Need help with choose pc upgrade

[nasorpc]

done it from specialtech. thanks again. Now that the hardware is all done, i can rest and so can the rest of you, pheeeew! lol

[nasorpc]

Hi guys, just wanted to let you know that i've now received the motherboard, cpu, ssd hdd and 2 120mm fans from ebuyer. I'm waiting for the rest...can't help but feel excited!

[csgohan4]

take some photos and post your build, it'll nice to see it from start to finish

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Posting some build pictures would be nice!!

[big_hairy_rob]

According to tomshardware CPU charts, Spec2 (the i5) wipes the floor with the A10 in almost every category, so I would suggest this one.

[Biscuit]

According to tomshardware CPU charts, Spec2 (the i5) wipes the floor with the A10 in almost every category, so I would suggest this one.

Did you even read the thread?

nasorpc - just to give you a heads up on what to expect from USB3.0 with a portable drive. I have a 1TB western digital elements drive which is a little bus powered one, i just set off a huge transfer and its hovering between 50 and 80MBps.

[nasorpc]

@ csgohan4 and cat - thats the least i can do guys, although i don't think my build will look very pretty, lol

@big_hairy_rob - sorry, but what a ridiculous comparision...A10 costs around £90, whereas the i5 costs £130-£170. If you want to compare then you need to match it according like-for-like to what the user is prepared to pay upto. It's like saying a Ferrari will wipe the floor with the Vauxhall Corsa...of course it will! Pay the price and you get the best!

@ Biscuit - thanks for letting me know mate. How does that compare to speed transfers if the drive was connected via sata cable instead? Which one would be faster?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

@big_hairy_rob - sorry, but what a ridiculous comparision...A10 costs around £90, whereas the i5 costs £130-£170. If you want to compare then you need to match it according like-for-like to what the user is prepared to pay upto. It's like saying a Ferrari will wipe the floor with the Vauxhall Corsa...of course it will! Pay the price and you get the best!

Exactly. People all of a sudden have discovered a more expensive CPU is faster than a cheaper one. It does seem this is more common than ever since SB was released for some reason. I think that since overclocking was locked from cheaper Intel CPUs, and now only expensive ones can be overclocked,it seems people think they are better value now for some weird reason,since they can be overclocked.

[Biscuit]

@ Biscuit - thanks for letting me know mate. How does that compare to speed transfers if the drive was connected via sata cable instead? Which one would be faster?

With eSATA it should be about the same as USB3 because the limitation is on the speed that the drive is capable of rather than the interface between the drive and the PC.

[nasorpc]

Exactly. People all of a sudden have discovered a more expensive CPU is faster than a cheaper one. It does seem this is more common than ever since SB was released for some reason. I think that since overclocking was locked from cheaper Intel CPUs, and now only expensive ones can be overclocked,it seems people think they are better value now for some weird reason,since they can be overclocked.

I get right cheesed off when people do such comparisons as it gives an unfair picture of the cheaper cpu/gpu as mediocre, when there is a massive price difference to consider, between the cheap and much more expensive component.

With eSATA it should be about the same as USB3 because the limitation is on the speed that the drive is capable of rather than the interface between the drive and the PC.

Thats brilliant mate. The reason i was asking, was because i don't want to put in an internal hdd and simply want to keep a external hdd which will have ethernet connection too. This way, i can download everything to the external hdd and share it around the house...does that sound like a good idea or should i simply get a NAS?

[Biscuit]

Thats brilliant mate. The reason i was asking, was because i don't want to put in an internal hdd and simply want to keep a external hdd which will have ethernet connection too. This way, i can download everything to the external hdd and share it around the house...does that sound like a good idea or should i simply get a NAS?

NAS would be my preference, infact i have 2 of them A hard drive with an ethernet connection pretty much is a NAS anyway, which ones in particular were you looking at?

I thought you built a NAS like a year ago or something anyway?

[kmac]

if OP builds a NAS he will have to change his forum name to nasandpc

[nasorpc]

@ Biscuit - yes that was the original plan, to get a NAS for sharing movies etc, whilst protecting data from kids, but after discussing it with you guys, i decided to stick with a normal desktop HTPC. However this HTPC has Win 8, which boots in less than 15 seconds. I then created 3 seperate user accounts on windows - ADMIN, KIDS and MEDIAPC. The admin is unlimited, the kids account is very limited with access to only certain folders on a seperate drive...they don't have any access to C drive.
The MediaPC account runs a batch process that boots straight to XBMC (No explorer), disables and media keys and enables a media remote. The pc is setup to be used for school work etc in the living room. It then has a hdmi cable running approx 7-10metres, hidden along the floor straight to an 46" LCD TV. When the kids want to do school work, they simply login to family account, but when we allow them to watch a movie, they login to XBMC, which then can be watched on the big tv. What do you think? Is that good setup?

I'm just thinking how i can combine my pc, the pc downstairs and store media in one location, accessible by everyone...if it's not convenient, then i'll just get a normal usb 3.0 external hdd.

@ kmac - lol! I might just do that

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

How did the build go??

[nasorpc]

hi cat mate,

still waiting for the psu, fan dust filters, gfx card, ram and dvd-drive to arrive...hopefully that will be tomorrow.

Can i go ahead and build the pc without the fan filters and add them later? I think they are not going to arrive until next week.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

hi cat mate,

still waiting for the psu, fan dust filters, gfx card, ram and dvd-drive to arrive...hopefully that will be tomorrow.

Can i go ahead and build the pc without the fan filters and add them later? I think they are not going to arrive until next week.

It should be fine IMHO.