To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade..

[daniSAUR]

Hey guys, last month was my birthday (woo ) and I received a fair bit of money for turning that one year older and I've been pretty stumped on what to use it on! Haha.

So I was wondering if you guys could help.

Should I upgrade my current build:

Mobo: MSI P35 Neo2-FR

CPU: Q9450

GPU: 9800GT Amp! Edition

RAM: 4GB OCZ CL4 Titanium

HDDs: 1TB Samsung F3, 500GB Samsung F1

Case: Coolermaster CM690

PSU: Coolermaster 520W

Or I was thinking of upgrading my watercooling. Currently I have the following in a CM690 case:

CPU Block: Swiftech Apogee GTZ

GPU Block: EK-FC88

Rads: RS240, RS120 (probably don't want to upgrade these at the moment unless I get a new case)

Pump: Laing DDC Ultra with EK Derlin Top

Res: XSPC single bay res.

Tubing: Feser white 3/8"ID 1/2"OD

OR should I get a 24" monitor with DVI-D and HDMI ports? I've currently got dual screenies with two Dell SE198WFP's but I using the one for my PS3 (DVI-d - HDMI adapter).

OR (yeah... sorry, there's more things I want ) should I get myself a netbook? I've been tempted by the Samsung NC10s on fleEbay or even stretching to the N140s. But I'm still not 100% sure on this...

Anyway, if you guys can drag your eyes through this long winded post and assist me I'd be more than grateful!

Thanks in advance.

 

[AMDFTW]

change the GPU ither wait for fermi and the mobo IMO

 

[daniSAUR]

change the GPU ither wait for fermi and the mobo IMO

"fermi"? sorry dude didn't get that.

Yeah I was thinking of getting myself a 5770 and possibly taking the GPU out of the water cooling loop.

Hmm, motherboard seems like an idea but I've been thinking about not upgrading it mainly because I don't want to have to buy another w7 OS... And I already took advantage of the w7 Pro 64bit student offer.

 

[AMDFTW]

fermi is the new nvidia cards mate,hmmm use a imiging tool for ur OS did u not burn it to a dvd

 

[Rastalovich]

Quality 24" monitor ftw !

By the time u've enjoyed that enough, hopefully the graphic card market would have both settled down in it's advances for squeezing cash out of clients and there should be more options.

Biggest outlay would be the move from the P35 mobo. Dunno if I'd want to advise doing that tbh.

 

[daniSAUR]

fermi is the new nvidia cards mate,hmmm use a imiging tool for ur OS did u not burn it to a dvd

Oh I see, yeah I guess that's another option. I did get the win7 student edition with a CD but I thought because it was an upgrade CD i'd need an official retail version beforehand?

Quality 24" monitor ftw !

By the time u've enjoyed that enough, hopefully the graphic card market would have both settled down in it's advances for squeezing cash out of clients and there should be more options.

Biggest outlay would be the move from the P35 mobo. Dunno if I'd want to advise doing that tbh.

So the motherboard seems to be the lowest spec I have... Well I've been thinking that I don't mind upgrading the mobo as I've just had a look at the prices for a full licensed win7 CD. Hmmmmmmm...

 

[Rastalovich]

Tbh, if I had the same rig, with a list of upgrades in order of priority - the mobo would be at the bottom.

P35/Q9450/4G - the money spent upgrading this would not significantly be noticed.

I'd run the P35 until I spotted a P45 with ddr3 that I liked that was well priced. If I really wanted to spend cash.

That's me tho, others would jump i5/i7 as soon as they got the cash. An oc'd 9450 is hard to compete with in the real world tbh.

 

[daniSAUR]

Sorry for the late reply, but I see what you mean now, Rastalovich.

I'll probably get a 24" HDMI monitor for the time being and ask for a netbook for christmas (or possibly a late christmas gift in the sales!)

Although that P45 board with DDR3 sounds pretty good. Although there aren't that many out there anymore, which is irritating. May get one once the G300's come out.