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Critique Granny's New Comp

S

starhawk

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Oct 4, 2004
Messages
8,908
Okay... so over lunch today, one of my friends mentioned that his granny's looking to upgrade (from a dismal p1 166MHz) but Granny doesn't want to spend much more than $300. When he asked me if I'd build it, I told him I didn't have all that much time, but I'd look into it for him.

With an eye toward stability and savings, here is what I came up with. Only 2 items are from Newegg, the rest I scoured the [H] FS/T Forum for.

Enermax Beige Mid-Tower Case $20
Generic 300W PSU $20
Intel P3 800MHz + FIC KC19+ Mobo + 256MB RDRAM RIMMs $40
PNY GeForce4 Ti4200 64MB AGP 4x Graphics Card $45
80GB Maxtor CompUSA-Style HDD $60
LG Electronics Beige 54x/36x/54x CD-RW Drive $26.50
Generic Beige Floppy Drive $5
Lucent PCI DSL/56kbps Modem $6
WinXP Home Edition SP2 $97.25

Grand Total $324.75

What do you guys think? That sound good enough for Granny? She very likely isn't gonna be gaming on that thing...
 
Bugalaman said:
you can do better at newegg for the drives
Click to expand...

which ones? the cd-rw is newegg already, the floppy is about half what you'd pay retail no matter where you go, and the hdd... well, it's awful hard to find 'em that low i think...
 
I'd skip the geforce, no need for it. Better spend the money on processor/mobo/memmory. Just find a board woth built in vga.
 
I'd get the cheapest vid card you can find off Ebay...could even be PCI, you won't need more than 4mb of memory on it, it's not like Granny is going to play Half-Life 2 - or is she?

Fry's/Outpost.com sometimes has pretty good deals on CPU/mobo combos, you could probably pick a Sempron/MB combo up for around $60- $80 on any given week. Pay close attention to memory and could get 256MB of memory for around $20 after rebate at a brick and mortar store.
 
If you live near a frys, they usually have mb/cpu combos. Sempron+MB for like $40-45. Why does she need a 80gb HD. Also you can get a lower video card unless you plan to play some games when you visit...
 
Buckus said:
I'd get the cheapest vid card you can find off Ebay...could even be PCI, you won't need more than 4mb of memory on it, it's not like Granny is going to play Half-Life 2 - or is she?
Click to expand...

nope. granny's about as lively as a net-surfing brick. as for the vid card... i'll see what's up in fs/t and downgrade a bit.

reason i picked a p3 is because i've read over and over that p3's were stable. granny definitely needs that.
 
okay guys... how about a Visiontek Geforce3 64MB for the graphics card?
 
No, keep XP. It's stable.. Old PCs are crappy because of the OS.

Everything you build is going to be stable under stock conditions. See if you can't get 512mb of ram into it. Any video card will do, even integrated.

Just remember that the most important thing is that you update and protect the machine before letting it lose.
 
Talonz said:
No, keep XP. It's stable.. Old PCs are crappy because of the OS.

Everything you build is going to be stable under stock conditions. See if you can't get 512mb of ram into it. Any video card will do, even integrated.

Just remember that the most important thing is that you update and protect the machine before letting it lose.
Click to expand...

I hereby agree with all stated opinions, and would like to add that you had better make sure the thing has adequate, QUIET cooling, as the biggest problem I have run into with old people is that they pile shit on the computer because its loud, which also pretty well renders any cooling obsolete.

Stupid old people :D
 
Can you say Dell? E-machines?

www.Dell.com/TV
Dimension 2400
Bullet Intel® Celeron® Processor (2.40GHz, 400 FSB)
Bullet Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Bullet 256MB Shared DDR SDRAM at 333MHz (Performs at 266MHz for 400FSB systems)
Featured at
$389
$349
After $40 OFF Instantly!
No monitor [subtract $50]=$299.

It's REALLY-REALLY hard to beat an OEM on the cheap. Also consider the fact that the machine your building has 0 support (IE you support it), where Grammy can at least call Dell (granted it's in India).
 
Major_A said:
Here's all Granny would need.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-142-021&depa=1
And does Granny really need Windows XP? Why not dig around and find an old 98 or 98SE OS?
Click to expand...

I agree with that vid card. The most 3 dimensional thing she will probably ever see is the screensaver, and therefore a cheap video card is more than adequate. but a decent video card is IMO required for having several windows open in xp, so as there's no tearing and other choppiness. Also, i don't think she needs 80 gig hard drive. 40 would be more than adequate. and yeah p3's are pretty stable... although personally i would invest more into the proc mobo and ram. winxp is a bit of a ram whore, and old people like to click things a lot if they dont work right away. (well, any "user" does this as well but..) also win xp is much more stable than win 98, particularly using NTFS. FAT32 was not fully solid. make sure her comp has a good antivirus, and a good web browser that has popup blocking. personally i recommend avant browser. you don't want those farking popups affecting her health and mental well-being.
 
hehehe i'm not gonna build this heap. but i will pass off the parts list and prices to my friend so that he can do it.

here is the final list of parts & prices. i'm not gonna post sources until i know for sure that he's gonna do this.

Enermax Mid-Tower Beige Case $20
Generic 300W ATX Power Supply $20
Intel Pentium 3 800MHz+Motherboard $20
256MB RAMBUS RAM $20
Connect3D ATI RADEON 7000 32MB Graphics Card $27.50
80GB Maxtor HDD (CompUSA version) $60
LG Electronics Beige 54x/36x/54x CD-RW Drive $26.50
Generic Beige Floppy Drive $5
Lucent PCI DSL/56kbps Modem $6
Windows XP Home Edition SP2 (OEM) $92.25

TOTAL: $297.25
 
I would want the dell vs. the equipment listed there.

P-IV celly @ 2.4 vs. P3-800, is it even a question? :confused: Am I missing something here?

Oh, and Dell will build it for free...
 
185ish is the cheapest working computer w/ (256MB RAM) new parts from newegg only, you would only need OS.

Linkworld Case w/ PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=11-164-034&depa=0
PCChips Socket A Mobo w/ Video:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-185-033&depa=0
AMD 1.33GHz Thunderbird Processor:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-156&depa=0
Wintec Ampo 256MB PC2700:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-161-612&depa=1
Samsung 40GB Hard Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=22-152-008&depa=0
Samsung 52x CD Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=27-151-045&depa=0
Dynatron heatsink:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=35-114-005&depa=0

would just need operating system. Heck you could use linux if its just gonna be internet browsing/word prcessing/photo viewing
 
starhawk said:
stability. can't bust up a p3 in the stability arena.
Click to expand...
Yes you can. With an equally as stable, but MUCH faster core.

Dude, what are you smoking? Pass it this way, mmkay?

AMDs are stable.
Intels are stable.
A64s are stable.
PIVs are stable
Fuck, and 486 is stable, got one at the house I could still boot if I wanted.

An unstable system is not stable (read, bad hardware).

A PIII is no "more stable" than anything I have listed here. There are some cores that aren't as good, like maybe a K6-400, but hell I used one of those and it was stable...
 
heck, my old 386 never gave me trouble... just the quantum hard drive.

but what i read was posted in the sort of context that would lead me to believe that a p3 was MORE stable than a p4.
 
Hmm...seeing that Dell deal :D I'd probably go for that for Grandma instead of building myself. Then she can't blame you when the computer takes a crap on her.
 
yeah... i'll just tell my friend to go dell.

thanks for your help, everybody. it was fun. :D
 
starhawk said:
heck, my old 386 never gave me trouble... just the quantum hard drive.

but what i read was posted in the sort of context that would lead me to believe that a p3 was MORE stable than a p4.
Click to expand...
So they are saying P-IVs aren't stable? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

That'd go over like a lead balloon with all the current P-IV owners. I do work on a P-IV system behind me, solid as a rock. But then again, so was my 286-16. ;)
 
I would totally jump on a deal from dell for her, not only cause its a good deal especially with sales and coupons but because she is older. I built a computer for a friends grandma and it is something I will never do again. She didnt know much and relied on aol to do everything and that was still a pita helping her figure that out MULTIPLE times.
 
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