Desktop to last

Music Guy123

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
Hi there, I am looking for a desktop for my grandmother (don't laugh!!!) Basically we just need it to last, probably about 10 years or so (I know it is a long time but still). We only reallly want to pay around 500. The computer will be used for internet, emails and skype. Therefore, we won't need a very good graphics card, possibly just an integrated one. Also, we will need to include a webcam (cheap one) and a wireless card as we can't get an ethernet to the computer. What we will need now is plenty of RAM (at least 8GB) plenty of cpu speed with plenty of cache and a fairly decent hdd. Hope you can help me!!!! Thanks in advance!
 
Music Guy123

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
Ok, firstly ignore the webcam, apparentlly it isn't needed!!! This is what I have tried coming up with, how long do you think it will last???

Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA MICRO-ATX CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2400 Quad Core (3.10GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8H61-M LE/USB3 (NEW REV 3.0): M-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 3.0Gb/s
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
350W Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
USB Options
4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £511.00 including VAT and delivery.
 
mantadog

mantadog

Superhero Level Poster
wow 10 years, that is a long time. Its going to be exactly 10 years since i got my first pc in december. I still have it but i cant imagine using it day to day even for the internet as it works hard just to run the os and god help you if you get a a flash advert! It wasnt cheap or low end by any means it was fairly top end stuff with everyone commenting about how everything was a bit over the top, i think it lasted 5 years.

The above is a good spec, is more than able to run what you need at the moment and should last for a long time.
 
Last edited:
Music Guy123

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
Thank you!!! The current computer she has takes 2 minutes to come to the log on screen!!! Then another 3 minutes to become concious so that you can open the internet which takes at least 30s to load...my grandma still thinks it is fast so I am sure it will be a slight improvement!!!!!
 
mantadog

mantadog

Superhero Level Poster
Yeah i remember those days well, funny thing is they were not that long ago really. How old is here computer she uses at the moment and do you know the exact specs?

The problems she has at the moment are most probably down to the hard drive, and a number of programmes trying to launch on startup simultaneously. A caviar green should do the job, should get you to a desktop you can use in about 90 seconds, maybe less.

So yeah the system will be alright, probably over the top spec wise for now, but you want it to last many years so well worth it.
 
O

oli090

Enthusiast
This is my go at building one for you it is about the same as before but has a very basic gpu for basic needs. Probably wont be be the best one put up on this thread but why not give it go :)

Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA MICRO-ATX CASE + 2 FRONT USB

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2400 Quad Core (3.10GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics

Motherboard
ASUS® P8H61-M LE/USB3 (NEW REV 3.0): M-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 3.0Gb/s

Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)

Graphics Card
512MB NVIDIA GEFORCE 210 - DVI,HDMI,VGA

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB SATA-II 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 32MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply
350W Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan

Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER

Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs

USB Options
4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)

Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL

Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Price is £523 and you can configure it here http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-home-office-pc/
 
Music Guy123

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
Thanks, but this pc will never be used for gaming and probably not for videos. Only skype so I doubt it will be neccessary to have a good gpu, it is also ablittle more and don't forget the wireless card!!! But thank you for your input! For the old computer, I think it is a lack of RAM 256mb!!! And it is a single core 1.5ghz proccessor not sure about the hdd though! Couple of questions, will the caviar green be sufficient in 10 years time or is it worth getting higher? And what would the first spec be like if it was an and processor, rep point to first person to post a spec equal to the first one with an amd processor!!!
 
Phoenix

Phoenix

Prolific Poster
The first spec. with an AMD processor:

Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA MICRO-ATX CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU)
AMD BULLDOZER EIGHT CORE FX-8120 (3.10GHz/8MB CACHE/AM3)
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A78L-M/USB3: M-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 3.0Gb/s
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
Memory - 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
1[SUP]st[/SUP] DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
350W Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £515.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/amd-bulldozer-top-spec-pc/


It's hard to say what the Caviar Green will be like in 10 years time however if you go to Start --> msconfig --> startup tab then you can deselect programs that you don't want on start-up, this will certainly help slow future start times. I've been personally using a 1TB Caviar Green drive now for a year to play games, compress and edit videos along with other tasks and it's performed well so far. There are faster startup drives but it's really not that bad, I don't mind it anyway; the fact that it's an eco-friendly green drive makes me happy :)
 
W

Wozza63

Biblical Poster
on the above spec id drop to a quad core and get a seagate barracuda drive, just to amaze her when you first boot it up lol

would probably upgrade to the coolermaster 310 case to help it longer with better cooling etc
 
Rakk

Rakk

The Awesome
Moderator
Music Guy123 said:
Couple of questions, will the caviar green be sufficient in 10 years time or is it worth getting higher?
Click to expand...
Remember that although most PC components will last 10 years, in ten years this PC will be hideously slow compared to even the cheapest thing available at the time :)

Wozza365 said:
would probably upgrade to the coolermaster 310 case to help it longer with better cooling etc
Click to expand...
Though given what it's going to be used for, not really necessary, I don't think it'll be gettting that hot :):)

And as for wireless, many people recommend homeplugs though I've never used them myself, you may want to look into them if the PC is going to be on the otherside of some thick walls to where the router is :)

Also why do you think you would need 8GB of RAM? I would've thought 4GB would be easily enough for your usage.
 
Music Guy123

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
Firstly, for the case, the computer is going to be used for mail, internet and skype. For the time aspect, her pc is already barely able to boot so I am sure she will be used to it!!! For the wireless, there is just an open gap for about 10m and a wooden door, I am sure that wifi card will be fine. For the RAM, the reason is that most old computers now are suffering due to a lack of RAM. Hopefully by putting excessive RAM in now, I will reduce that risk in the time to come.
 
Phoenix

Phoenix

Prolific Poster
Music Guy123 said:
For the RAM, the reason is that most old computers now are suffering due to a lack of RAM. Hopefully by putting excessive RAM in now, I will reduce that risk in the time to come.
Click to expand...
Yeah I imagine that the RAM required for normal applications will continue to rise and we'll have more and more RAM per module as time goes on.
 
Music Guy123

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
I realise that but if I buy some o the best now, it is likely to last also, I realise the RAM may not perform as well but I think it will be sufficient. If her current pc has made it about 8 years and when bought was mid range to lower end, I am sure this one will make 10 years!!!
 
W

Wozza63

Biblical Poster
imo though, i think a better case will help prevent any parts from dropping off early and its an extra £20, will that do any harm
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top