must buy preconfigured system with certain specifications - where?

[bdog]

I have to buy a system for work. I can not build it http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/frown.gif Anyway I have 5 pages of specs from the government that it must meet. Any ideas where to find a place that will give me all the specs so I can make sure it is complient? I looked at Dell & Gateway but they didn't give me enough info and didn't have cases with enough bays. Maybe a site that lets me pick all the components I want or something.


Here is the general specs: p3 500 or greater, atx form factor, 128 mb ram (expandable), 1 serial, 1 usb, 1 parallel, 1 ps2 mouse, svga video with 4mb ram min, four open pci slots after system is ready to be delivered, 1 3.5 bay, 3 5.25 bays, 2 3.5 hiddens bays, 8.4 gb hd, 4.8x dvd, 17" monitor, ink jet or laser printer with 10 mb minumum, keyboard/mouse, 10 base t nic, win 98se.

[Dputiger]

There's no getting around it--to absolutely ensure that you get the right machine you'll have to call the company and build it piece by piece. I'd recommend Dell for Pentium III stuff and Gateway if you want AMD stuff--or maybe IBM.

[Jkayo]

Try www.micronpc.com (http://www.micronpc.com) i know that they have a special government section

[KAknight]

I'd go with Dell if you can. Gateway next. sounds like you will be wanting to upgrade in the future, so stay away from compaq.

[grunt]

The specs you gave are pretty standard. You said nothing of a modem or sound so you should have no problem with a Dell Mid-Tower having 4 free PCI slots. It would also be ATX and meet the other specs.

[Richard_Cranium72]

You need to contact www.dell.com (http://www.dell.com) and get on the phone with them or e-mail them general information asking for a quote. At my company we buy Dell's en-masse and have very few problems. As far as Gateway goes, Consumer Affairs has several problems with the way they handle their support.=>> "Customers are increasingly frustrated by impersonal and often ineffective tech support and warranty repair, defective machines and mistakes in which they get machines that aren't configured as ordered." http://www.consumeraffairs.com/computers/gateway_2000.htm And under internet service->> "Gateway and other computer vendors have starting offering "free" Internet service but that doesn't stop them from drafting hundreds of dollars from their customers' checking accounts. We are very unimpressed with Gateway's lack of response to the problems." Sooo, don't get a what? Gluck, DrVette

[M_Six]

What the Doc said. Just make sure you explain in detail and impress upon the good folks at Dell that you want a case with that bay layout. My neighbor ordered a mid-tower from them and expected to have an open bay. The only front accessible 5.25" bay in his machine had the CDROM in it.

[Mr.Goodbytes]

If you can wait, the new 8900 series HP's will have Asus boards with no integration in them, ATA 100 and 66, and 4 5.25" and 2 3.5" external bays. Fully upgradeable!!!

[Warthog]

ehhhh....I frown upon HPs and Compaqs. Too many....what's the word?...."custom hp parts" that you can't change or mess with.

Warthog

[bdog]

Thanks for all the advice. I have sent an email to dell and micron for a quote. It has been so long since I have bought a system. I build all of mine so I had no idea what were good premade systems these days.

[Dputiger]

Well, that might be the point, Warthog. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif If the boards aren't integrated and are standard Asus--well, there's not much room for those custom part jobs we all know and love. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[Warthog]

hehe...I didn't notice the "integrated" part in his post...my bad... http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

Dputiger: could you explain more? My knowledge of that stuff is limited http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

Warthog

[Dputiger]

Sure! Always glad to aid an Ultimate Member. <bows> http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

Basically, like you mentioned, integrated motherboards suck *** for two reasons. First of all, they can be hard to disable and tricky to mess with. Now if you're the average Joe user, you probably don't care about that, because you just want the computer to run.

But there's a flip side to the picture--they ALWAYS run games like ****. You can get away with onboard sound if you aren't real picky, but onboard video is terrible. So, 'Average Joe User' can't play his games. I've actually seen Pentium III's on integrated video be outperformed by K6-2 machines.

Now here's the rest: Asus one of the best motherboard manufacturers around--definitely in the top 5. If HP is using a standard Asus motherboard that means it's not going to have any weird, proprietary junk on it--i.e., RAM slots that can only use HP-brand SDRAM, etc.

The AT/100 and AT/66 specifications are nice, too. AT/100 is an interface between your hard drive and motherboard that allows your hard drive to transfer up to 100 megabytes a second in a 'burst' mode. A 'burst' mode means that your hard drive can't maintain the transfer speed (no hard drive can) but can send a fast pulse of data at that speed.

AT/66 is the same thing, only the burst speed is up to 66 megabytes a second. It's a nice feature to have either way.

To give you an idea on the drive bays: You've got at least 2 3 1/2" bays on your current computer--one is holding your floppy, the other's holding your hard drive.

Having 4 5 1/2 inch bays is pretty nice though: That gives you room for a CD-ROM, a burner, or a DVD-ROM--plus, with the aid of a mounting kit, you could always put a zip drive or extra hard drive in that space.

So basically, Mr. Goodbytes is talking about a non-proprietary HP, based on standard technology, that would be much easier to upgrade and play with.

And yes--by all that's Holy--stay away from Compaq's.

[Warthog]

lol Dputiger http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif Thanks - again. You have helped me soooo much recently. First with my new comp, then summer assignment and now this. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

Warthog

[Richard_Cranium72]

Eerrr, on the HP's, the one I got in July 98(Pavillion 6350), has a ASUS mobo made for HP, maybe. This one has all the jumpers marked and rather easy to access, though I haven't had the time to mess with it much. It unfortunately has on-board video and sound but standard 168 pin SDRAM(2), 3 PCI slots, 3 ISA slots, and 4 5-1/2" bays. So not all HP pewters are totally propriatary in the build. I call this mobo an ASUS, this is what one HP tech called it, most like to call it a "Phoenix" huh?? whatdhesay? just FYI, DrVette