Hardware Revolution

For other computer systems, see: Computer Systems

Following up yesterday’s article, A Multitasking Computer for $250! which is a low-cost computer, with a dual-core cpu and parts chosen for multitasking, today I’m posting another low-cost computer, this time with a budget of $350.

I took a look at the previous build and thought about how I could improve this build, as I have an extra $100 this time. What could be improved without breaking the bank?

Well, here’s what I’ve improved over the previous build:
Cpu: Upgrading from an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+(Windsor 90nm, 2.4GHz, 1MB of L2 cache) to an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+(Brisbane 65nm, 2.6GHz and 1MB of L2 cache). An extra 200MHz and the new Brisbane core, only for an increase of $8, good deal for me.

Hard Drive: Upgrading from a Western Digital 250GB hard drive to two Western Digital 320GB hard drives, in a RAID 0 setup, for a total of 640GB of storage. That’s where I spent most of the extra $100, as hard drives are usually the bottleneck of a computer system. The RAID 0 will greatly increase the hard drives performance and you now get 640GB of storage instead of 250GB!

Optical Drive: This time we get a DVD Burner, unlike previous builds who had only a DVD Reader.

So there you go, that’s the upgrades compared to A Multitasking Computer for $250! Now, if you haven’t read the previous post or want to see the whole build, keep reading!

So, let’s move on with my recommendations for what hardware parts you should buy to answer your needs. These are the parts that I believe that will answer your needs, for a computer that allows you to easily run multiple programs at the same time, while keeping your cost at a reasonable level.

For each part of this system, I will tell you my recommendation, the reason for it and give you a link to buy the item for your conveniance. Of course, I’m open to suggestions, comments, questions so please post them.

Video card: NVIDIA GeForce 6150 Graphics. You will be using the integrated video chipset that comes with the motherboard.

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Cpu: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+: At 2.60Ghz, dual-core, 2000 Mhz Hyper Transport and with 1024KB of cache, and 65W of power comsumption. Supports MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, 3DNOW! Professional technologies. This cpu will let you use the majority of programs without any problem. Photoshop, Microsoft Word, you name it and I’m sure that it can run it smoothly. You can also multitask with this computer, that is using several programs or applications at the same time. 24 tabs in Firefox? No problem.
Detailed specs
Buy the AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ 2.6GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor for only $66.00

Motherboard: Based on the nForce 430 chipset, this motherboard comes with video output, 6 USB 2.0 connections, a LAN connection, 2 channels audio output and dual-channel support. Produced by ASRock, this comes with a 1 year warranty. Of course, the price helps, as $44.99 for the motherboard, video and audio output is very cheap!
Detailed Specs
Buy the ASRock ALiveNF6P-VSTA Micro ATX AMD Motherboard for only $44.99

Ram(Memory): Two sticks of 1GB DDR2 800 memory, running in dual-channel, for a total of 2GB. Enough memory for browsing the web, watch videos, multi-tasking and much more. At $39.99 for 2GB of high speed RAM, this is simply incredible.
Detailed Specs
Buy the WINTEC AMPX 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Memory for only $39.99

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Hard Drive: Two Western Digital 320GB Hard Drives. SATA connections and 7200 rpm. Why two identical hard drives? To use together for a RAID 0 setup. RAID 0 split all the data between the two drives, so it can be read and writen on both drives at the same time, thus greatly increasing the performance. You’ll need a second SATA II Cable as the motherboard only comes with one SATA cable.
Detailed specs
Buy two Western Digital 320GB 3.5″ SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drives, for a RAID 0 setup, for only $129.98

Dvd Reader: An Asus 18X DVD Burner, to burn all the DVDs and CDs that you want. Silent, reliable and cost-effective.
Detailed specs
Buy the ASUS 18X DVD±R LightScribe BurnerBeige PATA Model DRW-1814BL BG for only $21.99

Case: Here’s my suggestion to what case to use. I understand that you might have your preference though, so feel free to skip my recommendation and pick your own case. I would suggest to pay attention to the power supply if you choose your own case however. My recommendation is a nice mid-tower computer case from Athenatech, that comes with a 400W power supply, a 80mm fan and a side air duct included for additional cooling , which is what you need to keep your computer cool and reliable. Comes with 2 USB 2.0 connections and front audio. It has 4 external bays for Dvd-Burner, CD-Rom and hard drives and 5 hard drive bays in the inside. It’s a clean, plain design, which is appropriate for your parents and grand-parents. At this price, this case is an excellent deal.

Detailed specs
Buy the Athenatech A412WW.400 Beige Computer Case for only $37.99

Power Supply: You will be using the included Athenatech 400 Watts power supply that comes with your case.

Sound Card: You’ll be using the included onboard sound of the motherboard. It’s good enough to plug two speakers in or use a pair of ear/headphones. You can also plug in a microphone.

Cooling:

Heatsink: You will be using the AMD heatsink enclosed with your cpu.
Thermal Compound: You will use the AMD thermal compound enclosed with your cpu heatsink.
Case fan: You’ll be using the 80mm fan included with your case.

Screen: Although I don’t include the screen in the budget, as the price is only for the computer itself and you may already have a screen, I recommend to you that you get a used CRT screen, from a yard sale, a family member or anyone that could be giving a screen away to you. You can also look for a used parts electronic shop in your area, many will be selling used CRT screens for very low prices. I’ve found a CRT screen recently and I’ve bought one for $10 in the past.

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Keyboard and Mouse: Once again, you can get a keyboard and a mouse for very cheap, if not free, used, coming from a friend, a relative or a yard sell. If you rather buy brand new, you get a keyboard and a mouse from Logitech for only $12.99.
Detailed specs
Buy the Logitech Black Deluxe 250 Desktop for only $12.99

Operating system: For the Operating system, I recommend that if you have a copy of Windows NT, 2000 or XP lying around, go ahead and install it. Otherwise, I would recommend going with Linux, as it’s free and it will be fine for your needs. If you don’t want Linux, want to stick to Windows and don’t have a copy, I would then recommend Windows Xp Pro SP3, as it is a mature OS, especially with the SP3. The OS is not included in the budget, as you may already own it or go with Linux, but here’s a link if you need it Windows Xp SP3.
Detailed specs
Buy Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3 English CD for only 139.99$

Total price, for the computer only: $344.13, (Including the SATA cable) Taxes are not included, as they vary depending on where you live.

Ratings -On a scale of 10- :
Gaming : 2/10 You be able to play older games on this computer, with low or medium quality on them. You can also play games that are browser based.
Office : 7/10 This system is based on a dual core processor; it will run any applications rather fast, with only Photoshop and other heavy applications that will might slow it down a bit, but they will run on this computer without a problem nonetheless, just not as fast as a $1000 computer let’s say.
Overclocking : N/A While you can overclock this computer, I don’t recommend doing so, as the power supply is not powerful enough to handle overclocking.
Power consumption : 6/10 This system uses a 65W cpu, two stick of ram, two hard drives, a motherboard and an optical hard drive. No power hungry video cards, nor quad-core processor. This system will consumes a medium ammount of electricity.
Value for the money: 9/10 A pretty good all around computer, with a reasonable price tag. Having a RAID 0 setup in a $350 computer is quite an exploit, same goes for the dual-channel 800MHz 2GB of RAM. Cheaper than the so called “budget computers” by Dell and such companies, this computer will run in circles around them!

Conclusion: So, what your take on this computer? I think that the RAID 0 is a great addiction and will benifit this computer, in terms of performance.