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I have $800 to spend, What to buy?

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Panny

Panny

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Joined
May 13, 2005
Location
West Chester, PA
I've been putting away spare cash from my paychecks for awhile now, And I think its time to buy something, But what to buy?

I'm leaning towards upgrading my video card, Because its not handling a lot of games very well (Geforce FX 5750), Though it is still very good.

Should I spend $600 on a 7800 GTX? If so, Which manufacturer is the most reliable?

----

Or maybe even something related to liquid cooling? Or maybe both! :santa:
 
You can get 7800GTXs for about $500.

Alienware usually uses Corsair Value ram, or some other value ram, so I doubt you'll need to upgrade that since it's not generic at least.

Watercooling should be a good choice, but only if you OC, otherwise it might be a tad of a waste.

BFG, eVGA, or ASUS are good brands for 7800GTXs. The newest eVGA 7800GTX KO Edition sounds nice, but it's just another pre-OC card though, but eVGA has lifetime warranty now.
 
If you can get the 7800GT for 331, definetly do that. Then I'd say just keep the cash for something else in the future. You won't see any performance boost anywhere else really, as your CPU and RAM are pretty good...HDD get a new on if you need space, if you don't then don't bother.
 
I would just look for the best video card deal you can find and then go with that. Other than that your system looks good, and I'm not sure if Alienware uses motherboards that allow overclocking or not. If they do and you want to do some serious overclocking you could look at a watercooling setup. However, I would just get a good heatsink and see how far you can push it on air.
 
Thanks for the help guys, I'll let you know how my 7800GT turns out. :)

PS:
The only reason I was thinking about liquid cooling or something along the lines of that is because my room has an airflow problem. Something is blocking the airflow in my vents in my room, So my room heats up greatly. =\

Sure I could leave the door open, But... :p
 
Graphics card would deff be your best bet if your a gamer :).. spend the rest on a AC to put in your window
 
Both! Watercooling is worth the money, 7800s are overpriced; I would price out a watercooling kit and then get a better graphics card with the rest.
 
The only reason I was thinking about liquid cooling or something along the lines of that is because my room has an airflow problem. Something is blocking the airflow in my vents in my room, So my room heats up greatly. =\
Click to expand...
Your PC is going to generate the same amount of heat whether it's watercooled or aircooled. Spending money on watercooling won't magically cool down your room.

I still think a WD Raptor was one of the best upgrades I've ever done...I would definitely recommend that, though there's plenty of people who like to make a big fuss about sustained transfer rates...
 
johan851 said:
Your PC is going to generate the same amount of heat whether it's watercooled or aircooled. Spending money on watercooling won't magically cool down your room.
Click to expand...

Yep, thats dead on. Water cooling helps cool the CPU, by more efficiently dumping that heat into your room :(

My opinion would be to upgrade the video card, and pocket the rest of the change for a future rebuild or rainey day.
 
Your PC is going to generate the same amount of heat whether it's watercooled or aircooled. Spending money on watercooling won't magically cool down your room.
Click to expand...

I don't think I said it would cool my room down, Did I? What I meant was, My room is 10-20 degrees hotter than the rest of the house at times..So my hardware has to deal with more heat + the heat they're generating.


PCGUY112887 said:
I dunno how old you are but if having a car/license is comming up soon save it for that. I wish I would have.
Click to expand...

Yeah I know I know, I got one year. The thing is, As much as I like cars, I don't want to spend cash on them (You know.. Body kit, Supercharger..Whatever the case may be)...Simply for driving to locations that I need to go. Though gas is prudal.
 
I second the saving for your car suggestion. Even if it's a year away, you will glad that you did it later. After buying the car, and paying for insurance and gas, it's a lot of money out of your pocket.
 
There isn't any point in investing in watercooling if you don't really need it. Get the 7800gtx and then save the rest. I would, if I had nothing else to buy, you could put towards a car or something computer related...how old are you?
 
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