Basic Computer Setup... Good?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Golden
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Golden

Golden

New member
Hi guys,

I'm going to put together a new computer for basic use... email, internet... and also to act as a hard disk recorder for capturing stereo mixes from my 1/4" stereo deck (as mentioned on a previous thread).

Here's what I've come up with:

XPC SD32G2 -- http://www.amazon.com/Shuttle-Xpc-SD32G2-Intel-ICH7/dp/B000JFJHUU

Intel Pentium D
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ATA-100 Hard Drive

I still need to decide on RAM and a DVD/CDR drive...

Nonetheless, how am I doing here?

This should be fine?

Computers = me looking like this >>> :confused:
 
Do you really need the small form factor of the Shuttle case? You pay an awful lot to get that small size.

If you do need the Shuttle, consider the following:

Operating System: Windows XP Home ~$99

Processor: Pentium D is ok for your stated purpose. The current generation of Core 2 Duo chips is better, but you probably wouldn't benefit from the extra power. Expect to spend ~$75 here.

Hard Drive: 3.5" SATA Hard Drive. Seagate is good. Western Digital, Hitachi and Samsung are also good. I would avoid Maxtor if at all possible. Prices start at around $40+

DVD/CD RW Drive: Try to get one with ATA interface, not SATA as your hard drive is already connected to SATA. You should be able to find one for about $30. Samsung, Pioneer, Philips, Lite On, LG, and Sony are all good brands.

RAM: 1 GB DDR2 667 PC2-5300 RAM should be fine. You'll probably want to get a matched kit of 2 x 512 MB sticks to run in dual-channel mode since this motherboard uses integrated graphics. Kingston, Crucial, Corsair, Mushkin, Patriot, OCZ, PNY are all good brands. You should be able to get this for less than $50.

Just be advised that you will need to add a MINIMUM of $300 (unless you already have a copy of Windows you can put on here?) just to get the computer (not to mention keyboard, mouse, monitor) that puts you at nearly $600 for this thing. You can easily get a complete desktop/monitor/keyboard/mouse package pre-built for this price that will likely outperform and be less expensive than what you could build with this small form factor case.
 
Golden said:
Thanks for your help...

I looked into some other options... This for example... http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3505283&CatId=1815
Click to expand...

I've bought a couple computers from TigerDirect. One was real old, in about 6 months the video card crapped out. The other one is good and still working fine.

That computer looks good, and is more than enough for internet, email, etc. It would also make a pretty decent computer for recording, and will be more than enough for transferring stuff from another recorder.
 
Both of those systems look good. The flash card reader is for the memory cards that fit in camera, PDAs, etc.
 
I drove out to tiger direct yesterday, and the place was a mess, the computers that (according to their website) were suppose to be in stock, were not...

It was a complete waste of time...

Tiger Direct options are out...

:(
 
I highly advise to avoid tiger like the plague, they are junk dealers and their "rebate offers" borderline fraud. Look else where, a pentium D is 2-3 year old tech and doesn't even register in modern benchmarks.
 
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