Most important parts for Multitasking?

[delow]

Hey everyone am getting ready to order a Sandy Bridge upgrade but i'd like to know a few things before ordering

I want to know what are the most important parts I need to focus on for Multitasking? I havn't been told a straight answer but so far from what i've gathered is a Fast CPU Lots of Ram and SSD?

Thing is I have a tight budget so if I order a 2600k I won't be able to afford an SSD but if I go with a 2500k I can get a SSD so basically what am asking is should I get a 2500k+SSD now or 2600k and get an SSD later on?

I won't be doing anything heavy my main concern is playing a movie and game at the same time with couple browsers and programs open.

Thanks

 

[Fayd]

Hey everyone am getting ready to order a Sandy Bridge upgrade but i'd like to know a few things before ordering

I want to know what are the most important parts I need to focus on for Multitasking? I havn't been told a straight answer but so far from what i've gathered is a Fast CPU Lots of Ram and SSD?

Thing is I have a tight budget so if I order a 2600k I won't be able to afford an SSD but if I go with a 2500k I can get a SSD so basically what am asking is should I get a 2500k+SSD now or 2600k and get an SSD later on?

I won't be doing anything heavy my main concern is playing a movie and game at the same time with couple browsers and programs open.

Thanks

depending on the game, any modern computer with a midrange or above desktop processor will handle all of the above without breaking a sweat, providing it has at least 4 gb ram.

but ram is so cheap, 8gb is a good spot.
ssd's are nice for system responsiveness.

really not sure what else you're asking. the most important things for multitasking are multiple processor cores, and enough ram to hold everything. the 2500k is plenty of processor, 8gb ram is enough to hold everything. so...

 

[Rifter]

2500k + SSD way better idea than 2600k + no SSD

 

[corkyg]

An important thing for multitasking is a 64bit OS.

 

[zCypher]

HDD is the biggest bottleneck if you're talking about launching applications and using programs that frequently access the HDD. Once everything's loaded into RAM, HDD doesn't matter as much anymore. SDD will provide a dramatic improvement in your boot times, app loading times, and will allow you to launch multiple programs simultaneously without bogging down your system like an HDD.

So I'd say prioritize the SSD as being an upgrade. I don't think anyone here will recommend 2600K with no SSD over a 2500k with SSD. 2500k + SSD would provide a much better experience for what you're doing, there's no doubt about that.

You don't need lots of RAM either, so long as you don't have less than 4GB. I second the notion of getting 8GB anyway though just because you may need it before your next complete upgrade depending on how things play out, and it's always good to buy more when it's cheap. Sometimes it's not so cheap.

 

[dbcooper1]

Good advice for the 2500K and the SSD. Depending on the source for your movies, you may want a secondary drive for that; heck, some single threaded tasks do much better with separate drives for source and destination so setting that up can be equally important. Sounds like you're on the right track though.

 

[delow]

Ok thanks everyone I decided to go with the 2500k and 128gb Crucial SSD

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Best choice!

 

[greenhawk]

Just a comment to the OP as I get the impression they are assuming the RAM that people are talking about is the cache on the cpu. While cache is important, the amount you need in most cases is less important than the amount of system RAM you have.

 

[mfenn]

Ok thanks everyone I decided to go with the 2500k and 128gb Crucial SSD

Good choice. 8GB of RAM is very cheap these days ($40), so you should get that.