New Desktop, breakdown of requirements

Palladio · May 16, 2011

Hi there,
I'm looking to renew my current Desktop and just need to get some requirements straight in my head.

Idea at the moment is Intel i5 overclocked, 1 or 1.5 Tb hard drive, min 6 usb's at back and 2 at front (is usb3 worth while) , Blu ray drive (read only) 8gb ram .

Use is primarily business/standard home use plus very large music db (would like iTunes to open much quicker) and ever growing film db plus 10 years of Digital photos all streamed via Apple TV's. Some photo software used but not to a great degree but may start using photoshop or similar soon. Very few games played (Fallout 3 is about it) but DVDs and CD's copied and converted regularly and that seems to max out current machine. I have plenty of external HDD for backups etc.

It is worth considering SDD (60gb) for speeding start up and will it help iTunes run quick if there is enough room on a 60gb SDD ? I have no real idea on Video card requirements or Sound card either. I use a decent pair of headphones or Audio Engine 2 speakers and when I get some time will be converting all my vinyl as well. Will aslo think about using two monitors in the future.

Been looking at Overclockers, PCspecialist or wired2fire but they are all more games orientated so hoping I can save money on video cards etc. Is 8gb ram overkill ?

Any general advice much appreciated. Target price around £850 if possible.
Just want a bit of future proofing if poss but not overkill for my needs.

baker025p · May 16, 2011

more web sites for you
scan
ebuyer.com
novatech

Palladio · May 16, 2011

Thanks baker,
Already tried eBuyer and not much there.
Novatech interesting but couldn't see anywhere to configure your own machine.
Spending some time checking out Scan but initially looks more expensive.

Thing is if I'm not going to be doing any serious gaming how much money could I be wasting :facepalm:

baker025p · May 17, 2011

how about bulid it your self ?

it would be a cheaper

i was just looking on overclocker uk

in the components - Processor at overclocked cpu

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz @ 4.60GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM

£170

ProphetRNG · May 17, 2011

I think for what you want you only need a i3 with 4gb

Palladio · May 17, 2011

Thanks for the replies.

I had though about doing it myself but don't really feel confident enough to do a complete build, nor have the time and would rather have someone else to blame when things go wrong.

I bit more research would suggest I over specced this and don't really need a seperate Sound card or Graphics card as the new Processors will be able to handle anything I need. Hardly any gaming and all the AV gear is downstairs.
I think I would like to stick with the i5 to help future proof it but maybe start with 4gb ram and upgrade later if needs be.

Also thinking that 2x500 gb internal drives may be a better option than one 1tb HDD. Easier to organise and unlikely they would both fail.
Still don't know if having a SDD would be worthwhile though. Would it speed up iTunes or is it the size of the music folder that slows it down (275gb at the moment)

Does it make any difference to streaming the music and films to the Apple TV's (wired not wifi) as to whether they reside on a internal HDD or an external drive ?