🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <300308.175747ai+ag3.395@sqwertz.com>,
Sqwertz  <swertz@cluemail.compost> wrote:

| I'm not after too much as far as computing power.

Well, any dual core CPU you get (and I wouldn't get anything else,
unless it has even more cores) will be a _lot_ faster than what you've
got. 

You're already familiar with ECS motherboards, so if you're willing to
do that again, I'm sure you're aware that Frys often has specials with
AMD or Intel chips for around $100.  I'm not sure about the Intel
offerings, but the AMD chips included are generally around a X2 4200
or so.

I've got an Athlon X2 5200 in my computer and it runs very cool, even
with the stock heatsink and fan, usually around 100 degrees F, even
under load.  It helps a lot that the X2 cpus have about a square inch
of area touching the heatsink, as opposed to the square centimeter or
so that the old Athlons had, and they also use less power.

A few of the bundled motherboards have video built-in.  I've never
used one, but I'm guessing they're just fine for non-games, and
mediocre at best for games.  The motherboards are all PCI-E now, but
you can get reasonable gaming cards for around $100, or mediocre ones
for less.  I picked up a Geforce 8400GS for $20 after rebate -- it
falls into the low end mediocre category, but then again it's in a
computer that doesn't play games, and so it's great.  If you don't
find anything on a good sale at Frys, get something from Newegg
instead -- Frys tends to have high video card prices.

Memory is cheap.  You can get 2 GB of DDR2 for around $30 after
rebate, or 4 GB without rebate for around $100.  Don't get less than 2
GB, and I'd suggest 4 GB unless you're really on a tight budget.
Prices vary from week to week.  Frys usually has something good on
sale each friday.

It's likely you'll need a new power supply, as new motherboards
require new connectors you probably don't have.  I've tried adapters
with little success -- just get the new power supply.  Frys often has
something on special ...

I'm not wild about rebates, but I've had good luck with the rebates on
stuff I've bought at Frys, and the one time I was denied, Frys
themselves made good on it (the rebate Frys printed out had the wrong
model.)  On the other hand, I've just now finally gotten all the
rebates back on the stuff I got on Black Friday at Frys.  On the
bright side, I was able to put together a decent gaming computer for
my nephew with stuff I bought at Frys on Black Friday for about $220
after rebates.

As for IDE connectors, many of the new motherboards only have one IDE
connector rather than two.  So keep that in mind.

Also, they tend to have only zero or one serial port rather than the
two we used to get, and may or may not have a parallel port.  If you
care about these things, be sure to check before you buy it.

-- 
Doug McLaren, dougmc@frenzied.us
Wasted power is current squared times the resistance.