How Should I Upgrade My M17x (R1)?

I'll be goint go the USA for college soon, and I want to upgrade the m17x I've bought a year ago. It has

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Extreme CPU Q9300 @ 2.53GHz

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M

8 GB RAM

250GB Solid State hard drive.


Basically, I've bought the best I could buy a year ago. Can I upgrade it even further?

 

I assume you have SLI 280's? If not, getting another one, or switching to 4870's is probably all you can really do. You have the best CPU for it already.

 

Really I dont see you getting anything to make it better. Even with the Gpus. The only thing I can think of is Adding a SSD drive.

 

Okay, I didn't know I couldn't make it better. Usually there would be major hardware changes after a year, but I guess after R2 came out there is nothing I can do about R1.

Thanks.

 

Yeh unfortunately the hardware changes to get to the R2 require a completely new motherboard and a few other parts.

 

Too bad the R1s don't support Core i series CPUs. I would have definitely jumped onto that.

 

You have a very high end R1 there, The R2's are probably not a hole lot better as in the 2 core is a very fast CPU and the multi core do not have a lot of games that use them or CF yet.
Run that rig another year or so and then buy a new R2 or R3? you are just fine. Good choice for when you bought it.

 

a Second 280 would be worth if it you could nab one for $300-350 with the SLI cable and fan. He has the QX9300, so he *should* already have the 240W PSU.

the only i7 that's really better than the QX9300 are the Extreme edition cpus, otherwise the 9300 runs cooler, overclocks tons better and runs all 4 cores at the same speed, so no turboboost throttling.