Best way to improve this system

[Kingston]

System in its present configuration:

Asus M2N4-SLI
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
1GB Corsair DDR2 667MHz
BFG GeForce 7600GS 256MB DDR2
WD 120GB (7200rpm, 8MB, Ultra ATA-100)

For around $200, I could:
-Pop in 2GB of Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800MHz memory; or
-Pop in a 150GB Raptor; or
-Upgrade the video card (??)

I really don't want to upgrade the video card because my game play is limited (at this point), and most of the newer/high end cards have only DVI output. I am still using a Sony 21" Trinition CRT. Call me crazy, but I think that the picture is sharper and crisper (with better colors!) than the flat panel monitors.

Would I see more of a performance gain from upgrading the memory or the hard disk? Thinking either a Raptor or two 250GB SATA-300 drives in RAID0, although right now I am only using half of my 120GB drive and really do not need half a terrabyte of storage.

The system actually performs well as-is, but I am trying to reduce boot up and load times for some applications.

 

[Heyyou27]

You do know that all dual DVI videocards come with DVI to VGA converters?

 

[Wonderwill]

I'd say buy another gig of the RAM you have already, then upgrade the graphics card and/or hard drive. That should speed up the system a little, depending on what you are doing. BTW what did you mean by "my game play is limited"? You can easily find a good card with vga output, and an adaptor will still do just fine.

 

[alcattle]

A SATA HD would speed up your system the most on what you wanted, but adding a GB of memory would help overall preformance. Get A smaller drive (160 GB) and the added stick of RAM, instead of replacing both would be most back for your buck, all $200 of them

 

[Wonderwill]

A SATA HD would speed up your system the most on what you wanted, but adding a GB of memory would help overall preformance. Get A smaller drive (160 GB) and the added stick of RAM, instead of replacing both would be most back for your buck, all $200 of them

That sounds like a really good idea, and you could run it in raid 0. Another option would be the RAM and the 36 Gig raptor if you're only looking for speed. 8)

 

[alcattle]

you could not run his old 120gb Ultra-100 and a 160 gb SATA in a RAID 0. Price wise, Raptors suck, it might give you 2 double the speed in some cases, but you get 4 times the space all the time with the 160GB

 

[proof]

Yeah, Raptors are almost as bad as SCSI in the $/GB department.

 

[Wonderwill]

you could not run his old 120gb Ultra-100 and a 160 gb SATA in a RAID 0. Price wise, Raptors suck, it might give you 2 double the speed in some cases, but you get 4 times the space all the time with the 160GB

Srry, thought he had a 160 gig But I reccomended the raptor because he said he wasn't taking up much space and wanted a faster system.