Computers : you all seem from another planet !
![Confused :-//](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/confused0024.gif.pagespeed.ce.5xOqKkq0Co.gif)
My computer I built 15 years ago. In 2006, I was wiating for the Core2Duo to come around.
So in 2006 I got a Core2duo 8200 2,6GHz 2MB cache IIRC.
4GB of RAM
x2 HDD 500GB Samsung, mechanical/ spinning of course.
17" CRT monitor. Was using my existing monitor from my previous machine. NEc M700. Now using a Samsung Syncmaster 700p, still 17" CRT.
Graphics card ? GeForce 6200. The lowest spec I could find at the time, as I am not a gamer. Just needed basic 3D not heavy duty stuff. Goal was to be cheap and passive cooling and as low power as possible. Aim was a machine that's very quiet and doesn't draw too much power, because electricity you have to pay.
Printer : HP Lasert 6P B&W, bought brand new in 1997. First toner lasted 10 years and 4000 pages a promised by HP. Replacement toner I didn't even pay, daddy got one from work. It lasted for 13 years and also 4000 pages. Replaced it last year, was seifed, druims would not turn anymore... Replacement toner 20 Euros from Ebay Germany. Printer now prints just as good as new.
Lowest cost per page, highest reliability one could hope for. I certainly got money money's worth on that printer ! Of course now it's got a new toner it will last a few more years still and maybe reach 30 years, that would not surprise me.
RAM : 3 years ago Firefox, a memory hog, forced me to up that to 8GB, max the motherboard would take.
So 15 years later, still very happy, machine works just fine and does what it needs to do ! The 2 HDD never failed even though machine ran 24/7 for those 16 years. They are still super silent too, no weird high-pitch noise like some drives do when their crappy bearing is on the way out.
However I do intend to replace it in a year or so, but mostly because Firefox wants more nad more RAM as years go by... now even 8GB is not enough. FF alone takes 10GB, have only on the machine. So have 2GB on the swap.. well more than that since the OS and other apps need to run too !
Have 4.7GB of swap. The other day it nealry used it all up and computer was down to a crawl, an the verge of freezing. Took 20 minutes of trashing the HDD, but I managed to switch to console to fire up 'top' to kill FF. Couldn't do it on the desktop as the mouse was not responsive enough...
So I mostly want t a new machine so that I cna put a ton of RAM on it. 16GB minimum to fix the current situation. 32GB to cater for future needs. Ideally MB would need to support 64 and I would put that much once the price of the RAM sticks decreases enough. But 32GB to start with that's for sure.
Then also wnat to change it because I only have PCI slots on the MB and my Geforce 6200 is not supported anymore by Nvidia. Need a more modern card which means PCI-X not vanilla PCI. Still, same logic : the lowest power one, passive cooling and small heat sink. Just like the GF6200.
Also fancy switching to an SSD as nowadays tehy seem decent, and available in large capacities for cheap even from reputable brands.
Also need a faster Ethernet adapter as I would like to setup a NAS to share files with the soon to come second computer, want one in the lab. NAS also would act as a backup if the SS in one machine crashed.. I hear they do like to crash after just a few years, sometimes only 3 years, unbelievable.
So would need faster than 100MBps. I understand the newer NIC's can do 1GB, that would do it !
![Cool 8)](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/xcool.gif.pagespeed.ic.cOxV6sPNRd.png)
Would also not mind USB 2 or 3, as USB vanilla is slow as a dog for file transfers.
Would also like a faster memory and memory controller, so I can shift large amounts of data around quickly, like when I am in Gimp working on large pictures.
Might switch to an LCD screen to get a slightly larger screen, but it really kills me, I love my old CRT. Just a bit too bulky and power hungry.
However I still want that next computer to have, of course, serial ports and a parallel port so I can use my HP Laserjet, and a VGA port so I can use my CRT, as I doubt I will get rid of it this easily.
So I guess I would have use some adapter or add come extension cards to get the UART and parallel port.
Anyway that's the plan...
All that to confirm what others have said a few messages ago : computers have now reached a point where evne the crappiest is good enough for most people... hence why mine still does the job 15 years later ! That would have been impossible in the '90's where the life expectancy was 3 years or so... was moving so fast !