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--- Mark Brown <markbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hello Omega-List,
>
> ok hardware freaks i have bought some heavy duty big
> corporate name
> brand computers to expand my network next year.
> now i want to play
> penny pincher and get me a couple of really
> bare bones play toys.
> something that will make a huge spreadsheet, and
> handle huge graphics,
> word doc's and html creations.
>
> i am thinking of the absolute cheapest fastest bang
> for the buck.
>
> using mostly www.pricewatch.com as a guide.
>
> thinking of a athlon 1.4 t bird or a 1.9 athlon xp
The following article from Tom's hardware site is
about AMD's Duron. However pay close attention to
these benchmark tests:
http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/01q4/011116/duron1200-04.html
Among many CPUs tested is an Athlon XP 1.9. Its
performance is impressive.
>
> undecided if the ddr ram is worth twice the price of
> sdram?
The consensus is that DDR is not much faster than
SDRAM. However some boards may only work with DDR.
>
> it has a direct bearing on the motherboard i choose.
Ah, it looks like you are already aware of the above
fact. :-)) If you are really concerned about the
costs, then you will not lose much if you choose
SDRAM.
>
> an each unit has to have one of those 100 gig ata
> 100 hard drives.
It seems that the AMD crowd is split between IBM and
Maxtor on this one. I have been using Maxtor for a
few years and I'm very satisfied with their drives.
>
> 10/100 nic and a cheap cd rom, good but cheap
> video card, and a case
> with approved power supply.
One of the offerings from In-Win or Antec will do
nicely. I have seen In-win S500 and Antec SX830 and
KS282 recommended in the AMD newsgroups.
http://www.antec-inc.com/
http://www.in-win.com/framecode/index.html
If you want something colorful, I recommend this firm:
http://www.colorcase.com/
For a video card, I believe one of the GeForce 2
products from various vendors will do the job. EVGA
has many of these cards at reasonable prices.
http://www.evga.com
Guillemond/Prophet is also highly recommended but
their prices are a bit on the upside.
You may be able to pickup a Linksys 10/100 NIC at
BestBuy for less than $10 after rebate.
Newegg (http://www.newegg.com) sells a Sony CD-ROM for
$28 or so.
>
> shooting for around 600? no os of course, or
> software ect.
>
It is very possible to reach this goal, however you
may have to choose such low priced motherboards as
BioStar M7VIB. I'm not sure what the reputation and
quality of this company's boards are.
You may be already aware of these resources but for
the sake of completeness I will list them here:
http://www.anandtech.com
http://www.tomshardware.com
news://alt.comp.hardware.amd.thunderbird
http://www.newgg.com
http://www.mwave.com
Good luck.
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