Reality Check

[fkloster]

<< We constantly have probelms at work with our Duron and T-bird boxes running Win2k...these problems don't come up on the P3 machines (which are not running on Via chipsets...running on 815e). >>



I concur. Stick with Intel...

 

[Topochicho]

All this talk of AMD vs Intel and reliability and I began to wonder what the hell was wrong with you people until CQuinn finally got it. UPS IS the ticket to stability. Get a good one that has self power down and a decent up time. All else is just icing.

Amd, Intel, this ones better, that ones better, blah blah blah. Who cares about before, we're talking now. Intel has had just as bad a flakyness (need I mention 1.13Mhz) as AMD... and more resent problems. AMD on a MSI is proven rock stable.

He knows intel and doesn't want to experiment and has the money to do so. Thats what he should buy then.

Just try to use good building techniques. I mention some of them here.

and make sure to have a iable backup solution. an IDE raid will slow the system a little, but it will all him to run mirrored drives. You still need an icremental backup above and beyond that for really important stuff. Backup to a rewritable cd or tape is good or even a zip, offsite backup is best. Ever seen a backup medium thats fire proof? Take the cds with him every weekend or upload to a home system. Your only looking for super security for a small amount of data so 28.8 should be relatively fast.

 

[Jimbo]

I really did not intend for this to turn into an AMD vs. Intel discussion. I am sure that AMD has a good product and the reliability is probably about the same as Intel. However, I have NO previous experience with AMD Athlons and I do not think this is the one to learn on.
This machine WILL NOT be overclocked. Period.
As far as Flight-Sims and work being on the same machine I have no problems with that as long as the user is running Windows 2000 and not 98 or ME. My personal office computer is on 24/7 and gets rebooted about once a week for kicks and is never down in the interim and I have never lost ANY data. If he wants to have some fun in the office I see no conflict there. I have plenty of games on my daily worker and I have never had a problem.
The back up UPS is a great idea and I will add that to the mix.


Jimbo

 

[wyvrn]

I used to do field support for doctors offices, really fun, anywho...

If you are expecting someone in a doctor's office to run regular backups, who is not an IT person by trade, then you are in for disappointment. You can give them that option when you build, but in 90% of the cases I would say they will not keep up with it. That is, of course, until it crashes the first time and causes all sorts of hell with which you will have to fix ( bad flashback)

There is nothing wrong with AMD if you pick a tried and true cpu/mobo combo. The main problem they are having right now is name recognition, which may hurt you when you present him with the machine. AM who? For image purposes, Intel might be better. OTOH, if he is reasonable which I am sure he is, you can explain the value AMD brings and he should be ok with it.

 

[NixPhoenix]

First something about the monitor, it´s surely fancy looking in black but it´s a standard shadow mask, isn´t it? Why not buy a Diamond/Trinitron instead, they´re far superior in picture quality(Sony &amp; Mitsubishi are always good). You can always go with the flat LCD Sony N50(12mm thick) if he really want´s a black monitor.
Then the speakers, those Monsoons don´t have good sound and your friend seems to have money so why don´t get either the BA7500(4.1, flat, just in grey) or the Mediatheater(2.1, black available) from Boston Acoustics. Or why not go with Klipsch, they´re not flat, but have fantastic sound (sometimes better, sometimes worse than the bostons) and you can choose between a 4.1 or 2.1 system.
And finally as many have said, change that V5 for a GTS or Radeon.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[borealiss]

in all honesty, i think the best system would be an offering from dell, perhaps something from their optiplex line. and get a kickarse warranty with it, that way no headaches. if he wants to play games or have some form of entertainment from a computer system, i suggest an entirely different system for this with win98se or win2k on it. and if he wants to be supersafe about it, run a network and make frequent backups. this way, one goes down, the other stays up.