[Upgrade] What would you do with this rig?

[Haste]

I bought a P4/mobo about a year ago, and paid a lot for it. I kinda wish I didn't, but eh -- post what you'd do to this rig. I'd like to move to a board with Serial-ATA so I can use SATA drives (it's not possible to use SATA on a PATA board, correct?)

Chieftec Aluminum w/ crappy 420W PSU
Abit IT7-Max
2.53 w/ 533 FSB on an Alpha 8942
2x 512MB CorsairXMS PC3200C2 v1.1
ATI 9800 Pro
LeadTek TV Capture Card
SB Live! Value OEM
WD 800JB 80GB
LiteOn 40x CDRW
LiteOn 16x DVDROM
Sony 17" 200ES
Grado SR60 headphones (music)
Plantronics headphones w/ mic (gaming)
Cheap Altec speakers (watching TV on my PC)

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Primary PC uses:

FPS/RTS gaming
Watching/storing compressed DVDRip movies (XviD etc..)
Listening to MP3s


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First up I'm hoping to upgrade to either a 17", 19" or 20" LCD. Dell just released their 20" 16ms 1600x1200 LCD, but it isn't available for individual purchase yet. Samsung JUST released their 17" with a 12ms (yes, 12ms total) response, and I'm leaning towards the Samsung due to the lower cost and 1280x1024 resolution, which would be better for gaming due to higher frame rates at the native resolution.

I'd really like some sort of solution to this aggrivating problem I'm having, though. I use headphones, but I also use speakers. A matter of fact, I use two sets of headphones. One for gaming, due to the mic, one set for listening to music, and the speakers for watching TV over my PC. Is there any way to make switching the damn cords out of the back of the soundcard any easier? As it goes right now, I have to unplug the (2) headphones, and speaker plug from the back of the soundcard whenever I want to switch. Is there any way to help alleviate this problem?

Next up I was thinking about a DVD+/-RW drive. Is Plextor's 8X the best?

I was also thinking about ditching the IT7-Max and 2.53 (selling them) and getting a 2500+, and an nForce2 board with two SATA drives in RAID0.

I have a 10Mbps unmetered connection here at school, and it's blazing fast down and up, so I might need to get some more storage space, but I'm fine now.

Your opinions are welcome.

 

[pik4chu]

well best buy is having a sale on black friday for DVD-RWs for eoither 79 or 99 bucks, its not the plextor thoguh but still.

keep in mind that if you buy bartons now the multipliers will be locked. (but all in all it doesnt matter too much, jsut remember it though).

The one solution I can think of for your sound problem is try moving the plugs to the front of the case. like getting extender and mount it on the front, then you dont have to reach behind the pc to switch between devices

And correct, you cant use SATA on PATA boards unless it has SATA jacks

 

[gahdzila]

Is there any way to make switching the damn cords out of the back of the soundcard any easier?

Cheap Altec speakers (watching TV on my PC)

Buy yourself a new set of speakers. My Altec's (and lots of other sets out there, by the way) have a headphone jack on the front right satellite.

 

[stool]

There are aftermarket products you can buy to move your sound features into a drive bay, like this;

This one puts your Audio In, Headphones, Speakers, and Gameport to the front.

 

[pik4chu]

hey thats cool, got a link to purchase?