Please help me spec my PC!

Toxteth_OGrady

Providing you have sufficient RAM in your system so that you are not having to page virtual memory on disk the only benefit you'll see is start up time will be quicker (once per day maybe) and the time to open a new program that isn't cached.

If you do want to go with the SSD I would strongly recommend that you also buy a storage disk for your data. You really do need to minimize writes to an SSD or its performance will drop off rapidly. Have a google for 'SSD optimization tweaks' before you commit. Does your back up strategy allow you to live without System Restore? Try to understand TRIM and the other foibles of an SSD. The new technology isn't just about the headline speeds - if you don't kniow or don't want to take all the measures needed to maintain its performance and prolong its life you will find that in a matter of weeks its performance will end up worse than the traditional hard disk we are recommending.

spakkker

My pc 160GB hd - try to keep 1/3 free
250GB hd - used for some storage ,planning to replacewith another 2TB.
2 TB hd - filling up, 300GB free.

The 2TB hd is 5400 4 platter "green" - but checks out as the fastest!
In the days of blu-ray even a compressed rip is ~ 2+GB so an 80gb drive . . . . 'nuf said .

irisandalex

Percy1983 wrote: »

Is there a reason you want a USB wireless device, I would go for a PCI card unless you want it on USB to move it to other machines?

USB just seems more flexible, I'm assuming it will perform just as well?

Means if I bring a LAN lead up to the computer I can use that wifi elsewhere.

irisandalex

Toxteth_OGrady wrote: »

If you do want to go with the SSD I would strongly recommend that you also buy a storage disk for your data. You really do need to minimize writes to an SSD or its performance will drop off rapidly. Have a google for 'SSD optimization tweaks' before you commit. Does your back up strategy allow you to live without System Restore? Try to understand TRIM and the other foibles of an SSD.

Interesting stuff, will definitely read up. I'm assuming that minimising the writes is just because the individual transistors will start failing, so making the disk smaller. Surely they don't slow down? I was assuming I'd keep my thunderbird mail files on it, do I need to rethink?

Most other stuff I use is stored in the cloud, hence I don't need much space. I have other computers in the house and external drives for large files like photos and videos.

irisandalex

spakkker wrote: »

My pc 160GB hd - try to keep 1/3 free
250GB hd - used for some storage ,planning to replacewith another 2TB.
2 TB hd - filling up, 300GB free.

The 2TB hd is 5400 4 platter "green" - but checks out as the fastest!
In the days of blu-ray even a compressed rip is ~ 2+GB so an 80gb drive . . . . 'nuf said .

I appreciate you taking the time to write, but your use case is completely different to the use I will put this computer to. It is not my media server, games machine or anything like that.....

Percy1983

By all means on the USB networking if it you want to be able to move it about then stay with the USB, I will add the USB is 150mps while the PCI card is 300mps, now you say you don't need much storage as everything is in a cloud, to which the faster the connection the better, this is assuming you have a wireless N router of course.

As a summary of how SSD's I will try to explain:

When a delete happens in windows it use forgets the file existed but leaves it in place (hence data recovery can work), now with a mechanical drive this is fine as next time it comes to use that block it will just write it again (overwrite) and all is well. With an SSD when windows comes to write the same block again the SSD has to delete the current data and then write (slowing performance massively). This is where the TRIM command comes in as it actually deletes those 'empty' blocks in windows on the SSD.

As mentioned above you have more than enough RAM so windows will will use prefetch for commonly used programs which will just as quick as an SSD.

As I say SSD is still young and I don't think its perfect yet in usage and still very expensive, even just getting the smallest hard drive you can will save you a good £50.

As I say if I wanted to spend a bit more on the PC spend that £50 on a better processor or more ram, but neiter is needed as is SSD.

Also good thought on unlocking the 4th core, if it works then great, but don't be upset if it doesn't.

irisandalex

Percy1983 wrote: »

By all means on the USB networking if it you want to be able to move it about then stay with the USB, I will add the USB is 150mps while the PCI card is 300mps, now you say you don't need much storage as everything is in a cloud, to which the faster the connection the better, this is assuming you have a wireless N router of course.

I'm on a up to 8meg broadband connection. Unless I'm completely mis-understanding, this is therefore surely much slower than even the USB wifi dongle is capable of? Am I mixing up measures?

Percy1983 wrote: »

As a summary of how SSD's I will try to explain:

When a delete happens in windows it use forgets the file existed but leaves it in place (hence data recovery can work), now with a mechanical drive this is fine as next time it comes to use that block it will just write it again (overwrite) and all is well. With an SSD when windows comes to write the same block again the SSD has to delete the current data and then write (slowing performance massively). This is where the TRIM command comes in as it actually deletes those 'empty' blocks in windows on the SSD.

As mentioned above you have more than enough RAM so windows will will use prefetch for commonly used programs which will just as quick as an SSD.

As I say SSD is still young and I don't think its perfect yet in usage and still very expensive, even just getting the smallest hard drive you can will save you a good £50.

As I say if I wanted to spend a bit more on the PC spend that £50 on a better processor or more ram, but neiter is needed as is SSD.

Thanks for that, I've also been doing some reading following Toxtech_OGrady's post. As you mention, with TRIM and Windows 7, the performance should not degrade over time and it sounds like the SDD will last at least two/three years before wearing out, which is plenty.

I guess you're right, it's not something I need, but I figure for my purposes the processor I'm getting will give 'almost instant' performance with the applications I use. So it seems worth getting the SDD (which is big enough for me) to get that 'almost instant' performance when loading programs.

Maybe I'm very wrong about how fast the processor will be for me though.....

Percy1983

Well for distributing you internet you are correct there is no advnatage to a faster connection, I am more thinking runnign thinging from other computers within you network, things like large file transfers or streaming videos etc will benefit from the faster connection. Why that 150mps is fast so it would take some pushing to top it out.

I think with the SSD we have given you the disadvantages and as long as you have read up and understand and are happy paying more than £1 per gigabyte and don't need more storage then I would say go ahead there is a gain to be had (however small) so its not completly silly.

All I would do is make sure you lookup the SSD models out there (mostly look into the controllers they use) as the difference between drives performance can be massive (unlike mechanical drives where the difference is minimal).

irisandalex

I will report back!

Only question now is when will ebuyer deliver. Do they really take 5 days with their free delivery????

custardy

irisandalex wrote: »

I will report back!

Only question now is when will ebuyer deliver. Do they really take 5 days with their free delivery????

it depends
its like Amazon where it depends on how busy they are and how much work the pickers/dispatchers have on
TBH i use Scan more, as i get free next day delivery with DPD and it worth them being a wee bit dearer on some stuff