xmas upgrade...

[iMc]

what upgrade(s) should i perform with my xmas money, budget=£100-150

spec in sig

[TeePee]

Thats a nice well rounded system, I wouldn't upgrade any of those components, so spend the money on accessories. Start with a quality mousing product, and put the rest in a savings account until you have enough for a god 17" TFT.

[iMc]

i gotta logitech mx summit-or-other. optical with cable. its great. yeh id love a 17inch tft. i gotta 17inch iiyama black crt at the mo. it does the job but tfts rule

only prob with my comp is the hot air the power supply spits out, its around 34C and heats my room up loads. my cpu temp is quite high to..... 60-64C full load.

edit: another thing...... can u get any good tfts which u can disconnect from their stand so u can put it on ya lap or sit in bed with it..... etc. this could either b wired/wireless im jus wondering if they are available.

[TeePee]

That CPU temp is too high, so a better HSF should be on your list. It won't reduce how much your room heats up though, better fans don't decrease the energy output, only spread it around better.

[iMc]

any hsf advice, i aint got the mounting holes on my mb tho...

[Austin]

Best of the cheaper alternatives in my book is certainly the Volcano 11 or 12 which are around £15 from www.dabs.com or CPUcity. Adjustable fan that you can also set to run auto adjusting to a heat sensor. Going beyond these tends to get expensive while going below them tends to have a fair impact on noise as well as efficiency. People have also been raving about the Coolermaster CP5-8JD1F-0L (£7ish) which may be worth a look.

I also agree with TeePee, your system is nicely balanced and any upgrades won't give the perf gains the cost would indicate. You have a great CPU, mobo, RAM etc. Rad9600PRO is probably the weakest link but still a great card and it's difficult to get a decent amount of more perf without spending loadsamoney. As pretty much said you may want to add some less perf orientated stuff like a DVD Writer, digital camera, MP3 player, nice printer, scanner, joypad/wheel, superb speakers, cordless optical mouse/keyb etc.

[iMc]

why thanku very much! not bad for my first build. i wish i had been aware of how good the barton 2500+ was tho. oh well!

i got a new lexmark printer/scanner coming my way so thats sorted.