Next logical upgrade?

[LeftyAce]

Hi all,

I took the plunge last summer and built the system in my sig (although the second gig of ram which I got for Christmas hasn't returned from RMA at newegg yet). After having upgraded to 2GB ram, what do you think is the next logical step? My primary uses are gaming (mostly FPS) and schoolwork (doesn't really need more hardware :-) I've seen stuff about 10,000 rpm hdds; are they worth it? And what exactly do they speed up? 'cause if it's just the amount of time it takes to launch apps, that hardly seems worth the expense to me :-) Anything else you could recommend? I'm hesitant to get a second 7800, because glc essentially told me that one 8800 beats two 7800s, so sli isn't really worth the money :-) This means I have a spare pci express slot tho. (I'm just looking at adding stuff to this comp, not doing a whole new build).

Any thoughts much appreciated!

[Zoifazz]

Get a dual core processor for your next upgrade.

[glc]

Yes, get a dual core before they totally disappear. What hard drive do you presently have?

Wait for DX10 before you do anything with your video card.

[mojo]

Agree on the dual core, and with glc on waiting for DX10. If you absolutely have lots of money burning a hole in your pocket, get an 8800, but other than amazing performance you won't see any new capabilities with it until DX10 comes out and goes mainstream, and by that time the cards will be cheaper and ATI will have a competitor that may or may not be faster.

[jfk]

Another vote for a dual core.

[LeftyAce]

Oops, didn't realize the hdd wasn't in the sig. It's a Maxtor 160GB 7200 rpm SATA drive. I'm not concerned about storage space, as I have an external drive with eSATA for dumping stuff on, I was mostly wondering about the speed benefit of a 10K rpm drive.

glc: what do you mean "before they totally disappear" ??

The logic on DX 10 seems sound; I'll hold off on a vid card.

edit: looked on newegg for a socket 939 dual core processor and there are none except opterons at around 2 ghz :-{ So that's what you meant :-)

[glc]

The speed benefit on a 10k drive is not worth the expense.

Here's a dual core if you want to spend that kind of money..........

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80726-R