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COMPUTER BUILDER!

This page will allow you to calculate the approximate cost of building a PC from scratch. Prices are updated about once a week, so you can be assured of pretty accurate prices.

Click "Calculate" to pop up a total for the components you selected.

IMPORTANT: If you see something not listed here that you would like to see added to the Builder, please send email to: webmaster@avenir.dhs.org Please also let us know if you notice any problems, errors, or bugs in the script, or if you have any suggestions on organization/style. The success and expansion of this script depends on your suggestions.

Let's consider this one a "beta" for now, until we get the bugs worked out...

KNOWN BUGS: These are tough ones, but nothing bad to deal with.

Netscape Communicator 4.5 (not sure about other versions) does something funky under Windows. If you select an item, then change your mind, and choose something else, you may get this racing condition where the "dot" used to mark your place jumps back and fourth between your previous and current selections. This could be a problem with the code, and the way Netscape interprets it. As a workaround, if you're going to change your mind, just hit Reload on your browser, or click the "Reset" at the bottom of the page-- Reset will clear all of your current selections though.
Netscape Communicator 4.5, under Linux/Unices: An error pops up about XTCallbacks. This is a coding thing, but I'm not familiar with them yet. At any rate, it's nothing that at all effects the functioning of the script, so just click ok when it comes up, and continue.

Internet Explorer seems to the the only browser that doesn't have any problems with the script, even though this was developed under Linux. Hats off to Microsoft.

Anyway, on with the Computer builder... Keep in mind that these prices haven't been updated in a very long time. If you'd like to help keep them up to date, email me!

CPU None K6-2/333 K6-2/350 K6-2/400 PII-300 PII-350 PII-400 PII-450	This is a pretty limited selection of CPUs. More are hopefully on the way. Be sure to choose one that fits your budget and your workload.
Motherboard None Shuttle HOT 623 ATX PII USB/4PCI/3ISA FIC VB-601-V PII USB/UDMA Amptron PM9900 Super7 AT/ATX, UDMA/SOUND Alton 726 BXcel AT, 3PCI, 2ISA, 1AGP, PII	Also a small selection of motherboards. Be sure that if you selected a PII processor that you choose a board that can handle it (i.e. it says PII in the description)
Hard Drive None Maxtor 3.4 GB Seagate 4.0 GB Quantum 5.1 GB Maxtor 6.4 GB Maxtor 8.4 GB Maxtor 9.1 GB IBM 10.1 GB Quantum 12.0 GB IBM 16.8 GB	Be sure to get a hard drive that's large enough for your needs. Suggestion: take the amount of disk space you think you'll need in the next year, and multiply that by two. That should give you enough for at least the next two years.
Case None ATX Mid Tower AT Full Tower AT Mid Tower ATX Full Tower	Make sure you get a case that your motherboard will fit in. If the board is an ATX, it will not properly fit in an AT case.
Floppy Drive None Teac 3.5 Mitsumi 3.5	This one's pretty simple. Either of these should do.
CD-ROM Drive None Mitsumi 24X Samsung 32X Toshiba 32X BTC 40X Toshiba 40X	I've heard that the Toshiba 32x is a great drive, but I've never used it. Remember: the only time you're really going to benefit from a lightning fast cdrom is when installing software (or playing a game that needs LOTS of data from the cd-- most don't) from one.
Memory None 32MB Generic PC100 SDRAM 64MB Generic PC100 SDRAM 128MB Generic PC100 SDRAM	I've only listed PC100 ram because all the processors here can use its speed. You should probably get 128 megs, as even 64 is fast becoming insufficient for Windows.
Video Card None Trident 4MB AGP Diamond 8MB AGP 2X S3 2MB PCI Diamond Stealth II S220 4MB PCI Creative Labs Graphics Blaster TNT 16MB AGP STB GliderMax2 8MB AGP	Get a video card with a lot of RAM. Make sure that if you bought a motherboard with AGP, that you get an AGP video card-- you wouldn't want that slot going to waste. :)
Sound Card None ESS 1938 PCI Sound Blaster, 512K, PCI Sound Blaster PCI 128 Sound Blaster Live PCI	For the price, you can't beat the Sound Blaster PCI128
Monitor None Komodo 17" .27 1280x1024 Amprton 17" .26 1600x1200 Viewsonic 15" Proview 19" .26 1600x1200 Viewsonic 19" .26 1600x1200	Be sure to choose a good monitor. Remember: you're going to be staring at this thing for years to come, so don't be afraid to spend a few extra dollars now.
Mouse None Microsoft Intellimouse PS/2
Keyboard None Chicony PS2/AT 104-Key Keyboard Microsoft Natural Elite Keyboard, PS/2
Operating Systems None Redhat Linux MS-Windows 98 OEM MS-Windows NT Workstation OEM	The price for Redhat Linux is if you buy the Intel version from them directly. You may be able to find it on cd cheaper from www.cheapbytes.com, or from some other vendor. Of course, as with all Linux, the operating system is free, so you can just download it if you'd rather not pay. :) DON'T get NT if you don't have at least 64 megs of RAM-- you'll regret it. DON'T get NT if you plan on running DOS applications (or any other 16-bit apps) -- they won't run under NT.

webmaster@avenir.dhs.org

COMPUTER BUILDER!

CPU

Motherboard

Hard Drive

Case

Floppy Drive

CD-ROM Drive

Memory

Video Card

Sound Card

Monitor

Mouse

Keyboard

Operating Systems