GoneWacko’s Blog

Upgrade plans

August 11, 2008 on 4:04 pm | In Computing | 6 Comments
Tags: computers, xbox 360

Considering that my current machine is OVER 9000 over 1.5 years old already, it’s obvious that it’s in dire need of upgrading. That GeForce 8800 GTX just won’t do!

So I’ve been scheming about my upgrade plans for some time now, and today I decided to take a preliminary look at what it might cost to put my plans into fruition. I’m not entirely sure if I am going to go ahead with these upgrades; I have to take a look if there is no next generation hardware around the corner; If there is, I might actually show a bit of common sense and wait!

Current upgrade plans

Item	Price
Sub total	€ 697.35
Logitech Z-5500 Digital 5.1 Speakerset	€ 234.95
Asus 9800GX2 (2x DVI, 1GB, HDMI) EN9800GX2/G/2/DI/1G/A	€ 423.40
GeiL 2 GB DDR2-800 Kit (Retail, GX22GB6400UDC)	€ 39.00

A few notes:

• The extra RAM would bring the total RAM to 4GB. Considering how cheap DDR2 RAM is these days, I might also get rid of my current RAM and buy 4GB of speedier memory; This mostly depends on what my motherboard will eat.
• My motherboard has surround sound audio support on board, but I’m considering the option of getting a sexy sound card. I’ve not really looked at what I’d want to buy, though.
• My XBOX 360 is broken, although I should be able to fix it. However, I always had the plan of buying a second XBOX 360, mostly because my original XBOX 360 is running hacked firmware, and I’m not going to risk going online with that one. Furthermore, my parents bought a 46″ Sony Bravia, which is Full HD, so it would be rather nice to have an XBOX with HDMI output so I can attach it to the TV.

With these notes in mind, there are some other items to shove onto the previous list.

Possible extras

Item	Price	Alternative
Grand total	€ 1,189.50	€ 1,345.20
Previous sub total	€ 697.35	-
Some sexy Creative sound card	€ 122.20	€ 277.90
XBOX 360 Elite	€ 369.95	-

Since the 122.20 Euro Creative SB X-FI Xtreme Gamer Fatality Professional is obviously far too cheap to be something I’d buy, I’m also listing a nice little Creative SB X-FI Elite Pro to consider as an alternative.

All in all, this is slightly more than I had originally anticipated, but it’s still well within the amount of money I expect to have earned/earn from my work placement. It’s also slightly ironic to realize that the dual core Geforce 9800 GTX actually costs a good 130 euros less than what I originally paid for my Geforce 8800 GTX! Surely that can’t be right?

Update just now found some information about the new ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 which is supposedly the fastest card available at this time.
I’m assuming nVidia will have something interesting around the corner, so at any rate I’m going to wait with the upgrade until I’ve looked into that matter with greater detail.