Multiple 'Office style' builds

[shadow_boxer]

Very similar to the OcUK Primo Drone pre-built PC spec'd above. Better case & Antec PSU rather than the OcUK generic stuff.

Asus M4N68T-M LE V2 Socket AM3 DDR3 Geforce 7025 VGA Out 8 Channel Audio MATX Motherboard £37.98

AMD Athlon II X2 250 3.00GHz Socket AM3 2MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor £45.46

Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATAII 7200RPM 16MB Cache - OEM Caviar Bluetock £28.98

Antec Basiq Power 350W ATX 12V PSU 114928 £28.61 Reviewed Here

Samsung SH-S223 22x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black £11.69

OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit £25.99

Coolermaster Elite 342 Case - Black £24.98

Could split the RAM so each machine is using 1x2GB stick so price is essentially

Total £190.97 inc VAT

 

[BIGBC]

Shadow boxer's build looks good.

Ive used many Dells before in work situations and they have outlasted HPs + IBMs without issue. As long as you look into what it is you are buying off them beforehand you wont be disappointed.

I've also replaced old Dells that have long outlived there useful life for family/friends.

I would still be wanting to build them myself, and if possible buy an extra set of the hardware so you have drop in replacements if/as needed.

 

[ThomasTheTankEngine]

You were being sarcastic, right?

We typically use Lenovo's at work but we bought two Dells last year. Big mistake! Not only do they sound like a jet taking off with their crappy fans but I've already replaced both their HDDs due to failures.

They are cheap, but the quality matches the cost..

He's correct regarding the older ones. We have some dells at work and they're pretty invincible. I wish they'd hurry up and break so we can get something more modern (they're pentium 4's).

 

[edscdk]

You were being sarcastic, right?

We typically use Lenovo's at work but we bought two Dells last year. Big mistake! Not only do they sound like a jet taking off with their crappy fans but I've already replaced both their HDDs due to failures.

They are cheap, but the quality matches the cost..

dell don't make hard drives, unless they are trapped in a space with no air flow its just bad luck...

even a quality machine will have mostly the same components jsut in a more expensive case...

 

[edscdk]

Why?

If you don't know why you should not be making the decision (no offence intended sorry)

 

[Peerzy]

If you don't know why you should not be making the decision (no offence intended sorry)

Helpful - I have to get them 8 PCs, they don't care how but they must be reliable and as cheap as possible. It doesn't matter if it takes me an hour to put each one together as that is what I am there for.

If I can save £100 per machine by self building then this will go along way towards helping the schools finances.

Very similar to the OcUK Primo Drone pre-built PC spec'd above. Better case & Antec PSU rather than the OcUK generic stuff.

Asus M4N68T-M LE V2 Socket AM3 DDR3 Geforce 7025 VGA Out 8 Channel Audio MATX Motherboard £37.98

AMD Athlon II X2 250 3.00GHz Socket AM3 2MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor £45.46

Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATAII 7200RPM 16MB Cache - OEM Caviar Bluetock £28.98

Antec Basiq Power 350W ATX 12V PSU 114928 £28.61 Reviewed Here

Samsung SH-S223 22x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black £11.69

OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit £25.99

Coolermaster Elite 342 Case - Black £24.98

Could split the RAM so each machine is using 1x2GB stick so price is essentially

Total £190.97 inc VAT

Looks very good, this is the sort of thing I had in mind. Looking for DOS and WinXP drivers for that mobo atm but can't find anything and the website isn't working atm.

 

[Davey_Pitch]

I work in a school and would always recommend buying pre-built systems. We use HP machines here (DC7100, DC7600, DC7700, and DC7800s), and they're decent machines that run all school software just fine, even stuff like Adobe CS4 (though some machines needed a ram upgrade for that). Everything is integrated into the motherboard, so if the gfx die then it's not an easy replacement, but they've been so reliable it's hardly anything I've come across in my 5 years here.

 

[edscdk]

Helpful - I have to get them 8 PCs, they don't care how but they must be reliable and as cheap as possible. It doesn't matter if it takes me an hour to put each one together as that is what I am there for.

total cost of ownership, it could turn into a massive time sink and support nightmare,

seriously buy 10 pre-built machines,

yes technically OC prebuilt machines are jsut bits they put together that you could also buy and put together, but at least you are buying a complete working unit with (hopefully) no obscure compatibility issues (as they are likley to be picked up because OC will sell 100's of them).

If the unit does not work you don't have to take it all apart to work out whats wrong, unless its someting obvious you want to fix, you can jsut slap it in a box and sent it back...

 

[Peerzy]

For my secondary school we buy nothing but pre built and it's always from companies we know and have support with - however this small primary school has no money, no network technician, no network manager, no one who even knows what a server is so they need to save as much money as possible.

Personally I would prefer to buy something like the one I linked to above that is pre built by OcUK - however if I can save them £20-£30 per machine and get better parts I have nothing against building. Equally if Dell or HP can offer the same machine for the same cost with a good warranty I'd go for them.

At the moment though I'm struggling to find motherboards that have Win XP and DOS drivers otherwise it could be an i7 machine for £25 but there is no point me buying it.