What do I want most? SSD vs monitor vs HDD vs GPU

Audigex

Audigex

Audigex

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3 Feb 2009
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Hey guys

I've got a little money coming in and have a couple of upgrades in mind, but I can't do them all... can you throw some advice at me on priorities?

Current spec:
Phenom II 720BE x3 (2.8gHz or 3.6 when I need some oomph)
Biostar TA770GX3 or something similar
4gb (2x2gb) PC2-8500
8800 GT
1TB Samsung F3
Antec 300

My monitor is a Digimate 22" VERY basic model, 1680x1050 - it cost £100 new 18 months ago.

The upgrades I'm looking at
1) A new monitor - I like the look of that BenQ G2420HDB 24" since it's £140 and full HD. This means I can relegate the cheapo digimate to 2nd monitor status and opens up HD to me. The use of a second monitor should also be useful, since I spend so much time flicking between windows.
2) An SSD. This is expensive at £150, but I'd like the speed boost and quietness.
3) A GPU upgrade. I've no idea what I'd go for here, but I'd want better performance than an 8800GT (enough to be worth shelling out for) and as quiet as possible.

Along with a new hard drive - my F3 is full, so I need some more space. A second F3 for £70 should keep me going for a while, plus my laptop needs a new HDD at £40... so that's £110 to start with

My total budget is £350, leaving £240 for the upgrades. That basically means I can have any 2 of the 3 above, with slight improvements on the two chosen... what's my best bet?
 
ssd and gpu, no point in a new monitor as 1680x1050 is good enough, went round to a friends house today and say no increase in visual "Wowness" over 1680 x 1050 over 1920 x whatever it is :P

if it was my money, gpu and ssd depending on ur PSU

if your a big gamer, forget the ssd all together :)
 
You all missed the "quiet" bit then? Powerful air cooled graphics that are quiet are rare.

A second monitor is excellent, even if it's just a knackered old 14" one (which I'm using). I'll move using three when I see one going cheap.

An ssd is amazing, but you can live without it. I've got a vertex which I love to pieces, but I've moved it into a netbook to help me tolerate the atom. Desktop is back on a normal hard drive, and while I miss instant opening applications, it's not so bad.

I think you want a graphics card with aftermarket cooling. Preferably a waterblock.

Not your student loan being spent on such toys I trust :)
 
JonJ678 said:
Not your student loan being spent on such toys I trust :)
Click to expand...

;-)

Actually it's the bursary - £1350. The grand goes on food and books, the £350 is for toys. Last years was an ebook reader, CPU and motherboard.

Fair point about the SSD being survivable without - although I like the idea of moving the system drive with all it's file accessing onto a silent drive.

The 5850+Dell would be well over £430, so that's shot the budget to crap. I've got £250 for any two of GPU+SSD+Monitor, and I can stretch that to £300 if the £50 would be well spent, but that's a limit rather than a target.

I'm thinking either the SSD or Monitor (probably monitor at this stage) at £150 to £170, then a £100 GPU (4870, stretching to a 4890 if it's worth the extra £30?) aiming to be quiet.

Agh, it gets so complex. How about a combination of the following

I've got a preferable/maximum I can go to on both/absolute maximum for one OR the other
Monitor or SSD: £150/170/200
GPU: £100/130/150

Oh, and just to be an absolute arse, I'd prefer the monitor to not have a bright LED on the front - my current monitor has a bright blue status light with a piece of white-tack over it.
 
JonJ678 said:
You all missed the "quiet" bit then? Powerful air cooled graphics that are quiet are rare.
Click to expand...

they are not that loud at all...... you make it sound like they are hellicopters taking off

stil no point in buying a £100 GPU it would not be likely to be a big enough performance increase in what you allready have :(

look at GPU benchmarks on tomshardware website and see for yourself :)
 
Toms is great for raw numbers, but I find people's opinions are better when comparing cards overall, including noise levels etc. I got the impression that the 4870 (or out-of-budget 280) was the first card to be worth having over the 8800. ie others are better, but that's the cheapest that's actually going to give an improvement.

Would I be better off with a monitor and SSD? The BenQ and 60gb vertex would be doable. Alternatively, would I be better off with a really good quality monitor? I wouldn't mind 1920x1200, for the extra vertical space.

I'm giving myself more questions, without actually answering any of them.
 
I've seen the ST2410 for £155 though not sure if it still is but it was like a week ago.Perhaps go for a 5770 Vapor-x if you can't afford a 5850 with the monitor.
 
The HD5830 is coming out in the first week of February from what I have heard!!

It is rumoured to have 1280 stream processors and is meant to be the replacement for the HD4890.
 
if you 100% don't want a new gpu, you do photoshop, 3d modeling, coding, something thats needs big displays then i would go dual screen over ssd.
 
Badas said:
if you 100% don't want a new gpu, you do photoshop, 3d modeling, coding, something thats needs big displays then i would go dual screen over ssd.
Click to expand...

I want all of it, that's the problem xD I just can't afford them all so I'm trying to work out what gives me the best bang for my buck.

I do a lot of coding, and some photoshop.

The GPU would more be to reduce noise as much as possible, while increasing or maintaining performance. I think with the GPU though, I'm not going to get anything that really beats (as in worth spending money on beats, not just a few FPS) the 8800 for the money I have.

Forget the GPU. I'll leave that for another time when there are clearer opinions on what's worth what.

How large an SSD is needed to avoid the ballache of installation? I could get two 60gb vertex's, or a decent 24" monitor. Can I get a couple of suggestions on £200-300 monitors, and opinions on whether 2 60gb vertex's in raid0 is a good option?
 
My vote is for a dual monitor setup, if you do anything apart from game 100% of the time, the added real estate of 2 monitors is a fantastic experience.

See the pics in the link in my sig. The nv260 powers my Hazro 26" 1920x1200, while the nv8800 powers the Apple 20" 1650x1080, (8800 also does the physx).

In Photoshop, the main window is on the Hazro, with all the tools on the Apple screen.
In every MMO I play, the game is in full-windowed mode on the Hazro, with a browser and vent controls on the Apple.
 
Schizo, I've already pointed out that the 5850+dell are waay out of budget. If I could afford that, I'd go for it, but I can't.

Badas, that's kinda the point of the thread mate. I recognise that I can't have everything, so I'm trying to work out which combination is best.

PatC, good point. I'm veering more and more towards the monitor. What's the Samsung SM2433BW like? As mentioned, I'd prefer the 1200 vertical resolution over 1080.
 
graphics card first, may aswell get max enjoyment out of games. SSD is useless in my mind unless you really want the odd programme to run a bit quicker. Probably go for a 5850 and Dell ST2410 like Sycho said.
 
5850 can be bought for £218 from here but not sure when they are in stock and a ST2410 can be bought for £159 from....well not sure if i am allowed to say but it's easy to figure out.;)

That's £377 total, very good card and probably one of the top 3 non ips panel monitors in the 24 inch bracket.Bit over your max budget but well worth it upto you though and enjoy whatever you decide though personally i wouldn't get a SSD yet.
 
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