PC Spec - About to order

[Bohemian Simian]

Just about to order a PC here, and just posting to pass time while stock levels are amended.

PC generally for creative digital apps, like CS5.
In approx 18 months I'll consider upgrades including:
- Extra 12GB RAM (3 x 4GB)
- Extra GTX470 GPU (will have wired LAN in room by then, so wireless N card will make way for space).
- Extra/New boot SSD (next gen, when arrives)
- And will then need a new PSU to cope! (Well, 750W may run extra RAM and SSD).
But all in all, hoping this'll serve me well for the next few years:

Case: COOLERMASTER SILEO 500 QUIET MID TOWER CASE

Processor (CPU): Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-950 (3.06GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache

Motherboard: ASUS® P6X58D-E: DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, 3-Way SLI

Memory (RAM): 12GB SAMSUNG DDR3 TRI-DDR3 1333MHz (3 x 4GB)

Graphics Card: 1280MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX470 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11 + MAFIA II

Memory - 1st Hard Disk:
80GB Intel® X25-M 2.5" SSD (34nm / upto 250MB/sR | 70MB/sW)***SPECIAL***
2nd Hard Disk:
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
3rd Hard Disk:
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
RAID 1 (MIRRORED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD) (£9)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive:
4x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ROM (£35)
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive:
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Memory Card Reader: INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply & Case Cooling: CORSAIR 750W PSU (TX750) 80+ ULTRA QUIET (£88)
Processor Cooling: SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)

Sound Card: ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities: WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
USB Options: 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Firewire & Video Editing: 1 x IEEE 1394a FIREWIRE PORT ONBOARD

Operating System: Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£109)

Keyboard & Mouse: Logitech® Cordless Desktop Wave™ Laser Mouse &
Keyboard Combo (£48)

'Extras'
Surge Protection: 6 Socket Compact 2M UFO Surge Protector + Auto Power Off Function (£18)
Warranty: 3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£69)
Build Time: FAST TRACK 5 WORKING DAY DISPATCH (£39)

Price: £1,617.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[Gorman]

Very nice, bear in mind that SLI will only benefit games, as i see that in your list of later upgrades.

Also RAID mirror will protect against drive failiure but not deletion/ infection / corruption. Important data = external backup.

 

[Rakk]

If you know you're going to have to upgrade the power, it's best to do it now, because I've heard changing power supplies can be a right pain

 

[Bohemian Simian]

Well - it's ordered!

RAID - Yeah, that's simply for drive failure cover. I've currently got 3 external HDDs (all 500GB) I use for back-ups, and when funds allow I'm getting a dual NAS drive (also mirrored to protect drive failure) which will ALSO allow me to back up via eSATA. That and I'm considering also converting an old PC into a network drive. Plus, as lots of work is around web sites, I've got massive online hosting space sorted for yet more copies of customers work/data!
- I'm trying to cover all angles ;-)

SLi / extra GPU: It is the last choice of upgrade, and if it turns out getting a 2nd card won't help for Video Editing etc then I may leave it off altogether.
- Hence I got a 750W PSU, which should support an extra SSD and full 24GB RAM with spare - which will be the next upgrade.
- If Adobe and others change their apps further, such as better multi-core support, and stuff like Sli, then I can extend the life of the machine with an extra card and bigger PSU.
If not, and my business is working out well, I'll get a better machine and this is back-up.

But here's hoping it'll be my workhorse for the foreseeable future!

 

[Bohemian Simian]

If you know you're going to have to upgrade the power, it's best to do it now, because I've heard changing power supplies can be a right pain

Yeah, I thought that - but I'll only need to upgrade the PSU in 18+ months time, AND ONLY IF Abobe/Creative Apps I'm using then will work with dual GPU's.
It should be enough for the ram and extra SSD/HDD at 750W though.