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A Thunderbird for $550!Dec 20 '00 Write an essay on this topic.Or, "How my boss got a 5-CPU-generation upgrade for Christmas..." As I build more and more PC's at work, more of my co-workers have come to me to build their PC, or to come to their house to fix their cable modem/DSL/Home network. This time is was my company president who had bought a home computer based on my recommendations 18 months or so ago. I have built about 15 PC's for work, but those were bare-bones systems a generation behind the times to save money. (IT types might know this system---no sound card, basic 24X CD-ROM, 32MB RAM, generic 4MB AGP card, slow older processor like K6-2 350/400/500, etc.) ( For my review "One IT Pro's guide to building a SMP Server, go to ---http://www.epinions.com/cmd-review-4988-F4E50D5-3A0057E5-prod2 ) This time it was a home system, for someone who could afford better components. I first priced out some upgrades a few months ago, but last week he asked me to re-price the specs. Of course, prices are a lot better than before so he got free upgrades right there! The original PC specs: AMD K6 266 (No -2 or -3 here..). ATX no-name case (pretty much the only thing we did not upgrade--). 32 MB PC-66 SDRAM. Shuttle ATX Motherboard w/4 PCI and 2 ISA slots--NO AGP). 6 GB Western Digital Hard Drive. Generic PCI sound card. Generic 24x CD-ROM. Generic Mouse & Keyboard. Linksys 10/100 NIC for Comcast @Home cable modem service. Relisys 15" monitor. I priced out the following items on the Internet and at a nearby computer shop: Intel Celeron 600 Mhz Socket 370 OEM version with heatsink and fan. 64 MB PC-100 SDRAM. 32 MB Vision Tek TNT 2 AGP video card. Asus Socket 370 MB. (P6A?) 10 GB UltraATA-33 Hard Drive All this priced out in August/September 2000 at around $600.00 USD. Here is what I found as of Dec. 12, 2000: AMD Athlon (Thunderbird) 750 Mhz Socket A OEM Version with fan and heatsink. On sale: $79.00 USD 128 MB PC-133 SDRAM On sale: $79.00 USD 32 MB Vision Tek TNT 2 AGP video card. On sale from last price: $99.00 USD MSI Socket A MB with 1 AGP/4 PCI/0 ISA slots AND ATA 100: $129.00 USD. 30 GB Maxtor UltraATA-66 Hard Drive: $129.00 USD. TOTAL $ 515.00 US Dollars plus 6% Michigan State Tax=== $545.90!!!! So he got a: 5-CPU-generation increase (K6/K6-2/K6-3/Athlon/Thunderbird) Quadruple the memory at a much faster bus speed (66 vs. 133). With the older drive added in, 5 times the hard drive space. 8 time the original video memory (and probably the second biggest jump in speed in the whole system). The ability to later upgrade to UltraATA-100 Hard drives. The capacity to hold 1.5 GB of DDR RAM if needed. Dropped the old ISA slot architecture completely. We kept the old case, the old NIC, the old CD-ROM and sound card.(he doesn't need better sound like I do. BTW, I highly recommend the Creative SoundBlaster Live! series, from the Value on up.. which I have at home) (He wishes he had a 21" Panasync monitor like I have at home too... but I wish I had Comcast @Home like HE has. ;) ) Actually building the system took about an hour, then another 1/2 hour getting updated drivers off the Web and upgrading IE 4 to IE 5.5, etc. This was a simple as populating the motherboard with the CPU and memory, removing all to cards from the old motherboard, taking out the old drives, and unsrewing the motherboard from the case. Then a complication set in. The new motherboard required me to remove the power supply to get it in. Add another 5 minutes for tight cases.. Plug in the new board, reinsert the drives and boards, insert the new AGP video card, and replace the system power leads to the HDD LED, Reset switch, and thanking myself for labeling these little cables before removal :) Power it up to check the POST and install all the neat things Windows detects for the first time, turn off, and put the cover back on. All done! He got a great deal for essentially a new computer, I'd say. Much faster than my "FREE" e-machines Celeron 400 from last year---- I can build them but I CANNOT persuade my wife to let me feed my computer desires..<G> I should have charged my boss $50 to bring it to $600, but he IS the Boss, you know. Maybe I'll get to build a DREAM PC someday...you know, Pentium 4 1.5 GHZ with 1 GB of RDRAM or DDR RAM, 64 MB GeForce ULTRA GTS, DVD, Sound Blaster Live! Platinum, DSL/cable internet, 75 GB UltraATA-100 (OR UW SCSI-2 at 36 GB with RAID 5).. Happy Holidays and have a safe and Joyous New Year 2001. (The REAL start of the new millennium! IMHO)  |
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