What should I upgrade?

[exe3]

Get a new case and better cooling.

[Tera]

yeah you're looking pretty set man.

may I inquire what your keyboard situation is? *cough*mechanical*cough*

I have been meaning to get a new one - currently just using a generic dell multimedia keyboard.

Get a new case and better cooling.

I don't remember the last time I had the panel on

[diamondd]

yeah you're looking pretty set man.

may I inquire what your keyboard situation is? *cough*mechanical*cough*

I have been meaning to get a new one - currently just using a generic dell multimedia keyboard.

alright, it's been decided...

if you have money left after the other upgrades I'd definitely go for a good mechanical keyboard. It's a harder sell, but honestly the difference between a generic keyboard and a nice mechanical is like going from iPod ear-buds to your AD-700's.

[Ninja Catfish]

Xonar Essence STX has 1/4" inputs and outputs

[Epic Badger]

What's my current bottleneck?

Disk. Get an SSD. No need to reinstall, assuming you're using Win7 - clear enough stuff off your system drive such that it'll fit on the SSD, run a decent defrag, shrink the partition, system image it, restore onto SSD, job done. You'll never look back.

[SaNE]

As others have said, upgrade your GPU (670 when there's more stock and you're getting less ripped off, or alternatively order one from overseas since they are cheaper) and then get an SSD (Crucial or Intel).

Load times are nice but FPS is the #1 Priority.

[Bek]

No need to reinstall, assuming you're using Win7

True, although then you'd also need to switch to AHCI with the registry edit, and overall it'd just be cleaner to do a full reinstall. But both methods work I suppose.

[diamondd]

No need to reinstall, assuming you're using Win7

True, although then you'd also need to switch to AHCI with the registry edit, and overall it'd just be cleaner to do a full reinstall. But both methods work I suppose.

yeah, personally I always go the clean install

[Zombywolf]

definitely a new gfx card. there will be a pretty significant jump between the 5000 series and the (now quite cheap) 6000 series radeon card - thats not even mentioning going into the 7000 series.

[steve_rogers42]

hahaha SSD then GPU then Soundcard then Keyboard then Case...


LOVE that pic of your comp Tera <3

[Tera]

Keyboard acquired! It's so hard to get used to the new positioning of the keys.

[Rodimus86]

UPGRADE ALL THE THINGS


On a more serious note id also recommend what tranquil said, GPU and CPU cooler to OC. Depending on your budget of course.

[Ninja Catfish]

[ http://www.pccasegear.com/UserFiles/blackwidow_banner.jpg ]

Keyboard acquired! It's so hard to get used to the new positioning of the keys.

Good choice, I love mine. I do miss backlighting though. I'm constantly tempted to buy a Ducky for backlighting, but that would just be dumb

[Scarface.au]

Upgraded to a ducky earlier this year - haven't looked back

As for soundcards - i have had an auzen xfi forte (& AD700s) for the past 3 years or so (a while anyway.....) and its been _ok_

i.e.; sound wise it's fantastic. The inbuilt headphone amp is awesome!

However; I have had issues with drivers since I got the thing. I have also had some hardware issues - sometimes I get weird static that only a reboot will fix etc.

It's not a bad card, I'd just look at something newer to spend your tax $ on

[Ninja Catfish]

Have an Essence STX, had it for about 3 or 4 years now, but I broke it a few weeks ago being a dumbass <_<
Have replaced it with an Audioengine D1 USB DAC. Can't say it's better or worse, but it does sound fantastic. Best part is that changing to headphones is as simple as plugging them in, rather than going to the Xonar Control Panel and changing the output. Other best thing is that it's not in my case, so reduced risk of EMI noise and doesn't limit accessibility to PCI-e slots.
No surround, or Dolby or anything like that though, tbh I experimented with Dolby Headphone and other effects on the Essence and found they did more to ruin music than improve it.