Low End Systems that run SL ok

Today I built a low end games PC for my parents to replace the 5yo AMD they had it did run SL12 months ago with it's 128Mb 6200, but it died last week.
So I went to the local computer shop got the cheapest Intel/Nvidia combo they had as Dad doesn't play anything more demanding than some older RTS games.
For AUS$800 I got a Box, 160Gb SATA Drive, 2.2dual core Intel, 2Gb memory stick, Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H motherboard and a Gigabyte 512 Mb 9400GT Graphics card.
I assembled the system in a couple of hours, (the shop would have done this for $150)installed Dads copy of XP32 and the motherboard drivers and left the 9400 out using the onboard GPU to access the internet and install SL 1.23.4
Interesting enough I also plugged in my second monitor and enabled dual view with 1280x1050 on the main monitor.
I logged into SL and bumped all the gaphics preferences up til it got chunky, I got up to draw distance of 256m but didn't try to enable reflections and shadows. SL installed and logged in first go no problems.
I then installed the 9400GT and did the same settings, it was definately 300% smoother and I turned reflections on full settings, logged in first time again, and bumped my draw distance up to 350 with no problems, I tried 512m and it seemed a little chunky but usable I set it to ultra and it was still working ok though a bit chunky.
I couldn't find the info to enable shadows, but hopefully I'll get a chance to try later as I install all Dads's other stuff next week.
This was all done on my normal internet connection I use for my Quadcore 9800 games machine.
So there you have it hopefully a useful review for anyone looking at a new PC to run SL. Onboard intel graphics was usable, but obviously not a good long term prospect, the extra $100 for the 9400GT easily trippled it's performance.
I had also compared prices for the sytem components on E-Bay and I could have saved another $200 by ordering parts from 6 different places and waiting 3 weeks for them all to turn up of course too. I could have got a cheaper AMD/ATI machine too but SL does not run well on ATI.
So feel free to add reviews on any other low spec games machines you use for SL, if low spec machines like this are having trouble running SL I suspect a lot of O/S internet connections must really suck or the owners are choking them with all sorts of crap running in the background

Good job Tegg! I am sure your parents appreciate having you around!

Yes, you done good
I rebuilt the core of my own system last year for about $300US.
-AMD A64 X2 5600+ dual core cpu (boxed with cooler)
-DFI Infinity NF570 motherboard
-4 gigs of Patriot DDR2 800 memory
-800watt power supply with SLI setup

Reused my Raptor harddrives in a RAID0 setup, and my antique 6800GT's in SLI.
Not sure if mine is exactly "low" end, but I know the video cards are holding the rest back.

A bit of an update on this PC, unfortunately the 9400 card seems to have started "blinking" I dropped it back to the supplier and they said yeah couple of days to test it then we'll give you new swap" 3 days later, "give us another week we're snowed under"
So I went to another computer shop and brought a Inno3D 9500 512Mb for $99 much the same price I paid for the Gigabyte 9400, but an unknown brand to me. I put it in this afternoon and tried my experiment again and didn't get any chunkyness till UI set it to ultra setting, then I got brave and tried shadows, but nothing seemed to happen, not sure if it just doesn't work on a 500 series or I didn't get the right combinations of render deffered/renderVBO true false.
I also wonder how much of this great performannce is also related to the fact this is a clean install, with nothing else installed on the harddrive, how much effect will there be installing MSN, messenger, googlebar, virus protection, pretty wallpaers etc.
Maybe people having problems can remove some other junk or shut down unnecessary stuff or just try a complete hard drive wipe.

clean install can make a huge difference, as can disabling unused services... this is how I get my old 700mhz with an ati 9200AIW to run SL (at very low settings). few people realize how much crap is enabled by default (as if most machines need to be running a server DHCP and DNS clients in the typical behind a router configuration, amongst a dozen other things)

If you are like me and don't know a DNS from a DCHP, this may come in handy:

http://www.beemerworld.com/tips/index.htm

I used an 800 Mhz for ages, on a rather similar "bare" computer as well. You basically don't want to crank up all the graphics sliders, and there are some actions you just don't *want* to do (like, going to Paris 1920 and select the whole eiffel tower in the edit window), but overall, things can run pretty well.
It won't look awesome, but it works, and you can socialize and get around to visit places and things like that. If the views are only of secondary interest to you, or of no interest at all, then there's absolutely nothing wrong with running SL on these specs.

The "OMG, you need at least an octa-core and that graphics card that was released last week to do anything" people are generally pretty sad types who only care about the most superficial sides of gaming. They've been around since before I had a C64, lol.

Shadows should work on a 9500. Set RenderUseFBO (not VBO) True, then set RenderDeferred to True. I believe you need to have hardware skinning turned on, too.

I've been pleasantly surprised by the mid-range 9000 series cards, even though I am one of those superficial gamers who likes to jack the graphics options past Ultra.

so you probably don't want to hear about my quad core 2.4oc3.2 with the twin GTX280s that sits on the other side of the new 22in monitor

seriously though, the old machine was pretty smooth when it was built... in '99... the funny thing is that it still runs faster than most peoples new factory machines. yay for knowing how to speed tweak.

Ah that would have ben my problem, I'll be so happy when they install a shadows on/off checkbox in settings