What would you upgrade?

[myowngod]

Currently running setup in Sig... Would like to speed up the system a little.. I THINK the thing that gets me the most is the time it takes for the HD to get info.. I do a TON of stuff at once.. and even running the q6600 at 3.5ghz and 4gbs of ram seems to lag more than I expected... I was thinking of building a core i7, but honestly I doubt the processor is the problem, and I don't think i'd get enough improvement over this for the money...

I was considering getting 1 or 2 WD raptors and using the 640 caviar as a storage drive, to speed up read times... also considered buying another 4870... also considered buying another 4gb of ram... and finally... anyone use the coolermaster sniper case? kinda getting tired of the antec 900... would liek to change it up.. (or can someone atleast tell me where to get some dang dust filters for this thing? geez does it suck up dust... dont know why it doesn't come with any!) and I can only do ONE upgrade... not all of them...

any opinions? I mean... I will probably do all in good time... but for now...

 

[thirdshiftdj]

I would highly consider Seagate 7200.11 320gb in raid. They are already one of the fastest HD's around and puts up a good fight against a velociraptor. As far as fan filters go just pick up some washable ones.

Nexus Fan Filters for clean and quiet fans. Easy to remove and easy to clean.
I would probably cut the plastic pieces around the filter off

 

[heister]

hard drives always bottle neck a system no matter how fast they are sure a 10k drive will speed up times a bit but not worth the cost, thats my personal view anyway, really solid state drives are they only way to bring your HDs up to speed with the rest of your system

 

[myowngod]

hard drives always bottle neck a system no matter how fast they are sure a 10k drive will speed up times a bit but not worth the cost, thats my personal view anyway, really solid state drives are they only way to bring your HDs up to speed with the rest of your system

Figured i'd wait until Win7 to see if SSD's are updated for what the system supports... do you really think the SSD's are worth the cost? even what I've read... not entirely sure its worth it for the high end ones...

Could spend ~350 on an 80gb intel SSD... but whether or not thats enough space.. guess i could save for a RAID setup... you think it'd be noticible.. like 350 dollars noticable? for that much I could get another card and a new case.. and ram..

 

[thirdshiftdj]

SSD's will be worth it but not right now. They are just way too expensive. Go to youtube and check out SSD's in raid. You'll see some mtron's boot up windows in mere seconds. When I say boot up in seconds I mean everything is loaded and ready to be operated. They are blazing fast. Just not worth the insane amount of money right now.

 

[Trotter]

You could always drop a Q9650 in it and crank up the OC.

 

[hikaricloud]

Honestly, you could, but I don't see the point in throwing a Q9650 in there...way too expensive for an upgrade that's pretty much the end of the link for socket 775. You may just want to hold off and build an i7 rig later.

Here's my suggestions:

DON'TS
-Don't buy more RAM. You will barely notice a difference for the most part.
-Do bother with a Raptor.
-Don't spend money on a Q9650 or really, any other processor at the moment.

DO'S
-Either grab another 640gb drive and throw them in to RAID 0, for performance increase, or grab 2x Seagate 320gb's, like ThirdShift mentioned, throw those in RAID 0, use the 640 as storage.
-A new case would be a fine idea.
-Another 4870 would be pretty beastly, yes, but I would only consider this if you think you need it for gaming.

Here's my reasoning. HDDs, a case, another GPU, all those things could be carried over to a new i7 build, cutting back your costs. Things like more RAM, another CPU, etc, they can't be carried over. You have a great PSU, so you won't have to buy another one of those, either. Lemme give you an idea of the cost for building a really kickin' i7.

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!
Newegg.com - EVGA 132-BL-E758-A1 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
Newegg.com - OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

$777.52 after shipping, then 50 bucks in MIRs.

You may be wondering why I packaged that SSD in there. Well, it's a 60gb OCZ, which is pretty sweet. It will increase your speed pretty well. And with that combo deal, after the rebate, it's 35 dollars. I would say jump on that.

You can use everything else from your current build: PSU, GPU, HDDs, case...not sure about the hsf, but they may make a bracket for it.

That's just my two cents at least.

 

[myowngod]

Honestly, you could, but I don't see the point in throwing a Q9650 in there...way too expensive for an upgrade that's pretty much the end of the link for socket 775. You may just want to hold off and build an i7 rig later.

Here's my suggestions:

DON'TS
-Don't buy more RAM. You will barely notice a difference for the most part.
-Do bother with a Raptor.
-Don't spend money on a Q9650 or really, any other processor at the moment.

DO'S
-Either grab another 640gb drive and throw them in to RAID 0, for performance increase, or grab 2x Seagate 320gb's, like ThirdShift mentioned, throw those in RAID 0, use the 640 as storage.
-A new case would be a fine idea.
-Another 4870 would be pretty beastly, yes, but I would only consider this if you think you need it for gaming.

Here's my reasoning. HDDs, a case, another GPU, all those things could be carried over to a new i7 build, cutting back your costs. Things like more RAM, another CPU, etc, they can't be carried over. You have a great PSU, so you won't have to buy another one of those, either. Lemme give you an idea of the cost for building a really kickin' i7.

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!
Newegg.com - EVGA 132-BL-E758-A1 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
Newegg.com - OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

$777.52 after shipping, then 50 bucks in MIRs.

You may be wondering why I packaged that SSD in there. Well, it's a 60gb OCZ, which is pretty sweet. It will increase your speed pretty well. And with that combo deal, after the rebate, it's 35 dollars. I would say jump on that.

You can use everything else from your current build: PSU, GPU, HDDs, case...not sure about the hsf, but they may make a bracket for it.

That's just my two cents at least.

Appreciate the advice... I was thinking the same thing about keeping it viable for an i7 upgrade... although I don't have the funds at the moment... I will probably either get another case, or the two 320 drives in raid0... i MIGHT go for an SSD, if I have plenty of spare cash next month...

 

[thirdshiftdj]

Can't go wrong w/ a new case. Think of it as a "face lift". I was going to say get a new monitor but seeing that you already have two samsungs already. Another thing to think about is adding accessories to your case. Tidy it up w/ sleeved cables or maybe modding it and adding a cathode somewhere in there. New fans, maybe a nice sound card or you can opt to get the Klipsch Promedia Ultra

ProMedia Ultra 5.1

 

[hikaricloud]

Unfortunately, my combo deal ended. But still, you can get that stuff for about 65 bucks less than that total price now, so almost 700 bucks and you have an i7 build. That's pretty friggin' sweet.

The only reason I thought the SSD would be a good idea was that combo, I would still hold off, unless they have a killer deal when you're buying.