I built my first rig back in January and despite my wallet's protests, I am prepared to sink some more money into it. Somewhere between $1100 and $1300, about a month from now actually. (So prices might come down!)
Unfortunatly, I don't really know what to get. I suppose gaming is my main use; I have become rather fond of overclocking, but can't afford for something major to go wrong. (I don't want to blow my upgrade budget to replace ruined a motherboard, CPU, and RAM!)
So... I have a 420w OCZ PowerStream and no extra devices besides a single HDD and an optical drive, so I don't expect the PSU to be a limiting factor. (Please correct me quickly if wrong!) My processor overclocks like a winny should, so unless I go dual core I'm not considerign a CPU upgrade much. My RAM is a gig of value stuff. It's decent, but if I was satisfied with decent I wouldn't be upgrading, now would I?
My monitor is a 17" analog LCD Samsung, so I think I'd have to upgrade it before a new video card would be justified. I really don't need more hard drive space for anything.
If I upgrade either my CPU, mobo, or RAM, I'd probably go ahead with all three and use the old platform to build another computer for my family. In net oppurtunity costs this option as a whole becomes $400 cheaper.
So, unless I'm missing something, my choices are:
-Upgrade to 4400+ on a DFI SLI-DR with a Zalman 7000AlCu heatsink/fan, and figure out what I should do for RAM. (Use old parts for new computer, save money from that.) What RAM should I look at? If I'm getting rid of my old RAM, might as well keep it at two DIMMs, but I'd like to move up to 2 GB and I'm not seeing any noteworthy 1 GB DIMMs...
-Buy a new monitor. In my limited personal perspective, the only things on the market worth it are the Dells, the 2001FP, 2005FPW, and 2405FPW. Maybe I'm wrong, but everything I've read seems to indicate that these are the best bang for your buck monitors by far. However, I'm not exactly sure just how cheap they are; do these talked-about coupons stack on top of the discounted price already listed on Dell's site? At any rate, that 2405FPW looks mighty fine.
-New graphics card! However... I don't see what is viable here. Upgrading to a 6800GT from a 6600GT seems like more money and trouble than it's worth for the performance gain. The 6800U isn't much better than an overclocked GT, and it seems like there is no point spending that much without going ahead and getting the 7800GTX! And of course, the $600 7800GTX would throw a fit if it came home with me and saw the analog monitor it would be running on! I'm beginning to talk myself into ignoring the graphics card front until prices come down and we see if the R520 is worth looking at.
-Save some for fancy toys like that PPU card or that Gigabyte RAMdisk...
So... break my indecision by just telling me what to do! I've already almost talked myself out of a graphics card just by typing this, so who knows what revelations I might have when other people post their opinions? Thanks in advance, for reading through this rambling mess!
Unfortunatly, I don't really know what to get. I suppose gaming is my main use; I have become rather fond of overclocking, but can't afford for something major to go wrong. (I don't want to blow my upgrade budget to replace ruined a motherboard, CPU, and RAM!)
So... I have a 420w OCZ PowerStream and no extra devices besides a single HDD and an optical drive, so I don't expect the PSU to be a limiting factor. (Please correct me quickly if wrong!) My processor overclocks like a winny should, so unless I go dual core I'm not considerign a CPU upgrade much. My RAM is a gig of value stuff. It's decent, but if I was satisfied with decent I wouldn't be upgrading, now would I?
My monitor is a 17" analog LCD Samsung, so I think I'd have to upgrade it before a new video card would be justified. I really don't need more hard drive space for anything.If I upgrade either my CPU, mobo, or RAM, I'd probably go ahead with all three and use the old platform to build another computer for my family. In net oppurtunity costs this option as a whole becomes $400 cheaper.
So, unless I'm missing something, my choices are:
-Upgrade to 4400+ on a DFI SLI-DR with a Zalman 7000AlCu heatsink/fan, and figure out what I should do for RAM. (Use old parts for new computer, save money from that.) What RAM should I look at? If I'm getting rid of my old RAM, might as well keep it at two DIMMs, but I'd like to move up to 2 GB and I'm not seeing any noteworthy 1 GB DIMMs...
-Buy a new monitor. In my limited personal perspective, the only things on the market worth it are the Dells, the 2001FP, 2005FPW, and 2405FPW. Maybe I'm wrong, but everything I've read seems to indicate that these are the best bang for your buck monitors by far. However, I'm not exactly sure just how cheap they are; do these talked-about coupons stack on top of the discounted price already listed on Dell's site? At any rate, that 2405FPW looks mighty fine.
-New graphics card! However... I don't see what is viable here. Upgrading to a 6800GT from a 6600GT seems like more money and trouble than it's worth for the performance gain. The 6800U isn't much better than an overclocked GT, and it seems like there is no point spending that much without going ahead and getting the 7800GTX! And of course, the $600 7800GTX would throw a fit if it came home with me and saw the analog monitor it would be running on! I'm beginning to talk myself into ignoring the graphics card front until prices come down and we see if the R520 is worth looking at.
-Save some for fancy toys like that PPU card or that Gigabyte RAMdisk...
So... break my indecision by just telling me what to do! I've already almost talked myself out of a graphics card just by typing this, so who knows what revelations I might have when other people post their opinions? Thanks in advance, for reading through this rambling mess!
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