is this a good thing?

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eyeonvarsity

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I am looking to upgrade my computer to handle some desktop publishing programs, but I am an idiot when it comes to hardware! I have someone who is telling me that they will add/change the following in my computer to make it "killer":

- ECS K7S5A Mobo
- AMD 2400XP CPU
- 512 MG Infineon DDR 2700 (suggests getting 2, do I really need 2?)
- Seagate Barracuda 120 GB HDwith 8 MG buffer

He's said he can do all this for about $500 after his fees....

Any help would be greatly appreciated! I need something that can handle Windows XP plus Illustrator and In-design without lagging...

Thanks!
 
P4 3.0GHZ or Athlon 3200+
512 MB 3200 RAM (CAS 2 or lower)
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro/XT

There's your killer system!
 
Whoa!
Please don't bother with the ECS K7S5A. I have had problems with this board myself and have had many clients have the same or other problems. I know that other people on this forum have had issues as well. You may not have any problems....but if I were you, I would save yourself from the potential grief. In fact, I've had so many problems with that company that I vowed never to buy that brand again.
The processor is great and the RAM should be good enough but if you have the $ then throw another 512MBytes in there....what the hell.
The 120GB hard drive should be more than enough to house your projects too. Some people may disagree but I feel that Seagate is a trusted brand.

-Michael
 
Well, with mine....no power to board. Took me a while to figure it out but I finally ran a meter to the board and found that the power supply connector was bad.
As for other clients:
DIMM 1 was fried upon arrival (source could've been some other integral portion of the board) But I had a ECS rep tell me that it was a known issue!!!
Another was a bad chipset...
These were all with the K7S5A.

I trust Shuttle and ASUS....good solid brands from companies that have been around for many many many moons.

-Michael
 
Thanks,Michael!

ok, i definitely don't want something that doesn't work!! Thanks for the input on the mobo, I'll just have to "accidentally" pick up an Asus or Shuttle when I grab the parts to bring to him. And I will pick up another 512 MG RAM, did a little browsing through the past questions and a few people stated the same thing that you did. Definitely still cheaper than picking up a new computer!
 
$500 sounds way high for only those components you mentioned. you do not need more than 512MB for desktop publishing, i mean what are we talking about here?.. indesign, pagemaker, MS office, MS publisher? these apps do not require a great deal of memory.

you could get away with 256MB, i have tried this with photoshop on huge 128MB monster files and i notice little if any increase in performance over 512MB both times using corsair XMS memory.

bryguy2323 he does not need an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro/XT for desktop publishing, that is overkill, way overkill. good 2D performance can be found on cheap $30-50 cards, and thats all he needs is 2D. if you are a casual gamer go for something in between.
 
Yea, $500 seems a bit steep, but then again, I have no clue what this person is charging for the setup fees, etc.

-Michael
 
hmmm

DUMP the ECS board they suck!,,, Asus or ABIT,, both pretty stable,,

and on the price,, well i would have to say that is a good ballpark figure,,

where i am from a 120gb hdd will go for about 200 bucks,, the board 150,, the ram 109 each!(x2)

so to me that sounds a bit of a deal,, and that is before the ATI card is added in,,

you guys are lucky!

cheers,
 
I bought a ECS Mobo once and had nothing but problems with it. Would not recommend them. ASUS all the way Dude!!!;)
 
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