Anyone advise on refurbished desk tops?

I'm currently running Win7, 32bit, 6Gb RAM, core 2 processor and a 256 mb PCI graphics card. I think I'll notice a step up, but I can't justify getting a 'modern' spec for a hobby.

 

I do game a fair bit but having said that the old i7 still had a ton of life left in it. Made the change to try and "future" proof myself (didn't work as a new range of GPUs came out as soon as I'd pressed "buy") - but it'll do. FS 2020 plays very well.

The spec you've gone for sounds ideal for most non-gaming uses. SSDs make a massive difference to perceived performance as well. Good luck!

 

I just want to put this out there...........
I didn’t look at this thread this morning because I GENUINELY thought it was referring to desk tops,,,,, that is tops of desks!!

 

I suppose if music is your game then the quietness of a fairly low powered system is what you want. Did you ever get excessive latency with the older system?

 

16GB is far from a lot these days. Google Chrome will use that on its own if you try and consume any media while also working.

I have 128GB and I regularly exceed 80 while working. (Multiple VMs etc) and Chrome often uses 16+ on its own.

 

Not when recording (the external soundcard is decent). The problems come when mixing, if I've more than a couple of tracks (and it's a 4 piece band, so 5 or 6 is common), with sound processing inserts (compression, reverb, EQ etc.), it's awful. I have to 'freeze' other tracks to work on a specific track. Then unfreeze to re-work etc. Also the rendering down to a full mix can be challenging, often just stops part way through due to CPU overload.

I've been putting it off for about 5 years

 

I have noticed that Windows and all the installed software these past few years has started to grab tonnes of memory. I guess that's a good thing for speed, so long as it doesn't get too ridiculous. I have 5.3GB in use as I type this and all I have open is one Firefox window and one Directory Opus window (like Windows Explorer). Everything else is background tasks, presumably making things more efficient, ready to run in memory. 5.3GB. I remember when...

 

I know, ridiculous isn’t it. 8GB is now the bare minimum I’d ever recommend and even that I would advise against for anyone that actually wants to use their computer.

And a gaming PC needs 32 minimum really

 

Pledge.

 

Will never ever buy an HDD again