Thoughts on these specs.

DogSoldier

I'm not up on AMD systems but a friend of mine wanted an opinion on this system. Can anyone give me an opinion and I can then pass it off as my own thx!

AMD 2500 BARTON PROCESSOR
DFI NFORCE 2 MOTHERBOARD 8X AGP
USB 2.0 (6)
LAN
AC97 6 CHANNEL SOUND
80 GIG WD HARD DRIVE 8 MB CACHE
52 X24X52 CDR/16X DVD ROM
3.5 FLOPPY
256 MB DDR 333 MEMORY
350 WATT ATX CASE WITH LIGHTED CASE FAN AND WINDOW
WINDOWX XP HOME EDITION
1 YEAR WARRENTY PARTS AND LABOUR

QUOTE WAS 928.00 PLUS TAXES 1067.20 Canadian funds

pseudonym

Not enough memory IMO (If hes gaming). What video card is on it? I think it can be built for cheaper too, but I haven't been pricing out in awhile. I'm sure someone here has been.

Geeky1

not enough ram, generic psu is a bad idea, what video card?

TheBaron

since the Lanparty board uses AC97 and not soundstorm, im going to have to go ahead and recommend against it (i hate ac97, soundstorm is far superior). look at an NF7 or an A7N8X

madmat

I spec'd a budget gaming rig out to sell at my new shop and it's pretty close to that but quite a bit cheaper in U.S. funds I'd imagine.

ASPIRE Turbo Case X-Dreamer Black Mid-Tower Case with 350W Power Supply, Model "ATXB3KLW/350W"
Item# N82E16811144001 $45.00

CD Burner (RW Drives)
Aopen 52x32x52 CD-RW DRIVE, Model CRW5232 BLACK, OEM
Item# N82E16827106534 $30.00
Hard Drive
Western Digital 40GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model WD400BB, OEM Drive only
Item# N82E16822140118 $56.00
Memory
Mushkin Basic Green 184 Pin 2X256MB DDR PC-2700 - Retail
Item# N82E16820146214
$110.00
Modem
US Robotics 56K V.90 Internal PCI Modem, Model USR263090 - OEM
Item# N82E16825104141 $20.99
Motherboard - AMD
Shuttle nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "AN35N-Ultra" -RETAIL
Item# N82E16813150045
$57.00
Processor
AMD Athlon XP 2200+, 266 FSB, 256K Cache Processor - Retail
Item# N82E16819103334 $67.00
Video Card
SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9600PRO Video Card, 256MB DDR, 128-bit, DVI/TV Out, 8X AGP, Model "ATLANTIS RADEON 9600 PRO" -RETAIL
Item# N82E16814102353 $138.00
Total Shipped $543.99
I went with the 40Gig drive simply to shave some cash off the price as I'm attempting to compete with Wal-Mart in terms of overall price which means that after I add a monitor, mouse and keyboard and speakers I'll be looking at a very slim profit selling it at $900. I have a one up though, this thing will actually game.

Parax

there are two variants of that board the 'Infinity' and the 'Lan party' (UV board and cables + extra gigabit network) both the boards are great for overclocking.. but the Infinity is way way cheaper..

if you want to Overclock it, I would personally go for the 2600+ thouroughbred (the 2.08GHz) as it cranks up really well (even though its only 256 L2 Cache)

as for ram well that board supports dual RAM so go for 2x256MB (and go for DDR400 if you want to OC)

as for sound well the NForce boards come with nvidia Soundstorm.. (isn't AC97 a standard not a make?)

Cant comment on your price as I dont know the Conversion rate atm...

Parax.

EDIT: Oh and the CMOS Reloaded is great if you do want to overclock, this feature lets you save Bios profiles which you can swap on boot by pressing a number key on powerup..
DFI Infinity details

Clutch

Is a store doing this or is he buidling it? Most parts come with warranty and all, but if he builds it he will probably come out cheaper, that is if the quote was from a computer store. IT needs more memory for sure, I don't trust generic PSU's either so I would get rid of the PSU also. All depending on what the system will be used for. I'm guessing they will be using the retail h/s and fan as well. What kind of budget is he on?

Jimborae

Having got both boards I'd say the sound on the dfi is better to my ears. In games there appears to be better stereo separation than on my NF7-S. Just my opinon and I cant remember if they even use the same sound processor chip.

Definitely agree on the ram issue though, 256mb is the bare minimum these days

DogSoldier

Thanks guys, I'll recommend 2 x 256 Ram and ask about the vid card. He's a she and isn't at all knowledgeable about computers, but her son is into gaming.