I have built 4 machines so far. I am not very adventuresome and thus I have
built only using Intel Motherboards and Intel processors. There are no
settings to make on the board, you just install the processor and that's it.
All have worked perfectly. The first one was a barebones kit, in which they
install the board in the chassis, install the processor, memory and floppy
and do a quick check. Everything else you have to install yourself (which
is not much, just the hard drive and cd in most cases). It looked so easy,
that the next 3 I built, I just ordered the parts from them and did my own
install, took about 2 hours.
When you order like this you can get XP from the same company for under
$100.00 for the full install disc (they call it the OEM version). The
install CD boots right from the CD.
Many people like tiger direct, and I have bought from them, but I prefer to
order from www.mwave.com.
In short I recommend doing your own build and also being conservative and
going straight Intel and never the top processor speed. You can buy a 1GHz
Celeron for $39.00 or a 1.5GHz Pentium 4 for $118.00. An Intel motherboard
is about $100.00, a floppy about $14.00, a CW-RW about $50.00. If you need
to buy a hard drive they are under $100.00. Often you can buy the
peripherals like hard drive and CD-RW cheaper at Best Buy with rebates. If
you have to buy everything for it, and not use anything from your retired
machine, then its probably not much of a savings from a low end Gateway or
Dell.
If anyone wants to ask me question on this please reply direct.
Ron N5IN
----- Original Message -----
From: "K4SB" <hamcat@directvinternet.com>
To: <writelog@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 24, 2002 1:20 PM
Subject: Re: [WriteLog] Ports
> Jim Brannigan wrote:
> > Now, when you can get a fully warranted Dell for $700 or less, it really
> > doesn't pay to build....
> > Jim
>
> Jim's post does make a lot of sense, but in this area, I can build a
> comparable setup for about $500, including monitor.
>
> What I would caution about is that Dell, among others, do not use the
> exact version of Windows which you would obtain if you bought your own
> copy. In other words, it's proprietary to Dell, just as the Gateway
> one is to them. The Dell OS is not the same as the Gateway OS,
> although both may be called XP.
>
> Also, some of the components ( most notably modems ) cannot be
> replaced by a common off the rack one if the original fails. Some work
> fine, but on one Dell I worked on, I tried about 3 different ones,
> before just giving up, and buying a replacement Dell, at, I might add,
> about 3 times the going rate for a 56K.
>
> Also, on a lot of these machines, access to the BIOS if either
> impossible or difficult to say the least.
>
> And on a "barebones system" do not EVER buy one without the CPU
> installed. There are a lot of jumpers to set, but if you buy the MB
> with the CPU, they do it for you. Or you can make a mistake like I did
> last week, and with 1 jumper overlooked, smoke the motherboard.
>
> Lastly, I would like to thank all of you on the reflector for your
> help during the year.
> Without you, I would still not have WL working. You're a great bunch.
>
> 73
> Ed
>
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