Shopping Cart Part Two

Okay, guys, this is what I ended up with...not my "dream" system, but I waited too long! and I'm in a hurry! My ECS mobo is dying... This is a BTO from TigerDirect.

Platform: nForce2 MB Base Mid-Tower Chassis w/ 350W PS
Processor: AMD Athlon XP 3000+/333FSB/512K CPU
Operating System: DOS
Memory: 1GB DDR333 PC2700 Non-ECC Memory (512MB x 2)
Hard Drive: 80GB Ultra ATA 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive
Optical Drive: 52X32X52/16x CDRW/DVD Combo Drive
Video Card: GeForce MX4000 64 MB DDR AGP w/ TV-Out
Sound Card: Integrated Audio
Modem: 56K V.92 PCI Modem
Network Card: Integrated 10/100 Network Adapter
Warranty: 1 Year Parts & Labor Warranty w/ 1 Year Onsite

Opinions, suggestions, comments welcome!

Johanna

 

Please get a DVD-RW; you can install it yourself if TD wants too much for it.

 

Johanna, I think you should get a 2nd HD, you know I'm a crank on that

Regards - Charles

 

Hi Johanna...Nice system...

Sounds good with with Sparrows and Charles suggestions. I love my DVD burner...4.7 GB of data on one DVD...

 

Or in place of a second internal HD. I'd suggest an external USB2 drive for backups, storage, isolation and portability to any machine for "your repair and tweaking sessions" on other peoples machines.
I recently purchased a Maxtor One Touch 120GB USB2 drive. I find it great for yet another backup solution and also to store a few PC full backup images on it as well. It runs so quiet.

If you're not reusing the memory and Graphics, I would suggest 3200 memory and a upper middle of the road graphics card. The card you're using is fine, but may as well go a bit higher. Unless of course you are reusing?

*EDIT* I guess you're not reusing as you mention a warranty.

 

Thanks, all!
Sparrow, good point about the dvd burner, but it wasn't an option with this system. Easy enough to add down the road, though! Charles, I have had a 40 gig hard drive for almost 3 years, and seldom am using even 50% of it. 2 cds will easily burn complete backups of all my data except my MP3s, which take up the most room on the disk. I use a partition, and do frequent backups of my text files (the only "irreplaceable" data I have) Maybe I'll add a second hard drive someday, but I have no immediate need. Paul, nah, I'm not reusing anything from this system- it's too troubled! I will, however, eventually fix it, and bump it down to the kids, who will be delighted. I suspect that will take a new mobo, though! I thought about a better graphics card, but I'm not a gamer, and most of my comp work is text or accounting, so I went with the less expensive card. I know it's not a "screamer" of a system, but it's actually an upgrade from what I have been using. As long as it doesn't randomly freeze, I'll be a happy camper!

Johanna

 

Yes I'm like you Johanna,
Not much of a gamer. Good choice in that case.
I tend to go a bit to high in specs for what I *really* need.
You're right, hand me downs from one PC to the next have limited value, and can be troublsome unless it is something like a TV card or burner, where you don't need the latest release. and it's unlikely to affect system stability.

 

Christer,
Why?
I mean no disrespect, but I burn regular backups, and I just proved (to myself, anyway!) that my partitioning strategy works. When I killed XP, I was risking about a week's worth of "stuff" not on a cd yet, and I recovered it all.

And Ghost? If I had a powerful tool like Ghost, I would likely "restore" any problem I had, be lax with back ups, and miss out on all the fun of tediously reinstalling software! My computer tends to get a little , um, cluttered, like my purse or my desk, and I am looking forward to my "fresh start "!

KISS Keep it simple, silly! That's my motto!

Johanna

 

I have one!

Yesterday I ghosted a customers old machine to her new one.

The new one was a dell dimension with XP home new in the box.
The old one was a dell dimension with XP pro and several applications specific to Residentual Mortgages.
Well after the Ghost when I turned on her old machine it had a brand new copy of XP home!

It was not pretty.
I had chosen the wrong drive for the origional and ghosted backwords.
Ouch I hate it when that happens.

 

I'm with Christer re: Ghost backups on DVDs.

I don't think an external HDD is cost-effective for "repair and tweaking "; I use 128MB flash memory in a card reader for immediate file transport and CDs for general use, inexpensive and easily transported. I can't imagine carrying a HDD in my cluttered briefcase (along with cables, tools, manuals, etc.).

I use the DVD so far for personal backups, including Ghost files copied from my drives (not written to DVD originally).

And I reuse all my drives, even though some are seniors, so long as they have reasonable space.

 

Christer

You have the affliction, too, I see... Perhaps you are an engineer? You are welcome to join our Tweakers Anonymous meetings- it's a 12 step program that helps us put our faith in a Higher Power (Microsoft) and prevents us from letting our addiction spill over into other parts of our life. (Have you ever said LOL out loud to a friend?) Martin, Dave & I have all admitted that we just can't stop...

I like the way you systematically reason through things, and you document the variables included and excluded, no matter what you decide to investigate. (I remember the MS Mess!) I hope you post your experiences with SP2. With your Ghost Images, you eliminate having different reference points, which makes your conclusions more reliable. You also never go into these things blind. You are not afraid to wade through MS or Symantec support, even if it seems rather daunting. I am looking forward to your opinion of SP2, and the performance changes you detect.

Please join us at the meetings. We have hot coffee and I bake cookies.

Johanna

 

I'll bite my tongue because it sounds like its too late anyway. If that sounds diplomatic, it is ........

 

The new comp showed up the day before my cabin vacation. Of course, I was up all night, just had to play, ya know? It was hard walking away from it for a week! LOL

Had a couple of minor problems at first. The onboard Ethernet wouldn't work, and, after fighting with XP for awhile, I yanked the extra Ethernet card from the old T-bird. Bang- online at last! I didn't get any manuals, just a diagnostic, driver and recovery disk. It wasn't very helpful. Had a few problems in Device Mgr that some nVidia drivers took care of, and then my onboard Ethernet started to work! Go figure! It hasn't stuttered, frozen or misbehaved, and SP2 isn't giving me any grief. Just about all my customary software is back on, and I'm done moving over all my data, except those 15 gigs of MP3 files. LOL

The new AMD is cooler, quieter, and faster than the old one, and, best of all, doesn't have an ECS motherboard. I'm able to take full advantage of my quick cable connection, now, too. Overall, I'm pleased. I didn't pay much for the hardware, shipping was quick, and I got a sweet AMD. Sorry, Pentium People, but you can't match the numbers! Anyone who wants to see a PC Pitstop report, send me an email, and I'll send you a link.

A special thank you to 3 dear friends, D, B & T, for the help, advice and special favors! You guys know you have my affection and gratitude!

Johanna