Upgrade advice

[shaneinsane]

Hey everyone I just built a brand new computer I dont plan on upgrading right away but here are the specs

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-06

Thermaltake M9 VI1000BWS Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250310AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

EVGA 512-P3-N861-AR GeForce 9600GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

COOLER MASTER eXtreme RP-500-PCAR ATX from factor 12V V2.01 500W Power Supply

mushkin 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996527

ASUS P5K SE LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E6750


I was curious if any of you have any suggestions on what I should look for in this upgrade all I do is game in this computer thats why I built it I was thinking another hard drive and maybe 4 gb of ram

[jlreich]

To help with gaming a sound card would be the next logical step to improve performance, and of course sound. Taking the load of making sound off the CPU can easily add a few FPS or more to your games. On the same note a set of decent surround sound speakers if you don't already have some.

Another hard drive would be good if you need the extra space. Might as well go with at least a 500GB for around $80-$90. Or even a 750GB can be had for around $140 these days.

4GB ram is good if you are running vista. Plus ram is very cheap. But 2GB is enough for gaming on XP. The most ram I have ever seen used on my system with any game is 1.7GB on XP. Even Oblivion and Crysis have not surpassed that. With vista I have seen almost 3GB used. But again, ram is very cheap. :)

A second DVD burner for making disk to disk copies. Another really cheap upgrade.

If you are just looking to add to the system a decent TV card is always a nice addition.

If you have a small monitor or are still using a CRT picking up a nice LCD would be a good investment towards a better gaming experience. I am thinking of upgrading my current 19" standard aspect to a 22" wide. Would love a 24", but that extra 2" really makes a huge difference in the price. :p

A few ideas...

[shaneinsane]

allright thanks alot Ill be investing into a video card for way way further down the road.. and once i get to 80% of my hard drive being in use il get another hard drive also another 2 gigs of ram and yea

[Heartborne]

get rid of that usless 9600 gt and get yourself a 9800 gtx or 8800 gt. Since it is EVGA, you can use their website to step it up. You pay the difference.

The 8800 GT is a much better card and it is now under $200.