"John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:wKQPo.57151$(E-Mail Removed)...
>I am in need of an XP class computer for home office use. Is this unit
>worth the price?
>
>
> http://www.overstock.com/Electronics...1/product.html
>
>
> Also any comments about or experience with 'overstock.com' would be
> appreciated.
>
>
> I have a VGA monitor that still works well for now. When and if it goes
> bad I'll add a modestly priced video card and LCD monitor.
>
>
> Thanks,
> John


Hi,

Overstock.com
a 4.56 rating out of 10 doesn't excite me.

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Overstock

You can read reviews from other folks who rated them by going to the site.

For slightly more than $300 I would be putting a system together from parts
from Newegg or another reputable seller as long as you have an operating
system that you can transplant.

I'm fine to suggest individual parts that you might use if you're interested
for a modest but much faster system than Overstock would supply you with for
that money, or I'm pretty certain other folks would have suggestions. Also
I'm wondering if you need the floppy drive the refurbished unit is showing.
One of the things that constantly dogs the computer field is to get the
fastest system for the money you spend.

--
Jan Alter
(E-Mail Removed)

John wrote:
> Jan Alter wrote:
>> "John"<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:wKQPo.57151$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> I am in need of an XP class computer for home office use. Is this unit
>>> worth the price?
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.overstock.com/Electronics...1/product.html
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Also any comments about or experience with 'overstock.com' would be
>>> appreciated.
>>>
>>>
>>> I have a VGA monitor that still works well for now. When and if it goes
>>> bad I'll add a modestly priced video card and LCD monitor.
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> John
>>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Overstock.com
>> a 4.56 rating out of 10 doesn't excite me.
>>
>> http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Overstock
>>
>> You can read reviews from other folks who rated them by going to the
>> site.
>>
>> For slightly more than $300 I would be putting a system together from
>> parts
>> from Newegg or another reputable seller as long as you have an operating
>> system that you can transplant.
>>
>> I'm fine to suggest individual parts that you might use if you're
>> interested
>> for a modest but much faster system than Overstock would supply you
>> with for
>> that money, or I'm pretty certain other folks would have suggestions.
>> Also
>> I'm wondering if you need the floppy drive the refurbished unit is
>> showing.
>> One of the things that constantly dogs the computer field is to get the
>> fastest system for the money you spend.
>>
>
>
> I'm all ears about suggestions.
>
> Agreed about the floppy, USB sticks, CDs or plain old e-mail would suffice.
>
> But as I said other than an old but still (for now at least) working VGA
> monitor, XP pro and XP class business software I have nothing on hand to
> cannibalize for this unit. Its purpose is to replace a failed 8 year old
> P4-2.4 that had so many bad parts that it was chucked to the trash bin.
>
> Thanks in advance for your expertise,
> John

If you'd kept the computer case, we could have made a "home builder"
out of you :-) It's not hard to put together a computer, and it can
be done at a reasonable price.

*******

$60 motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157115

$125 dual core processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115056

A short movie, on how to install your new LGA775 processor.

http://web.archive.org/*/http://cach...209_241209.wmv

(Use an old AGP video card, if you still have one. I have an FX5200 in mine.
Mine is running as a server, and is sitting on a table as a pile of parts.
No case around it.)

GIGABYTE GV-N62256DP2-RH GeForce 6200 256MB AGP 4X/8X $39
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125249

Max amount of memory it'll take 2GB total (for $40)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231098

Power supply bought by customer rating (in a quick scan, don't
see a lot of reports that it "pops" on you). $29.95

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182006

Power supply ratings label (it's a bit weak on 12V, but this
should be plenty for a basic system - this supply would only
be an issue, if you installed a "gamer" video card).

http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/17-182-006-S04?$S640W$

You can get a CD/DVD drive for $25 and a hard drive for $50, to round
it out.

60+125+39+40+30+25+50 = $369 plus a copy of Windows.

What's missing is keyboard, mouse, computer case, monitor. That's
why it's important to keep the little stuff, because it can
reduce the price of building an upgrade. I spent about $300,
at the time I did the upgrade using the above motherboard,
because I already had lots of spare parts around (not very
modern, but still workable).

That motherboard, is one of the last "legacy" ones around. It
has a parallel port. It has a serial port. It supports a floppy.
It has an AGP video card slot. It has a PCI Express video card
slot (but the AGP slot is recommended). It has two IDE ribbon
cable connectors, plus two SATA ports. The SATA ports will run
at SATA II rates, no jumpers required. It accepts DDR or DDR2
RAM (two sticks max installed at any one time - two DDR2
recommended as above). I like that board, just for it's
ability to use the stuff in my "junk" box.

Paul

Hi John,

I've used the motherboard, memory and PS before in other systems. The mb
has performed very nicely on 3 other units I've assembled. It has onboard
video which does a good job. I've also used the Thermaltake PS on at least 6
other systems over a few years with good results. Though I haven't used the
case I noted that it had great reviews and a unique handle on top, which I
thought very practical.
This, as I mentioned, is a modest system, but would provide a very
stable and comparatively fast service compared to the one you were
considering from Overstock. There is a $12 rebate from Thermaltake which
knocks the original price of $44 down to $32, but then there's a $2
shipping charge, as well as a $10 shipping charge for the case that I
suggested. Total cost (including shipping, but no keyboard or mouse) is
$304. The rest of the items all have good to excellent overal reviews. I
should mention that I've found the information from Paul (who also responded
to your project) very helpful, dependable and considerate on his part.

GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard $53
(when shipping is included)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128357





G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel
Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ $40

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231098



Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC 430W ATX12V V2.2 Intel Core i7 Compliant Dual 80mm
Fans Full Cable Sleevings Power Supply $34 (AFTER $12 REBATE)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...%20ATX12V%20V2



APEX TX-381-C Black Steel Micro ATX Tower Computer Case $35

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811154094



Intel Pentium E5500 2.8GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Dual-Core Desktop Processor
BX80571E5500 $70

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116367



LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X
DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB

Cache SATA 24X DVD Writer $22


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106334



Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA
3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $50

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136073


--
Jan Alter
(E-Mail Removed)

--

Grinder wrote:
> On 12/22/2010 12:36 PM, John wrote:
>> Grinder wrote:
>>>
>>>> A question, Paul, about the video card. I don't see a VGA port on it
>>>> and
>>>> for now I would like to re-use the VGA monitor I have. Is there an
>>>> adapter or something for the DVI or S-video port?
>>>
>>> It appears to be a DVI-I port. The "-I" refers to "integrated" and means
>>> that it puts out digital *and* analog (VGA) signals. Use the supplied
>>> adapter (you can see it in the product photos) to get an actual VGA
>>> port.
>>
>> Thank you Grinder, that should work.
>>
>> Now that both Jan & Paul have made suggestions the only real question I
>> have is the extra $55 worth it to go for Paul's suggested processor
>> (2012 passmark) :
>>
>> Intel Core2 Duo E7500 Wolfdale 2.93GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W
>> Dual-Core Processor BX80571E7500 $125
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115056
>>
>> over Jan's suggested (1908 passmark):
>> Intel Pentium E5500 2.8GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Dual-Core Desktop
>> Processor
>> BX80571E5500 $70
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116367
>>
>> ??
>
> If you've got it, spending the extra $55 is worth it.

I have a 2.6GHz Core2, and a 3.0GHz Core2, and I can't tell the
difference :-) Both machines are running right now, and the
"slow" one is my server. Either of those processors should be
fine for office work.

Paul

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Grinder <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>Just a little more on monitors:
>
>The 19" LCD monitor I had was this beauty:
>
>http://www.samsung.com/cp/products/m...9hjdqhvxaa.asp
>
>It's still in service, albeit not as my primary display, and I think
>it's absolutely great. One feature that I went for when I bought it was
>the ability to pivot into a portrait mode. Ever since I saw those
>ultracool pivoting radius monitors for the Mac, and could not afford
>one, I wanted a display that could do this.
>
>It turns out, that it's not all that useful. If I did a lot of web/news
>research, I might have left it in the portrait mode, but I rarely ever
>bothered. Also, I'm not sure about this, but I think font aliasing
>schemes, like ClearType, might not work in the portrait mode.
They are cool to use as arcade monitors for running MAME. Many of the old
arcade games were in Portrait mode like Donkey Kong, and Centipede and the
like. I retired my old 19" LCD to a old pc as an old school gaming rig.