$200 Upgrade Challenge!

[Jamrc]

Heya, I finally have $200 to spare on getting a slight system upgrade (possibly depending given answers). Was thinking of getting a SSD off Canada computers or maybe a new mobo that has PCI 2.0 (Given my wife bought me a 6890).

Here is my current specs:
P5N32-E 680i board meaning PCI Express 1.0 :P
7200.11 rpm Sata Seagate 1TB
e6600 Processor
4GB Ram Gold OCZ
Vid DAAMIT 6890

What to upgrade best bang for the buck?
I have a good monitor speaker all other specs...

[Blu]

I would go with a new motherboard to get the most out of your new card, but an ssd would be a upgrade to consider as well myself I would go with the new motherboard first, try not to spend all 200 and save for an ssd :)

[maverick_brent]

used cpu and mobo??

[dma0991]

I would choose a SSD over a motherboard change as upgrading a LGA775 motherboard to a better LGA775 motherboard is pointless. If you buy a SSD you could enjoy the performance boost now and when you decide to upgrade to Bulldozer/Ivy Bridge/Haswell for example, you could still use that SSD on that new rig and have the speed gain that you would come to expect of a SSD.

[ilya]

His motherboard won't support TRIM, so he'd have to find an SSD with very good ITGC.
I'd just forget about the upgrade altogether and save up for a platform change.
What's the 6890 BTW? 6790? 4890? 6870?

[francisw19]

Agreed with the guys above on the motherboard...don't bother with a new board unless you plan to replace your CPU and RAM as well. It's just not worth buying into a new 775 motherboard at this point.

As long as your PCIe 1.0 slot is 16x, you're not going to be holding back your card too bad (it would be about on par with PCIe 2.0 8x). So, I'd say keep what you got.

The SSD would be a good investment, IMO. It would be a huge improvement over your 7200.11 disk. You can keep your old hard drive and use it for documents or other large files. However, I would wait just a little bit longer...from what I understand, it looks like there are some new SSDs out or coming out soon (Vertex3 for example). So, there should be some adjustments in the prices of the stuff currently out. Just something to watch for...I know it sucks to buy something only to have the price drop a few weeks later.

[draemn]

Save that money towards a better upgrade in the future.

[LarkStarr]

..what the hell is a 6890?

you need a new platform. you're going to choke on a dual core soon enough. don't bother with an ssd if this is a gaming rig, an ssd would be your last purchase.

[Jamrc]

Yeah, sorry my fault hit the 9 instead of the 7 :P

Anywho it is the Radeon 6870

Also yes it is a gaming rig (or was back in the day) right now I mainly play BFBC2

Thanks for the replies so far. I'm thinking that yeah, it may be just worth the wait... The question being is how long to wait given I don't get to spend a lot all that often (wife). But I'm not complaining!

[Eldonko]

you should eb able to upgrade that mobo to pcie 2.0 for $50 or less. Check classifieds or ebay, 775 is dirt cheap. You can probably get a 775 board and a quad for $200 if you look around.