A Query Regarding Solid State PC Systems

I am thinking about either to purchase or build a pc tower with ssd [256gb] for the OS & room for 1tb sata HD for storage. I want this to feed video to my TV such as movies etc. Would windows 7 do me just as good a job as windows 10 for this application? Would the 1tb sata HD addition, slow down the performance, such as viewing video from same ?
And then the video card, what size or type would give me the best performance. Memory about 8gb or so ?. Some ideas here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks much................

Cheap to performance
http://mymediaexperience.com/updated...commendations/

Or read this first
http://mymediaexperience.com/first-htpc-tips/

More
https://www.google.com/#q=home+theater+PC&*

Good info in those links.

I use a core i5 w/8 gigs of RAM w/Windows 7 pro on a 500G hard drive partitioned in half for OS and Storage as well as a separate USB 3.0 1 Terabyte ext hard drive for long term storage. The graphics card has HDMI, VGA and DVI outputs, as all do now anyway, so I can run my main screen via HDMI for audio/video and a smaller secondary screen/ computer monitor for aux viewing while the movie/tv/entertainment is running on the main larger TV screen.

I don't do any gaming at all so a less expensive mid level graphics card works just fine for me. If I did play then I would have spent a lot more on that.

I'm extremely pleased with how it works but if I had spare cash now or if they were cheaper when I built it a few years ago I'd definitely have the OS on a 256 G SSD but still store media on internal and/or external HDD.. that's not a problem.. data read and transfer rates are more than adequate.

Thanks guys for the info. A lot of excellent info there. Will be doing a lot of research before the plunge. Thanks again....................

SSD for the OS is a must in my book.

Update: I decided to just upgrade my present PC. I purchased an SSD, formatted it added the recovery files from the former HD, Not sure if this was actually necessary. With the recovery discs that I made up at the time of purchase (3discs) , I proceeded to install them without a single hitch. The PC is now back to factory specs (windows7) & all I need to do, is dump all the trash that comes with a new PC.
Regarding the SSD, it was not as speedy boot as I expected; took nearly 20 seconds.............

20 seconds sure beats 3 minutes.

Also, did you switch to AHCI mode for the SSD in your BIOS before you installed Windows?

You don't need to format before doing a recovery. 20 seconds is pretty fast.

If you didn't change to AHCI before reinstalling Windows, you must change the AHCI driver before changing it in the BIOS. Otherwise, you'll get a BSOD.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...the-boot-drive

Yes, I had made the AHCI switch. So far, so good. Also have a much better desktop display on the TV.

Good to hear. My boot time went from 2 minutes 40 seconds to 24 seconds with my SSD and I was very pleased with that. I also calculate that programs open in about 1/3 the time as they did on my old HDD.

Same here fink; I was kidding when I made the comment of not booting fast enough. Now when I clik on the PC , then the TV, the PC is already booted & ready to go. Before, I used to have to wait several minutes for same. And the TV is "instant on" type..

Windows 7 Premium 64bit
AMD Phenom 11x64840T Processor
6.0gb Ram
Radeon fld 6480 gpu

A Revolting Development ! I may have spoke too soon. All had been working 100% till Windows did an update like 140 plus. I lost my digtal sound. All works fine except NO sound except through analog. I've ruled out the HDMI cable. I've changed the video card, I've tried a different TV with HDMI, I've checked for a possible mute somewhere. For the life of me, I cannot think of anything else except maybe a MB failure ? Any suggestion ??

UPDATE; I finally (hopefully) got it squared away. I completely uninstalled all AMD Radeon related graphics drivers & reinstalled from cd. Afterward , kept getting message that IE quit working. Resolved that after a few stop/starts. I relaced the Radeon 6450 with a 6570 that I had on hand. Not sure if this is an improvement ? Anyway, I got my sound back & BTW, windows updates hit me with another 137 important updates. Being that this PC is used only for video watching on TV, do I need to get any more future updates?? I would just rather turn updates off............

Looks like I will have to start over & reinstall to OS. Since all of the updates, things went from bad to worse. A variety issues have evolved including: "Com Surregate has stopped working", Windows Explorer has stopped working", "VLC has stopped working". I ran a "sfc/scannow" & got these results: "Windows did not find any integrity violations". I've uninstalled & reinstalled VLC to no avail. This is becoming like the old story or adage " A race was lost because of a horse shoe nail".............

There are ways to avoid installing many/most of those updates. Here's one..

https://www.howtogeek.com/255435/how...nience-rollup/

Also don't allow MS to install any driver updates at all... set updates to notify you when updates are available but allow you to choose which to download and install yourself. If for some reason you do need drivers get them directly from the manufacturer's own website.

Thanks fink, for the website & also the info. I did a complete recovery of the system (factory) & now all is back to normal again.

Still, at least monitor Windows updates and don't allow driver installs from MS. I only ever install
important security updates and very rarely optional nonsecurity updates. If it isn't broken don't fix it.

Gotcha !! Thanks.