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Dell Business Software & Accessories
ATX Computer Case
Enlight
EN-7230 Mid Tower from
Enlight Corp
There are so many no-name foreign made cases, that it is hard to keep track
of. Many vendors change case vendors whenever they can get a better deal. We
tried to find a stable supplier of great cases. A good case will see you through
several motherboard upgrades. Enlight fits the bill nicely.
Attributes (Minimum): Industrial design, Ease of installation,
Sturdiness, Motherboard Type (ATX), Size (MiniTower), Power supply capacity (200
W), drive bays (4), back panel ports, accessibility, indicator lights, switches,
regulatory approval (UL, FCC).
We looks for compact, clean looking, and functional cases. The computer should
be easy to put together and its should be easy to open and add components. ATX
motherboard form-factor cases are the norm. We like to see at least 4 drive bays
for a floppy, CD/DVD-ROM, Zip, and CDR drive. A larger case is mainly needed
when you are creating a server. The case must support the latest ATX
specification which allows software to turn on and off the machine. The power
supply should be of at least 200 watts and the unit must be FCC approved.
ATX
KS380 Mini-Tower from
Antec, Inc.
There are so many no name foreign made cases, it's hard to keep track of.
Many vendors change case vendors whenever they can get a better deal. We tried
to find a stable supplier of great cases. A good case will see you through
several motherboard upgrades. It will be easy to assemble, there will be plenty
of drive bays, and the wiring will be clean. Antec fits the bill nicely.
Attributes (Minimum): Industrial design, Ease of installation,
Sturdiness, Motherboard Type (ATX), Size (MiniTower), Power supply capacity (200
W), drive bays (4), back panel ports, accessibility, indicator lights, switches,
regulatory approval (UL, FCC).
We looks for compact, clean looking, and functional cases. The computer should
be easy to put together and its should be easy to open and add components. ATX
motherboard form-factor cases are the norm. We like to see at least 4 drive bays
for a floppy, CD/DVD-ROM, Zip, and CDR drive. A larger case is mainly needed
when you are creating a server. The case must support the latest ATX
specification which allows software to turn on and off the machine. The power
supply should be of at least 200 watts and the unit must be FCC approved.
Alternates: PC Power & Cooling Mid-Tower
RAM
from Various
We recommend a minimum of 64 MB of RAM for all users. 96-128 MB is preferred.
Servers should have at least 128 MB and an additional 16 MB per user. Keep in
mind that RAM prices fluctuate daily. Often wildly! Buy more memory when the
price is low.
RAM typically cannot be moved to new machines, so we recommend you do not
overbuy for the future. Kingston
has a good database of RAM configurations. Kingston and PNY has consistenly
provided good memory at low prices.
Attributes (Minimum): Capacity, Type, Speed, Warranty.
RAM is RAM. Once you have the right RAM, it should never go bad on you. You
really only want to pay more for RAM if its special ECC RAM for servers, where
you need to get bad RAM swapped out by the on-site technician. Name brand memory
doesn't mean much. Sometimes it pays to buy faster speed RAM for future
flexibility. PC100 RAM will work in place of PC66 RAM. PC133 will work as PC100.
Comments: RAM prices can spike upwards. Wait for them to fall and
then load up.
Intel
D815EEAA from
Intel Corp
Includes on board Sound Blaster 128 and DirectAGP Graphics. Graphics
performance is ok for general business use, but gamers will want to replace it
with a video card. Available with optional Ethernet.
If you want to overclock your CPU or want onboard SCSI , look for another
board. Most motherboards perform about the same, versatility with respect to
ports are usually the only difference.
We like boards that do not have any extras built onto them. This maximizes
compatibility, flexibility, and expandability.
Beware that the 815 chipset supports a limited number of DIMM memory banks,
so you are advised to use highcapacity memory DIMMs.
Attributes (Minimum): Chipset (Intel), Number/Type of Slots (AGP,
PCI), RAM capacity (3 Slots), Settings (Software), onboard extras (Sound,
network, video) Versatile
Pentium III Class Motherboard
Asus
CUSL2 from
Asus
Includes JumperFreeŞ BIOS based setup, eliminating jumper configuration.
We like boards that do not have any extras built onto them. This maximizes
compatibility, flexibility, and expandability.
We prefer this board to the Abit because of the fewer BIOS updates Asus needs.
Beware that the 815 chipset supports a limited number of DIMM memory banks,
so you are advised to use highcapacity memory DIMMs.
Attributes (Minimum): Chipset, Number/Type of Slots, RAM capacity,
Jumpers or Software settings, onboard extras (Sound, Network, Video, SCSI) Intel
Celeron Processor from
Intel Corp
It's fast enough for every day tasks as well as the latest 3D games. No need
to buy a slower one and overclock. Thank the gaming industry for pushing
computer performance.
Best bet is to buy the Socket370 version that will plug into Pentium III
motherboards with a Socket to Slot 1 adapter. You can later splurge on a Pentium
III. The Celeron 533A and newer are actually crippled Pentium III chips with
half the cache disabled and a slower cache to boot. Celerons are stuck at a slow
66 Mhz Processor Bus Speed.
Processor pricing usually decreases every month. Buy the boxed version to get
3 year warranty. Avoid OEM versions.
Attributes (Minimum): Clock speed (400), Real world performance,
CPU interface (Slot 370), Cache size (128 KB). AMD
Athlon Processor from
AMD
We recommend buying the boxed version rather than OEM versions. This ensures
you get the 3 year warranty and a cooling fan. Make sure you buy a case that has
an AMD approved power supply. Every week you delay your purchase, the less you
will have to pay.
Buy only the newer Socket A version of the chip. Some Athlon Chipsets
have bugs especially with USB devices and the Sound Blaster Live!, so beware. To
get everything working you will have to install a bunch of patches. Windows XP
should make installation easier.
Attributes (Minimum): Clock speed (500), Real world performance,
CPU interface (Slot 1), Cache size (256 KB), Cache speed (Full). Intel
Pentium III Processor from
Intel Corp
If you want the best performance, you will have to pay for the privilege. We
recommend buying the boxed version rather than OEM versions. This ensures you
get the 3 year warranty and a cooling fan. Every week you delay your purchase,
the less you will have to pay.
This speed of Pentium III is really a much better buy than any faster version
of this CPU. The next speed increment up is a big dollar step up.
Slot 1 Pentium III's are hard to get in the slower speeds. We recommend
getting the Flip-Chip (FC-PGA) version and using an adapter board to plug it
into your Slot 1 motherboard. Make sure your motherboard's BIOS and voltage
regulator can handle Intel Coppermine Pentium IIII CPUs. Performance compared to
Celeron chips at the same speed starts to increase noticeably starting at the
533A Mhz Celeron level. The Celeron is stuck at a slower Bus speed and with half
the cache of its big brother.
Pentium III CPUs bottom out in price around $120 and then disappear.
Attributes (Minimum): Clock speed (750), Real world performance,
CPU interface (FCPGA), Cache size (256 KB), Cache speed (Full), Cache Location (On
chip). HP
Brio BA Series from
Hewlett Packard
The Brio BA410 includes: Intel Celeron 600, 64 MB RAM, 10 GB SMART-II Hard
drive, Intel Integrated 810 Video, PCI Audio, 48x CD-ROM, 56K modem.
Excellent 3 year warranty, 1 year on-site. Includes VirusScan, and Microsoft
Windows 2000. Just add Microsoft Office and an ethernet card to connect it to
your network. The higher end models from HP include Microsoft Office 2000 Small
Business Edition and will save you money as Office 2000 costs $400 separately.
Attributes (Minimum): Processor Speed (400 Mhz), RAM (64 MB),
Hard Drive (8.4 GB), CD-ROM Speed (24x), Graphics Card (16 MB), Ethernet Card,
Sound Card, Modem (56k), Software Bundle (Office), ISP, and Warranty type (3
Year, 3 Year on site).
Based on the Intel 815E chipset. This board is by definition the most compatible
around. Pentium III and Celeron processors in FCPGA package, 66, 100 or 133 Mhz
bus, AGP 4x PC100/PC133 SDRAM DIMM, 5 PCI, NO ISA, Ultra ATA/100, 4 USB Ports,
and hardware management ASIC.
Alternates: This board is the reference from the maker of the
chipset.
Comments: Beware that there is a version of the board with 'softaudio'.
Avoid it.
Based on the Intel 815E chipset. This board is one of the most configurable.
Pentium II/III and Celeron processors, 66/100/133 Mhz bus, AGP Pro/4x, 3
PC133/PC100 SDRAM DIMM slots, 6 PCI, Ultra DMA/100, 2x USB, and hardware
management ASIC. Onboard Intel DirectAGP video. Finally no ISA slots!
Comments: CUSL2-C uses Intel 815EP chipset. No on board video. Also
no AGP Pro slot.
With its high clock rate and its 128K full speed level two cache, there is no
reason to spend hundreds more for a Pentium III, or compromise floating point
math performance with a similar costing AMD K6-2 if you are running mainstream
office and Internet applications.
Alternates: Intel Celeron 433 was last Slot 1 version of Celeron.
Comments: AMD Durons are faster but complete systems are hard to
find.
With its high clock rate, low price, new 3DNOW instructions, and its
performancing enhancing on chip cache, no wonder the Athlon is the flagship of
AMD. Unfortuneately, there is little software released other than games that
takes advantage of the new instruction set extension. The one area that
continues to be a problem area is supporting chipsets. VIA chipsets have had
problems with nVidia AGP 4x support for the longest time, especially with fast
reads/writes. USB problems also abound. VIA drivers are not the most stable.
Comments: Motherboard of choice is Asus A7V133. This has rev B of
the VIA southbridge IDE chip. This fixes the IDE 33MB/s bottleneck.
The P4 is now shipping, but the P3 still retains its lead in price/performance.
The P4 will enter the mainstrem in mid 2001. With its high clock rate, new SSE
instructions, and its 256K advanced transfer cache, no wonder the Coppermine
Pentium III is the flagship of Intel. Unfortuneately, there is little software
released that takes advantage of the new instruction set extension.
Comments: Processor pricing usually decreases every month. AMD
Athlon Socket A Thunderbirds are giving Intel a run for their money. They do
require more power and some patches to run Windows 2000. We're waiting for the
new rev of VIA chip before recommending them
If you are starting a new business or just adding machines for new people, this
is a great machine at an incredible price. Its perfect for word processing,
general business applications, home finance, and web surfing.
Alternates: Dell Dimension L series Gateway Essential series
Comments: Avoid complex internet rebate. Avoid the non Intel CPU
models. Beware of older models.
