Light Duty PC. How Old of A Processor is OK?

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I am shopping for a PC to run Windows 10, Microsoft Office or Open Office mostly for text documents and some light spreadsheets, and also for internet browsing. A used PC will be OK. Would 8 gb of RAM with an i5 processor be sufficient? I’ve seen several Intel i5 processor PCs at good prices, some with  second generation i5 processors. Would that be too old of a processor. I am not opposed to an AMD processor, either. I just wonder how far back I can go with an older processor before it become detrimental to the performance of the PC. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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While I can’t answer your questions regarding the processor speeds vs. performance, this is the list of Minimum System Requirement for Installing Windows 10, as well as information on system software.

There is a chart on minimum processor requirements here, and Table 3 here has a list of minimum hardware requirements.

I hope that helps some 🙂

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[Ascaris]

My primary PC is a 2nd-gen i5 desktop.  I tried Windows 10 on it when it first came out in 2015, and it was not slow by any means.  Now, granted, it’s overclocked, but even at stock clocks, it’s more than enough for the tasks you’ve outlined.  My much newer (approaching 2 years old now, I think) Acer Swift laptop (4GB RAM, non-upgradeable) is like a tortoise dragging an anchor compared to the i5, and the Acer ran/runs fine with Windows 10 (and can handle browsing, word processing, and light spreadsheet use without a problem).  Its limited RAM would begin to slow it down with big spreadsheets, but small ones (typical of non-business use) would be fine.  One of the units with 8GB would be even better, so I don’t think that would be a problem at all.

I’ve seen several anecdotes from members of this site and otherwise who have said that 10 has been more responsive than 7 on the same hardware, and second-gen i5s are from the in 7 era.  When I ran 10 on my desktop years ago, I didn’t see any difference in perceived speed, but I didn’t use 10 for very long.  At the very least, it was perceptibly slower.

The performance of PCs that old (as long as you get one of the midrange models or higher of the era, like the i5) isn’t likely to be the issue, if there is one.  There could be components within the system that are so old that their manufacturers have not provided drivers for Windows 10, and if they do now, they could stop at any time.  Of course, the odds of age-related component failure naturally increase with age too.

I haven’t had issues with older gear not working in Windows 10 on my older PCs.  At the time Windows 10 was still new, I tried it on my Asus Core 2 Duo laptop from 2008 and my aforementioned desktop, and everything did what it was supposed to with both of them, right from the start.  That may not always be the case, so you have to weigh the possibility of things going wrong with the potential cost savings, like with a used car.

I really like using older gear for as long as it remains useful.  The planned obsolescence factor really annoys me, and older gear can still have a lot of value, particularly from about the age of my Asus laptop upward, as that was about the time that the progression of Moore’s law really began to slow, with older gear remaining powerful enough to be relevant for far longer.  That Asus laptop from 11 years ago is still as fast or faster than my Acer Swift I bought new less than two years ago, and that is still listed as one of the current models on Acer’s site (it’s the first Swift 1 listed, the SF113-31-P5CK).  The old Asus never did have good battery life, though, and that’s where the Acer shines.  Still, for sheer utility in running programs while plugged in at home, they’re about the same now, though the Acer’s nVidia card is probably not going to get any more updates, for one example.  If Microsoft changes the way the driver interacts with the operating system, which they have in the past, it’s possible that the old driver will no longer work, and since this is a laptop, I can’t just swap the card for a newer one as I could in a desktop.

It’s things like that, not the sheer computing power, that I would look at as being the most likely trouble spots with older (midrange) gear.  Newer gear will generally be less prone to issues, and will usually have a much longer warranty, but there can also be some great deals in used or refurbished gear, especially those that have decent warranties from a trusted refurbisher or third party.

 

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/16GB & GTX1660ti, OpenSUSE Tumbleweed

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Ascaris.

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Chessie

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kc27 wrote:

I am shopping for a PC to run Windows 10, Microsoft Office or Open Office mostly for text documents and some light spreadsheets, and also for internet browsing

Why do you need a Windows 10 PC ?
Have you considered Chromebooks ? A Chromebook will fill all your needs and free you from Microsoft’s monthly, half-yearly… patches,updates, and bugs.

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FWIW, I have a 13-year-old spare pc laying around which houses an Intel E6850 Core 2 Duo (Conroe) processor, Nvidia gtx 750ti gpu (the only upgrade ever done), 8GB 1066 ram memory and Windows 10 1909 installed.

Windows 10 actually breathed new life into this old thing and is actually quite fast for its age.  I use it as a test box, install all the latest updates MS throws at it the second it is released, and so far, no problems whatsoever.

I had almost scrapped that old pc until I decided to use it as a test box.  Sure it is no ball of fire and the fans are so loud you need those Apple noise cancelling ear pods just to drown it all out, but it runs all the apps like Office, the latest web browsers and some less intensive games just fine, as well as the old stuff like MS Flight Sim (FSX).  Also running Malwarebytes 4.04 in the background alongside Defender and no noticeable slowdown there either.

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Ascaris

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8 GB of RAM is fine. More is better, but 8 GB will do fine.

Make sure that your Windows 10 PC has an internal drive at least 128 GB in size. DO NOT get a computer that has a 64 or 32 GB internal drive – they simply aren’t big enough.

Get Windows 10 Pro, not Home.

I wouldn’t go with too old of a PC if you are going with Windows 10. Windows 10 is constantly moving forward, constantly changing, and if your PC is too old, it could become incompatible soon. If your PC came with Windows 7, then it is getting a bit old for Windows 10.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 8.1 running in a VM

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Thanks for all the suggestions. I was helping a non-technical family member select a PC to be used by them and their 90 year old mother It had to be a Windows PC for the sake of the 90 year old who is a Windows user and is not looking to migrate to a Chromebook.

The i5 was no longer in stock I found this PC as an alternative.

HP EliteDesk 800 G1
Intel Core i7 4770 3.4GHz Processor
16GB DDR3-1600 RAM
512GB SSD
Intel HD Graphics 4600
Windows 10 Pro
10/100/1000 LAN
$369.99

We ended up with this computer

Acer Aspire TC-865
Intel Core i5 9400 2.9GHz Processor
8GB DDR4-2666 RAM
512GB SSD
Intel UHD Graphics 630
Windows 10 Home
DVD-RW Drive
10/100/1000 LAN + WiFi 5 WLAN
$499.99

I was going to need to add a $20 wifi card to the HP desktop to make it meet our requirements. The salesperson suggested a new computer with new components and faster memory would be a better performer, and would nave  a 1-year warranty vs 90 day warranty for the HP. I thought Acer was lesser brand computer. The salesperson said that was no longer the case. I live several states away from the family member who is buying the computer, so maybe new is a better option for reliability and support.

I have typically had very good luck with used computers. I have three that are 7 to 10 years old, they work well and are reliable.  In this case, for a user who is not comfortable troubleshooting a computer, maybe new is better.

Thanks again

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kc27 wrote:

I have typically had very good luck with used computers. I have three that are 7 to 10 years old, they work well and are reliable. In this case, for a user who is not comfortable troubleshooting a computer, maybe new is better.

Warranties are a good thing.  The typically short warranty of refurb units (90 days, as you state) is a big negative, and given the choice of the two above PCs for the prices indicated, I would have taken the new Acer over the refurbished HP also.

It’s hard to sort the quality PC manufacturers from the poorer ones.  To really know what’s going on, we’d need facts about the rate of serious issues over time, and such statistics are hard to come by.  At least with a new PC, you know you’ve got the warranty.  You can probably also extend the warranty from the manufacturer or from third parties (Squaretrade seems to be everywhere).

For what it’s worth, my own Acer Swift laptop has very good fit and finish, and offers features like an all-aluminum case and IPS display that are nearly unheard of in its price tier.  On the bad side, it uses Insyde UEFI firmware, which has several anti-features that make me really wish it had something else.  Still, the laptop is stable and runs well, which is the most important thing.

Of course, HP’s recent reputation as far as PC manufacturers go has been less than stellar too, though I have no idea to what degree that applies to business models vs. the consumer models.  I’ve never had a problem with mine… I have a HP/Compaq laptop (Presario M2000, a consumer model) that’s ~14 years old, and it’s too slow to be of any practical use anymore, but it still works fine, including the much maligned hinges.

 

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/16GB & GTX1660ti, OpenSUSE Tumbleweed

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In general a CPU from second generation I5 will be more than sufficient for your purpose.
I have a lot of those PC’s running with my clients and they all function well.

From fourth gen CPU onwards,  average CPU temps will be much lower. I would prefer this as a minimum.

Make sure you have SATA3 ports, a SSD to put Windows on and at least 8GB of memory.

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[MrJimPhelps]

Sounds like the computer you bought is new, not used. If it is new, then you did well.

You hit the jackpot with the SSD – it is really big as far as SSDs go.

8 GB of memory will be fine.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 8.1 running in a VM

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by MrJimPhelps.

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In general a CPU from second generation I5 will be more than sufficient for your purpose.
I have a lot of those PC’s running with my clients and they all function well.

From fourth gen CPU onwards,  average CPU temps will be much lower. I would prefer this as a minimum.

hvgsel51 – Thanks for the above advice about selecting processors. I will keep that in mind the next time I am computer shopping.

MrJimPhelps – yes, in this case, we did end up with a new Acer desktop computer instead 0f the used HP.  I thought Acer was a lesser brand compared to Dell or HP. The Microcenter associate said that it was no longer the case, that Acer’s quality had improved once Acer purchased Gateway.

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