what do yo think the minimum specs for a pc is in 2020?

[mahyar]

35 minutes ago, Justaphysicsnerd said:

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[WereCatf]

Since there is no usecase defined, I'll just assume "a PC that is suitable for most average peoples' needs" and, with that usecase in mind, I'd say something with a CPU equivalent to an RPi4 or better, 8GB RAM, an 128GB SSD and a GPU that can decode H.264 in hardware under Windows.

 

The rationale: the tasks most people do don't require a lot of CPU-power, but H.264 - decoding is useful for Youtubes etc. One can also do gaming via cloud-gaming services, like e.g. Geforce Now, if one has H.264 - decoding. 8GB of RAM covers both Windows and a bit heavier browsing-session perfectly well. 128GB SSD because HDDs are just excruciatingly slow and 128GB has enough space for Windows, its updates, whatever ugly photos and videos people copy from their phones and a few gigabytes for the porn that the family's teenager is trying to hide from their parents. Or the husband trying to hide from the wife.

[mahyar]

1 minute ago, WereCatf said:

Since there is no usecase defined, I'll just assume "a PC that is suitable for most average peoples' needs" and, with that usecase in mind, I'd say something with a CPU equivalent to an RPi4 or better, 8GB RAM, an 128GB SSD and a GPU that can decode H.264 in hardware under Windows.

 

The rationale: the tasks most people do don't require a lot of CPU-power, but H.264 - decoding is useful for Youtubes etc. One can also do gaming via cloud-gaming services, like e.g. Geforce Now, if one has H.264 - decoding. 8GB of RAM covers both Windows and a bit heavier browsing-session perfectly well. 128GB SSD because HDDs are just excruciatingly slow and 128GB has enough space for Windows, its updates, whatever ugly photos and videos people copy from their phones and a few gigabytes for the porn that the family's teenager is trying to hide from their parents. Or the husband trying to hide from the wife.

so basically a pi 4 with a ssd as boot drive 

[WhitetailAni]

According to my school district, minimum specs:

Celeron N3060

2GB LPDDR3 1066

16GB eMMC

Passive cooling

Weighs as much as a brick

Dell big barrel charger

2x USB 3.1 Gen 1 (all on one side)

 

At least it broke so I now have:
Celeron N4000

4GB LPDDR4 2400

16GB eMMC

Passive cooling

Weighs as much as half a brick

2x USB-C charging ports - one on each side

No HDMI though - have to buy an adapter yourself

 

[whm1974]

On 10/25/2020 at 8:18 AM, WereCatf said:

Since there is no usecase defined, I'll just assume "a PC that is suitable for most average peoples' needs" and, with that usecase in mind, I'd say something with a CPU equivalent to an RPi4 or better, 8GB RAM, an 128GB SSD and a GPU that can decode H.264 in hardware under Windows.

 

The rationale: the tasks most people do don't require a lot of CPU-power, but H.264 - decoding is useful for Youtubes etc. One can also do gaming via cloud-gaming services, like e.g. Geforce Now, if one has H.264 - decoding. 8GB of RAM covers both Windows and a bit heavier browsing-session perfectly well. 128GB SSD because HDDs are just excruciatingly slow and 128GB has enough space for Windows, its updates, whatever ugly photos and videos people copy from their phones and a few gigabytes for the porn that the family's teenager is trying to hide from their parents. Or the husband trying to hide from the wife.

128GB is rather limited for local storage of Pictures and Videos. Those do take up Storage Space.

[WereCatf]

18 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

128GB is rather limited for local storage of Pictures and Videos. Those do take up Storage Space.

Yes, but the question wasn't what would I recommend. The question was what I'd consider the minimum.

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

1050ti-1070, 4th gen intel processor and 16 gb ram is should be enough 

[mahyar]

Just now, Rohith_Kumar_Sp said:

1050ti-1070, 4th gen intel processor and 16 gb ram is should be enough 

not for gaming

[whm1974]

1 hour ago, mahyar said:

not for gaming

Why not for gaming? Considering that I'm reusing the GTX 760 w/ 4GB from when I built My Rig in 2013, even the lowly 1050Ti will do fine. The 1070 especially will.

[mahyar]

2 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

Why not for gaming? Considering that I'm reusing the GTX 760 w/ 4GB from when I built My Rig in 2013, even the lowly 1050Ti will do fine. The 1070 especially will.

well its about cpu 4th gen cpus are a bit overpriced a r3 1400 can do better but it can be accepted

i myself am a lowspecgamer but cpu bottlenecks i hate very much

[whm1974]

4 minutes ago, mahyar said:

well its about cpu 4th gen cpus are a bit overpriced a r3 1400 can do better but it can be accepted

i myself am a lowspecgamer but cpu bottlenecks i hate very much

I was referring to an older computer, not building a computer with older parts...

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

2 hours ago, mahyar said:

not for gaming

Then what for? why not for gaming? if it can do gaming, it can do pretty much anything. 

[Morris_lee_9116]

my personal pick will be 
CPU: 4C/8T, core clock need to be above 4Ghz for very old platform like E3-1230V2 or smth similar
RAM: 2X8GB dual channel
GPU: RX 570 4GB/GTX 1060 3GB
PSU: at least 500W for a bit of upgradability 
Drives: at least 256GB(128 if you are really tight on budget) for OS and at least 1TB for storage(HDD is still fine)

[Morris_lee_9116]

2 minutes ago, Dean0919 said:

A lot of companies still use 4GB in their office computers. There's no need of 8GB for computer that does such basic things like browsing or playing browser games.

expect windows fucking chugs with just 4GB of ram, even if you don't game the minimum amount of memory acceptable in 2020 is 8GB

[Morris_lee_9116]

1 minute ago, Dean0919 said:

2 of my family members have 4GB RAM and the first generation of i3 with SSD and with Windows 10. Both of them are doing pretty fine.

smoothness is subjective, but i guess if it work for you then you are fine

[mahyar]

15 minutes ago, Morris_lee_9116 said:

smoothness is subjective, but i guess if it work for you then you are fine

no objective is being useable 

[whm1974]

Well I for am assuming the OP meant a New PC in 2020. Especially DIY ones. In that case:

 

Just the Box:

Quad Core CPU w/ iGPU

8GB

500GB SSD

dGPU /4GB If needed.

[Mark Kaine]

On 7/31/2020 at 10:45 AM, mahyar said:

my self think a core 2 duo 2g of ram and 8800gt 

R5 2600, 1050ti, 8GB RAM, ssd, I would say! 

 

very low spec but can play most games between 30 and 60 fps, which I consider to be the absolute minimum, not sure about your suggested specs, though I do believe this combo would have massive issues with many titles even at low settings... 

[Mark Kaine]

33 minutes ago, mahyar said:

no objective is being useable 

well tbf, usable is a lot of stuff, could get away with an Intel atom even... 

 

to me use case is also important, and that's playing 3d video games, I don't have a pc for any other reason, but yeah, if someone doesn't play games, the bar is really low. 

[mahyar]

8 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

well tbf, usable is a lot of stuff, could get away with an Intel atom even... 

 

to me use case is also important, and that's playing 3d video games, I don't have a pc for any other reason, but yeah, if someone doesn't play games, the bar is really low. 

 

13 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

R5 2600, 1050ti, 8GB RAM, ssd, I would say! 

 

very low spec but can play most games between 30 and 60 fps, which I consider to be the absolute minimum, not sure about your suggested specs, though I do believe this combo would have massive issues with many titles even at low settings... 

well the objective was never for a gaming machine it was for general purpose web browsing pc

 

[KemoKa]

It depends, as always, on your use case. If you're just browsing facebook or looking up pictures on instagram... Linux running on a Pentium M works fine. If you want to play The Latest Games at 4K 60fps™, you're going to need something a little bit more substantial.

 

For me, the vast majority of CPUs released in the past 15 years are powerful enough for me to do *something* productive with if I have nothing else to work with, but it *has* to have a solid-state drive. It doesn't have to be the fastest SSD out there, but anything I use that has something resembling a SATA connector will immediately get an SSD slapped into it, and if it doesn't...
I had a Motion Computing LE1700 with a Core Duo, and its drive interface was a tiny 40-pin IDE connector on a ribbon cable. So I got an IDE to mSATA adapter card. Super jank, but it was worth it.

The other (mostly philosophical) stipulation I have for systems I use is that they have to not be based on the Netburst architecture. Pentium 4s, Pentium Ds, Celeron Ds... the first Core 2 Duos for desktops ran circles around the Pentium Extreme Edition 965. Netburst was such a dumpster fire that Intel had to backpedal to the Pentium III for their future processors.

 

If I'm using a computer for general use and productivity, I prefer six cores or more. 

[Bombastinator]

Depends very heavily on what the computer would be used for.  It used to be cut into PC and workstation, but that has been further subdivided as capacities have increased but the needs of different purposes have not increased at the same rate.  This is why one sees prefixes on machines: “gaming PC”, “esports PC”, “streaming PC”, “education PC”, “HTPC”, etc..

[Wheresmehammer]

Core 2 Quad Q6600

4GB DDR2

GT 710

200w PSU

[RGProductions]

I'm a bit of a wimp here-

any i series quad core or better or a skylake-era + dual core

8 gigs ram (maybe 6)

ssd

[Morrie Sells Wigs]

Surely, it's entirely down to what you want to do?

 

Minimum specs for what?

 

Gaming?

 

I'm sure there are varying degrees of acceptance regarding what is usable, and, again, it's very much about what you are able or willing to accept. 

 

Fine with 720p?

 

Not fine with anything below 1080p?

 

High refresh is absolutely essential, or isn't relevant?

 

All of these questions are likely to have different answers depending on past experiences and time as a pc gamer, current system, games you want to play now and in the future, available funds, even geographic location and availability of parts...etc...etc...etc...

 

So, I'd humbly suggest that the minimum specs in 2020 are whatever you are happy with...and any funds available for an upgrade (should you want one) are a bonus. .

 

Want, mind you...not necessarily need, but want.

 

I have a 4k 60hz monitor, but use a 1440p 144hz panel most of the time to get that frame rate boost, and I have an i5 10400f, a 2060, 16gb RAM - so I'm sort of half okay for now, but I understand that if I want to keep pace with the new consoles and enjoy the next phase of software development, I will need to upgrade (my GPU?).

 

When I do this will depend on when it makes financial sense, and when I can no longer play games without it becoming a detrimental experience. 

 

Until then, I'm content - and what other people have, or want, or think of what I have, is immaterial.