Decisions, Decisions ... Build one or two system like this??

[ilbarbaro]

Folks,

Been trolling for a bit trying to get different perspectives, but figured I'd just ask.

I currently have this old desktop:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?dlc=en&lc=en&os=228&product=470506&lang=en&cc=us&docname=c00389438

Definitely long in the tooth so itching to build (or buy if logical) a new system especially for regular web/Office work, definitely video editing (fast encoding!), and likely supporting 2-3 VMs occasionally.

I've played with the ideas of:

 

[rolli59]

Build a new one when Sandy Bridge is out!

 

[ilbarbaro]

(Woops .. fat finger submit .. sorry)

Left out that I also want to do file sharing across multiple computers and media devices including my PS3.

1. Building a mega system that can do everything (I probably won't be doing much gaming though)
2. Building a mega system that can do most things but then setting my old PC up as a file/media server box with a hard drive array connected to it (Note it does have 3Mb RAM and an eSATA card in addition to standard specs)

For the replacement PC, I was thinking something like this:

- i7 950 or higher processor (Intel to get the hyperthreading for encoding)
- SSD drive (to get the speed for encoding/editing)
- 8GB of ram (should be plenty to also run a VM or two)
- 1GB Video Card (ATI or nVidia but leaning towards nVidia
- 500W Xfinity PSU (since I already have one sitting new in a box from a couple years ago)
- Other standard stuff like a multi-reader/burner drive, card reader, etc.

I'm trying to stay around $1,000 bucks. Then I see deals like this:
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/1062190/

and start thinking it will do the job well enough while providing portability, especially if I can set my current old PC up as a media server.

So what do you guys think?

Could I get by just fine with a laptop like that and go media server with plenty of storage for my old PC? Or am I better off building a desktop from scratch with all the optimal components?

Can my old system pull the weight of being a media server if I add a hard drive array to it?

 

[ilbarbaro]

Rolli,

Are you suggesting to build my own PC WITH a Sandy Bridge processor once they are out OR with the previous generation i7 9xx processor since they should drop in price a lot?

 

[rolli59]

I think that Sandy Bridge might be close to comparable but at least it might affect the prices on LGA1366.