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What parts, peripherals, etc on your computer have been well worth the money?

OILFIELDTRASH

OILFIELDTRASH

Lifer
For me it has to be the cpu's in both of my computers. An i7 920 in one and a Q6600 in the other. Second has to be both of their gpu's. A 8800 gtx and a Gtx 280. The cpu's and gpu's seem like they should be plenty for at least a couple more years. Well worth the money I spent.
 
My 20 inch widescreen Dell monitor, only part that has survived. Oh and Klipsch 5.1 Ultra's.
 
I'm fond of the keyboard really. Before I purchased it, my wife and I could only sit and stare at the login screen.
 
30" Dell monitor. Hands down!!

2nd would be my Logitech Revolution mouse

3rd Hard drives but they are so generic an item I don't think they count.
 
A top quality monitor. This is your interface into the computer, don't skimp on a monitor. I personally own a Dell 2407FPW, you should buy the best monitor you can afford.

A top quality mouse. Don't bother with the gimmicky "gaming" mice - the high DPI and quick polling rate won't make anything more than a psychological difference to your gaming and will cause the battery to wear at a frustrating pace. I recommend the MX Revolution or it's new successor the MX Performance.
 
LaCie 2BigQuad RAID1 drive. It isn't so much performance is that it is big, heavy, and has a pointless big friendly blue light on the front. There is a feeling of security knowing that my data is entombed in a ten pound block of aluminum. It is a throwback to the days of the first PCs which were build to withstand being driven over by mine haul trucks.
 
The 17" LCDs I bought 4 years ago.
The 24" LCD I bought one year ago.
The mouse I bought 4+ years ago.
Speakers/headphones.

As has been said, it's worth investing well in some parts of a computer, the parts you will use for a long time and use a lot.
Good monitors, good mice, good keyboards, all worth the investment.
Everything else is a throwaway part that will be outclassed and obsolete far more rapidly.
(Unless of course you use your computer for money making tasks e.g. you do video shoots and edit/encode on your PC, in which case things like super fast CPUs now will be more worthwhile)
 
ditto on the monitor. got a 24" benq a few years ago. pretty expensive at the time but even now it measures up well to new panels.

Intel SSD. even after many months I still marvel at how snappy my machine is, probably because I have to use non-SSD machines everyday and see the differences easily. I used to stare at the HDD light all the time waiting for operations to complete, but now everything just gets done immediately.
 
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I paid like $500 for a 19" lcd back in the early 00's... highway robbery by today's standards, but considering that I've been using it for almost a decade now, I've certainly gotten a lot of use out of it.

lately I've been thinking about getting a second 24" to replace it, but I'm a little nervous about my video card being able to handle 2x24's seamlessly (I've got a 24 and a 19 right now... I game in the 24" while browsing the web, watching movies, etc on the 19")
 
OILFIELDTRASH said:
Damn I'm jealous. Would love a 30" monitor. How is gaming at 1600p? Is the difference noticeable?
Click to expand...

It's sweet but I don't really have the graphics card to power 3D gamming at good FPS. I'm running this off of a GeForce 8800 gts. For example I am currently playing Dragon Age Origins at 1900x1200 and getting an average of about 25fps. For an RPG like this it's playable and looks really nice (though not with all the details on high). I tend not to play any First person shooters so I don't have to worry about Crysis or in fact most heavy duty games. I spend most of my time surfing the web, playing videos or looking at photos and for these every day tasks it's still an awsome monitor!!! Colour reproduction and clarity are fantastic! In another few months or so I'll get a better graphics card and then I'll be able to play some of these games at the native 2560x1600 rez! 😀 I really love this thing!!!
 
$350 dell 2407WFP. one of the best monitors ive seen, and you cant beat the amount of connectivity on it, not to mention a 9-1 card reader and 4 port usb hub. i cant wait until dell gets their 24" lineup to led backlit - i will upgrade to that asap.

$50 logitech z-5500 5.1 system - bought a used set off ebay, broke within a month, called logitech to see if i can send it to them to get it repaired - they offered me a brand new set by sending in just the control pod! i havent seen a better set of computer speakers since these came out.

$20 microsoft intellimouse explorer 3.0 - i just cant use any other mouse, i personally think its the best. ive been using the original version since it came out and bought the 3.0 version years ago.

free step up from a $100 9800GTX to a GTX 260 - it made crysis go from unplayable to amazingly playable.

sending in a $50 500GB hard drive to seagate and getting a 1TB drive as a replacement.
 
Still using an ancient DELL 2001FP but it's been a good, trusty monitor. Still looking for a suitable 24" replacement.

My Boston BA7800 desktop speakers. I dare you to find a better 4.1 PC sound system.

My back-lit Logitech keyboard. My best recent purchase.
 
Best "bang for the buck?"

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=111962

Otherwise, my 19" Sony Trinitron Multiscan 420GS CRT monitor that I bought in 98 when "The Good Guys" got out of the computer biz. IIRC, I paid about $400 for it...regularly $899. I thought it was a fabulous deal back then.

Of course, bor that same $400 today, I could buy a sweet LCD monitor, but this thing still works fine...so I'm not gonna replace it...yet.
 
OCZ Vertex SSD. I think this has been the single greatest noticeable upgrade EVER in the years I've been messing with computers.
 
Logitech VX Nano

The best mouse I've ever used. It's great being able to take it with me and use it on other computers that have shitty mice.
 
IronWing said:
I'm fond of the keyboard really. Before I purchased it, my wife and I could only sit and stare at the login screen.
Click to expand...

:^D

Pretty much all of my parts have been great purchases since I got into modern computers. I've been good at hitting the bang/buck every time, and my parts last a good while.
 
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