What computer upgrade has made you go WOW?

[hp7909]

Going by the 'Will a SSD drive make me go WOW?' thread just curious what computer hardware or software upgrade has literally made you drop your jaw?

Me...

• RAM: Going from 4MB to 32MB & years later on 512MB to 2GB
• GFX: A series of rubbish cards to a ATI Radeon 9800
• CPU: Single-core to Dual-core
• Sound: Creative Soundcard with 5.1 speakers
• OS: Windows 7 though, not initially
• Wild-card: Watching a Blu-Ray movie @ 1080p also Avatar in 3D but I digress...

 

[hp7909]

USB to USB2 , data transfere speed increase was mucho impressive

That too.

Another WOW moment was upgrading my PC case from one that couldn't fit 120mm fans nor a tall CPU cooler to a Lian-Li. Needless to say the moment was short lived because since its made out of aluminium the case is prone to rattling if not cleaned often. Still like it & will remain for awhile.

Oh & ball mouse to optical/laser! Remember constantly opening them up to clean inside, etc.

 

[hp7909]

i just don't think modern graphics card changes have the same impact they did in the first and second generation - they fundamentally changed what your pc can do, now it is a bit smoother, bit higher resolution, few more effects

Kind of agree with that. Upgrading to an ATI 4850 did not make me go jaw-dropping WOW, but playing CoD4 on it did