Built to last half a decade...

I realise there are about a million posts similar to this, but I have some specific needs.

The scenario thus: I have someone who wants me to build a PC for them. They want the comfort of an Intel based system and Windows XP. No games (:() are to be played on this PC, but they need great image quality. A standard ATA hard disk is to be used, and the speakers and sound don't matter a huge deal. The speakers can be monitor integrated which can be either LCD or CRT. It's a business PC, but the buyer wants it to last at least 5 years before he needs to buy a new one (he doesn't know how to upgrade).

With those constraints, what is the best PC I could build? Don't quote me Newegg prices please, but keep the cost reasonable (around the £1000-£2000/US$1600-US$3200 range).

He doesn't want to buy from a company like Dell, because he won't know what he'll be buying.

Thanks in advance!

why don't you talk to dell for him and have them build the computer to the specs you want. with that kind of budget you can probably build him something that's top of the line right now, and will still be a viable work machine for quite some time. also, he'll still have dell's tech support if need be.

Quite honestly, unless his business is graphics, about any run of the mill processor will due for most past, present, and future applications. Most business apps aren't that hard on the CPU, they generally require more RAM over time than CPU power, just get him 512MB and all should be well for some time to come.

Going to check with Dell et al. There are IT personnel at his office, so the warranty isn't totally necessary.

I can draw up a cheap AMD system for him easy-peasy, but I've never built an Intel system, so I'm not too au fait with the best CPU motherboard combo. I intend to go for a 533MHz FSB CPU motherboard system, but Dell only offer PC800 RAM, although I guess PC1600 isn't really needed.

Ideally, this PC should be good and fast for a while to come. Even if it is fast enough for office work in 5 years, it needs to be serviceable. He has a PC, but even though it is fast enough for him, the parts are too old to replace. Think Intel will stop production of the type of things I am looking for in the next half decade :p ?

Quote:

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Originally posted by Mr. Bombastic
Going to check with Dell et al. There are IT personnel at his office, so the warranty isn't totally necessary.

I can draw up a cheap AMD system for him easy-peasy, but I've never built an Intel system, so I'm not too au fait with the best CPU motherboard combo. I intend to go for a 533MHz FSB CPU motherboard system, but Dell only offer PC800 RAM, although I guess PC1600 isn't really needed.

Ideally, this PC should be good and fast for a while to come. Even if it is fast enough for office work in 5 years, it needs to be serviceable. He has a PC, but even though it is fast enough for him, the parts are too old to replace. Think Intel will stop production of the type of things I am looking for in the next half decade :p ?

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Intel will change their motherboard requirements 6 times by then :) Although you may be able to find an old 2.8Ghz for $10 used somewhere!

-Case with 350W (pick one)
-2.26/2.4/2.53GHz (533fsb)
-Gigabyte GA-8IHXP Tehama-E 850E/ICH4
-512mb Rimm4200 (1066)
-Maxtor 80GB 7200rpm(2MB)/Western Digitial 120GB 7200rpm(8MB)
-toshiba/lite-on/samsung 16x dvd-48x cd-rom
-lite-on 48x-12x-48x (2MB)/samsung 40x-12x-40x (8MB) - there are faster ones out there for re-writing
-iomega zip 250MB disk drive
-generic 1.44MB floppy drive
-Matrox Parhelia 128MB
-Microsoft Natural Keyoard Pro
-Logitech Mousenman Dual Optical Mouse/Microsoft Explorer 3.0
-Microsoft Win 2k pro/Win XP pro (probably should go with winxp since he doesnt know much about computers)

optional
dvd-rw
56k modem
speakers