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IThell.com Power-user Corporate Desktop This is a power-user system. This is not designed for a Mechanical Engineer or very high-end video producer. Their needs are different. This is for the person who is a business user who also stresses their computer by running more demanding programs. This system balances higher performance with economy. It is possible that by this time next month we may be moving to a new chipset (AMD 760) with DDR SDRAM and a 266MHz bus, but until systems based upon the new chipset are widely available, this is the IThell.com recommended corporate desktop power-user system. Processor - AMD Athlon 1GHz A few months ago I set out to determine whether IT was ready for AMD. The answer to that question today is absolutely. The Power-user corporate desktop requires a faster processor than the basic desktop,but should still balance high performance with cost. The Athlon 1GHz is priced competitively with the P3 800 and is comparable in performance to the 1GHz P3 and 1.4GHz P4 running a variety of business applications. $213 with Coolermaster HSF ($9 increase, +100MHz) Motherboard - DFI AK-74 EC This is an upgrade from November’s AK-74 SC. This board now includes support for ATA/100 drives. Additionally, this basic, no frills VIA KT-133 motherboard is equipped with 1 AGP 4x slot, 5 PCI slots, 1 ISA slot, 1 AMR slot, support for 1.5GB PC-133 RAM in three DIMM slots, 200MHz FSB, 2S/1P/2USB, PS/2 Mouse & KB, and on board sound. This motherboard is stable, inexpensive, performs well and is widely available. Right now, this is the basic motherboard that is the right match for the Basic Corporate Desktop computer. (Note: Flash the bios as soon as you get your new system if your vendor didn’t ship the motherboard with the latest version.) $98 ($3 drop, more features ) Memory - 256MB PC133 SDRAM CAS2 The basic system only requires 128MB of RAM; however, go ahead and purchase 256MB of CAS2 memory for the power-user (the extra performance with CAS2 memory is worth the price premium in a power user desktop. Only buy CAS3 memory for the basic desktop computer). This should be enough to run Windows 2000, 3-4 of the most common productivity applications simultaneously and also accomodate more memory intesive programs such as graphic design or development environments without a serious degredation of performance. Unless the price of the RAM is much higher than you would expect, buy the memory at the same place you buy your system. If they charge a large premium (like Dell does), then purchase your memory elsewhere at a reputable dealer like The Chip Merchant or Mushkin (never the cheapest, but both companies have been doing business for a long time and give a lifetime warranty on memory). $179 ($30 drop since November) Hard Drive - 30GB IBM Deskstar 75 7200 RPM ATA/100 This 7200 RPM drive is the newest drive from IBM. It is an ATA100 drive with a 2MB cache and average seek time of 8.5ms. Most companies are not selling this drive in systems yet. However, if you have a choice, spend the extra money and get this drive or another in the 75GXP line. The combination of reliability and peformance is worth spending the extra money even in a low cost system. If you can’t get this drive in your system, do not bother getting a 5400 RPM drive. Choose a 20GB or larger ATA100 or ATA66 7200 RPM drive from one of the other major manufacturers. My order of preference is - IBM, Seagate, Maxtor/Quantum, Western Digital, and Fujitsu. $149 ($8 drop since November) |