DescentBB

I am going to build a new office machine and I challenged my boss that I could save him money buy building a computer that is comparable or even faster than what Dell has listed. For $800 bucks (not including 17" crt monitor which we may not need anyway) you get:

- Pentium 4 with hyper-threading @ 2.8 Ghz 800mhz FSB
- Windows XP Home
- Productivity Pack
- 256 DDR sdram (a clue for me that it aint worth it!)
- 40GB ATA100 hard drive
- Intel 3d extreme graphics 2 (Integrated)

I have'nt put together a parts list and prices just yet but I would like to have your input. I know its do-able, I just dont know if I should get the same chip as the Dell and build better parts around it or if I should just base it on the Athlon 64, or even get the XP. This machine is mainly used for scanning and processing of PDF files, though I use it for gaming when the boss is not looking.

Anyway the only thing HE looks at is the CPU and not considered that the other components may slow the computer down, so hes gonna give me a funny look if I go with something slower.

For the little bit extra it would cost I would go with 512MB of memory for sure.

Bonz wrote:For the little bit extra it would cost I would go with 512MB of memory for sure.

x2, and throw in a basic video card, just to take the load off the system ram.

A good Athlon 64 would perform better, but wether it's cheaper or not is another story. I haven't been following the prices on parts much lately.

Definetly need the 512. Other wise Window's be chuggin'.

...and if this machine is going to be used for any kind of heavy work, don't stop short of 1GB of RAM.

Biggest gain to productivity in office work is dual monitors. Some motherboards even come with dual VGA outputs now. Or get an ancient TI4200 card with dual outputs.

CPU is pretty immaterial on an office-type box, I'd just get the cheapest thing you can buy - but NOT a celeron.

Lots of RAM and big screens is what makes office boxes work well. Hell, Even a 1GHz Athlon would be fine.

17 inch CRT sucks donkey nuts for productivity because you can only get 1024 mode on them without eye-strain. Recommend dual 19" CRTs for high productivity. Seriously. I've run "dualhead" since early 1999. At work and at home I'm on dually 19" CRTs with 2560 x 960 screen resolution. Extra wide task bar spans two monitors - it rocks.

Just fixed up my GFs laptop at work, (today in fact!) so she has the laptop next to the desktop screen, and now has dual monitors. The Laptop at 1400 x 1050 and the CRT at 1280 x 1024 - but just the taskbar on the Laptop.

In just 4 hours use, she reckons her productivity is 10-15% higher. Ina week that'll be 20-25% easy.

19" CRTs like the Samsung 955NF are cheap as dirt now, and handle 1280 mode at 85Hz beuatifully. Remind your boss that 19" CRTs will survive at least one more round of computer upgrades, and that means 6 years from a sub-$200 monitor. At a pinch, settle for Viewsonic E95 or E90. They aren't "flat" but they are good.

Do *NOT* mix flat and curved surface monitors on dual screen setups.

Right now I'm staying away from my hometown (working) and I left the twin 19" CRTs at work, and brought along dual 17" Samsung 172X LCDs. YAY!

MOST IMPORTANT! The new nVidia drivers for dualhead absolutely suck a$$! Make sure you use 44.03 version number for drivers - otherwise you'll have real issues with productivity.

Entirely coincidentally, 44.03 is the fastest of all nVidia drivers and contains the famous "3dMark2001SE" "Optimisations". Funny that!

new office machine

Why would you need a 2.8?? You a graphics/animation designer?

1ghz/512mb/40gb/onboard everything else for $400.

A lot of the people here do programming on P2/450's. Only the .NET coders needed faster machines. (We're all getting upgraded, tho', to 2ghz...Nice fat waste of money there...)

My boss thinks that bigger is better.

I will be handeling PDF files so I take it that an 2000 XP Athlon should be sufficient.

Dual monitor support is not needed and wont be.

Ktnxbye!

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Price Quote (6-1-04) - Low-Mid End System

AMD Athlon 2400+
512 Megs PC2700 DDR
60 GB 7200rpm 8mb cache Hard Drive
GeForce 4 Ti4200 128mb
DVD+CD/RW Combo Drive
Floppy/Flash Combo Drive
(supports 6 Flash media types- CompactFlash, SmartMedia, MemoryStick,
Multimedia Cards, Secure Digital and Micro-Drives)
10/100 Ethernet
USB 2.0/Firewire Ports
5.1 Channel Audio and Optical S/PDIF Out (onboard)
Antec 400watt PSU
Installed in Quality-Built Cheiftec-based case
APC 800va Automatic Voltage Regulating Battery Backup unit.
Windows XP Professional
1-Year Service Warranty + Manufacturer Warranty on all Parts.

$999

And I can put you in touch with the builder

Whats the point of having a Ti4200 in an office machine?

Ti4200 = dirt cheap. Removes all GFx load from CPU. Enables future dualhead. Frees main-memory from the burden of "shared memory". Speeds desktop performance, especially "redraws" when CPU load is high. PC stays more responsive in general. Less time waiting. More time working. Price recovered in less than a month of work productivity improvements and staff morale.

Those are the main reasons.

and thats the exact thing i suggested


get a uber cheap VC, to take the load off the CPU and dump the RAM Sharing

Let me rephrase that... Whats the point of having a video card as powerful as a Ti4200 in an office machine when a GF2-class card would be more than adequate?

Any 3D-capable discrete graphics card would be fine, even a TNT2. You dont need an overly expensive card to 'improve productivity', especially when dualhead isnt wanted or needed. How much 3D acceleration do you need for Acrobat? Not much, I'm guessing.

As for Ti4200's being 'dirt cheap', according to Pricewatch you could get 3 GF2 MX400s for the price of one Ti4200.

Xciter wrote:I would buy the Dell and take the warranty that comes with it... that way if something breaks your covered.

Otherwise guess who gets blamed when it breaks?

The point of it being in that system is because a GF2 in that kind of system would be just silly. Why put an unnessicary bottleneck in there on purpose, even if you don't use it regularly, sometimes it may come in handy, or you may just need it in the future. its one of the cheapest components in the system anyway.

Besides, its a Baseline card now - its not like they're putting a 5950 or 6800 in the thing....

Ti 4200 is cheap too, $50 bux at NewEgg

MOST IMPORTANT! The new nVidia drivers for dualhead absolutely suck a$$! Make sure you use 44.03 version number for drivers - otherwise you'll have real issues with productivity.

I hadn't heard this. Are you sure you're not confusing this with the bugs related to nView, a silly program for making programs launch semi-transparent and for multiple desktops or something? I think it might have some sort of useless dual monitor features too.

Get an Athlon XP 2500 Mobile with the Shuttle AN35N-Ultra motherboard, overclock it to ~2.9Ghz, and your boss will be quite happy.

I'm having a hard time finding that 50 dollar TI4200 everyone has been talking about. Anyone have hard links?

Its a refurbished unit and its not always in stock. Seems like they get one in stock, then 5 minutes later its gone.