01-26-2006, 03:14 PM
I built a very nice business-only machine from new parts mostly from Newegg.com -- motherboard (with on-board RAID, IIRC) , case including power supply, AMD Athlon64 CPU, AGP video card, and RAM for under $650. I chose quality parts and wanted speed and quiet. I was careful to make sure it was supported fully under Microsoft Windows and Fedora Core Linux. I did provide my own CD-ROM and IDE hard drive from parts I had surplus. The motherboard has SATA support but I haven't bothered to buy a new drive for it yet.
My DIY machine has been trouble-free and continuously folding since I first turned it on (aside from some relatively rare reboots). I don't use it as my primary machine. I have it primarily to prepare and test the Windows versions of FileMaker Runtime solutions which I develop on my Mac.
This was about a year ago (March 2005) and you can expect that the optimal choices have probably changed since then.
Here is what I settled on:
Antec SLK3700-BQE Black Quiet case (Amazon.com $77.89 free ship)
AMD Athlon64 3200 CPU
Soltek SL-K7TPro 939 motherboard
I don't remember the brand RAM added in pairs. It is PC3200 -- same as my Dualie G5.
I don't remember the vendor's brand video card, but the card is the same chipset as in my Dualie G5, GeForce FX 5200
Your budget of $1000 seems generous for a non-gaming machine. Did she provide you with minimum specs? Is your labor (assembly, time spent researching, shopping, tracking, etc) cost to be taken out of the price?
My DIY machine has been trouble-free and continuously folding since I first turned it on (aside from some relatively rare reboots). I don't use it as my primary machine. I have it primarily to prepare and test the Windows versions of FileMaker Runtime solutions which I develop on my Mac.
This was about a year ago (March 2005) and you can expect that the optimal choices have probably changed since then.
Here is what I settled on:
Antec SLK3700-BQE Black Quiet case (Amazon.com $77.89 free ship)
AMD Athlon64 3200 CPU
Soltek SL-K7TPro 939 motherboard
I don't remember the brand RAM added in pairs. It is PC3200 -- same as my Dualie G5.
I don't remember the vendor's brand video card, but the card is the same chipset as in my Dualie G5, GeForce FX 5200
Your budget of $1000 seems generous for a non-gaming machine. Did she provide you with minimum specs? Is your labor (assembly, time spent researching, shopping, tracking, etc) cost to be taken out of the price?