Need a desktop with tons of memory

[Happy Panther]

I think

Apple TV is the main culprit. An HD movie is 1.5 gig and I am constantly downloading stuff. Both the wife and I are memory intensive as well on our laptops.

So i was thinking of just buying a cheap desktop with as much memory as possible as the download central spot.

Does that make sense?

[Gazi]

Why aren't you deleting movies and shows that you watch?

[Galvatron]

If you aren't going to delete the movies and shows, just get a Terabyte or so external drive

[mmmbeans]

external drives ftw.

and when you say "memory" people think you mean RAM.

[Porn Shop Clerk]

I'd suggest an external too, so you can port it around from pc to laptop without having to send it over the network.

Hell, you might need 2 terabytes though.

[blackcatgrowl]

I'm going to disagree with the external sentiment here. External drives can get bumped around and have needle crashes or other problems. They also have generally slower access speeds by virtue of USB 2.0 (625 MB/s) vs. SATA (3.0 GB/s, more than 4x faster). Managing large files on an external drive can be gruelingly slow.

Within the next 2 years, I'm planning on building a Media Center PC, and will be getting (at minimum), 4x 2 Terabyte drives. Two will be the main data drives, and the other two will be clones of the two drives in case of a HDD crash. If I go through the trouble of putting my movies on a hard disk, losing them is just simply not something I want to contend with. If they have larger drives by the time I move on this box, I'll use those instead.

I'd definitely go internal 2TB with a 2nd clone drive at minimum.

[Happy Panther]

Why aren't you deleting movies and shows that you watch?

I don't even know. i think we delete a lot but things just add up

[Galvatron]

I'm going to disagree with the external sentiment here. External drives can get bumped around and have needle crashes or other problems. They also have generally slower access speeds by virtue of USB 2.0 (625 MB/s) vs. SATA (3.0 GB/s, more than 4x faster). Managing large files on an external drive can be gruelingly slow.

Within the next 2 years, I'm planning on building a Media Center PC, and will be getting (at minimum), 4x 2 Terabyte drives. Two will be the main data drives, and the other two will be clones of the two drives in case of a HDD crash. If I go through the trouble of putting my movies on a hard disk, losing them is just simply not something I want to contend with. If they have larger drives by the time I move on this box, I'll use those instead.

I'd definitely go internal 2TB with a 2nd clone drive at minimum.

If you're worried about it getting bumped around, pay the extra cash and go solid state.

[SorthNarolina]

solid state is really expensive. Not worth the premium unless you REALLY want fast storage or you just have a lot of disposable income.

Don't go external because sometimes the video can't even playback without choppiness because the data rate is so slow.

Installing an internal hard drive is easy as long as you don't bounce it off the floor.

By an internal drive from newegg.com on black friday and install it yourself. Don't be intimidated.

[Scrumtrilescent]

If you can't go SSD, get a Lacie Rugged HD. eSATA connection and I love mine. I'm pretty sure I could throw it off the top of my work and it'd still boot up.

[Porn Shop Clerk]

solid state is really expensive. Not worth the premium unless you REALLY want fast storage or you just have a lot of disposable income.

Don't go external because sometimes the video can't even playback without choppiness because the data rate is so slow.

Installing an internal hard drive is easy as long as you don't bounce it off the floor.

By an internal drive from newegg.com on black friday and install it yourself. Don't be intimidated.

This is true. HD upgrades are probably the easiest thing to do.

But I like having a portable HD that's fast. Some of these newer externals can swap 4 gb out in less than 2 mins.

What about a data server. Never fuged with one of those before.

[SorthNarolina]

media servers aren't too hard I've never done one though. I've been thinking about making one for panther games, I found an amazing torrent site that has games all the way back to 95.

I'm kind of scared the NFL would sue me if I started to mass distribute games though. I have no idea how they would lose revenue over it. They should just sell freaking game tapes. I don't get why they don't except it would be tricky sorting out who gets the money since FOX and CBS etc. would want in on it.

[Porn Shop Clerk]

I know if I had everything set up right, a nice little dedicated server with 4 tb of HD would be sweeeeeeeeeeeet.

But I don't watch that many flicks or shows.

Now that I'm looking into a 42" flatscreen for the living room I might.