- Aug 25, 2001
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I was debating what sort of PC to try to sell my friend's GF, she mostly browses, web-chats, and video watches. Her BF watches game streams, and movies. Neither one of them (nor myself, for that matter) have much money.
I was thinking, what sort of PC would be most appropriate? It's similar to the story about vehicles, do you buy the newest or nearly-newest PC that you can, and then ride it until it's obsolete, or do you "surf the wave" of upgrade cycles, and if so, do you try to time it to hit always the newest tech, or mid-range (up to 3 years old) tech, or trailing-edge tech (5 years or older).
So, for example, she has an FM1 APU rig, of which she was using a dual-core APU for the last three years. (I donated the parts for free, a few years ago, for her BF, my friend, to build it for her, to replace her five-year-old Core2 dual-core rig with a HDD that I built and sold her back then, for like $300 - at cost.) While the raw CPU performance wasn't much better than the Core2, honestly, I also gave her 2x4GB DDR3, or 8GB, which is twice the RAM that she had in the Core2 (also DDR3), and an SSD, instead of a HDD. So she got a side-grade of CPU power, better iGPU by far (than a Core2 chipset iGPU like GMA X3100 or something like that), and double the RAM and an SSD. I mean, at the time, it seemed like a 'win' to me, and I already had the parts. (FM1 stuff was cheap on ebay, even "new".)
So, at this point, she's open to upgrading to a new platform or PC. I could sell/give her a Haswell G3258 @ 4.0Ghz on an H81 overclocking board, with 8GB of RAM and an SSD. (Not an upgrade in the RAM or SSD dept. for her, but it would be a CPU upgrade, and probably a newer iGPU.)
I also have a slimline Acer i3-4160 Haswell rig, with 8GB of RAM and an SSD (what I consider minimal specs for decent web browsing today), for a similar price. ($250-300)
But then, I've got this i3-8100 Coffee Lake quad-core, with 2x4GB DDR4-2800 and an M.2 NVMe SSD (I would include my 512GB Adata SX6000 SSD, brand-new, to go with it, with a fresh install of Windows 10.) That's in an ITX board, in a very small case, no DVD drive, but takes up very little room. (Her monitor is connected via VGA currently, so that could be an issue, she might need an HDMI / DP monitor.)
But anyways, parts-wise, that's $500 altogether. (Not including the cost of Windows 10.)
I mean, a "current" desktop PC from an OEM name-brand is around $400-500. (Although, now that I think about it, she could get one of those Acer desktop tower i3-8100 rigs, for $379.99 new on sale some times. The ITX form-factory, or smaller, does carry a bit of a price premium, though. And for that price, she wouldn't get a 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD, she would get a 1TB HDD.)
Is it better, for someone on a budget, to "surf" the upgrade cycle, at mid-range tech points, or try to go for "current" tech, and then "ride it out" until obsolete or broken-down?
I was thinking, what sort of PC would be most appropriate? It's similar to the story about vehicles, do you buy the newest or nearly-newest PC that you can, and then ride it until it's obsolete, or do you "surf the wave" of upgrade cycles, and if so, do you try to time it to hit always the newest tech, or mid-range (up to 3 years old) tech, or trailing-edge tech (5 years or older).
So, for example, she has an FM1 APU rig, of which she was using a dual-core APU for the last three years. (I donated the parts for free, a few years ago, for her BF, my friend, to build it for her, to replace her five-year-old Core2 dual-core rig with a HDD that I built and sold her back then, for like $300 - at cost.) While the raw CPU performance wasn't much better than the Core2, honestly, I also gave her 2x4GB DDR3, or 8GB, which is twice the RAM that she had in the Core2 (also DDR3), and an SSD, instead of a HDD. So she got a side-grade of CPU power, better iGPU by far (than a Core2 chipset iGPU like GMA X3100 or something like that), and double the RAM and an SSD. I mean, at the time, it seemed like a 'win' to me, and I already had the parts. (FM1 stuff was cheap on ebay, even "new".)
So, at this point, she's open to upgrading to a new platform or PC. I could sell/give her a Haswell G3258 @ 4.0Ghz on an H81 overclocking board, with 8GB of RAM and an SSD. (Not an upgrade in the RAM or SSD dept. for her, but it would be a CPU upgrade, and probably a newer iGPU.)
I also have a slimline Acer i3-4160 Haswell rig, with 8GB of RAM and an SSD (what I consider minimal specs for decent web browsing today), for a similar price. ($250-300)
But then, I've got this i3-8100 Coffee Lake quad-core, with 2x4GB DDR4-2800 and an M.2 NVMe SSD (I would include my 512GB Adata SX6000 SSD, brand-new, to go with it, with a fresh install of Windows 10.) That's in an ITX board, in a very small case, no DVD drive, but takes up very little room. (Her monitor is connected via VGA currently, so that could be an issue, she might need an HDMI / DP monitor.)
But anyways, parts-wise, that's $500 altogether. (Not including the cost of Windows 10.)
I mean, a "current" desktop PC from an OEM name-brand is around $400-500. (Although, now that I think about it, she could get one of those Acer desktop tower i3-8100 rigs, for $379.99 new on sale some times. The ITX form-factory, or smaller, does carry a bit of a price premium, though. And for that price, she wouldn't get a 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD, she would get a 1TB HDD.)
Is it better, for someone on a budget, to "surf" the upgrade cycle, at mid-range tech points, or try to go for "current" tech, and then "ride it out" until obsolete or broken-down?