What are my best options for upgrading

[darklich13]

Zlejedi said:

darklich13 said:

Also, you said the loading was slow,

You could get a WD Raptor, or get two of them and RAID 0. That will cut your loading time.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136296&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Hard+Drives-_-Western+Digital-_-22136296

Nope it won't.

I installed ETW on SSD drive (Patriot Warp v2) and there were no noticable gains (i was checking with stop watch).

As for op question:

get

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185093

or other good cooler and overclock your cpu at least to 2.8Ghz and upgrade GPU to radeon 5850 as suggested before.

 

For <300$ you will have very decent machine.

Err, the Raptor is not solid state.  Plus, you said nothing about RAID 0.  I have 2 of these drives installed in RAID0 and it super fast.  I have not used SSD but I know they can be really fast also but inorder to get the speed you have to pay a hefty price. And really you should buy 2 for the best performance.

Also, if your going to install a heat sink, make sure it is all copper and not just the heat pipes. Don't forget the Artic Silver!!

For and under $300 upgrade I say go with 2 Raptors and RAID0 them.  This is going to give you your biggest bang for your buck.  The rest of you system look really good.