I have £80 to spend but I'm a little torn as to what to buy with it. Right now I've narrowed it down to 3 things: Buy Samsung 128GB SSD (£80) Put it towards a full tower case e.g. CM Storm Trooper case (£110) Put it towards a new graphics card(7870 or gtx 660 ti) £200 to £250 - Right now I'm still using a mechanical hard drive but I hear SSDs are really good for general "snappiness", but I'm thinking I could see more significant performance increases if I spent the money elsewhere - I'm using a cheap midi Silverstone case, only £30 or so, and a sleek full-tower case like the Storm Trooper would be really nice for better cable management and its built-in fan controller - My GTX 260 is struggling on my 1920x1080 screen and a new graphics card would be a welcome boost - I'm guessing it would at least double my framerate. I'm using an OC'd AMD 1100T which I think ought to be able to keep up with a 7870. What do you think you would buy if you were in my situation?
I'd get an SSD. Makes such a great difference. But if you're willing to save consider a 256 as I've filled up my 128 far too easily.
SSD hands down will give you best bang for buck (ie you WILL notice a difference) But I agree saving a little extra for 256Gb would future proof it some more, although 128Gb is more than enough for the OS of choice & Some software/games.
What do you use it for? If the main use is multimedia, web browsing and gaming, the SSD is a nice upgrade worth having, but it is not earth shattering. A good case is important, but as long as the hardware has enough air and acceptable temperatures, it is more down to aesthetics than performance. The only thing you mention as a negative is struggling performance in gaming, so I'm guessing this is more important.
I'd go with the SSD for the time being, but keep your eyes peeled for a good value 256 as others have said, just had to migrate steam to my mech drive as the summer sale bulked it up a little too much.
Normally I would say get an SSD. But because you mention that your graphics card is so poor I would look to upgrade that first. While your saving look to get your post count up to over 70 and the "market place " forum will become available and you can buy a second hand bargain from another member.
No contest Samsung SSD http://www.dabs.com/products/samsun...-ssd-basic-kit-819N.html?q=samsung 830&src=16
A SSD is a nice thing to have but no way would I choose to stick with a GTX 260 for one. If you are a gamer then the new graphics card will be the best investment as a SSD really doesn't change much other than knock a few seconds off each map load on BF3.
I'd also recommend the SSD. Whilst the graphics card would improve gaming performance, the SSD will improve performance and speed everywhere. You'll wonder how you ever got by without one.
SSD, as in terms of price to performance now they trump any other upgrade. £80 to give yor PC a massive speed boost? Yes please! And 120GB is ok, you just have to be sensible with your game usage. I'm on 100Mbps internet though, so that helps.
The benefit you get from SSD is also going to depend on what hard drive you've currently got. An SSD is always going to give a performance boost, but all the greater, compared with an old, slow drive.
Alright, thanks guys. For now I think I'm edging towards the graphics card - an SSD would be great and now is a great time to buy one, but when I think of it, my only real complaint about my system right now is the poor graphics card performance.
Yeah sure. I used to be really really eager about getting an SSD as I've read so much good stuff about them - but a couple of friends have bought Crucial M4s and Samsung 830s on my recommendation and although they love them, they're of the opinion that they don't quite live up the hype!
Really? A PC booting in less than 30 seconds every time, installs that take seconds, everything feeling speedly and giving an instant response? Either they've set them up wrong, or they've got wildly differing views on what tech can do, as I don't know how much faster than instant you can get...
I'd never turn back to HDD for my desktop computer after going SSD. It's so worthwhile! Although you may need to go back to a HDD OS PC to really really really appreciate the benefits. You will then hate all work related IT henceforth!
I've got to say that since moving from mech to SSD (Crucial M4), it certainly does 'live up to the hype'. I could definitely never go back to using a mech HDD and mirror what bloody_pete says. That being said, it is up to you and if you feel that the 260 is really struggling then by all means upgrade the GPU. At least we can say that the case is out
ssd is the way to go and since nvidia has released the 660ti gfx cards prices on older stock should come down and u can save some penny's till then
same here what the above poster have said best bang for buck a ssd, speeds up loading and system responsiveness makes a difference. i save up later for the gfx card as they always go down when the new generation show up or the opposition make a faster card
