A good computer for parents to use for youtube and surfing.

Aolish

Senior member
Jan 1, 2002
336
4
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Hi guys, so my dads computer died and he is in need of another PC that he agreed to pay for. I'm trying to decide on a build that is appropriate for him. I already have some of the components in the cart at Newegg. My only question now is I have an old 7900 GS card with 256mb vram that still works that was used on the previous build that worked fine for my parents. The only thing my parents do is surf and watch YouTube videos, that's it! Is there any reason to upgrade the video card? Obviously this will cause some major bottlenecking but like I said the only thing my parents does is surf and watch YouTube videos on an old 1680x1050 monitor. I know that videos in general are mostly CPU bound and a lot of times the GPU is sitting there twiddling its thumbs. Will using this same GPU cause any compromise in performance in terms of YouTube usage and surfing? Thanks for any clarification. A list of specs chosen so far are as follows and if anyone has any other recommendations on other parts (maybe because of bad customer exp or bad known defective flaws in something) please let me know!

Case: Stealth ABS (Will be using the same ATX case that has the dead mobo)
Mobo: ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0
CPU: FX 8350
GPU: 7900 GS 256 MB (should I bother to continue to use this even though it works just fine?)
RAM: Corsair XMS3 8GB
STORAGE: Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB
PSU: Corsair CX750M
OS: Ubuntu (will more than likely not be purchasing Windows to save money)
 
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Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
14,559
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I think the card will perform fine. The only thing I don't like about those, IIRC, is that that card is a bit loud, even when idle. Do you recall yours having that issue?
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,570
10,205
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I guess it would "work", as in, display output. I don't think that it would accelerate much in the way of modern video files though. And it's probably hot and noisy. And may not be supported for very long in terms of modern drivers. (Although Linux is a different situation than Windows in that respect, they have open-source drivers that are continually updated, rather than dropping support for older cards like the proprietary drivers.)

No chance of affording a cheap GT610 card?
 

Aolish

Senior member
Jan 1, 2002
336
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81
I think the card will perform fine. The only thing I don't like about those, IIRC, is that that card is a bit loud, even when idle. Do you recall yours having that issue?

Now that you mention it, I do remember it being loud. But strangely enough, it happened when the computer died. Perhaps I didn't notice it before?
 

lakedude

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2009
2,778
528
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I'm not sure you even need a video card to surf and play youtube video. I bet a $200 HP Stream would work fine for the job and it includes Windows. Any $400 laptop would also do the trick. If you want a desktop I'd buy a prebuilt at the budget level you are looking at. Sticking old people with a strange OS sounds like recipe for disaster.
 

lakedude

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2009
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http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/desktops/lenovo/h-series/h50-intel/

This seems a decent deal, a semi-modern i3 with Windows for $330...

Your GeForce 7900 GS has benchmark score of 220

The i3 has Intel® HD Graphics 4400 with a benchmark score of 546, plus I expect it also has modern mp4 hardware decoders built in.

There is no reason to use that 7900 at all (well I guess you need it if you decide to go with that FX 8350)...
 
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Aolish

Senior member
Jan 1, 2002
336
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http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/desktops/lenovo/h-series/h50-intel/

This seems a decent deal, a semi-modern i3 with Windows for $330...

Your GeForce 7900 GS has benchmark score of 220

The i3 has Intel® HD Graphics 4400 with a benchmark score of 546, plus I expect it also has modern mp4 hardware decoders built in.

There is no reason to use that 7900 at all (well I guess you need it if you decide to go with that FX 8350)...

Thanks for the suggestion, I think what I'll do tho is buy the R9 390 for myself and just give the old 7850 that I'm using now to my parents.
 

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
27,370
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Thanks for the suggestion, I think what I'll do tho is buy the R9 390 for myself and just give the old 7850 that I'm using now to my parents.

Excellent choice! That is my kind of logic - only reversed. :)
 

LoveMachine

Senior member
May 8, 2012
491
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How much of the above do you plan on purchasing? If it's more than $160, I'd say get a base Chromebox. It's plenty fast for everything interweb-related, silent, WAY more power efficient that the AMD system you are planning, and you can wipe ChromeOS if you want Ubuntu (requires some initial fiddling, but it's pretty easy). If you stay on ChromeOS, it auto-updates everything so the 'rents don't have to do anything to it and they couldn't install much in the way of malware. The Intel HD graphics are not potent, but would stream everything just fine, almost certainly better than the old Nvidia card.
 

Aolish

Senior member
Jan 1, 2002
336
4
81
How much of the above do you plan on purchasing? If it's more than $160, I'd say get a base Chromebox. It's plenty fast for everything interweb-related, silent, WAY more power efficient that the AMD system you are planning, and you can wipe ChromeOS if you want Ubuntu (requires some initial fiddling, but it's pretty easy). If you stay on ChromeOS, it auto-updates everything so the 'rents don't have to do anything to it and they couldn't install much in the way of malware. The Intel HD graphics are not potent, but would stream everything just fine, almost certainly better than the old Nvidia card.

Wow, great suggestion thanks! I'll have to really think about that, the price and the size is only but a fraction compared to the amd system! I'm currently just waiting on some sales that might happen during the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I'll make a decision then!
 
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Aolish

Senior member
Jan 1, 2002
336
4
81
I am currently looking into the Chrome Box that lovemachine mentioned and I was wondering if anyone can explain the discrepancy between the two processors, the FX 8350 vs the i3 4010u. On CPUBoss it says that the i3 4010u is a better processor while CPU User benchmarks say the FX 8350 is better. Can anyone clarify whats going on? I'm pretty sure I'm either reading or doing something wrong here. The first link shows the product that I might get while the other two links show the discrepancy between the two processors. Any clarification is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...oliid=I2P0VM4WU0QB4G&ref_=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i3-4010U-vs-AMD-FX-8350

http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i3-4010U-vs-AMD-FX-8350/m4821vs1489