Desktop for General & Office Use, Video & Video Editing, bit of gaming

Hi all,

I am speccing a new desktop for myself and my family. In addition to the typical PC usage we do some video editing using Corel VideoStudio. We aren't doing masses of this but I like to play and as the children get older, etc it needs to be able to do this. So far I've been using a (decent) laptop and it's clearly heavy for it. I also want to watch on demand TV (BBC Iplayer, C4 OD) plus a bit of you tubing. Therefore I'd like something that can drive a high quality screen. The children do some gaming but I don't need a super gaming machine. Something that can handle Minecraft for example or maybe GTA or whatever it is. At the moment they uses the Ipad but another option would be useful. We have a lot of photos and music - although a while ago I bought a NAS with 1TB storage. The main computer in the house at the moment, the laptop, has 640GB of which I believe half is used. Wife works from home occasionally and uses Citrix to connect to the office. Want something cool, quiet and low maintenance. Not unlimited finance but prepared to go over £1k if necessary. Want fast booting and fast running of apps. Sometimes do some scanning and printing. Sorry for the random list of requirements.

I built a desktop 15 years ago but a) things have moved on and b) I'm not time rich so going for this option.

Without further ado this is my first stab at a spec:

Processor (CPU): Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690 (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache
Case: COOLERMASTER ELITE 311 BLUE CASE
Motherboard: ASUS® Z97-A: ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE
Memory (RAM): 16GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card: 4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk: 1TB Samsung 850 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive: 16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
Memory Card Reader: INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply: CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (£69)
Processor Cooling: Corsair H55 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£39)
Thermal Paste: STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card: ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking: WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
USB Options: MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable: 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System: Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Windows 10 Upgrade: FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases*

Case was a bit of a stab in the dark as not sure if there is anything specific to look for. But I didn't go for the cheapest!
Motherboard: Sort of based on another spec I'd seen but a bit random.
Memory: Someone on another forum said at least 16GB would be a good idea for video editing. Could I get away with 8?
Graphics Card: Again bit random though I figure I need something higher end for what I specified above.
Unsure whether to buy SSHD, SSD or M.2 SSD Drive combined with a normal HDD? What drives that decision?
Are the Ultra Quiet PSUs worth it? Is 650W OK for the spec?
Sound card, I think I need more than the standard but not sure what?
Blue Ray write handy?
Any other thoughts.

Any help and advice would be much appreciated.

Above all else I don't want to buy something completely inappropriate. I can leave with, this might have been slightly better

This is priced up at £1,249 including VAT which is higher than I'd hoped but is perhaps what is required to do the job.

Layne

For your budget I would drop down to the tripple copper heatpipe cooler, watercooling is for overclocking and not necessary generally.

Also, I'd opt for a 250 SSD (Samsung Evo is a good choice) and a 1Tb Caviar black, then you've got the speed of SSD for programs and size for storage.

I would then use the extra to up the graphics to the GTX970 for more bang for cuda processing and gaming.

Other than that looks good.

SpyderTracks said:

For your budget I would drop down to the tripple copper heatpipe cooler, watercooling is for overclocking and not necessary generally.

Also, I'd opt for a 250 SSD (Samsung Evo is a good choice) and a 1Tb Caviar black, then you've got the speed of SSD for programs and size for storage.

I would then use the extra to up the graphics to the GTX970 for more bang for cuda processing and gaming.

Other than that looks good.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice Spyder which all makes sense. Using the SSD/Caviar, is there anything I need to know config wise etc either when it arrives or later.

Just specify the SSD as the primary drive and the Caviar as the secondary and they'll install windows onto the SSD.

Personally, I reorganise my windows folders like downloads, movies, music, documents etc to the new d: (data) drive on the caviar. Then if i'm installing any cloud storage like oneDrive or DropBox, I'll specify to keep them also on the caviar.

Other than that, I'd put all my programs and games on the c: drive (ssd). That way you should retain plenty of space on the c: drive going forward, and then have any data on the caviar which you're not accessing so much and therefor speed isn't so important.

If I am watching online TV, music videos, do I need to get a better soundcard than the standard?

Layne said:

If I am watching online TV, music videos, do I need to get a better soundcard than the standard?

Click to expand...

I would suggest trying onboard audio first ,which should be pretty good anyway, before adding a soundcard

keynes said:

I would suggest trying onboard audio first ,which should be pretty good anyway, before adding a soundcard

Click to expand...

I would agree wholeheartedly. I used to use soundcards until about 7 years ago since when on board sound has been very good. The Asus boards sound is especially good. As @keynes says, I'd trial the on board and then workout if you want separates.

Cheers chaps