What minimum PC spec should I be looking for?

Fightsback

victor2 wrote: »

Buy Windows 7 (you'll find it on Amazon and in other places) and do a clean install with that on the existing machine, having backed up your files first of course. For the requirements you list, that should do and 7 is so much better than Vista...

There is the outside possibility that the freezing experienced by the OP could be down to an old unstable PSU.

Given that new kit off the shelf PC boxes (with licence) that are considerably faster are so cheap (£200) is it worth chucking any money at the old box ? I wouldn't.

getmore4less

Agree new is cheap enough not to bother with too much faff.

I would take the cover off and give it a clean if that has not been done recently.

Fixed mine(for now) from that era, CPU heat sink was a little clogged, if the fans are running that's a clue it need might need a clean.

spookylukey

Thanks all, I definitey want to get a new one rather than trying to fix/upgrade the old one. Nothing lasts forever and this PC has served me well but it's time for it to be retired!

Before posting this thread I was looking at the available options and it just makes my head spin!

bsod

different strokes, If you've been happy with the Dell, buy another.

boot f8, advanced, factory restore =no faff and no cost working fast machine

(if you call adding a few apps and data faff, then reconsider your backup methods, a 300GB disk image would restore in no time over usb2)

vs

£300 and a faffy w10 upgrade down the line.

you could buy a later windows and a bigger hard disk for a third of that price.

I'd dispute the minimal risk of data loss with that method of cloud backup btw, anything that autosyncs changes is very risky, as is depending on 3rd parties.

getmore4less

bsod wrote: »

I'd dispute the minimal risk of data loss with that method of cloud backup btw, anything that autosyncs changes is very risky, as is depending on 3rd parties.

If you lose/change a file and the autosync deletes/updates on the back up,

how long before it is not recoverable?

marty2be2000

getmore4less wrote: »

If you lose/change a file and the autosync deletes/updates on the back up,

how long before it is not recoverable?

Generally speaking, as soon as the sync occurs the original file is gone forever.

Never trust cloud storage, we have lost at least one provider and others have changed their target markets and now charge businesses instead of providing free cloud storage to consumers. Take megaupload for example, closed down by the authorities and many innocent parties lost access to their legit data.

Hopefully given the age of the OPs computer, they have been backing up their data anyway. If not, ask OP ask yourself what would happen if this morning you turned your computer on and discovered the HDD had failed and everything was lost forever.

I have 1TB of data on mine, and its backed up weekly to two different USB drives, and one is kept away from home. I cannot afford to lose this data, so will always use my own storage and no cloud provider.

To the OP, your computer is still a pretty reasonable spec. I would ensure you have all your data backed up and reinstall windows, it will be like a new machine.

getmore4less

spookylukey wrote: »

Before posting this thread I was looking at the available options and it just makes my head spin!

prices/spec move all the time, at the bottom end price tends to be more stable and the spec changes as component prices move down

I usually make a list of the cheap (say £200-+£50) base units currently available, shortlist spec, then watch for a decent deal keeping an eye on Dell outlet and other places.

I think these days with a bit more cash available an SSD is worth a look over other better spec options in the box.

For your needs this might be an option OS+apps on SSD, disc for data storage. Just keep an eye out for a SSD deal probably find one for under £50 with a bit of wait/watch.

getmore4less

getmore4less wrote: »

If you lose/change a file and the autosync deletes/updates on the back up,

how long before it is not recoverable?

marty2be2000 wrote: »

Generally speaking, as soon as the sync occurs the original file is gone forever.

SO there is NO* back up

Never trust cloud storage, we have lost at least one provider and others have changed their target markets

I know someone that lost years of photos relying on one of the on-line photo sites, they went down with no option to recover/move the data.



* sync does not work, You have to have multiple snapshots of files to stand any chance of backup/recovery of changing data,

For static data(eg photo) you can get away with an add never remove/change strategy.

spookylukey

On the subject of back ups, I have around 81Gb of photos which are stored on the hard-drive of this PC, they are also on my 64GB iphone (compressed as they only take up 20+Gb of storage). Then I pay a monthly fee for Hubic online storage. All of my photos/documents are uploaded to hubic, if I change a document and save it on my PC then Hubic auto-syncs and saves the new document on there, or if I add some new photos to the PC Hubic auto-syncs and uploads them to it's cloud.

I did have an external hard-drive with all the pics on but that died after a year, hence me deciding to go for paid cloud based storage. I also have vital documents backed up to google drive so I'm hopeful that one way or another I'd be able to retrieve my data if something bad happened!

getmore4less

spookylukey wrote: »

On the subject of back ups, I have around 81Gb of photos which are stored on the hard-drive of this PC, they are also on my 64GB iphone (compressed as they only take up 20+Gb of storage). Then I pay a monthly fee for Hubic online storage. All of my photos/documents are uploaded to hubic, if I change a document and save it on my PC then Hubic auto-syncs and saves the new document on there, or if I add some new photos to the PC Hubic auto-syncs and uploads them to it's cloud.

I did have an external hard-drive with all the pics on but that died after a year, hence me deciding to go for paid cloud based storage. I also have vital documents backed up to google drive so I'm hopeful that one way or another I'd be able to retrieve my data if something bad happened!

Not sure you got it!

what happens when one of your files gets corrupted or deleted(and you don't notice).

If those changes get synced, how do you get your file back?