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

[Audigex]

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?

 

[Audigex]

Not your student loan being spent on such toys I trust

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.

 

[Audigex]

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.

 

[Audigex]

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.

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?

 

[Audigex]

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.

 

[Audigex]

I don't have compression on, but even if I did I'll be needing more space very soon anyway. What sort of compression ratio do people actually get? If it's much less than 30% it's probably no use to me.

5850 and ST2410 are very much tempting me though, seeing those prices.

I'll let you know what I decide, thanks for the food-for-thought guys.

 

[Audigex]

Thanks Jason. It's almost certainly useless to me then, the big users of the space are video and music (naturally). Cheers for the info though.