can build a damn good barebones youself for cheap...

According to newegg.com
Asus nforce 220d board = $76
1ghz Duron oem = $40
256 Kingston ddr = $65
Nice enermax midtower = $65
Thermaltake volcano2 cpu heatsink/fan = $5.50

Total $251.50... Now you could prob save atleast $20 by going with a cheaper case and/or ram... I just picked those cuz I didnt feel like looking through all the categories in ram or midtowers


Heres the blurb for the motherboard
Asus A7N266-VM NVIDIA nFORCE 220 Chipset 266/200MHz FSB Motherboard ATX- OEM
Supports Socket A AMD Duron, Athlon, and Athlon XP up to 1900+ and beyond
2 DIMM slots and up to 1GB of PC2100/1600 non ECC DDR memory support
Integrated Audio AC97and Dolby Digital (AC-3) Encoder
Realtek RTL 8139 10/100 Mbps LAN controller
3 PCI slots, 2 USB ports, 2 on adapter card and 1 AGP Pro/4x slot

Its more than likely to have better sound & video than the pcchips board

 

[Jeffwo]

Here is the link, it is at the bottom of the page. The system for $199. I seriously doubt I could build a rig with all that for $200. That is even free shipping.

Jeff

 

[skoonen78]

Ah, I didnt realize free shipping as well.... Guess its a pretty good deal then. Usually places rape you on shipping when you get something that cheap.

 

[Ray06492]

I just looked up pcinfinity.net at rating is terrible, and the majority of the ratings are negative.

Here is a link for the ratings of this lousy company

Enjoy your day,
Raymond