Building a new work PC for my parents

[Hellhammer]

So, my parents' 7 years old HP desktop is at the end of its journey and I promised to build them a new PC as I build and sell them in my job. There is no budget really but I said I can do it for around 500€ (excluding OS) and they already have a display and KB + mouse. They mainly use Office and surfs on the net so nothing heavy really. They want it to be quiet and microATX.

Now I'm wondering should I go for new Core i3-530 (2.93GHz) which costs 120€ + Asus P7H55-M PRO motherboard which costs 105€ or get a Core 2 Duo E7500 (2.93GHz) which costs 110€ + Asus P5Q-EM mobo which costs 105€ and has integrated Intel GMA X4500HD. Or should I jump for AMD? They are little bit cheaper but I've always liked Intel more.

Is the integrated GPU in Core i3-530 and GMA X4500HD good enough to handle basic stuff? Or should I get e.g. ATI 4670 512MB which costs ~60€? My little sister MAY play games like Sims 3 on it but I doubt it.

I'm buying it from here in store so please no NewEgg links because I can't buy from US

 

[Nano2k]

I would go for the i3-350, integrated gpu is plenty fast for normal tasks and you will be getting latest tech at least.

 

[Hellhammer]

I would go for the i3-350, integrated gpu is plenty fast for normal tasks and you will be getting latest tech at least.

That's what I was thinking. See my attachment as there are all components im gonna buy

 

[Luis Ortega]

That's what I was thinking. See my attachment as there are all components im gonna buy

I would say that you're paying too much for win 7. You can get an oem copy for about half the price and it's expressly suited to you since you are building the computer.
Here in UK you can buy them from dabs direct for only £80 including tax.

 

[zhenya]

Honestly, any pc that is going to be primarily a work pc, should be purchased from a vendor with an extended on-site warranty. By building from discrete parts, you become responsible for dealing with any parts failures or incompatibilities. In the short term, if a piece of hardware fails, your options will be to buy a replacement one or wait the 1-4 weeks it takes for the manufacturer to turn around your RMA. If the problem is tricky, you may end up with manufacturers passing the blame. In the long term, 3+ years from now, you very likely will not be able to buy the motherboard you choose today, should it fail. This will significantly increase the difficulty of disaster recovery. Should you not be around or interested in playing IT for your parents, they will be forced to pay out of pocket for service, probably at an exorbitant rate.

Buy a computer from a reputable manufacturer with the longest extended warranty you can get with on-site service. This way, any problems will be fixed typically in 1 business day, regardless of if you are available or not.

 

[Hellhammer]

I would say that you're paying too much for win 7. You can get an oem copy for about half the price and it's expressly suited to you since you are building the computer.
Here in UK you can buy them from dabs direct for only £80 including tax.

I got the same response from another forum as well and yes, I'm going for the OEM but I forgot it on the beginning

Honestly, any pc that is going to be primarily a work pc, should be purchased from a vendor with an extended on-site warranty. By building from discrete parts, you become responsible for dealing with any parts failures or incompatibilities. In the short term, if a piece of hardware fails, your options will be to buy a replacement one or wait the 1-4 weeks it takes for the manufacturer to turn around your RMA. If the problem is tricky, you may end up with manufacturers passing the blame. In the long term, 3+ years from now, you very likely will not be able to buy the motherboard you choose today, should it fail. This will significantly increase the difficulty of disaster recovery. Should you not be around or interested in playing IT for your parents, they will be forced to pay out of pocket for service, probably at an exorbitant rate.

Buy a computer from a reputable manufacturer with the longest extended warranty you can get with on-site service. This way, any problems will be fixed typically in 1 business day, regardless of if you are available or not.

I work in a computer shop and build and sell them 5 days a week so... I don't want them to pay more for getting poorly built Acer with worse specs and then again pay couple of hundreds for extended warranty. If something breaks, I can just grab a new one from work and send the broken one to manufacturer and here in Finland, repairs take at least several days and they don't come to your home and fix it, you have to send it to middle of nowhere and wait.

I got your point but I'm not a newbie when it comes to building a computer and dealing with problems.

 

[zhenya]

I work in a computer shop and build and sell them 5 days a week so... I don't want them to pay more for getting poorly built Acer with worse specs and then again pay couple of hundreds for extended warranty. If something breaks, I can just grab a new one from work and send the broken one to manufacturer and here in Finland, repairs take at least several days and they don't come to your home and fix it, you have to send it to middle of nowhere and wait.

I got your point but I'm not a newbie when it comes to building a computer and dealing with problems.

No offense meant - it has nothing to do with being a newbie or not. I've been building my own computers for 20+ years, yet when it comes to machines I buy for business, I always buy pre-built with a manufacturer's warranty. I've just been down this road too many times in the past.

My primary point is to not think about just the immediate future. Think about the long term for your parents - you say their current PC is 7 years old. Where are you likely to be 3,5, or 7 years from now? Are you still going to be working in the PC shop, willing and able to fix their machine for them on short notice? Maybe, but the more likely answer is that you don't know. The most stable, reliable solution for them is to buy a machine from a major manufacturer of business PC's who will still have stock of repair parts for them 5+ years from now. Consumer level parts are not meant for that level of supply-chain continuity.

Brand name computers from good manufacturers are NOT junk. They are perfectly good, and generally competitive in price, if for no other reason than Microsoft pretty much gives away the OS to OEMS, netting a substantial price advantage for them.

 

[Hellhammer]

No offense meant - it has nothing to do with being a newbie or not. I've been building my own computers for 20+ years, yet when it comes to machines I buy for business, I always buy pre-built with a manufacturer's warranty. I've just been down this road too many times in the past.

My primary point is to not think about just the immediate future. Think about the long term for your parents - you say their current PC is 7 years old. Where are you likely to be 3,5, or 7 years from now? Are you still going to be working in the PC shop, willing and able to fix their machine for them on short notice? Maybe, but the more likely answer is that you don't know. The most stable, reliable solution for them is to buy a machine from a major manufacturer of business PC's who will still have stock of repair parts for them 5+ years from now. Consumer level parts are not meant for that level of supply-chain continuity.

I appreciate your comments but seriously, pre-build brand computers are rip offs for what you get

Brand name computers from good manufacturers are NOT junk. They are perfectly good, and generally competitive in price, if for no other reason than Microsoft pretty much gives away the OS to OEMS, netting a substantial price advantage for them.

I think you got the business/work thing wrong here or I didn't explain it. The main use of it will be emails and Office suite like Excel and Word. It's not going to be used 8 hours a day for work, maybe couple of hours a week.

If something breaks, that doesn't matter because they have backups of course and it's not meant to last another 7 years so the idea isn't to pay 1000€ extra for extended warranties and to repair it with same components.

And longest warranty that you can get here is 3 years and it's VERY expensive and as I said, it have to be sent to somewhere and it'll take time as well.

 

[jrlcopy]

If your parents buy from the medium/large business store they will get support in the US. Which is much better from india.

Also, stay away from integrated graphics GPU's.. always toss in a real video card, it is worth spending the 30 bucks on an el'cheapo card than dealing with the bad intel graphics.

 

[Hellhammer]

If your parents buy from the medium/large business store they will get support in the US. Which is much better from india.

Also, stay away from integrated graphics GPU's.. always toss in a real video card, it is worth spending the 30 bucks on an el'cheapo card than dealing with the bad intel graphics.

I'm not in the US so... And integrated Intel GPU will be enough for their usage but I might pop in an ATI 5670

 

[mags631]

If your parents buy from the medium/large business store they will get support in the US. Which is much better from india.

Also, stay away from integrated graphics GPU's.. always toss in a real video card, it is worth spending the 30 bucks on an el'cheapo card than dealing with the bad intel graphics.

Huh? Unless they are playing games, I don't see why the Intel graphics would not suffice. In fact my Windows 7-based HTPC is running off of the X4500HD (I use intel's DG45id board) -- works very well: HD broadcasts, playing HD content, etc. I think the embedded video is more than enough for the OS and business applications.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I just built my friend a computer for $431 (US) for my friend. It uses a dual-core AMD CPU with an integrated 2400... nothing amazing, but more than adequate for a work PC. I don't know what stores you have over there, but I would just go with the older stuff since you don't need to spend money for the newest.

 

[bumzo1]

You couldn't convince them into a Mac mini?

 

[Hellhammer]

You couldn't convince them into a Mac mini?

I tried my best but I couldn't My dad thinks Mac would be too "hard" for him but of course, he has used PC for over 20 years so it's not a surprise. I don't want to push them too hard to get a Mac because they'll be using it, not me and I don't want to be around 24/7 when they need help with it.