New cheap build for my parents

[sas2450]

My parents have an old dell dimension 9150 that they have finally grown sick of, as it is complete rubbish (and about ten years old besides). They have asked me to build them a new computer for £250-£300, which they want to be fairly decent and last at least another ten years. So far I have this:

Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor
MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case
Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit OEM

I will salvage the 375 watt psu from the old dell, along with the optical drive, and possibly the hard drive to easily copy over their data.

Do you think this is a good build? Any improvements? It comes to about £250 in total.

 

[i7Baby]

That should be OK.

 

[sas2450]

Do you think an i5 would be a better choice, considering it has to last 10 years?

 

[i7Baby]

It won't last 10 years even with an i5. A 1000 quid PC wouldn't last 10 years. Long before then it'll be 'complete rubbish' too.

 

[justaguywithagun]

you really need to budget for a new psu.

 

[sas2450]

The PSU isn't as old as the computer as it blew up and they got it replaced ha ha but ok I'll take that into account incase they need a new one

 

[sas2450]

Oh I see. I guess what I'm asking is do you think that the cpu is the limiting factor for its longevity, or is it something else.

 

[i7Baby]

Having no graphics card. The CPU. And I don't know what ram you're using.

 

[sas2450]

Having no graphics card. The CPU. And I don't know what ram you're using.

Sorry, forgot to put it.
G.Skill Value Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333
They only want it for emails, photos and music, so is a graphics card necessary?

 

[i7Baby]

I'm not a seer. My guess is yes in 10 years time you might want a graphics card. And 8gb ram. And at least an i5.

I think its overly optimistic expecting 10 years of serviceable life from a PC. 5 years is about it.

In 5 years we will be using Windows 12 on fibre optic internet with video phone replacing household phones and constant streaming of movies instead of going to the movies. I can't see 10 years down the track.

 

[hallohoegaathet]

My parents have an old dell dimension 9150 that they have finally grown sick of, as it is complete rubbish (and about ten years old besides). They have asked me to build them a new computer for £250-£300, which they want to be fairly decent and last at least another ten years. So far I have this:

Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor
MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case
Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit OEM

I will salvage the 375 watt psu from the old dell, along with the optical drive, and possibly the hard drive to easily copy over their data.

Do you think this is a good build? Any improvements? It comes to about £250 in total.

And what about a cheap ssd to speed up things a lot? I usually get sick of computers that respond slow because of slow hdd's

 

[sas2450]

Ha ha I see. I think I'll get them the i5, it'll add some time on to the lifespan and it will be easier to keep running down the line, if they only need to buy, say, a graphics card and not both a graphics card and a processor to keep it kicking. Also they'll be shocked at how fast everything happens! Thank you for all you help.

 

[i7Baby]

Make the PC as good as you can afford to.

 

[sas2450]

My parents have an old dell dimension 9150 that they have finally grown sick of, as it is complete rubbish (and about ten years old besides). They have asked me to build them a new computer for £250-£300, which they want to be fairly decent and last at least another ten years. So far I have this:

Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor
MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case
Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit OEM

I will salvage the 375 watt psu from the old dell, along with the optical drive, and possibly the hard drive to easily copy over their data.

Do you think this is a good build? Any improvements? It comes to about £250 in total.

And what about a cheap ssd to speed up things a lot? I usually get sick of computers that respond slow because of slow hdd's

Oooh I hadn't thought of that, they might like that. I'll ask them what they'd rather have.

 

[hallohoegaathet]

My parents have an old dell dimension 9150 that they have finally grown sick of, as it is complete rubbish (and about ten years old besides). They have asked me to build them a new computer for £250-£300, which they want to be fairly decent and last at least another ten years. So far I have this:

Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor
MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case
Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit OEM

I will salvage the 375 watt psu from the old dell, along with the optical drive, and possibly the hard drive to easily copy over their data.

Do you think this is a good build? Any improvements? It comes to about £250 in total.

And what about a cheap ssd to speed up things a lot? I usually get sick of computers that respond slow because of slow hdd's

Oooh I hadn't thought of that, they might like that. I'll ask them what they'd rather have.

You can get a sandisk 64gb ssd for less than 35 pounds.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-2-5-Inch-Internal-SDSSDP-064G-G25/dp/B007ZWLRSU/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1420370183&sr=8-4&keywords=sandisk+ssd

 

[i7Baby]

Probably 120gb would be better - bit more room to play with. 64gb can disappear pretty quickly.

 

[sas2450]

Thanks for your input everyone, I'll take all this into account.

 

[hallohoegaathet]

Probably 120gb would be better - bit more room to play with. 64gb can disappear pretty quickly.

Yep, I have 240gb and I still don't have enough.