Built to Last?

deanj20

deanj20

New Member
Hey Computer Forum,

Thinking of building a computer. If anyone has the time, I would like to know what you would change and still stay at this price or under. The computer would be used for general surfing, watching movies, and light gaming (like Atlantica Online). One drive would also serve as a storage drive for all my crap (eventually I'll buy a 1TB external to back this drive up). I want something that will still be considered decent ten years from now, and will last that long.

AMD Phenom 9850 2.5GHz QC $72: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103286
BIOSTAR TA785 A2+ ATX Mobo: $67: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138282
HS and Fan $30: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185125
700W Rosewill PSU $55: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182173
20-24pin conv. cable $3: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812530003&cm_re=24_pin-_-12-530-003-_-Product
8GB DDR2 1066MHz RAM $182: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104098
DVD RW $24: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
750GB WD HDD (x2) $140: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136599
Win 7 Pro 64bit $140: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116758
Plain Black Case $35: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811121010
Radeon HD 4670 1GB $70: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102855
USB for front: http $17: http://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-FP32B-Aluminum-3-5-Inch-Drive/dp/B000JK7FMW

Total = $835+shipping

What say you? Thanks in advance!

(Also, I always hook my comps up to my home stereo from whatever audio is onboard. It sounds great to me - would there be any advantages of buying a PCIe sound card? Maybe I'm missing out?)
 
No good!!!
CPU - outdated
Mobo - outdated
video card - outdated
RAM - 4GB usually enough
HDD - seagate slight faster at same price
usb front - most case already had that.
PSU - rosewill is not at top quality
case - no case fans, pay $20 for shipping, not worth
sound card - try the onboard first to see if it satified you. if you are going to get sound card, don't get cheap one, get quality one.

Here is my list - $695
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.500371
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.437525.13-130-295
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.492901
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148445
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136178

By the way, I don't think it would still be decent for 10 years... (not even 5 years)
 
Last edited:
^ +1...computers don't stay "new" for very long. A 5 year old top-spec computer today barely holds up to any sort of modern gaming. Forget about 10 years old. Something ten years old will be doing good to play stuff like Halo: CE and Morrowind on low settings, if it's even still functional.
 
Last edited:
Well, I guess by "decent" I mean capable of running the latest software flawlessly... not playing high-end games. But, meh, nothing lasts ten years anymore. Thanks for your list daisymtc - I should have thought to look at combo deals.

I've built many computers, but usually out of scrap - have lots of "Frankensteins" laying around... I've never bought one all new part for part. Should be fun. Will let you guys know what I decide to go with - I've got a few other things to take care of first.

Thanks again!
 
deanj20 said:
Well, I guess by "decent" I mean capable of running the latest software flawlessly... not playing high-end games. But, meh, nothing lasts ten years anymore. Thanks for your list daisymtc - I should have thought to look at combo deals.

I've built many computers, but usually out of scrap - have lots of "Frankensteins" laying around... I've never bought one all new part for part. Should be fun. Will let you guys know what I decide to go with - I've got a few other things to take care of first.

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

If you aren't going to be doing much gameing and just having a system for surfing the net, using some programs, watching videos, playing low end games etc, why not build a $5-600 system, because you could easily get one that will do what you want, and put that $2-300 in a high interest bank account and add say $10 a month to it. Once every 2 or 3 years, you dig into it and take out all the money except for $2-300, and do some upgrades to get it back to "modern day" standards? If you put in $10 a month for 2 years, that is $240 to upgrade (+whatever amount of interest you got). Think about now, you could be on a C2D system with 2GB of memory and a low end GPU, that money would upgrade you to a C2Q, extra couple GB memory and an ok video card. 2 years from then, you have $240 again, + money from selling your CPU, motherboard and 4GB of memory to do a full upgrade to a different line of processors. And think now, a Phenom II/i5 system will work fine for another 4 or 5 years, so if your system was enough to last that long, you would have much more later down the line to put into your upgrade
 
Thanks Asstii,

The idea was to build a top-of-the-line computer out of all new parts... if I keep upgrading, well, then that's pretty much what I've been doing the last 15yrs... it would be nice to just have a top of the line machine all at once for once...
 
See the problem is it'll take a lot more than $800 to build a top-of-the-line PC. If you go all out on a regular non-gaming computer you can easily drop $1500+ in it. I would say build a $500 computer. When it gets outdated in 5 years build another $500 computer.
 
deanj20 said:
Thanks Asstii,

The idea was to build a top-of-the-line computer out of all new parts... if I keep upgrading, well, then that's pretty much what I've been doing the last 15yrs... it would be nice to just have a top of the line machine all at once for once...
Click to expand...

The problem with building top of the line computers, as I'm sure you know, is that technology moves so damn quickly. As soon as you get the parts together, and usually before, there is something out that is bigger and better. What you have already been doing and upgradeing is the best option you have once you've gone and built the full system if it is one that you want to last you.

You said that you wanted the system to last ~ 10 years, look at technology from 10 years ago, and you will see exactly why that isn't possible if you want to be able to run current software, heck even 6 year old parts are starting to show their age now
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top