Multiple 'Office style' builds

Peerzy

Peerzy

Peerzy

Soldato
Joined
9 Nov 2008
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I'm being asked to spec and then build between 5 and 10 PCs for a primary school. The current PCs are terrible but will be running Classmaster 2006 and Windows XP.

The main use for the computers will be Youtube, web email, internet use and Office 2003. Occasional Movie Maker use but nothing too fancy.

Monitors and WinXP/software they already have so it's just the hardware.

I was thinking something along the following spec:

CPU - I've no idea?
2GB Ram
160GB-250GB HDD
Everything else onboard.
Case - I've no idea
PSU - No idea

To build them onto the Classmaster network it is vital I have a WinXP and DOS network driver for the motherboard.

Being a school this needs to be done on the smallest of budgets without compromising reliability.

What can you suggest?
 
One of the Coolermaster Elite cases. They are pretty solid - however, they are also covered in holes and school kids like jamming pens/paper etc into computers from what I've seen.

I'd be tempted to base them off cheap i3's with onboard graphics.
 
As far as drivers to support your needs etc I would'nt know but for that kind of budget I'd be looking at Athlon II X2 250, Cheap AM3 board and 2gb cheap DDR3. Case and psu I'd go for a cheap carp bundle. The psus won't be great but your not running massive overclocks and power hungry GPUs.
 
BIGBC said:
One of the Coolermaster Elite cases. They are pretty solid - however, they are also covered in holes and school kids like jamming pens/paper etc into computers from what I've seen.

I'd be tempted to base them off cheap i3's with onboard graphics.
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+1 to this idea, and you can just add 1 stick of RAM for 2gb per PC. How much is the school willing to spend on the PCs? Will they need monitors, speakers, keyboards and mice?
 
Thanks for the quick replies guys.

Budget is up in the air at the moment - it's end of year so they are currently working the budgets to see what they have to spend. We need 8 I think - no monitors, speakers, keyboards or mice - we can reuse old ones.

These new PCs are going to be going into the staff room for staff to use so kids messing with them shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Ideally parts I'd say for the mobo, cpu, ram, psu, hdd, dvd-rw and case maybe £250~ (remember they claim back VAT) but obviously the cheaper the better. No need for a seperate GPU at all - on board is fine.

No overclocks will be run but remember these are teachers so we can expect these PCs to be turned on from 7am Monday morning till 6pm Friday night without being switched off once!
 
Be tempted to get some cheapish Dell Optiplex instead, neat & small with no frills, might be a little more expensive but you'd get 3yr next day warranty etc...
 
edscdk said:
dont cobble together a system yourself you will only regret it...

buy pre-built system,
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Why?

adren said:
Be tempted to get some cheapish Dell Optiplex instead, neat & small with no frills, might be a little more expensive but you'd get 3yr next day warranty etc...
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Warranty is very tempting - the only issue I have is will these take WinXp and build onto the network fine.

I basically need to know the motherboard and have DOS and WinXP drivers before I order as build discs need to be made.
 
Buy pre-built - HP/Dell etc.

We recently got some new office PCs - 3 x core i7, W7 Professional, 8GB RAM, 22" screens for ~£600 each from Dell.
 
If your not buying windows & office your looking at under £200ex vat for a reasonable machine for what you are doing like an E6700 with 2gb ram 250gb HD from an OEM, it might not be worth doing it yourself

I've bought 3 Vostros from Dell in the past for one of the sites I work at, came to about 350 each with XP/ Windows 7 Pro & Office 2007/10 and the licences probably represent nearly half the cost. They are fine for general office use.
 
if it is for school I would go and get pre-built systems, like Dell ( already mentioned)
in case anything breaks, less hassle with warranty etc
 
daz said:
Buy pre-built - HP/Dell etc.

We recently got some new office PCs - 3 x core i7, W7 Professional, 8GB RAM, 22" screens for ~£600 each from Dell.
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Massive overkill though, we specifically don't want small PCs, all in ones or anything like that. They want a standard case so that if anything goes wrong I can just pop a new part in and they don't have to buy a whole new PC.

daver said:
If your not buying windows & office your looking at under £200ex vat for a reasonable machine for what you are doing like an E6700 with 2gb ram 250gb HD from an OEM, it might not be worth doing it yourself
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This was my thinking - something like THIS potentially? £180~ without VAT and an OS?

bastic said:
if it is for school I would go and get pre-built systems, like Dell ( already mentioned)
in case anything breaks, less hassle with warranty etc
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I am employed by the school to cover all IT Support and issues - if anything goes wrong it's my job to deal with warranty, part replacement and repair which I'm willing to do.
 
Peerzy said:
This was my thinking - something like THIS potentially? £180~ without VAT and an OS?



I am employed by the school to cover all IT Support and issues - if anything goes wrong it's my job to deal with warranty, part replacement and repair which I'm willing to do.
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Would have thought that would be fine tbh. You won't have to build them but if you are going to have to replace something it might be cheaper than a Dell say.
 
daz said:
Best of luck.

Building machines when you need more than one or two is a false economy.
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The way I look at it is I would rather be the one to be paid to build and support the PC than Mr Dell or Mrs HP.

I'm open to something like a posted above, a bare system for about £200~ though if it's going to be easier and cheaper in the long run.
 
During the summer holiday my school bought 200 machines from dell - ghosted them with a fresh xp image and enabled wake on lan and all that,

no issues so far
 
infernox said:
During the summer holiday my school bought 200 machines from dell - ghosted them with a fresh xp image and enabled wake on lan and all that,

no issues so far
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Wouldn't be an issue at all if it was just ghosting XP onto them. Building onto the EduTec Classmaster system is pants (especially as we are using an old version).

I must have the DOS and WinXP drivers otherwise I simply cannot build them onto the network.
 
Dell machines are high quality and built to last, they can always undercut the DIY route.

In addition the machines are quiet.

Artificially making more work for yourself rather than using the best solution for them is what you are attempting.
 
POB said:
Artificially making more work for yourself rather than using the best solution for them is what you are attempting.
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No - more work is not something I'm after at the moment at all.

If it was a case of get that OcUK PC for £200 or Dell for £300 obviously I'm going to look into the OcUK/self build one.

I can't get the Dell website to work at the moment to configure up a PC.
 
POB said:
Dell machines are high quality and built to last, they can always undercut the DIY route.

In addition the machines are quiet.
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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..
 
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