Birthday

[itotallybelieveyou]

I already have a fairly good gaming PC, however my birthday is coming up soon and I'm planning to reward myself with a little upgrade.
Current specs:
CPU: E6600 @ 3.24 Ghz Idles 38 Loads 50
GPU: BFG 8800 GTX OCE 600/900 Idles 57 Loads 75
Mobo: Asus Striker Extreme
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower 750w
Case: NZXT Apollo
Fans: 120mm fan in back of the case, Arctic Freeze 7 Pro, and 2 extra 5000 rpm fans blowing on my 8800 GTX
HDD: 250GB Seagate
CD/DVD: LG 18x DVD with lightsrcribe
RAM: 2GB Kingston 677 mhz
OS: Windows XP SP2 32bit
Sound: SoundMAX hd audio (onboard with Mobo)
Please vote on the poll for 2 options and give your advice on which specific model. I'm trying it keep it under $300

 

[Jim_L9]

You could definitely use faster RAM to run it at a 1:1 memory ratio. Other than that one issue it is a very nice machine.

 

[jwolf24601]

Hard drive wasn't listed, but a Raptor might be nice.

 

[itotallybelieveyou]

A Raptor? I read alot reviews they said it was n't much or a improvement from normal 7200rpm. Does 1:1 ratio improve performance vs my current i think 1:1.6 ratio on auto

 

[AdamJ]

Well if you really want to then upgrade your memory. Or if you really need it, upgrade to a soundcard

 

[Onus]

5000 RPM fans? Do you have a wireless card installed so your PC can request clearance for takeoff? Maybe add a better GPU cooler, or lower the OC so you can slow down the fans for some peace and quiet.

 

[rabidbunny]

It's interesting that no one suggested to upgrade to Vista. haha take that microsoft!

I'd say get a new hard drive, possibly faster speed ram....
what do you have for a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers? any of those might also be a considerable upgrade.

 

[itotallybelieveyou]

I didn't OC my graphics card on stock it idles at 65-70 loads at 80 and i dont like it. I have wireless mouse and keyboard from Logitech. The ocassion randomly looking at the ground and spinning at 600 rpm is worth the comfort of my bed. i have 17" screen dont really wana upgrade. i'm currently looking at this cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16835109136&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&SelectedRating=-1&Page=3

 

[rsetter1]

Whadabaudabigamonitor?

 

[aevm]

The HR-03 is a good cooler.

17" screen for an overclocked 8800 GTX, and you DON'T want to upgrade it? Honestly I don't get it. I have a 20" widescreen and think it's an insult to my 8800 GTX OC2. I'd get a 24" 1920x1200 right now if I had any cash left... You could get a 20" widescreen under $300, no problem.

Maybe some speakers? If your current speakers are bad there's no point in buying a sound card.

A bunch of games?

An mp3 player?

 

[itotallybelieveyou]

i really dont like widescreen idk why and i dont think 3" is worth the $200 somthing i might get speakers and soundcard but currently only the HR-03 interests me

 

[Horuku]

Besides the ram being kinda slow, I see no reason to upgrade your system. Spend the money on something else, or get a new monitor.

 

[rsetter1]

MoBiggaMoBettaFoDaMaka

 

[Rabidpeanut]

Wow i wish i had your parents...

 

[choirbass]

second vote for a raptor for the OS hdd (and move your current hdd to being just storage). most things you could upgrade in your system will only have about as much of an improvement, such as faster ram, etc.

the other recommendation was a sound card, but again, only worth it if you have speakers that are worth upgrading for (such as if they cost hundreds by themselves). whichcase, even just upgrading your speakers instead of anything else may be the way to go then, if a sound card isnt yet.

 

[itotallybelieveyou]

Wow i wish i had your parents...

i WORKED for this machine and i have $300 now that's why i'm asking my parent would NOT buy me this i worked 2 summers straight. I have decided either on the HR-03 cooling or a X-fi XtremeGamer 7.1 soundcard with better speakers. Cause my sound sucks and the microphone jack doesn't work... not nice when I'm a Battlefield 2 commander have to type all the time. I don't think Ill need a raptor I only use 70GB of music movies . I have a backup external HD with all the files onto it. in case my internal HD gets destroyed. Rest of space is for games

 

[itotallybelieveyou]

Wow i wish i had your parents...

how did you even know i was 15?

 

[sailer]

I vote for the X-FI soundcard. It will make your speakers, such as they are, sound better and it will offload the cpu so that you'll pick up a few frames in gameplay. After that, look for some really good speakers. In my experience, a 5.1 set will sound every bit as good as a 7.1 set, and for the same money spent, you can get a better, more powerful 5.1 set

 

[aevm]

A bit off-topic, is there a noticeable difference between Z-5300 and Z-5500? I have a birthday coming up too

 

[sailer]

As I recall, the Z-5300 has 280wts power with 100wts RMS and the Z-5500 has 505wts with 180wts Rms. That means the 5500's can not only give you more sound, but also give a clearer sound across the full range. The 5300s are THX rated, while the 5500s are not, but THX is not as well supported now as it was years ago. In other things teh 5300s have a signal to noise ratio of 85% while the 5500s are 93.5% (teh higher number being better), and the 5300s have a frequency response of 35hz-20khz while the 5500s have a range of 33hz to 20khz (the wider range of the 5500s is better).

So depending on your hearing, the 5500s have the ability to give a much clearer sound over a wider range of sound, as well as causing your neighbors to complain about the noise if if crank them up. Of course, this also explains why the 5500s are a lot more expensive. Oh yeah, I really like 500+ wts of sound, though my speakers are a Klipsch 5.1 500wt set with THX sound. If I was to buy new speakers, it would be the 5500s. And I don't care if the neighbors complain a bit.

 

[aevm]

Thanks!

 

[rabidbunny]

Other than the more expensive 5.1 logitech speakers, the lower end models aren't crap either. I own a set of the x-530's and have loved them ever since I hooked them up to my computer. I came from a 2 cheap speaker setup and the x-530's are MUCH better (duh!). They only costed me like $60 bucks on newegg. IMO the x540's (newer version) aren't worth the price difference. These are great starter speakers, unless of course you have more than $60 bucks to drop. Personally, next time I go for a speakers setup, I want one with more features than they x-530's offer. It's just a basic volume knob, but a control pod would be cool. But, they get the job done well for the price, so I'm not going to be nit-picky.

So, if you are going for speakers, then I suggest a minimum of the x-530's from logitech, or something equivilant.

 

[lordszone]

one advice i can give u is to get a quad core, like a q6600, as crysis is coming and it will benefit highly with the extra two cores. get some more hdd. thats all. Hope i helped.

 

[techgeek]

Quad core and faster RAM. Other than that, you got a pretty sweet system.

 

[runswindows95]

Ditto on the quad and faster RAM