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Processors and MBs - Is there a Difference?
I am looking at the upgrade/replacement of a number of office PCs and would
appreciate general comment on motherboards/processors/RAM etc. There are of course numerous ads around quoting prices for PCs typically: 2.8GHz processor 256Mb RAM 40Gb hard drive My questions relate to what the ads don't say - these a Does the processor make such a difference these days Athlon/Pentium? Is there a best of class motherboard that the better quality PCs have installed? What type of RAM is currently favoured? Who makes a fast reliable hard drive? In other words, are there recommended manufacturers who assemble good quality components which work well together for a reasonable price? Do all suppliers just use the cheapest crap they can get away with to meet a given spec? Thanks in anticipation Phil |
#2
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"TheScullster" wrote in message ... I am looking at the upgrade/replacement of a number of office PCs and would appreciate general comment on motherboards/processors/RAM etc. There are of course numerous ads around quoting prices for PCs typically: 2.8GHz processor 256Mb RAM 40Gb hard drive My questions relate to what the ads don't say - these a Does the processor make such a difference these days Athlon/Pentium? Is there a best of class motherboard that the better quality PCs have installed? What type of RAM is currently favoured? Who makes a fast reliable hard drive? In other words, are there recommended manufacturers who assemble good quality components which work well together for a reasonable price? Do all suppliers just use the cheapest crap they can get away with to meet a given spec? I can recommend Mesh and Evesham for build quality and good components, never had problems so I can't comment on their service. -- Apollo |
#3
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On Fri, 1 Oct 2004 14:45:06 +0100, "TheScullster"
wrote: I am looking at the upgrade/replacement of a number of office PCs and would appreciate general comment on motherboards/processors/RAM etc. There are of course numerous ads around quoting prices for PCs typically: 2.8GHz processor 256Mb RAM 40Gb hard drive My questions relate to what the ads don't say - these a Does the processor make such a difference these days Athlon/Pentium? These look like lower-end, budget boxes based on the specs. At lower price-points, the best performance from office apps would be with an Athlon XP. If you want Intel, the Celeron-D series. Unless there is some demanding use you've not mentioned the CPU won't make a lot of difference, but the earlier non-"D" Celeron is the worst choice. Is there a best of class motherboard that the better quality PCs have installed? One of the major manufacturers: Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, Abit, but NOT PCChips/Amptron/ECS/etc unless the only relevant factor is lowest cost. What type of RAM is currently favoured? Name-brand budget grade PC3200. Generic memory is a gamble, but if system integrator guarantees it with fair on-site warranty, you have some recourse and (hopefully) minimal system downtime. This is often the largest difference for office boxes, what the warranty includes. Try to avoid 3rd party service companies unless you're a very LARGE company with some leverage to get 3rd party motivated to handle any problems. Who makes a fast reliable hard drive? Most are, but Seagate was already good before they started their 5 year warranty, so that'd be a good choice. In other words, are there recommended manufacturers who assemble good quality components which work well together for a reasonable price? Avoid local clone builders unless they give you latitude on parts selection. It's too common to find boxes with generic motherboard, heatsink, power supply, being sold for little or no less than it should cost for better parts. Or, if they warranty whole box long enough, that's might be an acceptable compromise, provided it's on-site repair, nobody wants to be lugging a bunch of boxes back and forth, especially since any common component problem may effect several boxes. Do all suppliers just use the cheapest crap they can get away with to meet a given spec? Some yes, some no. Were you leaning towards large OEM or local shop or what, exactly? I prefer Dell over HP or Compaq, but of course the particular series matters too, a standard sized box rather than one highly-integrated and proprietary would make it easier for service and upgrade after the warranty, but it may not matter as much as the volume price or warranty/service. If dealing with a local shop, get a proposed parts list and ask questions about vague, generic/unbranded parts. Ask to see/use a sample, representative system. |
#4
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TheScullster wrote:
I am looking at the upgrade/replacement of a number of office PCs and would appreciate general comment on motherboards/processors/RAM etc. There are of course numerous ads around quoting prices for PCs typically: 2.8GHz processor 256Mb RAM 40Gb hard drive My questions relate to what the ads don't say - these a Does the processor make such a difference these days Athlon/Pentium? Is there a best of class motherboard that the better quality PCs have installed? What type of RAM is currently favoured? Who makes a fast reliable hard drive? In other words, are there recommended manufacturers who assemble good quality components which work well together for a reasonable price? Do all suppliers just use the cheapest crap they can get away with to meet a given spec? You are omitting some crucial factors. Are the mouse and keyboard using normal connections, or are they using the USB facilities (bad)? Are there normal printer and serial ports, again not using the USB facility? Is there ECC memory available (you DO want reliability, don't you)? Are the components industry standard, so you can easily replace any failures? If you need a commercial OS supplied, do you get a proper installation CD, rather than a restoration system? Is that OS free of unreasonable conditions and security hazards, such as that imposed by the Windows EULA. The various speed/disk capacity questions probably have little bearing on office applications. HDs are inherently unreliable, so you must have a backup policy. The quickest, and thus the most likely to be performed regularly, is a second identical HD which is maintained as an image of the first. Properly designed this will allow a failed HD to be discarded and replaced by the backup, with a new backup drive installed, and thus recovery will take about 15 minutes. Off site backup is another matter, and will be slower. -- Chuck F ) ) Available for consulting/temporary embedded and systems. http://cbfalconer.home.att.net USE worldnet address! |
#5
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"TheScullster" wrote in message ... I am looking at the upgrade/replacement of a number of office PCs and would appreciate general comment on motherboards/processors/RAM etc. There are of course numerous ads around quoting prices for PCs typically: 2.8GHz processor 256Mb RAM 40Gb hard drive My questions relate to what the ads don't say - these a Does the processor make such a difference these days Athlon/Pentium? Is there a best of class motherboard that the better quality PCs have installed? What type of RAM is currently favoured? Who makes a fast reliable hard drive? In other words, are there recommended manufacturers who assemble good quality components which work well together for a reasonable price? Do all suppliers just use the cheapest crap they can get away with to meet a given spec? Thanks in anticipation Phil Just go for a the cheapest deal you can get from a big company that way you get best value, you won't notice a faster processor or more/better RAM, a bigger hard drive is good value. |
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#7
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On Sat, 2 Oct 2004 12:53:25 -0400, Toshi1873
wrote: In article , says... I am looking at the upgrade/replacement of a number of office PCs and would appreciate general comment on motherboards/processors/RAM etc. There are of course numerous ads around quoting prices for PCs typically: 2.8GHz processor 256Mb RAM 40Gb hard drive 256MB is *not* enough for business/office use. Especially if your workers use multiple apps at the same time and keep their e-mail and web browser open all the time. Add 128MB if you're running WinXP instead of Win2000. The minimum for machines that we buy for the office is 1GB, and we're currently upgrading all machines in the office to have at least 512MB. (Adding memory to an aging machine can give you another year or two of use.) 256MB is enough for most gen-purpose office boxes. 1GB is a waste for anything but a specialized system. Task Manager can show memory peak loads, there's no point in having 128MB more memory than the peak load figure for "typical" office box. After a certain point the reliability of the box is questionable, trying to add years more life to a box you seem to be paying a premium for, is a gamble. Better to stick to replacement interval of 3-5 years and leave the boxes stock at least until the warranty + service contract has expired. |
#8
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Many thanks to all respondents - particularly expansive answer from Kony!
May try a RAM upgrade on single machine to test viability. Number of recent failures/errors suggests this may buy only a brief respite! Thanks again Phil |
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