New Computer Specs

[Bubby Grub]

Hi All,
I am in the market for getting a new computer built, kind of a long story, but my hubby accidentally knocked my desktop out
of the car when we were transporting it to our holiday home. We have accidental coverage so hopefully all will be fine.
Listed below are the specs on one of our Desktops, which I am sure can be improved on, I would very much appreciate any thoughts. I use dual monitors one 27" Samsung, and 22" Samsung. Full HD Video Editing, using PE7, AE, CS6 Photoshop, Premier Pro etc. I like to have two HD, one which is dedicated to the Video Editing.
I realise this is kind of old fashioned but one of my drives I like to partition, leaving me the opportunity to save different things on a
particularly designed drive with back-ups on external of course.
When this desktop was built a couple of years ago I did consider a Sata Drive, but was a little to expensive at the time.
Question should I look at that now.
Also this time around a Blu-Ray Burner are there any particular brands I should consider. As to the hard drives are Seagate and WD
still the best. Naturally I still have a Win7 version, should I look at going with Win8, any feed back on what you guys think of 8 would
be most appreciated.
I am not really up with all the tech know-how on power supply etc, so any help would be greatly appreciated, I am also guessing 16GBs of Ram.
CPU i7 860 (Quadcore 2.8)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3P
Memory: 4Gb of DDR3 x 2
Hard Drive: 2 x 1TB
Case: Prescott Case w/600w. PSU
Video Card: Nvidia 250 1GbCard Reader: Multi Card Reader
Optical: 2 x DVD Burners
Sound Card: 5.1SS.
If anyone could help with a list of specs which I could take to a couple of Computer Stores would be much appreciated. Unfortunately I don't have a great deal of faith in what some of the guys in the stores tell me, if you heard some of the things I have been told you would understand, what I am saying.
Thanks in advance
Bubby Grub

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

There are a couple of things that I would change but, at the end of the day, it all comes down to what your budget is.

If I was in the running for an upgrade which at present (and sadly) I am not, then my choices would be i7 3770K, a Z77 motherboard, an SSD for the opsys and programs.

My preference for HDDs is WD but, having said that, I have four Seagate ST2000DM001 in my NAS and, so far, they are performing well (and are cheaper than the WD equivalent).

For BD burner I have had an LG unit for a few years now with no problems. For the video card I would also consider a CUDA card from the Adobe approved list.

Finally, I would go Win 7 Pro 64 bit. Yes, I know that Win 8 is out but quite honestly for my purposes I see no compelling advantage in moving to Win 8.

[Bubby Grub]

Thanks John for your input.
I will consider an SSD Drive for the opsys & programs.
Still sitting on the fence regards to Win 8 and Win7 64 bit which I have.
Just wondering if anyone out there has had experience with it and do they like it or not.
A friend of mine recently upgraded his notebook and now has Win 8, unfortunately he is not much
help as he does not do a great deal on the computer, and his last one was XP. I have heard it does
take a bit of a learning curve, but once over that it is great, that is just what I have heard. Once I get
some specs together I will list it on for any comments. Thanks again BG

[Bob]

I agree with John on the i7 3770K and Z77 motherboard if I were going to upgrade. If you aren't the sort that wants overclock you could get a standard i7 3770 instead of the "K" model and save some money. I'd still go with the z77 motherboard.

Make sure you don't get the "green" hard drives. Stick with the higher speed 7200 rpm drives.

[Bubby Grub]

Thanks Bob, all advice most appreciated
BG

[momoffduty]

Since you have After Effects, I would suggest basing the specs on AE's requirements. I have Windows 7 and very happy. My tech guy said his business is booming fixing computers with Windows 8. He didn't go into detail and they may have other problems.

[Bob]

Speaking of which, which version do you have of AE and Premier Pro? You said you have Photoshop CS6, are the others CS6 also?

I forgot to mention RAM. Don't scrimp. I'd consider 8GB to be the minimum, but consider getting at least 16GB if you are going to be using AE much. I currently have 8GB, but I'm finding that I could definitely benefit from more with the AE CS6 projects I'm doing. Especially since I am also using dynamic link more than I used to. I will be upgrading shortly. One thing to keep in mind, Windows Home Edition has a 16GB RAM limit. You would need Windows Pro to use more than 16GB. I have Windows 7 Pro 64-bit. I'm not planning on Windows 8 at this time.

Also, be sure you have an adequate power supply.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

....Also, be sure you have an adequate power supply.

Good point!

[Gerlinde]

Bubby, I use Windows 8 Pro on both, my new desktop and Labtop ( see signature ). I have no complains and I actually really like it. At first I was confused by the new interface, but got over it in no time.
I built the new desktop myself and am really happy with it. Here is the thread about the process of deciding what to do:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11420

and this might be interesting too:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11515

[Bubby Grub]

Hi All,

Thanks all for the input, Bob thanks for the thought re Win7 Home Edition and Pro, did not stop to think about the limitations
on the Ram with Home Edition, I was definitly planning on 16gb, but was considering going to 32gb. In the end it will all come down
to cost, but want to get the best possible for the dollar. Thanks gpecht for the input on Win 8. I do have a friend running win 8,
not that he is much help as does not do to much with any computer. Maybe I might be able to have a play on his computer,
just to see what I think of 8, even just for a quick look. Once I get some complete specs together will post for further comments,
all help is much appreciated.

Thanks again
BG