Advice on a minor upgrade - which of these should I choose?

[AmberClad]

So with all of the Christmas spending out of the way, I'm looking towards doing some minor upgrades when January rolls around. Looking for some input into which of these upgrades would be most worthwhile for me:

Choice 1) Replacing my current Dell 17" LCD (with 4:3 aspect ratio) with an Acer AL2216Wbd 22" widescreen LCD. [~$200]

Choice 2) Replacing my Audigy 2 ZS with an X-Fi XtremeGamer/X-Fi XtremeMusic/Auzentech Prelude.

Choice 3) Adding a few more gigs of RAM. (Oblivion is the only real killer for me, as far as only having 2GB) [~$40 for +2GB, ~$80 for +4GB]

Choice 4) Wireless keyboard for HTPC use. [up to $70]

I've been going back and forth about which of these to go with first, so I want to hear some opinions from you guys.

 

[AmberClad]

You've all decided to hit the egg nog early, I see ...
So after Googling a bit, it appears that the X-Fi XtremeMusic is no longer being sold, so I guess I'll have to strike that off my list.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

I guess you can always use more RAM or a bigger screen... I'm not really sure why you would want a wireless keyboard...

 

[Blain]

#4 with a Gyration GO 2.4GHz KB & Mouse.
I've got the compact KB version... get the full sized.

 

[cozumel]

All dependant and what you use it for, but I would be upgrading the monitor to a larger model. So option #1 I guess!!!

 

[AmberClad]

I just dropped by Staples for something else, and ended up looking at the LCDs out on display. These things make my little Dell LCD look puny :|. I can feel myself getting screen envy .

And #1 does seem to be winning so far.

 

[Fardor]

The monitor is most important.

 

[JustaGeek]

Originally posted by: AmberClad
So with all of the Christmas spending out of the way, I'm looking towards doing some minor upgrades when January rolls around. Looking for some input into which of these upgrades would be most worthwhile for me:

Choice 1) Replacing my current Dell 17" LCD (with 4:3 aspect ratio) with an Acer AL2216Wbd 22" widescreen LCD. [~$200]

Choice 2) Replacing my Audigy 2 ZS with an X-Fi XtremeGamer/X-Fi XtremeMusic/Auzentech Prelude.

Choice 3) Adding a few more gigs of RAM. (Oblivion is the only real killer for me, as far as only having 2GB) [~$40 for +2GB, ~$80 for +4GB]

Choice 4) Wireless keyboard for HTPC use. [up to $70]

I've been going back and forth about which of these to go with first, so I want to hear some opinions from you guys.

These would be my recommendations.

And extra 2GB of RAM is all you need. By the time you require more RAM, you'll need a new CPU and MB, and the DDR3 RAM.

Assuming that your setup will last at least another 2 years. That's what I am planning to do with mine, which is so similar to yours.

 

[corkyg]

I would do them all in this order:

1. Monitor
2. RAM
3. Keyboard (maybe not at all - I don't plan to type more than 4-5 feet from the system.)

 

[Arcanedeath]

Originally posted by: corkyg
I would do them all in this order:

1. Monitor
2. RAM
3. Keyboard (maybe not at all - I don't plan to type more than 4-5 feet from the system.)

I'll 2nd this

 

[Laogeodritt]

Personally, I think that upgrading the sound card would be pretty useless?do you really have a need for anything the X-Fi has that the Audigy ZS doesn't? For people who don't work with music, recordings, etc., I've never seen anything past having a relatively recent non-integrated card very critical.

If you find yourself frequently lacking in memory during the day (as in you end up lagging whenever you switch focus due to page file swapping), I'd go with that. Otherwise, monitor.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

DEF #1, sound card is useless, and 2gb is enough!

 

[JustaGeek]

Extra 2GB for 40 bucks more is not going to put a big dent in your budget.

I would still recommend that on the 64-bit platform.

Monitor + memory. With some research, you can have both for ~$250.

Good luck!

 

[AmberClad]

So it sounds relatively unanimous then - throw down some money for a nicer monitor and some more RAM.

I might get a wireless keyboard at some point - my rig does double duty as an HTPC, so it might be handy when I'm plopped down in front of the TV instead of working at the computer. Not too urgent though.

And since no one picked option #2, I'll just cross that one off. Sounds good, thanks for the feedback guys!