need a new workhorse pc

[kidicarus74]

alright everyone, i've got a project for you to pool your collective minds over and let me spend some cash. i just finished building my absolutely bitchin' gaming rig. A64 3500+ @ 2.6 ghz (on air ), 1 gig ram, 6800 gt... the works. well, in a hasty decision i sold my old computer without thinking, and now i miss having it around, so i want a new workhorse. It will be used for a fileserver (mainly, i think). the cheaper the better, already have a graphics card (even tho it is just a geforce2, i won't be using it for games). I also already have a Maxtor 250gig hd, but might get some more storage because i'd like to copy down my entire cd collection (about 1000 cds) and my entire dvd collection (about 200 dvds) but i just don't want to be ripping dvd's while i'm trying to play farcry. so what i'm looking for is a cheap, stable solution, and would like to know your opinions on procs, mobos, and ram... the cheaper the better (so long as it's reliable)!

thanks in advance!!

 

[RS3RS]

Any way you could give us a general grey area budget? Would really help people to give you ideas of what would with in your price range.

With that said, I'd think, say, AMD Athlon 2500+ (probably not overclocked, since this is more a stability rig than a screaming fast gaming comp.) with a good, stable motherboard. I've had great luck with MSI motherboards for non-overclocking comps, however, I'm sure the standard ASUS/abit boards would work great.

Also, you might look on eBay for slightly older dual processor motherboards/CPU's... SMP rigs just rock. Or dual Athlon MP's (XP's in dual configuration) would make a nice server type setup.

512 mb of RAM would probably be a good range for something like this, but, of course, it depends on what you'd be doing on it.

For video, I find it nice to have a low-ish end gaming rig to play around on when the main one is down, or when friends come over, etc... I'd suggest a 128 mb Vidia ti4200 card, still great cards, and can be found really cheap on eBay. Something like a 9600XT or even a 9800 pro would still be good choises, though a bit higher.

Slap another 250GB drive on there for 500 gigs of storage, and would probably work nicely... Though, personally, I could never sleep with that much non-redundant data just waiting to crash and delete itself, so you might look into some sort of a RAID... RAID 1, or if you want to go higher end, RAID 5 would be a nice choice for this.

You might take a look at PS-Rage's terabyte server. One terabyte of RAID 5 goodness

Anyway, you get the picture. Might post a general area budget if you want more specific though.

edit: Oh yes, the most important part... Power supply. Do NOT go cheap here. Not that you have to spend 200 dollars on one, but just do not get a generic one... Antec, Fortron, Enermax, etc... If you want stability, stick with the brand names

 

[kidicarus74]

as for budget... i'd like to shoot under $300, definitely under $400... to save some cash, i already have a 450 watt antec psu and a graphics card. Even though it's a geforce 2, it'll be just fine, the rig won't even have a dedicated monitor and no one ever want's to come over and play PC games when there's a big screen w/ an xbox in the other room... dual procs would be fun, especially if they are cheap. And as for redunancy, the stuff on this comp won't be that special, but i'm going to get reliable hd's. All my important stuff (bank stuff, email, those kinds of things) are on a RAID 0+1 setup on my main comp, plus will be backed up to the new one...

 

[NecessaryEvil]

I've got a new P4 setup that might fit your needs. I was going to use it for an FTP server, but I've opted against it. so, now I have a computer I've no desire to use. (I'll have it built on Monday, I needed to buy a case for it)


P4 2.53ghz
512mb PC-2100
i845g mobo (3x PCI, 1x 4x AGP, 6x USB (w/ front), onboard audio, onboard video, onboard intel 10/100 ethernet
GF4MX440 128mb w/ TV-out
black/silver mATX chassis
black 48x24x48 LiteOn CD-RW
black 16x LG DVD-ROM
Maxtor 40gb 7200rpm hdd
floppy drive
black keyboard & mouse


I was hoping to sell it for around $375 shipped...but since you already have a hdd, keyboard/mouse, and videocard, I could knock it down to $300 shipped (and just keep that hardware)

 

[Buckus]

For extra-cheap goodness you might try to snag an AMD Duron before they go out of style. The top speed is 1.8Ghz and pricing around $50, or almost 1/2 what a XP 2500 will cost. It'll file serve, rip CD's, whatever, all day long without wimpering a bit. I'd say go 512MB of RAM, but 256 would probably be just as good. You can get motherboards with integrated video for around $50-70, throw on a DVD ± R/RW for around $50-90, a DVD-ROM for about $20...a case for about $50...let's add this up..

Duron 1.8Ghz $50
512MB RAM $60
Motherboard $60
DVD±R/RW $60
DVD-ROM $20
Case $50
Total: $300.00

Well, that's a rough estimate, of course. If you buy used stuff, it will probably be a little cheaper.

 

[kidicarus74]

would a sempron 2200+ be better than the duron 1.8... they're both $50

 

[Buckus]

would a sempron 2200+ be better than the duron 1.8... they're both $50

I dunno...higher FSB, bigger cache, but 300Mhz down the speed scale (1.5Ghz vs. 1.8Ghz). Either one will probably be fine, but just make sure the board you buy supports the Sempron. There is a probable chance that you would have to flash the BIOS before it will run the Sempron at it's correct settings.