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| Component | Justification | 
| Pentium-II 300MHz processor | Peak performance/cost for this configuration | 
| CPU fan | Required for Pentium-II | 
| LX motherboard | Least expensive chipset supporting 300MHz | 
| ATX tower case | Includes power supply for Pentium-II, etc. | 
| 32MB SDRAM | 8MB RAM disk plus sufficient memory for our code | 
| PCI 10MB Ethernet card | Low bandwidth Master-Node communication only | 
| 32KB EPROM | Least expensive boot option | 
| 3-ft Coaxial cable | Simple network without repeaters or hubs |