Telescope Reviews: The PC That Topsy Built

I started on the "chintzy" route and ended up spending a little more than I'd planned.

We have a 6+ year old PC running XP, (1.8ghz P4, 1 gig ram), that was staring to go. It's still alive, but I'm trying to get all our files over to the new system ASAP. After that it'll become our full-time Linux server until it croaks.

In researching low-cost PC's, (I game on game machines so I don't need high performance), I was shocked to see eMachines systems come up as recommendations on many sites! eMachines used to be the Packard Bell of PC's. From what I can tell their reputation has turned around in the last year or so. I suspect its because they don't make custom systems, if you browse their desktops they have TWO choices, system A or B, no options, so it must be easier to do QA at the factory.

$400 for a dual core AMD with 2 gigs of ram and a 7200 RPM SATA drive was too much to resist.

But I didn't like the idea of VGA only output and gobbling 256 megs of system ram for video, and that's where the slide began.

I did the frugal thing, and picked up a dated GeForce 8400 with 256 megs and a 16x PCIe connector. I realize the eMachines is only 8x PCIe, but unlike some other manufactures eMachines doesn't put the little lock-out tabs in the slot so you can actually use a 16x card at 8x. So far so good.

Opening the case I was very impressed. Much more "open" than the typical brand name PC. Very neatly wired, plenty of space for a small tower, and no proprietary gizmos to hack thorough. (Bear in mind our old PC was a Sony VAIO. If anyone's having trouble figuring out how to swap out a CD rom from one of those, PM me.

) The only thing that slowed down the upgrade was the fact that the slot openings in the back of the case had the covers spot welded on. You can easily twist them off with your fingers, but I would have preferred the usual covers.

One not so good surprise is that the power supply is only 300 watts, and the card needed at least 350 with 20 amps on the 12 volt rails! D'oh!

I decided to buy a bit more than I need since once the XP system is down I planned to put the 200 gig HD in the new system. So I shelled out more money for a 500 watt PS with 22 amp 12 volt rails.

So the grand total is now almost $560! But as I said I'm not a gamer. The system runs well, and to my surprise I actually LIKE Vista, so hopefully this is all I'll have to spend on it for a while. And after all that, even with my picky eyes, I can't tell the difference between the VGA and DVI! But my video scores went from 3 to 4.5 in the Vista benchmark, and I have more free ram and a PS that will last me for a while, so it's not a total waste.

A computer can end up being like a telescope, a real money pit. Buy one new thing, and you may find you need another new thing to make it work.

"I think I'll get a high power planetary eyepiece....

WOW! This is great!

...but now it's a real pain tracking it, I think I need a motor drive."

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Orion SkyView Pro 127mm Maksutov