hello,

About 6 Months ago. I built My first PC,
Built a mid range/Budget Gameing PC..
Now its time to Upgrade.

XEON e3110 (8400) @ 3.6
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
2x2 OCZ platinum
xfx 8800gt
500gb seagate Cuda the .11 Version
Xigmatek cpu cooler.
antec 900
19" lcd monitor
g5
g15
Looking at the specs... I wanted to know where the weakest link is.

My mobo dosent support raid... I was thinking mabe a upgrade mobo with raid and (future crossfire)
if that goes.. i would change the mobo + add another 500gb seagate Cuda the .11 Version.. In raid 0.

Or maybe even the OCZ SSD 32gb + the original HDD...
Or the velociraptor 150gb + the original HDD

well, The 500gb is more then enough space for me...
the 8800gt is running COD4, Gears of war, Team fortress, spore- FAirly well.. :s Planning to add Gears of war 2 and COD5 soon.. dont know how that will hold up..
I dont plan on upgrading my monitor i like small..

i have 4gb worth of ram... I could upgrade to 8gb + 64bit version of vista ultimate


what do u guys think.. what Upgrade would u do first..
Or what upgrade would you recomend..

ps.. All you pc gamers check out the FRAGFX and the ps3.. Thinking abt that also..

Look into GA-EP45-DS3R & P5Q PRO.

Can't recommend anything until you specifiy your primary upgrade objective.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
It does everything you want it to do so why dump extra cash into it?
It would be better if you waited with your more than adequate system until Core i7 is released.
No real need to upgrade anything now.

Totally agree with the above statement. My quote.
Don't fall into the rat race for upgrading your machine when you don't need to.

Your system can handle everything (except Microsoft Simulator and Crysis) at that resolution with ease. You won't feel any improvement in current games by upgrading your system (I'm almost positive, it's more than sufficient for the new games as well).

I'm going to assume that gaming is your top priority for this PC. Your weakest link is the monitor. The problem is that upgrading it will need a better video card, and upgrading that may need a larger PSU (depending on what you have now).

With a 19" monitor, the 8800GT is good enough IMO. If you can afford $1000 for upgrades, get a 24" monitor and a HD 4870X2 (and a 750TX PSU, if your current one is too small). If your upgrade budget is smaller, just wait.

I don't think RAID/SSD/Velociraptor/8GB of RAM are worth the price for a gaming machine. The 8GB, compared to 4GB, will contribute almost nothing at all.

Edit, for those who tell you to wait for Core i7: guys, he's got an E8400 at 3.6GHz. The CPU is most definitely not the bottleneck in his gaming.

If you get a Core i7 to replace the E8400 you'll have to buy a new CPU/motherboard/DDR3, and you'll get a couple of fps more. On the other hand, upgrading the 8800GT to 9800GX2 or HD 4870X2 would cost less and get you a lot more fps. Look at these benchmarks here and you'll see how good your existing CPU already is, and how little you'd benefit from upgrading it.
http://www.legionhardware.com/docu [...] id=770&p=5