Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 3-2.
Bill of materials for budget
Component
Product
Case
Antec NSK-4482 Mid-Tower Case
Power supply
Antec EarthWatts 380W (bundled)
Motherboard
ASRock K10N78M-PRO
Processor
AMD Athlon II X2 240
CPU cooler
(Bundled)
Memory
Crucial CT2KIT12864AA667 2 GB Kit (1 GB x 2)
Video adapter
(Integrated NVIDIA GeForce 8200)
Hard disk drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS (500GB)
Optical drive
ASUS DRW-24B1ST DVD writer
Keyboard and mouse
Logitech Deluxe 250 Desktop
Speakers
Logitech LS11 (or embedded display speakers)
Display
(See text)
Reality Check
When Barbara's sister Frances's system—the budget system
from the preceding edition of this topic—failed after more than
four years of heavy use, it caught us at a bad time. We could
have fixed her system, but at four years old it was nearing the
end of its design life anyway. We didn't have any suitable spare
systems sitting around, and we weren't quite ready to build this
budget system. Frances needed a system quickly, so she asked
us to look at the systems Costco had on offer and pick one out
for her.
Making those two changes would have increased our total cost
by about $130, just $20 short of the Dell price. So why bother?
Because the two systems are only superficially similar. Granted,
both have exactly the same processor and the same or similar
hard drives, but otherwise the Dell system has lower-quality
components. Our system has a better case and power supply, a
higher-quality motherboard, top-notch memory, a faster opti-
cal drive, and a better keyboard, mouse, and speakers.
Also, paying $90 or so for a Windows 7 license would be a
waste. Frances has been using Linux for years and has no
desire to use (or pay for) Windows. So, our system costs about
$110 less and is built with higher-quality components. That's
a no-brainer.
The least expensive desktop system on the Costco website was
a Dell Inspiron 570, for $499.99 plus tax and shipping. For $150
more, the Inspiron 570's general specifications matched those
of our budget configuration almost exactly, except that it had 4
GB of RAM rather than 2 GB and included a Windows 7 license.
Building the Budget System
Figure 3-1 shows the major components of our budget system. The Antec NSK-
4482B case is at the upper left, with the ASRock K10N78M Pro motherboard to
its right. In the foreground, left to right, are the Crucial 4 GB memory kit, the
ASUS DRW-24B1ST DVD writer, the 500 GB Seagate Barracuda hard drive, and
the AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor processor.
