...In a way, its a bad project name.. in another way, its a double pun for my intent.

I'm building a rig for my manager at McDonalds, to replace his dead gateway POS...
Clean management of wires is about the only real mod I'm going to do, but I mean they will be *clean* ...

Here's whats on deck for order... of course, no pics and no updates or whatever until I get the money from him to order it..

Lian Li PC-61 (black)
Lite-On 52x CD-RW
Lite-On 16x DVD
ThermalRight SLK900A
Antec 92mm fan
Western Digital 80GB Special Edition
Mushkin Blue 512mb PC3200
Abit NF7-S
Mobile Barton, 2500+ OEM
XP Home
Logitech z-640's
Radeon 9600XT 128mb

Grand total, shipped to my door: $893.47

EDIT: Oh and btw, do y'all see anything wrong with what I've got listed?

Now, my manager guy is an audiophile... so you'll be saying, wow why waste that OC'ing gear (mobile barty, SLK, etc...)

It's not for him, its for me.. ... he's getting my old stuff (A7N8X Deluxe, Athlon 2000+ Palo, CM Aero 7+) ... either way, its still an upgrade from what he had, and *shrug* I dunno.. service charge is what I'd file it under, if he got the wiser? I never told him exactly what all he'd be getting except a 16x DVD and a 52x burner, and some good speakers...

Unless one of y'all can convince me its bad ethics or somethin... which I'd be perfectly open for persuasion..

-Peace

sounds perfectly legit to me as long as you never said anything like "i'll be this stuff online and set it up for you". if he's in the dark as to where the money is going well that's his problem now isn't it?

besides i subscibe to the thought taken from The Matrix "ignorance is bliss"

Sounds good to me.... up until he asks for a copy of the invoice....

Then again, since he's comin' from a Gateway he'll probably be more concerned with finding the power button. (j/k... sorta)

you're good. even with the parts from your old setup, it's still a better price than a Gateway or Dell.

Why not just be up-front about what he is getting...
What about warrenty? are you prepared to replace what could possibly go bad?
There is not a thing wrong with profiting from computer sales but I forsee a bad charma
deal there by dumpping your old stuff on him without telling him what's up.
You'll do much better to give him a square honest deal and have him refer you more customers to make more profit on. It might make more sense to give him a product with factory warrenty...could be cheaper in the long run.
Wouldn't you like that if you were in his shoes?
Just tell him you have a rig that is runninng and this is what it does and this is how much it cost and this is the warrenty it comes with. Let him decide...

I will have to agree with Zenz here....don't hide what you are going to do from him. in fact he may say that's cool and you still make out...

And for reference on the Z-640's... I have a set and i can say that there a great budget 5.1 setup. make sure you put the sub in the corner though, if not the bass gets sloppy.....

Perfectly good counterpoint Zenn, I hadn't even thought of a warranty... simply 'cause I've never had sh*t happen to *my* rig that required it.. had to help w/ someone else's once (MT's bad PSU karma)..

So with that, I dropped him down to a 2k+ tbred retail, and a gigabyte 9600XT retail... and lost about $100 off the shipped price.. and remembered he has die-lup.. so had to throw in a US Robotics 56k PCI modem... unless y'all know of any better modem brands? I'm pretty clueless about dialup modems, I haven't had dialup in almost 2 years, and never had to deal with my modem when I did (and I was n00b then too)

You just may want to get him a combo drive. This will save a few dollars and an extra drive bay.

This is probably the end-all of CDRW and DVD solutions for now, and if I'm wrong, let me know.

I was going to suggest getting a DVD burner (since Staples has one for $49 today), but now that I think about it, it's probably better not to. Then you'd have to paint it to match the case, dodge questions about how to illegally copy movies, and have a slower CD burner. Nah. Better to go with the combo drive that Kage suggested.

US Robotics is usually a great brand for modems. They may cost a bit more than brand X (like this free one), but the peace of mind is often worth the extra.

There are two basic types of internal modems: software (a.k.a. "Winmodems") and hardware. The software modems are cheaper, but take more system resources to run (since, as you guessed, much of the logic is done on the software side). This isn't a big issue like it used to be, since most people have far more computing power than they need (especially when just surfing the web on dial-up). By the way, the software usually specifically say that they're "for Windows" instead of "software modem" (though hardware ones may be labeled as such). Other than that, some modern modems come with some nice features, like fax software or the ability to "pause" the current dial-up session to take a phone call.

You may have issues with the internal USRobotics modem and the NF7-s,
Boy I sure did.
I tried just about everything available and finally got the
US Robotics external USB 2.0 to work.
Ya still have to go to the site and D/L the "USR\5633A"
drivers for it to operate properly...

You might give him some options to decide his PC...
In my salesman jobs, I've had in the past, I always asked questions that would
result in the sale...
Not whether they wanted it or not, but rather which one did they want.
I.E. "Should I build this up with the AMD XP2000+ or the AMD XP2500 mobile CPU?"
either of two answers means a sale....yes or no questions give him a choice of no.

Another way to build value is to show him in the computer magazine ads how much comperable systems cost. For a basic AMD 3200+ XP system with 9600XT class grafix can run as high as 3K with keyboard and Monitor.

Kage: I priced the difference, its like $10, which is pocket change in the long run, and he's not a modder.. he ran a gateway into the ground... lifetime needs to be long.. and I've heard the combos live shorter lives because they get twice the abuse as a pair of drives does... that, and I can't see any reason he'd use another bay.. he doesn't know up from down when hardware's involved

Zennzzo: Then, if they're so problematic with that board.. any suggestions? US Robotics is the only name that rang a bell for quality modems when I was scrolling through pages of unknown branded 56k's.... and as for the 2k vs 2500 mobile.. if I told him it was a mobile processor, that'd involve a long explanation of how I'm making a laptop CPU work in a desktop PC.. he's nowhere near umm... "our level" of how these rigs work...

Bit of an update...

The reality of a $900 budget sets in.. at least if I want to make a wee margin off this, or rather.. get paid for putting it together.

Up in the air:
GFX, 56k modem

Locked in:
Antec Sonata w/ 380W PSU
Abit NF7-S
Athlon 2500+ Retail
Lite on 16x DVD, Lite on 52x CDRW (seperate drives)
Sony floppy (eh, he came off a gateway.. probably still uses em..)
80GB Western Digital SE
512mb Mushkin Blue PC3200
XP Home
Logitech Z-640's

-------------

For graphics card, lookin for a budget card(like the radeon 9k's or wtfever they're called.. you know, GeForce3 / Radeon 8500 level cards.. ) and I'm pretty lost on that part of the market.. mid-level, high-level.. no sweat..

And I've got an Archtek soft-modem lined up.. all he does is play civilization, surf, and massive amounts of audiophilia... so.. no sweat w/ the CPU usage, I think..

Any thoughts as to what I should nab for GFX and 56k?

Bumpin' cause I need the help.

Quote: Originally Posted by TheOutcast Any thoughts as to what I should nab for GFX and 56k?

THIS for 56k. It's the cheapest that newegg offers [Incl. Shipping]

As for GFX, it really depends on what your budget allows, so what is left to be spent?
Those Powercolor 9800SE's SoftMod to -> 9800 Pro's like no tomorrow, might want to consider that.

I've got about oh.. $175 for a max price on the gfx card.. current one (powercolor 128mb 9600XT) is $153.. *shrug*

Quote: Originally Posted by TheOutcast I've got about oh.. $175 for a max price on the gfx card.. current one (powercolor 128mb 9600XT) is $153.. *shrug*

$152 for that powercolor 9800SE, just install the Omega drivers with the 9800SE -> 9800Pro softmod checked in the installer and you will have a 9800Pro. Thank powercolor for the unlockable 256-bit PCB.

...albeit hurriedly, and crappily, to get it out the door on time.

On the second hand, I spread a little knowledge to a member here on PR who never has posted, showed her how to build a PC..

Lesee.. pictures.. hmm... soon as I get Thor's camera back to him, I'll have them...


I just ran into a BFO. How do you plug a 5.1 Z-640 set into the Shuttle AN35N-Ultra...

...oops. I might have to give up my audigy card to fix this...or part of my next check. O_O

Isn't there some way to re-map the mic and line-in ports to accomodate the 5.1 setup? Not sure of your board does this, but im my experience the boards that don't have dedicated 5.1 ports allow you to remap like this.

I've heard of that before.. I have no idea how to do it...

And here's a link to the board: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...150-045&depa=0

And being the good salesman, I gave him the manual and the box.. and he's already been by to pick it up, although he wont get around to setting it up for another eight hours.. (he picked it up before his closing shift @ McD's)... crunch time. Sh*t.

Quote: Originally Posted by TheOutcast I've heard of that before.. I have no idea how to do it... And here's a link to the board: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...150-045&depa=0 And being the good salesman, I gave him the manual and the box.. and he's already been by to pick it up, although he wont get around to setting it up for another eight hours.. (he picked it up before his closing shift @ McD's)... crunch time. Sh*t.

Page 17 of your manual describes center/bass and rear out headers. You should have received this with your board. If you didn't, then it's possible you didn't get that option with the board. Page 29 of the manual also describes the Line In and Mic ports as doubling as center/bass and rear audio out too.

Look around in the BIOS for audio port mapping settings.