Opinions on my office build

[Hubb1e]

Computer will be used for work. It's going to my Dad who doesn't play games and really doesn't need that much power, but he gets set in his ways so I want this build to last for 10 years so I'm overbuilding it. He's also not all that price sensitive so I wanted to go for quality and longevity. I'll be buying on Newegg or Amazon. There's also the option of buying a computer from a big box, but I priced them out and had a lot of trouble finding a decent build that featured an SSD only. The ones I did find were expensive and less equipped than this build.

Fractal Design Define Mini Black Micro ATX

SeaSonic SSR-360GP 360W ATX12V v2.31 80 PLUS GOLD

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

ASUS B85M-G LGA 1150 Intel B85

Intel Core i5-4670 Haswell 3.4GHz LGA 1150

SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD256BW 2.5" 256GB

Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit - OEM

total cost $900

 

[plutoclacks]

The hard drive might be a bit small for 10 years.
Other than that it looks pretty good, if you aren't too concerned with finding the best deal xD

If you want it to last really long, you might want to consider getting a better mobo and higher wattage psu for future expansions

 

[lehtv]

Case - Nice case, good quality and should last a long time. But ignoring the form factor for a moment, I think $100 shipped is a bit too much for it, given that you can get a Define R4 Windowed for $80 AP. On the other hand, if small form factor is preferable (which makes sense for a basic build), the Define Mini is not really that small and it's also quite heavy. So I'd recommend the lighter but feature-wise almost identical Corsair 350D for $80 AR.

PSU - Good.

RAM - What does "work" mean in this situation? Because if it's just standard office stuff, email, and internet, you're probably not going to need more than 8GB for a loooong time. I would not be surprised if, for those uses, 8GB was still enough 10 years from now. 2x4GB Crucial $64

Mobo - In terms of longevity of the setup, this is probably the least sensible component to skimp on apart from the PSU. That Asrock board has crappy audio and only two RAM slots, for instance. I would get a H87M-Pro4 $83 (or H87 Performance for ATX)

CPU - Good but don't you think an i3-4130 $130 would be equally good for his needs? I don't see anything mentioned that requires more than 2 threads to work smoothly.

SSD - Expensive, and unnecessarily so. Crucial M500 240GB $159

All that being said I think it's a stupid plan to get a PC for the next 10 years. There's no guarantee any of those components, apart from the CPU, case and RAM, perhaps, will even work 10 years from now; and their warranties will end much sooner than that. And even if they are still working, they will have been obsolete for 5 years already. I would get an i3, 8GB RAM and plan on upgrading the CPU, motherboard and RAM in 5 years.

 

[Termie]

That looks good - I know what you mean about trying to find an OEM box with an SSD. Not going to happen!

Anyway, three tips:
(1) the 4670K is the same price as the 4670 at Amazon right now. I'd get that just for the resale value (although 10 years from now it probably won't matter!).

(2) if he really will keep it that long, I'd go for an overclocking motherboard, so you can get a bit more performance out of it. You can get z87-based mATX motherboards for just $25 more than the one you picked, like this ASRock Pro 4 (you'll need the 4670K for overclocking too): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157368

(3) there is no way he needs 16GB. Get 8GB now, buy another 8GB when it comes down to a sane price...if it ever becomes necessary.

Edit: In response to lehtv's comment on building for 10 years, well, my dad is still using and thoroughly enjoying a system I built in 2006. Seven years and counting. For future-proofing, I'd stick with the quad-core, by the way.

 

[Hubb1e]

He doesn't use any space at all on his harddrive. I don't think I want to have to manage two drives in his machine, and 500GB SSDs are rather pricey.

There will be no upgrades or future expansions that require more PSU power. I don't think he'll start playing Battlefield 6 in a few years and require a graphics card that pulls more than 150W.

Thanks for the case suggestion. I'll change to the Corsair. I had a really hard time finding a decent case. All I really want is an OEM style case without a bunch of ventilation holes for bugs and dust to find its way into but I didn't find any in my quick search.

As for RAM, I considered 8GB and I think it would be enough, but I was really just shooting for 10 years without having to worry about it at all. If I overbuild the RAM now, I know I won't have to check in on him in 5 years to make sure he's not running out. RAM is easy and he's not concerned with the price so that was an easy upgrade.

As for the motherboard, I didn't choose a crappy Asrock, I chose a slightly less crappy Asus. For this build I don't need fancy features, but I want it to be reliable so I looked for a board with solid caps and Asus has been reliable for me at least. I'll look into the Asrock recommendations, but overclocking is definitely not in the cards.

I do think the i3 at 3.4ghz is likely totally sufficient for his needs. The i3 will have very good single threaded performance, and can even process 4 threads. And these things even have the HD 4400 graphics in them so they aren't as bad as i3s used to be. That said, I did want this to last him for a long time and so that's why I went with the quad core. I'm undecided about this. The i5 is a nice chip, but he may never need all those cores.

Oh, and I went with the Samsung Pro SSD because I was looking for longevity. Do you think the cheaper Corsair will be fine for 10 years of light use?

 

[sm625]

I wouldnt get the i5. Get the i3 and upgrade it in 2017 if it starts getting a little slow. Based on the price of Q9650 chips today, in 2017 it will only cost $50 get an i7-4770k (after you sell the old chip). Chances are you wont ever need to do that upgrade.

 

[Hubb1e]

I wouldnt get the i5. Get the i3 and upgrade it in 2017 if it starts getting a little slow. Based on the price of Q9650 chips today, in 2017 it will only cost $50 get an i7-4770k (after you sell the old chip). Chances are you wont ever need to do that upgrade.

Yeah, I think I agree with this. A Q9560 runs at 3ghz, and for web browsing doesn't really feel any different than a Core 2 Duo at 3ghz. It's only when you try to do video transcoding and lots of image processing that the extra 2 cores come in handy and he won't be doing much of that. That saves $100. Should I just pocket the cash or upgrade to a 500GB SSD. The Crucial M500 480GB is $370 vs $220 for the 840 Pro. The extra space would go a long way towards extra longevity too.

 

[videogames101]

10 years? Get the i5, and go for the full 16GB. Otherwise you'll end up wanting an upgrade much sooner, IMO.

 

[lehtv]

Oh, and I went with the Samsung Pro SSD because I was looking for longevity. Do you think the cheaper Corsair will be fine for 10 years of light use?

You mean Crucial? Yes I don't think there's any difference in longevity between the two.

 

[mfenn]

All that being said I think it's a stupid plan to get a PC for the next 10 years. There's no guarantee any of those components, apart from the CPU, case and RAM, perhaps, will even work 10 years from now; and their warranties will end much sooner than that. And even if they are still working, they will have been obsolete for 5 years already. I would get an i3, 8GB RAM and plan on upgrading the CPU, motherboard and RAM in 5 years.

Agree with this 100%. Asking any given set of parts (any parts) to last 10 years with no changes is begging for failure. Actual longevity is not achieved by hoping to avoid failure, instead it's achieved by planning for failure.

Knock down the specs as lehtv suggested and put the savings into a rainy day fund for when (not if) a part fails. Tape it to the inside of the case if you can't keep from spending it.