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Worth re-formatting Core2-era rig? Or sell new rig? (Necro updated)

VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Just curious. I've got a client with a Core2 E5200-class dual-core, with a single 4GB stick of DDR3, and a 500GB HDD, and Windows 7 64-bit legit.

I've proposed upgrades for it. I could put in a Q8400 (2.66Ghz 45nm Core2Quad) and upgrade to 8GB of RAM for $80. I could also put in a SATA6G PCI-E dual-port controller card, and a 120GB SSD for similar money.

They got some nasty malware on it, and I've proposed re-formatting Win7 64-bit on there, or possibly Windows 10. That would be an ideal time to upgrade to an SSD too, if I could get them to stretch their budget. The Quad-core and RAM could be done at any time, really.

But adding all of these things together, $90 for re-format, $80 for quad-core and 8GB DDR3, and $80 for controller and SSD, it almost seems like it would be a good value for them, to sell them a new rig, like one of my Haswell Celeron G1820s, which I've configured for 16GB DDR3 and 240GB SSD, but I could re-configure with 8GB and 120GB SSD for certainly cheaper. ($250 + OS cost. So I guess it would be a wash, cost-wise.)

They really like the slimline form-factor, which means that sadly, they won't be able to move their HDD to the new rig easily. (But who knows how many more years the HDD has in it.)

There's the power consumption issue to think about too. I think that they leave their PC on 24/7. So a Haswell Celeron will sip power compared to a (potentially slightly overclocked) Core2Quad.

The other issue is the longevity of the PSU in their existing micro-ATX slimline case. It's custom, and it's around five years old.

I mean, I could just do the re-format, and they could go on with their life, and then if something dies or breaks on the PC, we could worry about it then, I suppose.
 
sdifox said:
just buy a new machine
Click to expand...

I think that you mean, "sell them a new machine". Because I'm discussing a client's PC here, not my own.

I would like that, it would make me feel more useful to get them on some newer technology, than just re-formatting a 5-year-old rig.

If they bring me the PC to be re-formatted, it would only be $50, the $90 charge was for a potentially 4-5 hour house call. (Win7 updates take a while, even using the convenience roll-up.)

Also, I think that I could do $210 + OS cost on the Haswell Celeron.

Edit: I guess what I'm really asking is, would it be wrong or un-ethical, for me to put that many upgrades into their PC, and charge them for it, when I could sell them something newer for equivalent cost.

Then again, we're talking about a mid-grade Core2Quad versus a newer Celeron. The G1820 is faster in single-threaded, but I'm not certain it's faster in multi-threaded. It certainly would save them on their power bill.
 
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Whaddya need a controller card for? SATA ii isn't good enough?

Why not present both options to the client?
 
I would get an E8400 for $6 and a Vectron X1 60GB for the OS and put the 500GB HDD into a USB enclosure for $10-20 (eSATA if the PC has a port). If the SFF has an additional SATA port on the motherboard, I'd forgo the enclosure and just find a void and tape or velcro the Vectron in there which is what I did with my office PC. They're not likely to take advantage of the quad core but the E8400 is 3GHz.
 
If there's the possibility of dual-channel memory support, 2x 4Gb memory sticks would also be a good upgrade option.
So: E8400 CPU upgrade, SSD replacement boot drive (using the existing on-board SATA II controller), & a memory upgrade to 2x 4Gb. First: double-check bios support for the E8400.
A Q8400 CPU would probably draw too much power for a marginal PSU.
Note: Amazon has an off-brand 120 Gb SSD for ~$36.00:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HEAEV0I
A complete system replacement & upgrade to Haswell or Skylake (or an AMD equivalent) would require a lot more $$'s.
Also: if the "free Win10 upgrade" process is still working (??), get Win10 installed (on a spare SSD, at least on a temporary basis), so that once the other pending hardware upgrades are in place, the Win10 license will become activated as a genuine Win10 license.
 
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Well, part of the reason for the controller card, was to upgrade to SATA6G (mobo only has two SATAII ports, and not even AHCI-capable - ICH7), and the other was to add some ports, so I could add the SSD boot drive and keep the 500GB HDD installed.

The current slimline case is micro-ATX, which does have room for both the HDD, and an SSD. I've done this before, with it's twin. I originally built two machines that were identical.

I've got some factory-refurb Corsair Force LS (MLC) 120GB SSDs for $34, or some Silicon Power S55 120GB new (TLC) for the same price. Also have some Hectron X1 60GB SSDs that were around $25 ea. If I'm charging for my time for installation, though, I think that I'd rather put in a 120GB.

Hopefully, the GSKill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1333 works in the G41 mobo, because those are picky, and won't work with modern DDR3 RAM very well.
 
I tried upgrading an old Q6600 PC with a Syba 2 port card
but it didn't see it since the m/b wasn't PCI-E 2.0 compliant
 
That's not a five year old rig. You might have sold it to them then, but the e5200 is an eight year old CPU with ten year old performance.

You're proposing spending a couple hundred bucks fixing up a box that is worth $50 if there was nothing wrong with it. That thing is totalled.

New box. No tinkering.
 
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dave_the_nerd said:
You're proposing spending a couple hundred bucks fixing up a box that is worth $50 if there was nothing wrong with it. That thing is totalled.
Click to expand...

E8500 (used): ~$12.50 (shipped) on eBay; E8400: a bit less.
120 Gb SSD (new) ~$35.00
One 4 Gb stick of DDR2 memory (used): ~$8.00
Total: ~$56.00
Would make for a perfectly usable "good enough" general-purpose system.
Could even add in a USB 3.0 multi-port card for another $10.
Much more reasonable cost, compared with a completely new Haswell or Skylake system.
 
Well, I guess if I don't mark up the parts, I could probably do all of the above for $100.

$15 Q8400 (used)
$20 4GB stick of DDR3-1333
$35 120GB SSD (new TLC, or refurb MLC)
$10 SATA6G PCI-E x1 controller card
$20 labor for putting all of the above in

total: $100

+ $50 for re-format / OS install on SSD

Not totally unreasonable. I'll run that by them.
 
I would have thought that a G41 chipset system would require DDR2 memory: ??.
You also might want to first double-check that the Q8400 is supported in the bios (and the motherboard's power delivery system is adequate), prior to upgrading to a faster CPU.
And whether the 5 year old PSU will last past the 30 day warranty with an updated + more power hungry CPU.
Depending on the budget, maybe simply let the client bother with installing Windows?
Just loan or sell them a pre-configured Windows 10 installation bootable USB thumb drive.
 
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dave_the_nerd said:
That's not a five year old rig. You might have sold it to them then, but the e5200 is an eight year old CPU with ten year old performance.

You're proposing spending a couple hundred bucks fixing up a box that is worth $50 if there was nothing wrong with it. That thing is totalled.

New box. No tinkering.
Click to expand...
I Agree, it's not worth the time or effort fix or upgrade computers past a certain point. If said system was low end for it's time that even worse.
 
whm1974 said:
I Agree, it's not worth the time or effort fix or upgrade computers past a certain point. If said system was low end for it's time that even worse.
Click to expand...

If this was my personal PC, I would agree. But if they're paying you to do so, because the alternative is MORE expensive? (In the near term, at least. No telling when that 5-year-old PSU might die, for example, which would effectively mean that the upgrades were a partial waste of money - the Core2Quad at least.)

I mean, I'll try to sell them on a new PC, I really will, but if they want me to upgrade it?

I thought of a solution to the ethical dilemma - I'm going to institute a new policy, that, within 30 days of paying for service on an older PC, the client has the option to put the money for the labor (but not parts), towards the purchase of a new custom-built PC by me.

So, mostly no regrets fixing up an old PC, and then deciding that was a bad idea, that they want a new one.

Also, for working systems taken out of commission, I will potentially offer them half of the going ebay price for older parts. (Only "potentially", because prices on some older parts are insanely inflated.)
 
VirtualLarry said:
If this was my personal PC, I would agree. But if they're paying you to do so, because the alternative is MORE expensive? (In the near term, at least. No telling when that 5-year-old PSU might die, for example, which would effectively mean that the upgrades were a partial waste of money - the Core2Quad at least.)

I mean, I'll try to sell them on a new PC, I really will, but if they want me to upgrade it?

I thought of a solution to the ethical dilemma - I'm going to institute a new policy, that, within 30 days of paying for service on an older PC, the client has the option to put the money for the labor (but not parts), towards the purchase of a new custom-built PC by me.

So, mostly no regrets fixing up an old PC, and then deciding that was a bad idea, that they want a new one.
Click to expand...

Why? You present both options, they pick one, it's their problem.


Get them an Odroid-UX4 with onboard emmc 😉
 
VirtualLarry said:
Not even sure what that is. A cell phone?
Click to expand...

single board computer using the SOC found on Samsung Galaxy S5. It was a joke, I would not stick people on ten year old hardware on a SBC 😛

Though if all they do is basic stuff, you can run a nice ubutu shell and they'll probably be fine.

http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/07...-a-smaller-and-cheaper-version-of-odroid-xu3/

ODROID-XU4_Block_Diagram.png


NUC might not be a bad option for them though.
 
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Or get them a refurb prebuilt. They obviously can't tell the difference, so why waste your time?

Unless you forgot to tell us that you're actually charging a fair rate for your labor. Like $70/hr. Or something.
 
That reminds me.. I DO have a couple of pre-builts.

One is a Lenovo with a Sandy Bridge i3, that I upgraded the RAM to 8GB on, and did a fresh clean install of Win10 on a new 1TB HDD. (Original factory HDD is in there too, with Win8.1, only, unplugged.)
Paid ~$190 for original configuration, plus $50 for 1TB HDD, and $20 more for RAM.

Second is a (refurb) Acer Haswell i3 with 4GB RAM and a 500GB or 1TB HDD, I forget. I was going to throw a LP 750ti in it to make a budget gaming rig and flip it. Never got around to it.
Paid ~$235.

If I could get what I spent on them out of the deal, that would be great.
 
I have been in this situation a few times.

I am tinkering with a pair of Acer Veriton X270's I got for free. These are 630I chipsets. They came with celeron e1400's. Originally used for POS they are optioned quite well. They have hdmi out, alc888 5.1 audio, loads of usb 2.0 ports and card readers and even gigabit lan.

They support 4gb ddr2 and any core2 cpu, but the PSU limits me since its only 220 watt.

I upgraded one of the systems using an e8400 I bought off ebay for $6.00 and it works very well. I used 4gb ddr2 and a 500gb hdd. The units came with out hdds. I put win 8.1 on it and hooked it up to my TV using hdmi and my logitech z640 5.1 system. Makes a pretty good HTPC. I bet it would be better with an ssd.

If I were to sell it to someone I know, it would be as is.
 
Total cost of your proposed upgrade is 250.00. Does the machine have a dgpu or is it running off motherboard graphics?

I dont think either option is unethical as long as you explain the options, but if it were me, I would prefer a new machine, maybe an i3 or a lower end APU like the A8-7600 if you can find one cheap. You should be able to find a refurb or even new system on sale for 300.00 ish, and it would also have a warranty. Or just do a factory restore on the machine they have and see how much that helps. I am just not a fan of dumping money into anything older than sandy bridge.
 
frozentundra123456 said:
Or just do a factory restore on the machine they have and see how much that helps.
Click to expand...

LOLOL. It's a custom-built machine, that came with a Windows 7 Retail license.

Btw, if you know how to set up a cheap (license cost included, for cloning software) "Factory Restore" for custom-built machines, that the end-user can operate, I'm all ears.
 
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