What should I upgrade next?

awildgoose

awildgoose

Active Member
Ok so when I bought my computer I just got some of the cheaper parts so I could get it quicker (hey I wasn't going to wait until the middle of my 6-8 weeks off school until I got it:P)

So here are my specs
Nvidia 9600GT OC'ed to 900Mhz (I think)
2G Kingston 800Mhz (OC'ed to 900 as well) DDR2
1x 80Gig HDD (OS is on that one Win7 RC) 1x 240G Both IDE
E7300 2.66 (OC'ed to 3.0Ghz)
And the motherboard is close to this G-B G31M-ES2L.

Ok so I am happy with my CPU and Graphics card. What I really want to know, is should I spend another ~$40 and upgrade to 4G of RAM and buy a better motherboard (BTW right now I should have around $200).
I'll explain a bit better.

I need(well want) more HDD space as I have almost filled mine up, but my motherboard only has 2 RAM slots and it can only register 800Mhz RAM's so I need to get another Motherboard.
Also, since my upgrade to Win7, I need more RAM for Crysis and such (Rec on XP was 1Ghz and Win7 and Vista is 1.5) so I need to get some more RAM.

Can someone make some recemendations?

Thanks in advance
 
If it were me I'd swap the HDDs for some SATA ones as they should be a fair amount faster. I'd also be tempted to go for some more RAM but the HDDs would be my priority.
 
In this order i would upgrade,

Ram...sell that 2gb you have now and buy 2x 2gb matched 1066.

Hard Drive,A hard drive of your size choice,Sata2
 
awildgoose said:
but my motherboard only has 2 RAM slots and it can only register 800Mhz RAM's so I need to get another Motherboard.
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Nevakonaza said:
In this order i would upgrade,

Ram...sell that 2gb you have now and buy 2x 2gb matched 1066.

Hard Drive,A hard drive of your size choice,Sata2
Click to expand...

I can't get 1066's yet as my motherboard cannot register it.

Which is why I would think of buying the motherboard first with a new hard drive?

Or get the hard drive with a 2G stick of RAM (same type so it's matched) and then save up another ~$200 for a motherboard?
 
Well, first priority would be the hard drive. then motherboard. then ram. There are some decent motherboards on ebay for $80 and higher.
 
Can you guys make any suggestions and post why you think that?

Because, after I buy each of those things, I might spend the next ~$200 on games (over a couple of weeks of course) and then my next upgrade would possibly be another 9600GT (to SLI) or just a whole new GPU, put my current 9600Gt in the PCI-E 1 slot (unless it has 2 PCI-E 2 slots) and run my screens off that and games on the new GPU. But we will talk about that later.
 
Well, The harddrive so you can fit all those games on it. And SATA harddrives are a bit faster than the IDE drives. The Memory so that you have enough memory to run those games and other programs you may be running in the background, I have an e7400 at the office with a 8500gtx that will run a lot of games without issue. not at max settings mind you, but it works, So you should be good to go on the video card unless you just Really Really want the eye candy. I actually have the G31M-ES2L for my wifes computers with an e5300 processor and she has a 9600gt (I think? heh) with 4gb of ram. going from 2gb to 4gb of ram in her machine really made a visible difference!
 
Yeh but I want to know what I should get first. I know why I should get these things, and I will get all of these things, but I want to know what to get first.
 
I'd suggest getting a SATA hard disk before buying a new motherboard as an IDE hard disk on a new motherboard will slow you down a fair amount.
 
You would notice a HUGE upgrade with a new HDD. Judging by your small 80GB id say you have 2mb cache MAYBE 6mb.

Might I suggest this...I currently own one and it is fantastic.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395

Twice as fast as my .10 drive in every way and quite + runs COOL.


I upgraded not to long ago from a 2mb cache PATA to 16mb SATA drive and it was a very very noticeable increase in speed and response.
 
Twist86 said:
You would notice a HUGE upgrade with a new HDD. Judging by your small 80GB id say you have 2mb cache MAYBE 6mb.

Might I suggest this...I currently own one and it is fantastic.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395

Twice as fast as my .10 drive in every way and quite + runs COOL.


I upgraded not to long ago from a 2mb cache PATA to 16mb SATA drive and it was a very very noticeable increase in speed and response.
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awildgoose said:
Ok, so what Motherboard do you suggest then? I already know what HDD I want and I have a fair idea on the RAM

BTW, I get my equipment from http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf
So please don't post anything from newegg.
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Fail:P
 
Twist86 said:
I guess so ^-^ Though I wont dl some random pdf file.


Though I am just linking the model number/reviews. He can buy it where ever he prefers. The drive still rocks any drive I have owned to date.
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Yeah, msy though is not a random pdf, its one of the better computer part chains in au from what ive heard.
 
Twist86 said:
I guess so ^-^ Though I wont dl some random pdf file.


Though I am just linking the model number/reviews. He can buy it where ever he prefers. The drive still rocks any drive I have owned to date.
Click to expand...

alright thanks, I don't mind that you posted from newegg, although the name would have been as good :D. $60 bucks, wow that's cheap compared to anything here.

bomberboysk said:
Yeah, msy though is not a random pdf, its one of the better computer part chains in au from what ive heard.
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yeh it is the best in Aus, depending on where you live.
 
awildgoose said:
alright thanks, I don't mind that you posted from newegg, although the name would have been as good :D. $60 bucks, wow that's cheap compared to anything here.



yeh it is the best in Aus, depending on where you live.
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Yeah but I dunno about you but I like reviews/full specs on ANYTHING I go to buy.
While you might not be able to newegg you can still benefit from reviews :)



Though I wouldn't be surprised if 2 of those drives could pull 300mb+ rates. My current one caps off at almost 180mb or so.
 
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