what to upgrade next?

[Frenchb0ygenius]

I'm probably gonna upgrade something in my pc for now, but i need to figure out what would be the best part to upgrade right now.

either:

-a new case
-new cooler for my cpu( im on the stock cooler right now)
-new video card
-new psu

here are my current specs:

C2D E6750
Corsair XMS2 2gb DDR2 800 PC2 6400
8800GTS 320
650i ultra mobo
raidmax smilodon case + 500w psu
seagate 250gb sata
18x dvd burner

any ideas?

[tave]

ram or psu if you HAVE to update something...your gfx card looks solid to me

[Frenchb0ygenius]

2gb is enough ram i dual boot xp and vista but mostly use xp.

[kibbles]

if you dont no what to upgrade, your best bet is to not upgrade.

[Soulphalanx]

QX6850
680i mobo
8 gb ram
64 bit vista
dual 8800Ultra
Thermaltake Armor Full tower
Water cooling
1200 watt power supply
2TB RAID
:P

[kibbles]

Originally Posted by Soulphalanx

QX6850
680i mobo
8 gb ram
64 bit vista
dual 8800Ultra
Thermaltake Armor Full tower
Water cooling
1200 watt power supply
2TB RAID
:P

and buy a USB powered mini fridge.

[Frenchb0ygenius]

Originally Posted by kibbles

if you dont no what to upgrade, your best bet is to not upgrade.

i know what you're trying to say, I want to upgrade, but i want to figure out what the best thing to upgrade would be right now.

[twelve]

Hard Drive for sure.

The rest of your spec is fine. But 250GB is tiny.

[Hardrive]

Or, just get a second hard drive and RAID it (mirror mode), so if a HDD dies, you still have the other.

[kibbles]

Originally Posted by Phil

Hard Drive for sure.

The rest of your spec is fine. But 250GB is tiny.

250 is alot still, unless you have a ton a warez. although it is the worst thing on there, tis still good. usb mini fridge ftw. get a raptor hardrive (if you gotz the moenyz to spendz)

[twelve]

Originally Posted by Hardrive

Or, just get a second hard drive and RAID it (mirror mode), so if a HDD dies, you still have the other.

But it's only 250GB, if he's gonna get a second hard drive it should be huge.

Plus RAID in a home setup is pointless if you make regular backups of important things.

<3 Time Machine on Leopard

[Hardrive]

How's time machine work? Is it just backups on the same drive?

[PopeOfDope]

Originally Posted by kibbles

250 is alot still, unless you have a ton a warez. although it is the worst thing on there, tis still good. usb mini fridge ftw. get a raptor hardrive (if you gotz the moenyz to spendz)

Raptors are very noisy and the price per Gb is stupid. You won't get much of a performance increase compared to other hard drives.

Originally Posted by Hardrive

Or, just get a second hard drive and RAID it (mirror mode), so if a HDD dies, you still have the other.

RAID is good for some things, but not in this case. One of the major causes of hard drive failure is the power supply. If the 2 hard drives are connected to the same power source, then you cannot count that as a valid backup. The best thing to do is keep the 2nd hard drive in an enclosure and sync it every so often. It might be more inconvenient than setting up RAID, but it is a lot safer if backup is your main concern.

As for your original question, here's what I would do:
If your 8800GTS is from eVGA and is less than 3 months old, step up to a 8800GT and just pay the difference.
If not, upgrade your CPU cooler to the Thermalright ultra 120 extreme. It is the best aircooler on the market and you should be able to get a huge increase in clockspeed if you overclock your CPU. Here is a review: http://www.anandtech.com/casecooling...spx?i=2981&p=3

[twelve]

@Hardrive: External Drive.

Originally Posted by Apple.com

Every hour, every day, an incremental backup of your Mac is made automatically as long as your backup drive is attached to your Mac. Time Machine saves the hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for everything older than a month. Only files created and then deleted before the next hourly backup will not be included in the long term. Put another way: You’re well covered.

More: http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/timemachine.html

[kibbles]

im looking for cool Usb things

http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/accessories/9116/
^^ doomsday device

usb missile launcher
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/warfare/8bc4/

^^^just a couple of my favs.


just dont upgrade it, its not worth it, unless you do what someone said and upgrade to 8800gt and pay the difference (sounds like a good deal to me )

[Frenchb0ygenius]

Originally Posted by PopeOfDope

Raptors are very noisy and the price per Gb is stupid. You won't get much of a performance increase compared to other hard drives.

RAID is good for some things, but not in this case. One of the major causes of hard drive failure is the power supply. If the 2 hard drives are connected to the same power source, then you cannot count that as a valid backup. The best thing to do is keep the 2nd hard drive in an enclosure and sync it every so often. It might be more inconvenient than setting up RAID, but it is a lot safer if backup is your main concern.

As for your original question, here's what I would do:
If your 8800GTS is from eVGA and is less than 3 months old, step up to a 8800GT and just pay the difference.
If not, upgrade your CPU cooler to the Thermalright ultra 120 extreme. It is the best aircooler on the market and you should be able to get a huge increase in clockspeed if you overclock your CPU. Here is a review: http://www.anandtech.com/casecooling...spx?i=2981&p=3

yes my 8800 is evga and step-up is a great idea, but ALL 8800GT's are on backorder and i have no spare video card that i could use in the meantime. But this is a very good idea.

how long do u guys think it would take if i stepped up while 8800gt is on backorder for me to get it?