I've got a problem and i'm hoping my fellow system builders can help find a quick solution to this just slightly not an emergency situation.
My fathers buisness systems have all been running Ai61 shuttle mainboards with 800mhx slot a cpu's for the last four years. 14 of these 15 machines have never failed once. The 15th however, finally met an untimley demise out my fathers 15th floor office window into the next door empty lot (thank god for that empty lot) after he finally lost it with the poor computer today.
Needless to say this cannot go on.
My fathers rageing inability to control anger at electronics aside, he needs a new system and fast to stay in buisness.
I've taught him well and he understands perfectly well how to build a machine from the ground up, though he dislikes doing so.
I know he can build whatever i tell him to get just fine, but there lies the issue. What do i tell him to get?
He's of the opinion that a computer should be like a toaster. i should always work. he doesn't want to overclock, he doesn't want to fidddle with settings after setup, he just wants something he can spend a full day making and testing, and never have to consider that it might not turn on for at least the next four years.
He's got a budget of around 600.00 at max and i think i've got a fairly decent sounding setup to propose. I want to run it by you guys for foolproof computing opinions and also get some suggestions for what you might recomend instead or in addition to what i'm suggesting.
The suggestion is:
MSI kt3 ultra2 w/o bluetooth + athlon xp 2100
1 stick of kingston ddr 2700 512mb memory
creative or sony cdr for less than 50.00 (suggestions are appreciated)
Generic IBM floppy
generic tigerdirect 350watt gray case w/ upfront Usb ports
maxtor retail 60gb drive (for warranty)
UsRobotics hardware modem 56k
The Msi board is a pain in setup and peripheral connections but has Usb 2.0 and onboard audio which he could care less about so that's one less thing to buy.
The board has been around long enough to have been longterm tested and it's stability at least partialy known. I'm running one with a 2100 athlonXP and the same 512mb stick and have never had a problem or sudden restart, bsod, etc in 3 years.
I'm trying for rock solid stability without a need to upgrade latter or amp up on power. This just needs to be able to run Wordperfect, IE, and adobe viewer without having more than slight slowdowns.
The most crucial part is that the board can't have lingering issues with any driver it may choke on or hardware it may conflict with. sadly, i tinker often so i can't vouch for this at current.
So what do you guys think he should build? What comes to mind for you when you think of rock solid and dependable for an AMD motherboard setup? (no, where not going to have 14 amd's and one Intel, sorry)
Thanks for any opions on the matter.
