[Pc_Support] Suggestions for a $200 barebones? Also, modem recommendations (winders)?

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Sat, 2006-01-21 at 22:26 -0500, Jason Boxman wrote:
> Last one I did was a Biostar based Socket 754 system with a Sempron 2800+ 
> 64-bit CPU on Bryan's advice.  The board was around $40

Wow!  What model?  Was it a GF6100+nF410?  Or an older AGP one?

I _only_ recommended the GF6100+nF410, I typically _avoid_ anything with
ViA.  Haven't tried SiS in awhile -- kinda wondering if their ATA logic
is still SiS5513 compatible.

> and the chip around $60 I think.

You can get such things for cheap -- the Sempron 64 2800+  (1.6GHz, 128
+256KiB L1+L2) are the best buy for the buck IMHO.

> 1GB of RAM set me back another $80 or so.

Yeah.  A single 1GiB piece (fine for S754) is $70+ these days, matched
2x512MiB (for S939 performance) is $80+.

BTW, if you're in the market for 2x1GiB, this is the 2.5-3-3-6 DDR400
I've been buying for $169:  
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231047  

You might find something with a tad better timing for around that price
or a little more, but half the reviews will be negative.  This has been
solid for 9 other people (in addition to myself), and the speed boost
over my previous 3-3-3-8 timing (let alone people who had 3-4-4-8) was
excellent.

> The PSU was a CoolMax which I've had good success with so far ($40) --
> one of their 120mm fan models.

You won't need too much if you're going with a Sempron 64 or Athlon 64
(3500+ or under -- or maybe a new 3700+ Rev) and just using on-chipset
video.

Just remember, for _Linux_, here were my notes on auto-detection of the
GF61x0+nF4x0 peripherals:  
  http://thebs413.blogspot.com/2005/12/linux-on-nvidia-c51nv44-nforce.html  

And the new Forceware G80 (1.0-8xxx) drivers support the NV44 (GF61x0)
video:  
  http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_ia32_1.0-8178.html  
  http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_amd64_1.0-8178.html  

> Forgetting a case and a possible CD/DVD-RW ($40) and USB/floppy 
> ($?) I think you're over $200 with shipping.
> (I forgot about the HSF fan, too, although I think I got a retail CPU
> which included one...)

AMD is really _cutting_ the OEM chip sales and is largely only offering
retail boxed CPUs with fansink now.

> I'd get an external if you can still find those and systems still have
> serial ports. ;)

Actually, I've found internal PCTel PCI v.92 modems for cheap and most
of the distros detect them.  You've got plenty of CPU power to drive it.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith   mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org
http://thebs413.blogspot.com
------------------------------------------
Some things (or athletes) money can't buy.
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