New yearbook computers

airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
edited March 2006 in Hardware
Ok, my yearbook advisors is going to venture away from the dark side (macs) and she is going to be getting some pc's. Now our publishing company has some sort of deal with dell or some sort. and Id like to get a bid in, I'll be doing this stuff at cost for her, so im not in it to profit anything, just to get some good computers in the room.

Below ill give a list of the componets that im including, but I'd like to see what you all can come up with. What we need is a good performing computer, this doesnt have to be the latest machine, but I would like a little bit of a workhorse that will be good for another 4-6 years as this will be their probably life span. I would also like a 17" lcd monitor, mainly because of the extra space on the scree, and they are only about $20 different from the 17" screens.

The main job of these computers will be uploading pictures and running photoshop. I know that I am going to have to compete with a big oem supplier, but im crazy enough to think that I can. I would like to go with an amd64 platform, I was thinking a 3700, but with 1 gig of ram that is coming to around $961 a computer shipped w/ xp pro. I have thought about using the new intel platforms or even dual core intel platforms as the processors cost no where as much as the amd64 processors cost. I am estimating that jostens will get something of less performance for around $800 a piece, and I am estimating that she will want three. but I want to give her a per computer price.

Whats mainly killing me on costs is the os and the monitor...too bad she doesnt already have monitors. The video card just needs to work, because there wont be any video game being played on them, but I would like it to be able to help take the load off of the processor and system ram.

Here are the componets that I have so far. I need to cut cost (not quality) where ever possible. Please note that a big hdd is not needed as they will only have a few programs and pictures on them, and maybe not even pictures if i persuade her to buy a nat drive. (trying to get her to upgrade the lan in the room)

Mobo: Asus A8N5X

Processor: AMD64 3700+ San Diego Core

Ram: 1gb Corsair Value Select DDR400 Dual Channel Kit

Video: Asus 6200TC

HDD: 80gb WD Caviar SE SATA

Case: XLCIO Cheapo Case that looks nice

Monitor: NU QL-711V 17" LCD Monitor

PSU: Antec Smart Power 500 Watts

OS: Windows XP Pro OEM

Processor Cooler: Thermaltake Big Typhoon Cooler

I would like to mildly oc the computers if she takes the order from me, what do you think? should I? I am going to have a better cooler on them, and as long as I dont go crazy I dont see any problems with it. I was thinking that the 3700 would do 2.6-2.8 easily.

Comments

  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    Rule of thumb - never overclock any computer for a business customer. Before you make an offer, you also need to check if the competition's bid will include warranties and support. Although you are there and willing to support the systems, you won't always be attending that high school, unless you consistently have to keep repeating your senior year. :hair: (Groundhog Day)
  • rykoryko new york
    edited March 2006
    i hate to break it to you, but there is no way you can possibly put together a basic system for less than dell can. this is why dell is in bussiness. they undercut everyone else and profit on volume.

    i have priced it before(like last week), and dell will ship you a pc with 17" lcd for $399. it's something like a p4 3.0, 80gb, 512mb, cd-rw, etc...

    you can't beat it for a good office machine. building yourself really only becomes cheaper when you are putting together a mid to high end machine.

    don't want to discourage you or anything like that, just letting you know dell will be the cheapest by far.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    And another reason why Dell is so successful in the business market is that their "corporate" machines, the Optiplex series, are rock solid reliable. As much as I dislike those dull, slow performers, I must say that they are completely dependable.
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    yeh, I was afraid of that, i just want the best that we can get for the money in the yearbook room. If she goes to dell, I'd like her to at least get a pentium D if not dual core. with 1 gig of ram. but I'm just trying to get her ready, and she knows it, because there arent many "techy" kids like me that are on yearbook. (its just about all populay girls except for me and one other dude, but he's just a slacker, im mad at him, I had to do his pages, but thats another thread)

    I am wanting her to completely redo the lan in the room, right now it is abunch of daisy chained 10baseT HUBS!! it is so un-godly slow. I told her I could get the network redone for a little bit of nothing. Just a decent 16port switch, and all of our printers are already ethernet so thats cool. And I'd like her to buy at least an 80gb NAT drive for storing pictures. that way everyone can get pictures. And she is also suposedly getting me a nice new camera and next year I will only have a few pages to do as I will be the full time photographer and photoshop guy. (thank god)

    At this point I am just worried about keeping the schools it guys off of these things, because I dont want them putting all the firewall stuff on the computers.and they also can not write batch files, i swear, they lock up and sometimes just dont start at all. but anyway thanks for the info.

    hey leo, we are using optiplex g270's at school and we've had 3 mobo's burn out that Ive seen, thats not to bad out of a whole school of 500-600 computers, but still.
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