I would get an even older video card than that. She doesn't need anything
beyond AGP 2X. An 8 Mb card will be overkill for what she needs, which you
can probably get for nothing at ebay. If the hard drive is new you don't
need to Fdisk it, just format and install Win 98 (you don't need 98 2nd
either). She'll be challenged enough with Win 98. Presumably all you'll be
putting on this mobo is the CPU, an AGP graphics card, a modem, a sound
card, a floppy, maybe a CD-ROM (I can't see her burning CD's), and a hard
drive. Not less than 64 Mb of RAM would be good. You can get a generic
floppy at CompUSA for $19.99 (online cheaper yet, but you can't return it so
easily), and if you get her an older WD 8-10 gig 5400 rpm hard drive, that
will be maybe another $60 or less. You won't need a real fast CD, 24 to 32X
will be enough. Assembly will be pretty easy, and installation even more
so. Not too much room for conflicts so it ought to run OK right from the
get. I wouldn't worry too much.
Hi folks,
Joel mentioned:
" The question I would ask is what is she going to use this computer for? If
only e-mail, surfing
the Internet, and word processing, it would be very cheap to buy her a low
cost system that comes with what she needs, tech support, and a warranty.
You could also build one since the software installation would be minimal
and she'd only need a printer.
<snip>
The fact is that mom is in her late seventies and struggling with new
technologies, as often I find myself struggling to keep up. I am still
trying to convince her to use email so it is an ongoing effort. My main
goals are a rock solid system that gives her (me :-) no trouble. Mine has
the 440BX chips but I have chosen the 133A set for her with an AMD 900gh. I
guess what worries me most is my own ignorance. Even after reading every bb
I can find and doing it a few times myself, I always seem to run into things
that are not working; such as last time the mobo replacement wouldn't POST
and I ended up returning the board for another which worked right the first
time. Of course that was after a week of testing memory, drives power supply
and everything I could think of. I don't even know if I'm going to have to
partition or Fdisk the new drive before installing 98se. I guess I'll need
some form of AGP to drive the display but since she won't be playing any
games or doing any intense graphics I guess I can get a bottom end Tnt or
Ge2. What do you think?
Thanks for the feedback
Raymond
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