£500 to spend on upgrades... What would you buy?

[Saltire35]

I'll soon have £500 to spend on upgrading my PC.

My current spec is as follows:

Fractal Design Arc Case

750w NZXT Hale Modular PSU

Asus Crosshair Formula IV Motherboard

AMD 1090T CPU

Thermaltake Frio Cooler

8Gb Mushkin RAM

XFX HD 6870 Black Edition Graphics Card

1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 Hard Drive

(Main) 23" Dell IPS - (Secondary) 22" Dell Monitors

Logitech G15 Keyboard

Razer Deathadder Mouse

SteelSeries Siberia v2 Headset

What would you upgrade? I don't think I'll be changing the Mobo / CPU / GPU as they are good enough for my needs.

What I do intend to buy is the following:

CoolerMaster 690II Black & White Case £79

128Gb Samsung 830 SSD £96

1TB Seagate Barracuda HDD £68

Corsair Vengeance K90 Keyboard £96

Asus Xonar DG Sound Card £19

Corsair H100 Cooler £78

Enermax Cluster White LED Fans x 3 £30

Razer Vespula Mouse Mat £24

BitFenix Extension Cables (White) £30

What do you reckon? What would you spend £500 on if your spec was similiar.

Cheers for the feedback.

 

[Azurite]

Id grab the SSD, case, soundcard, cooler first. Whatever of the budget that is left id spend on mouse and keyboard. The mat, cables, fans are last priroity imo

Though a good mouse mat can be important if you dont have any

 

[sharplucas]

I'd say Drop the Fans, Keyboard Etc And grab another 6870! Or something

 

[Ru5ty_t00l]

I'd say Drop the Fans, Keyboard Etc And grab another 6870! Or something

getting a 2nd 6870 might need a bigger psu too.

 

[yassarikhan786]

Buy a 670 and an SSD I say

. Much better FPS in games and they will load faster if they are installed on the SSD.

240 GB SSD's are dropping down massively in price and are reaching 120 GB SSD prices when they were initially released.

 

[killablade]

getting a 2nd 6870 might need a bigger psu too.

Trust me, 750w is plenty for 2x6870.

 

[Saltire35]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

 

[Saltire35]

I've just read a few reviews on the Asus 670 CUII Top... I'm so tempted.

I know I said in my first post that I'm not gonna bother upgrading my 6870... but the Asus 670 out-performs everything (even a 680) straight out of the box.

*Edit* and the 6pin connectors are at the edge of the PCB (where they should be!)

 

[Saltire35]

I've decided on the following:

Coolermaster CM690II Black & White Edition Case
QPad MK-85 LED Pro Mechanical Keyboard
Samsung 128Gb 830 Series SSD
Roccat Alumic Mouse Pad
Asus Xonar DG 5.1 Sound Card
1 x BitFenix Spectre Pro 140mm White LED Fan
3 x BitFenix Spectre Pro 120mm White LED Fan
1TB Western Digital Caviar Black HDD
2 x Braided 6Pin Extensions (White/Black)
1 x Braided 24Pin Extension (White/Black)

 

[seumasbeathan]

I've decided on the following:

Coolermaster CM690II Black & White Edition Case
QPad MK-85 LED Pro Mechanical Keyboard
Samsung 128Gb 830 Series SSD
Roccat Alumic Mouse Pad
Asus Xonar DG 5.1 Sound Card
1 x BitFenix Spectre Pro 140mm White LED Fan
3 x BitFenix Spectre Pro 120mm White LED Fan
1TB Western Digital Caviar Black HDD
2 x Braided 6Pin Extensions (White/Black)
1 x Braided 24Pin Extension (White/Black)

You serious? :L You could get a 670 but instead you buy stuff that is not necessary

 

[Saltire35]

You serious? :L You could get a 670 but instead you buy stuff that is not necessary

Who said its not necessary?

I don't need a 670... I'm buying stuff that I need to replace/broken.

I'm not gonna blow over £300 on a graphics card. A 6870 is all I need as I said in my original post.

The only thing I don't need, but want is the case and fans.

 

[merrymustu]

Buy a better soundcard like the xonar essence stx or atleast a xonar dx with a nice new set of speakers...I think that will completely revolutionize your gaming and music experience.

 

[Saltire35]

I used to have the Corsair SP2500's but didn't use them enough, so sold them.

My headphones and the planned sound card are enough for my needs.

 

[Saltire35]

The £500 disposable income became available today.

Unfortunately my 2nd monitor decided to break last week so part of the budget needs to go an a replacement monitor.

I have just ordered the following:

23" Dell U2312HM IPS Monitor £162
CoolerMaster CM690II Black & White Edition £69
120Gb Kingston HyperX SSD £69
Asus Xonar DG Sound Card £21
Corsair Vengeance K90 Keyboard £95
1TB Western Digital Caviar Black £88

I might treat myself to the Corsair M60 mouse & a new mouse mat next week... if some of my current items sell. (Will be adding a thread to the for sale section in the next few days).

 

[VengeanceUK]

you'd have been better getting a minimum of a 256Gb ssd as thats where the performance really comes into its own

 

[Saltire35]

you'd have been better getting a minimum of a 256Gb ssd as thats where the performance really comes into its own

I can't afford a 256Gb SSD.

It took me long enough and I changed my shopping list many many times... before I decided on the above. Did help that I needed to add another monitor to the list.

 

[jamesriley94]

Great choice on the mouse and keyboard!

I'm ignoring everything else, as other people have it covered, but I've been using them myself over the last week or so, and they are amazing

 

[seumasbeathan]

Great choice on the mouse and keyboard!

I'm ignoring everything else, as other people have it covered, but I've been using them myself over the last week or so, and they are amazing

I really wish I had a gaming keyboard, due to my keyboard braking I am having to use a Microsoft on from the days of windows 95 :L

 

[jamesriley94]

You can get the Microsoft Sidewinder gaming keyboard for like £29 if you fancy one and have 30 quid to spare

 

[Saltire35]

You can get the Microsoft Sidewinder gaming keyboard for like £29 if you fancy one and have 30 quid to spare

Too late... everything is ordered. No going back now.

All should be here tomorrow. I'm excited as it seems ages since I spent any money on my PC.