Opinions

Looks good -- genuine Intel chip-set on the motherboard,
and genuine Intel processor.  

What can go wrong go wrong go wrong go wrong go wrong ... ??

A TX chipset on a P2 mainboard?

Don't forget your 3d-accelerator, if needed. Maybe you can spend a bit less money on the Pii and buy a K6-2 300, maybe you can be a bigger monitor too. 17" would be nice.

Wanda, take BX motherboard (100MHz) with 100MHz RAM (SDRAM). P-II can fit ONLY into LX or BX
motherboards (Slot 1) but NOT TX/VX mobo's (Socket 7). Also HD: better take Western Digital or Quantum
but not Maxtor.

Wanda, everything looks okay except for one thing, and I have to agree with Harley47, I don't like the motherboard. Do not get it with that particular motherboard. TX Pro is a very shabby and inexpensive chipset and you will, mark my words, have problems with it. Everything else is fine but get them to change the motherboard to an LX or BX chipset board made by a quality manufacturer like Intel, Asus, MTech or the like. If you need any more help, please let us know.

Good Luck!
Mike

Wanda,

As the others have pointed out, a Pentium II cannot run on a TX chipset motherboard.  I would inquire about that one.  Perhaps it is a typo, but they may be trying to sell a Cyrix or AMD processor on a TX board, and calling it an Intel.  That is not necessarily a bad thing, as AMD in particular is an excellent processor, but it bears further investigation.

Terry

By the way, what you have listed shouldn't cost more than about $1,100 to 1,200.

Terry

How much have you been quoted? I'm from SBC Group in chichester,ENGLAND and could do it for warehouse prices plus a small installation charge of course.
If you want I could fax you our price list. You then may be able to persuade your dealer to let you have it cheaper!!!!!
Just a thought!!

ps. Sorry EE, for advertising on your site(I know it's against the rules!!!!!)

JELL

If you like graphics, there is no excuse not to get an STB Velocity 128 with nVidia chipset. This card is priced competitively and has good 2/3d graphics.

Thanks to every one for your opinions, I do value them.
The way this computer is put togather is it, no changes.
The deal is with company,
these computers are for people with bad credit, that can lease/purchase them for
$95.00 a month,  the actual price is about $3,200., but if I can sign up 6 people to
lease/puchase one for $95 a month, I get it free plus $700.00 cash.
The whole thing is complicated, that's why I'm asking you all about it,
I guess to see if it's even worth it, and from what you're saying about the TX thing,
it doesn't sound like it is.

In my humble opinion, that price is highway robbery.  I am sure you can do much better with a consumer credit company who accepts people with bad credit.  Even at the silly 20-30% rates they charge, it would cost nowhere NEAR what you listed for this machine!  Look for another company or a friend who may be able to build you one and work a deal on payments.

Terry

I have to agree with Tchris, that is the most expensive PII 266 I've ever seen! I can get a PII 400 for that with AGP graphics and a 36X cdrom! He's right, it is highway robbery!


Mike

I agree, that's an outragious price if someone were to pay out right for it, but it's more of a business (pyramid) deal, sell six and it's free, if someone you sell it to decides to sell,
then I would get some $ from that.
 On their web site, one place it says Intel, another doesn't.

  But, as everyone has indicated, the whole thing is made from the cheapest parts they could find,  and a good computer is what I want, don't think this is it.  Thanks to all.

I'll leave this open a few more days incase anyone has something to add.

I was talking to a friend about what you all said,  and he will put it togather if I buy the
pieces, So, I'm wondering if I really need a PII? the biggest programs I would be running
are win98, office97, Nets.Comm.4.4. I'm thinking something 300mhz,
(pentium?) what kind of a motherboard would you recomend?
seen one today called TEKsomething but it didn't say anything on the box about it,
heard of it?

It was probably a Tekram or MTech, both of which are good boards. You may also want to look at Asus also, it's one of the best. If you really want to save money, I would reccommend getting a 6X86 PR300 MII processor, which would be cheaper than the Pentium. 6X86 type processors run an optimized instruction set that will actually run Office products up to 35 to 45% faster than an actual Pentium. The cost will also be substantially cheaper. The regular Pentium 300 processors are called Celerons and they are a cheaper processor to keep up with the competition. The problem with these processors though are that they don't have an internal cache which really causes them to run slower. This is what they did to them to keep the price down.
If you don't want a Pentium II, my recommendation would be the 6x86 or AMD processors which would be cost effective. I also reccommend a 100mhz Bus motherboard. IBM is supposedly supposed to come with a Socket 7 compatible CPU this year that will run in the 600 to 1000mhz range. Quite interesting! I'll wait and see though.

Good Luck!
Mike

Wanda,

I agree with Mike.  Look for an AMD K6-2/300 or 333 processor.  These are a fantastic bargain right now.  With the other specs you listed at first and an AMD processor, you should end up with a system in the $1000 neighborhood (add more for your choice of monitor) that can do anything you would need for a long time.  Be sure to get a 100MHz Super 7 motherboard and 64MB SDRAM minimum.

Terry

Yes, it was TEKRAM.
what do I need to know to buy the tower for the AMD K6-2/300 or 333 processor?
is K6-2 like pentII?
I seen 2 yesterday, mid-towers, one said for pentII MB's $59.
the other $49. and had some # of watts.

also, what MB do I get for the AMD K6-2/300 or 333 processor?

Wanda,

The towers that say they are PII compatible are set up for the newer ATX form motherboards.  You will want to find a motherboard that is ATX form factor and says Super 7 (this means it is a Socket 7 motherboard that can run at 100 MHz)  Pentium II processors don't use a socket to connect to the motherboard, they use a slot called Slot 1.  If you get a Slot 1 board, you can't use the AMD processor.  

So, overall, you want an ATX case, ATX form factor Super 7 motherboard, SDRAM DIMM Memory that is PC100 compliant (meaning it can run 100 MHz), an AMD K6-2/300 or 333 processor (yes, they are about the same performance as the Pentium II)

Other components:  
=================
Hard Drive - Ultra-DMA EIDE, at least 4 GB; more if you can afford it

CD-ROM drive - 32x speed ATAPI (or perhaps a DVD drive if you are brave)

(Note, opting for a purely SCSI disk subsystem would be the fastest, but also the most expensive.  You should get very good performance with the IDE components above however.)

Modem - 56K v.90 External Fax/Modem (external modems are less of a drag on your system than internal ones)

Sound - PCI 16-bit wavetable sound card (again, PCI is less of a drag on the system)

Graphics - PCI or AGP graphics (look for a minimum of 2mb RAM for a 2D card and 4mb for 3D cards.  One of the best 2D graphics chips is the Tseng ET6000 128-bit screamer, if 3D, best chips are 3DFX Voodoo2 or NVidia Riva.  For the ultimate, you can get both the ET6000 for your 2D and an add-on 3D card that will attach to the 2D card)

The reason for the external modem and PCI sound card is to get everything out of the ISA bus.  This is the backward-compatible part of the system which allows older cards to be used.  It is a burden on the system to maintain a bridge to the slower ISA bus.  Measurable performance gains can be realized by using only PCI cards, and an external modem attached to an integrated COM port.

Happy shopping!

Terry

Terry,
When you say AMD K6-2/300 or 333 processor, is there 2 actual cpu's?
aprox. how much do you think it/they'll cost ?(I'm in Dallas)

I' assuming the ATX form factor Super 7 motherboard will be about $150., right?

On the Hard Drive, is Ultra a brand name?  is western digital DMA EIDE?

Wanda,

No, there is just one processor.  I meant get the 300 or 333; I just discovered that AMD hasn't released a 333 yet.  How embarassing!  Anyway, you should be able to find a 300 for less than $200 (I can find them for about $165 online).  Yes, $150 sounds reasonable for a good motherboard.  Ultra is not a brand name, but most manufacturers refer to the newest standard as UDMA or UltraDMA.  It is the fastest EIDE standard available.

Terry

My reccommendations would be to buy a computer shoppers guide at your local book store and use TChris hardware components and pick one out of the shoppers guide. I can guarantee you beyond a shadow of a doubt, you'll get the best deal in town at a price you can afford, out of that magazine.


Mike

Terry,
When you say AMD K6-2/300 or 333 processor, is there 2 actual cpu's?
aprox. how much do you think it/they'll cost ?(I'm in Dallas)

I' assuming the ATX form factor Super 7 motherboard will be about $150., right?

On the Hard Drive, is Ultra a brand name?  is western digital DMA EIDE?

Terry,
I understand 300 & 333 are different, what I meant is since it's called K6-"2", is there a
co-processer, like pent II.

Yes Wanda, the K6 300 and the K6 II 300 are different processors. The K6 II 300 has advanced 3D built into it for audio and video but there are only very few if any applications that will take advantage of it, so it's actually not worth buying just yet. It's new technology and it may not even "take off" and you could be stuck with a processor that does 3D applications well but there are no applications.

Mike

Wanda,

I have to disagree with Mike on the future of AMD's 3D Now! system.  AMD corroborated with a number of hardware and software vendors in the development of 3D Now! and I see no reason not to buy it.  Microsoft will be supporting it with the next version of Direct 3D.  Even in the unlikely event that support dwindles, the cost difference between the K6-300 and the K6 II-300 is about $5 -- well worth the money in my opinion.

The K6 II was named that rather than the original name of K6-3D just to make the comparison with the Pentium II.  It doesn't have any special tricks as far as a double processor or anything.  It does have the built-in floating point coprocessor as all modern CPUs do, however.  Just a very efficient RISC86 CPU that works very well, and at a lower cost than Intel.

Terry

Terry
Incase I can't find it around here, you said"(I can find them for about $165 online)."
where at?  
All-
Also, will I be able to upgrade? or is 300 the highest the ATX form factor Super 7 motherboard will go?

Wanda,

Well, it figures since I didn't save the URL, I can't find it now.  I did find a place to get one for about $210 though.  The K6-300 (no 3D Now!) is about $170 at the same place.

http://www.aberdeeninc.com/abcatg/cpu.htm

Hope this doesn't violate the "no advertising" policy, as I just found it from a search engine...

The Super7 motherboards should support any future Socket 7 CPUs which use the supported voltages.  It runs up to 100 MHz and the CPU multiplies the clock up, so 100MHz x3 = 300MHz internal speed.  It should last through a couple of years of CPU technology, but nothing is guaranteed! :)

Terry

Thank you, one more thing, is the K6300 mmx much better than K6300?

Wanda, MMX is a set of enhanced instructions built into the processor that will run  Multimedia applications that are designed for it much better than a regular processor. They are commonly referred to as Multimedia Extensions, and yes, it IS a very good thing to have because there are alot of programs now that will take advantage of it.

Mike

Wanda,

All the K6 processors have MMX.  No need to worry there :)

Terry