Recommend a SFF Desktop please

[Andrew Mawson]

I have a few Compac SFF pc's who's spec is too low now to run modern operating systems (I have Windows 2000 professional which is very stable but too long in the tooth to work with many applications). They need replacing. One is my main desktop, one is dedicated to my accounts, the third is for development and backup.

So I need three Small Form Factor (SFF) pcs that will run Windows 7 and have CD/DVD R/W - these are not graphical intensive machines nor do they need vast hard disks, but I suppose I need 2Gb of memory and fastish cpu

I do need all three to be identical hardware for interchangability. Ex corporate with a few minor blemishes are fine as the budget needs to be below £150 each

Any suggestions - or does anyone have such beasts awaiting sale?

AWEM

[fred]

In article , Andrew Mawson writes

Best I can suggest is a new build at 144+vat = 173 if not vat regd.

That's based on an althlon X2 250 (3.1G) dual core processor, budget asus or gigabyte mobo, 2G ram, 500G HDD, DVD R/W but is a minitower case.

Let me know if you want the full details.

Having identical machines is always nice for swapping ghosted images about - fully config one machine then copy to the others.

[AlanD]

How about a few HP microservers? £100 cashback ATM and start at £199 (+VAT) before cashback, so cheap-as.

[Nick]

You might try posting a similar message to uk.adverts.computer or uk.comp.homebuilt There are some very helpful folk there.

Alternatively the HP Proliant Microserver as mentioned in this thread is a good and cheap option. This is what I am using right now. Not exactly SFF but good. Be prepared to install extra ram and ODD (depending on the available options if you purchase) Fairly quiet and reasonable spec. There has been plenty written about it. Google etc.

A possible alternative might be:

have no connection with serversplus other than having purchased from them in the past. Their service to me has alway been good.

HTH Nick.

[fred]

I don't think the new ones have the grunt to make it as anything but a server, low end graphics, expensive ECC ram to upgrade and HP don't make it easy to run anything but a server o/s.

Been there with the earlier ML115 G5 and it was the best part of 200quid before it was worth using as any kind of desktop.

[fred]

In article , Andrew Mawson writes

Still looking?:

|c:3607||c:3611|&Recs=30They appear to have multiples of each (just let me basket 3 of the Fujitsu as a test for example), worth checking they do though.

[Skipweasel]

|c:3607||c:3611|&Recs=30>

Or something from here?

[Andrew Mawson]

|c:3607||c:3611|&Recs=30> >

Thanks all - I have ordered these:

are HP DC7600SFF Pentium D 2.8 Ghz Dual core 1 Gb DDR2 memory and 250 Gb HDD with a CD/DVD combo re-writer - which for £90 seems reasonable if they work. I'll have to upgrade the memory to 2Gb but other than that they are what I was looking for. Many thanks for the various useful comments and responses AWEM