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Getting the Upgrade Itch: Monitor or PC?

D

deadken

Diamond Member
I haven't upgraded my PC in about 2 years. I don't have a ton of money to throw around, so I figured I would ask for opinions here before I spent any money.

I am a Dad in a single income family of 4 with a mortgage and NY taxes. I don't have a lot of 'disposable' income. My PC is used for surfing the net and gaming. Multiplayer, I usually play some BF2, COD4, and maybe HL/HL2/TF2 with friends online. Singleplayer, I usually play COD4, HL2, and I recently finished Crysis. I don't play games on my PC all of the time anymore. I have an old car that takes more of my free time that I used to spend gaming.

My rig:
Antec AMB3700SLK w/ 2 more 120mm fans modded into the side of the case (4x120mm total case fans (3 in, 1 out)).
Socket 754 3400+ CPU, currently O/C'd @ 2.6Ghz (default 2.4Ghz)
Thermalright XP-120 Heatsink (yeah, I LOVE 120mm Fans!)
Epox 8NPA SLI Motherboard
2x1GB OCZ 2,3,2,5,T1 memory
36GB Raptor
120GB Pata 7200 HD (Operating system)
80 GB Pata 7200 HD
Antec TP2 380W PSU (you guessed it, another 120mm fan!)
BFG 8800GTS OC 640MB (the older version, not the newer 512MB)
SoundBlaster X-Fi soundcard
Win XP Pro SP2
Samsung 204B 20.1" 1600x1200 LCD (TN, I think)


I had been told before I bought the 8800GTS that I would be CPU limited. I got it anyway (my X1900XTX died), and have been playing fine for the games I listed. I even play Crysis with a decent frame rate (so far only single player). So, while I might indeed be CPU limited, I haven't seen the bottleneck (or at least not badly). For what it is worth, I used to run an Antec 480W TruePower PSU, but I bought the 380 TP2 when I saw the dual 12v rails and I figured I needed the increase amperage for the X1900XTX. IIRC, I used to run my CPU @ 2.65-2.7 Ghz, not seeing any improvement for what I was doing I dropped it back to stock for a while. When I installed Crysis, I bumped it up to 2.6Ghz since I figured I could use more CPU.

I have been considering buying a new monitor. I have been looking for a 1920 x 1200 since I don't want anything shorter then the 1200 pixels I have now (1080 will just make reading emails and forums that much more annoying). I found this Samsung T260HD with a TV tuner built in. While I don't need the TV Tuner, I haven't been able to find the T260 (non TV version) for any cheaper.

My biggest concern is that I replace my monitor for ~$350 and find out that running 1900 x 1200 pushes me past the limits of my hardware. Then, I would have to buy a newer Mobo / CPU / Ram at the very least (probably a power supply also). All of that would most likely cost another $295 - $375 or so ($210 for quad core AMD w/ Gigabyte Mobo, $85 2x2GB Ram, + $80 Antec 650W PSU).

Any opinions on me getting a 1920 x 1200 Monitor? Should I upgrade my system first? Or should I still have enough umphhh to drive the higher resolution monitor?

-Thanks, Ken
 
IMO, you have a 3 generation old system. I would go for an upgrade to the i3/5/7, and DDR3 before I upgraded that 20.1" LCD.

You'd see a huge bump with an SSD, i7, DDR3...huge.
 
CPU/mobo/RAM upgrade.

The old GTS-640 should be handling games fairly well at medium-high settings. A modern-featured motherboard will get you access to multiple cores, better single and multi-threaded performance, with improved memory bandwidth.

On the downside, many modern motherboards only have a single IDE channel (2devices).
 
While I entirely agree that my system is old and I certainly would benefit from a Mobo/CPU/Ram upgrade I feel I must remind you guys that my budget is limited. While I have been pricing out upgrades, I seem to find that there is little that I can re-use from my current system. My problem then lies with getting a worthy Mobo/CPU/Ram/PSU combo for around $350 - $400. Of course, that would only leave me using my case, 36GB Raptor, and maybe my DVD Burner and 120GB PATA HD on the one IDE channel.

Now, when all that is done and WinXP Pro re-installed, I will still be stuck looking at my Samsung 1600x1200 LCD. Don't get me wrong, I love this monitor. But, I started out this morning considering the Samsung 25.5" 1920x1200 LCD TV for $340 shipped.

I guess I will have to decide whether:
1) Keep what I have got and save until I can blow $750 on a Monitor and upgrades.
2) Upgrade my PC and keep my existing monitor.
3) Upgrade my Monitor and OC my CPU back to 2.7Ghz until I save another $375.
4) Spend no money and keep using what I have got until I become unhappy with it.

Thank you guys so far for your suggestions. I am still willing to listen to more!

-Ken
 
I know it might suck now but I vote for option 1. Just try to save for it and you will be rewarded with a very good setup. And you know prices might go down with some new gear coming out.
 
advantage of upgrading PC: things are more zippier and smoother

advantage of upgrading monitor: larger screen space and better looking image (pretty important imo; there can be huge differences in quality)

given your situation though, I'd upgrade the PC.
 
Last edited:
OK, this is what I would do:
Buy the monitor now. The prices aren't going to change massively between now and when you save the extra, but you get extra space now you can use for browsing, and you can always drop the screen resolution for games.
Also I'd stick with dual monitors, your current 20" will sit perfectly by a 24" and give you more desktop space.
When you can afford the system upgrade, it's likely prices might have gone down at least a bit, so you can get more for your money, and you'll find monitor prices haven't moved as much, so you can be happy now, and happy later.
 
Worse comes to worse, you can letterbox a bigger monitor so you aren't pushing as many pixels. Turn all scaling off(gfx card, monitor), and when you select a lower resolution, you'll have full fidelity, but have black bars around your display. That's what I do with challenging games, or games without proper widescreen support. You can keep the details turned up, but it isn't as taxing on the gfx card.

Given your financial situation, a monitor now will last awhile, and you can enjoy the benefits for more pedestrian activities. When you're ready for a full upgrade, you'll be able to put the display to it's fullest use.
 
Wow, I am sure glad that I asked. I have a lot more considerations to think about then I would have come up with all by myself.

Thanks to all that have made suggestions!

-Ken
 
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