Questions about HDD's, SSD's, caching and performance on this spec.

[alebar]

So I have the 2.3GHz 4/8 c/t i7 and the 660m, by my best estimates those are better value for price than the 2.6Ghz and the 675m, but I am planning on heavy gaming at 1080hd and video editing + coding and compiling. As a desktop replacement, should I go up with the CPU or GPU, or will this work for my requirements? Price is an issue but I have £2000, aiming at around £1500 for the total cost.

On the issue of HDD's, SSD's and so forth, I want fast storage and a decent amount of it, so I imagine lots of money will go into this, my config lists a 7200rpm 750GB with an 8GB SSD SLC Cache, however that's actually going to be my secondary, I'm going to use a 240GB SSD (This.) as my OS and performance applications drive. Should I change configuration for storage or do you think that provides a decent performance / storage ratio?


Config:

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 15.6" AUO Matte 95% Gamut Widescreen (1920x1080) (£79)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3610QM (2.30GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (4 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660M - 1.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
750GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
2nd/3rd HDD HARD DRIVE OPTICAL BAY CADDY
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® ADVANCED-N 6235 (300Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Carry Case
TARGUS CITY GEAR 15" - 15.6" LAPTOP BACKPACK TCG650 (£39)
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£69)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£19)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,335.00 including VAT and delivery.

[Karnor00]

Not sure I'd bother getting an SSD cache for a storage drive. SSD cache drives work best when you are accessing the same information over and over (e.g. if you are using a particular program regularly) but you have your main SSD to do this job.

It's going to be less useful for a storage drive where presumably you won't keep accessing the same stored files.

As for the rest of the machine, the CPU is certainly fine. The GPU is reasonable for gaming, but if you can afford something a bit better then I'd recommend it.