New Developer build (SQL, VS, VM, CS)

Ok... I am trying to figure out how to approach your build here. As soon as you say SQL I want to know what you are doing and what your databases are doing. What SQL version are you running and what are the requirements for it? SQL likes RAM and SQL like disk I/O. So if you are running VM's you may want even 32GB of RAM depending on what you are doing. I'm a SQL admin at work so I plan systems all the time. Below are a few things to think about.

SQL:
- How much RAM are you going to need? SQL will use whatever you throw at it and allocate to each instance of SQL, although you can configure the max RAM it will use. Is it just SQL databases or are you doing SSAS or SSRS? How many SQL instances are you intending to run, or just a single default?
- Good practice with SQL is to separate out DATA, Transaction Logs, and TempDB to separate spindles or disk arrays for better IO. This way they are not battling for the same disks. You can always keep the TempDB on the same spindles as your Databases, but at least separate your transaction logs to another disk.
- Consider SSD's. However depending on how much space you need this might be cost prohibitive. Another thing to consider is that consumer hard drives are MLC and SQL will read/write alot so it could reduce the life of your drives. Although with newer drives it might be fine for several years. Intel SSDs come with the SSD toolbox that will check your estimated drive life. With a 120GB SSD running like $90 it may not be within your means to get a small drive for logs, assuming you are using a simple recovery method. Then get a larger drive for databases. The 240GB Intel 330 drive is just under $200. SQL jobs will just so much faster under an SSD. However, if you need capacity, I would suggest small RAID 0's. Just remember to backup.

Video editing:
- I don't think you need a 6950 if you are not doing much gaming. However, a small card I believe helps with certain graphic items and Adobe will actually recognize your GPU and take advantage of it.
-Video editing can also take advantage of alot of RAM and if you are running VMs with SQL you want all the RAM you can muster. I say 32GB.
-Video editing will also like fast disks. So it may not be a bad idea to have a separate disk just for your video files.


Ok so in addition to the above rambling here are my answers to your numbered questions. I am sure everyone else will have a different take.
1) It will be stable, but slow. I think you will run into slow disk IO. Your PC sounds like you are going to multi-task the living poop out of it.
2) No you don't need a dedicated video card, but it may help with Adobe and will not use RAM for video ram, which will be precious to you.
3) If you have no intention to overclock, you don't need the "k" version. You can still overclock a "non-K" CPU, you just can't change the multiplier.
4) I still say you should get 32GB of RAM right out of the gate. I agree with your memory intensive apps. If you do go with 16GB, get the 2 8GB sticks. I have a feeling you will run it a week or two and want to double up.


BTW. What is your budget? Or are you just being cost effective, but practice and budget is flexible?