Building a business PC for friend- Windows 8?

[megabyteme]

I have not spent any time with Win 8, but doubt Win 10 will be stable enough for business for about a year. Does anyone use Win 8 at their work? Should I stick with 7? Anyone use a touchscreen while working?

Will be building in the next 2 weeks.

[Skiz]

I use Windows 7 everyday at a large corp, but that's not because Windows 8/8.1/10 aren't considered stable, it's because we (as a company) have no need to keep up with every release. We stayed on XP for many years until making the leap into Windows 7 (just before 8 was released). The newer versions of Windows are super stable and I wouldn't hesitate to use them for a work build. In my line of work, our most heavily utilized softwares are MS Office and lots of intranet based websites. None of that cares if you're on the latest build or not. The rest of what we heavily use is internal programs for tracking deliveries, driver controls, messaging, data transfer, etc... They're all designed to run on Windows 7, so until those programs change we'll surely stay on Windows 7, be it a year or ten years.

Again tho, I dont think it has anything to do with stability, rather companies weighing the cost vs benefit of updating all their machines. Almost no benefit (if any) vs cost of 500K licenses and the time to do installations on all those machines.

[megabyteme]

Thanks, Skiz. I was leaning towards 7, and I know my friend will be comfortable with it. Unless he really wants touchscreen, we'll go that way.

[Skiz]

Thanks, Skiz. I was leaning towards 7, and I know my friend will be comfortable with it. Unless he really wants touchscreen, we'll go that way.

Muldy is a good one to ask since he does or used to do corp upgrades/IT for a living, but he won't ever see anything outside the Lounge.

[anon]

Windows 7 here too. It's what we went for when upgrading all the computers from XP two years ago. Windows 8 and above have tons of internal improvements and support for new hardware, but also a radically different interface, over-reliance on "the cloud" (you have to unplug your network cable to get the option of creating a local account at all!) and, for 10 onwards, mandatory updates - things I personally dislike and my work environment doesn't require anyway. So we went for 7 to modernize our systems while preserving usability, i.e. avoiding questions about where the Start menu is or where documents are being saved.

About stability, believe it or not, Microsoft spends a ton of time ensuring that and backwards compatibility. As long as the appropriate drivers are available for your hardware (don't use those "edit INF files to force Windows 7 drivers to install" tricks), you'll be fine. Drivers are one of the reasons we had a technical preview of Windows 10 - so customers could get complaints about unstable or nonexistent ones rolling early.

On a more general note, remember Windows 8 and above need a WDDM-compliant video adapter to use anything other than the basic display driver, and a processor supporting NX and SSE2 to install at all, which may make them not an option for very old and/or exotic hardware. Windows 7 doesn't have those requirements (and it can do touchscreen too).

[megabyteme]

Thanks, anon. My gut was telling me to go with 7, and since it is bigger than my head, it is usually right.

When I said 'stability', I was referring to the number of patches and updates needed to solve new OS quirks. I've never been an early adopter; I let more patient people work out the bugs before I jump in...

Any recommendations on motherboards? I've had great results with ASUS and Gigabyte in the past. I'm trying to build something ROCK solid. He'll gladly go to $1000 in parts (not including software/OS ) Will RAID two WD Caviar Blacks for redundancy.

I won't skimp on the RAM or processor. AMD or Intel best these days?

With stability in mind, would there be any benefit to using a Samsung SSD for the OS and the HDD RAID for storage?

I have no need for overclocking, ofc. However, I would like to keep it as cool as possible. Would it be overkill to use any of the aftermarket coolers?

***I have not build a PC in a few years. All of the components are new, especially the name-brand specific 'enhancements'. I do appreciate the help here...

[shaina]

Thanks, anon. My gut was telling me to go with 7, and since it is bigger than my head, it is usually right.

When I said 'stability', I was referring to the number of patches and updates needed to solve new OS quirks. I've never been an early adopter; I let more patient people work out the bugs before I jump in...

Any recommendations on motherboards? I've had great results with ASUS and Gigabyte in the past. I'm trying to build something ROCK solid. He'll gladly go to $1000 in parts (not including software/OS ) Will RAID two WD Caviar Blacks for redundancy.

I won't skimp on the RAM or processor. AMD or Intel best these days?

With stability in mind, would there be any benefit to using a Samsung SSD for the OS and the HDD RAID for storage?

I have no need for overclocking, ofc. However, I would like to keep it as cool as possible. Would it be overkill to use any of the aftermarket coolers?

***I have not build a PC in a few years. All of the components are new, especially the name-brand specific 'enhancements'. I do appreciate the help here...

To me Meg that is a very vague request....
Example ... Just built my sons computer bought the top Intel quad core CPU (overclocking model) instead of the six core because it started at $700 just the cpu...Yet I don't know how muck difference in cost from the US to Canada other than the tax...
And I assume his budget is more because you still need monitors (unless he has them already my kid spent $400 on that alone)..
And my kid picked Intel for gaming and work... But if he was using it for work only he would have went AMD (8 core) , better for multitasking and all AMD processors can be overclocked..

And motherboard he went ASUS ...He read up on Gigabyte boards having more issues and bad service.. Also check out ASROCK boards they are supposed to be really good...A lot of stores here they are special order but I don't know in the states

And go solid state hard drive for operating system (he went with Samsung)

And he went with windows 7 Pro .... (there is lots of updates needed tho as well as office be prepared for that!!)

Just my 2 and a half cents ...Even if you didn't ask

[megabyteme]

2 1/2 cents Canadian is 2 cents 'Merkin. I'll accept it.

$1000 will go a long ways these days, just not on an all-out gaming rig, which he doesn't need.

I'll spend his money where it gives him the most value and reliability. I never skimp on power supplies, HDDs, RAM, or motherboards. Processors, video cards, and cases are where budget has the greatest effect. For a business machine, these have less priority.

I've got a nice ASUS monitor with IPS that I paid $230-ish for a couple years back. Something like that will be a great upgrade to the one he's currently using.

[shaina]

2 1/2 cents Canadian is 2 cents 'Merkin. I'll accept it.

$1000 will go a long ways these days, just not on an all-out gaming rig, which he doesn't need.

I'll spend his money where it gives him the most value and reliability. I never skimp on power supplies, HDDs, RAM, or motherboards. Processors, video cards, and cases are where budget has the greatest effect. For a business machine, these have less priority.

I've got a nice ASUS monitor with IPS that I paid $230-ish for a couple years back. Something like that will be a great upgrade to the one he's currently using.

Sorry Meg... You are right with my son , he wanted the better of both worlds

My son also got a gold series power supply , but there are way better ones than that , and they do get pricey as well.....
Plus I really don't know if it is a home business , retail , or what ... Is he going to be using proprietary software??
Buy the way you are sounding.... Speed isn't a big issue but storage and reliability are the most important things....
A Licensed CA with tons of clients can use a 15 year old computer and be fine (they run proprietary software with windows 98 LOL!!)
I went into one of my cable providers store to pick up my modem/router , and they are still using windows xp ... it is only for booting purposes and they run there software program for the rest ...
Again what you were asking is a very tough question to answer because you really didn't say what it is being used for.... That's all..
You may be able to build a PC for even cheaper... But when my son was ready to buy , he did a lot of research.... Buying one component better and the others mediocre is a waste of money because they recommend buying components with the same performance or you are just wasting money on one or two pieces ...That is when the price seems to go up for the build.... buying a great MOBO and a medium CPU is a waste of money Buying the best and fastest ram and a medium CPU you don't see the value in the performance And the most of the Intel Chips come built in with video (not 6 cores ) some AMD's don't , Plus AMD chips run hotter that Intel chips , Yet I don't know what this guy is using the PC for ?? Is it on all day and night or does he shut down??
That's all......

The way it sounds the Guy can go Buy a pre built i3 for $400 and buy a few hard drives

Sorry I suggested or interfered Meg......

[pdn3307]

Windows 7 all the way. I despise Windows 8. I cant stand the fact that they got rid of the start menu to try to be more touch screen friendly.