Memory, graphics, or monitor??

[inntruzion]

Well, I'm nearly ready to buy my parts and I've got a bit more money to spend :D

Anyway atm I've got 2GB G.Skill DDR2 800 CAS4, Dell Ultrasharp 20.1", and 1x X1950XTX in my line-up. So I'm thinking I should upgrade 1 of these to: G.Skill DDR2 800 CAS3, Dell Ultrasharp 24", or an extra X1950 XTX Crossfire card. Or should I get something like the Elite Pro rather than Xtreme Music, or a nice speaker system rather than keeping my 2 rubbish speakers, or something. I need your expert opinion!! :p:

Thanks all in advance :D

[perkam]

Stick with one X1950XTX...it'll more power than you'll ever need...and it would be foolish to spend $1000 on non DX10 GPUs.

Secondly, ddr2 667 cas 3 usually has the same ICs as ddr2 800 cas 3...so get either of this stuff:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231090

OR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135022

So now you'll still have that extra $$$ left AND you'll have great low latency ddr2. Witht he remaining amount (Since you will not need X1950 xfire and you already have memory that can do ddr2 800 cas 3) get this: http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-4688 ... if you don't already have the widescreen version...its more than enough for gaming and its it's HUGE...anything more would be overkill.

If you already have the widescreen version, then you should still have that extra $$$ left over...your best bet is to upgrade the psu to the PCP&C 750W for $199 and whatever's left, upgrade the case, buy a dvd-rw drive if you have to....buy some 5.25" fan controller drives or other good looking drives to fill all those empty drive slots....if you don't already have a CM Stacktype case...otherwise get one of those ;)

There are tons of options...just keep it practical. Don't use all your money on big ticket items, only to not have the $$ for the little things that make your rig awesome.

Perkam

[Silver Bullet]

"G.Skill DDR2 800 CAS3, Dell Ultrasharp 24", or an extra X1950 XTX Crossfire card" ... all of these components are already strong enough .. i would look into getting speakers or maybe a faster CPU (you didn't say which you had)... Crossfire at this point is worthless with DX10 just around the corner and CAS4 to CAS3 is maybe 2%-5% realworld benifit (you'd never notice) and going to a 24" LCD might be nice.. but unless your doing something that needs 24" . maybe another 20" be better. Getting better speakers i think is a good idea though..

[nn_step]

save your money for a worthwhile upgrade

[inntruzion]

I'm getting an E6600 so it's not bad lol :D

Yeah saving for upgrade might be a good idea considering R600 is meant to pwn all, and I've just been looking at the Elite Pro and GigaWorks 7.1 speaker system combo. Overkill, but beautifully tempting :D

[inntruzion]

Hows this?? All for just over £1750. My budget is £1500 ish, but I just got all the prices of OcUK so it's more expensive than it could be, and that X1950XT-X should go way down after its released - thats its preorder price.

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro
Creative GigaWorks 7.1 S750 THX® Speakers
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB)
Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Dell Ultrasharp 2007WFP 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor
2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (in RAID 0)
HIS ATI Radeon X1950 XT-X ICEQ 3 SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR4 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 GA PC2-5400 (2x1GB) CAS3 Dual Channel Kit

Gotta love the sound :D

EDIT: Just realised someone's voted for bigger monitor. Post post post hehe. I gotta agree with perkam 24" is bit overkill (me with my speakers :D), and also price jump right up 20" to 24". Nearly twice the price in some occasions.

[HaxR3]

ya, i wud say speakers & sound card & fast hdd

BTW the p5W why the workstation 1?

[inntruzion]

Sorry meant the P5B lol

[xlink]

just get two 20 inch monitors...