So, hey, if you were me...

Hey guys, I'm a long time lurker first time.....well ya know how these threads start

I had a custom, brand spanking new R3 which I absolutely loved...BUT, some idiot decided he loved it more than me, so he broke into our home and stole it. Along with everything else that was worth anything at all.
So I bought me a refurbished R2 with these specs as a replacement:

1920x1200 RGB LED screen
720QM
5870M X-fire (OC'd to 800/1100 MHz)
8GB RAM
320GB HDD (plus I added a spare 250GB HDD)

For $1200 plus tax and shipping. Yeah, it's a killer deal... But still.

And even though I love the OC'd 5870's, I can't help but slightly dislike them. See, I got my R3 as an upgrade to an Asus G73 (and god was that machine horrible) which had a single 5870m. Even though the x-fire cards produce quite a few more FPS then the 6970m I had in the R3, I feel almost as if the Asus' spirit haunts me. They took the G73 too, by the way...

SO... Now I find myself asking, what should I do to make the machine feel a bit more....high end.

I'm mainly torn between these options:
Upgrade to a 920XM
Upgrade to a 80GB SSD boot drive
Upgrade the chassis to Nebula Red (the color of my ex-R3)

Between those, I'm mostly drawn to the processor. Yeah I know, it won't reduce my boot time, or make the system feel better as a whole. Yet the 720QM feels like too much of a downgrade from the R3's 2670QM. Not to mention, it's an Extreme processor. My ego is sufficiently wounded to see that as a major upgrade. Even if it may only be bragging rights.

I know in terms of performance the SSD will provide me with the best results. Yet I would hate to do a fresh install, which is the best option IMHO (going to school for System and Network Admin, as well as my CompTIA A+ cert...so yeah lol).

So let's hear what you guys think: I wonder what you would do, were you me. And if you can think of some other upgrade I would do better to drop my money on, feel free to mention it

 

First off, I'd buy me some contents insurance for the stuff in my house.

 

If I were you I'd go for the SSD. AND..... download this. Open source anti-theft solution for your laptop, phone and tablet – Prey Last sucker who tried to steal my laptop got sent to the clink. BWAHAHAHA, but on a serious note, I'd go for the SSD. Plus I heard the Red R2 doesn't look as good. Just saying what I've heard, so pick any colour you want.

 

Hello and welcome to NBR, Zero_Range.

I don't know if you lurked enough but if you want to stop feeling bad about your single 6970, here's good news:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-6990-your-m17x-r2-single-gpu-crossfirex.html

Sorry to hear about your sad event.

 

SSD boot +1

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I've installed LoJack already, and we've moved to a neighborhood in which I DON'T have to carry my pistol.

And yeah I know about the 6970/6990 upgrade, but I can't drop more then $250 lol
Besides the boot time etc. I don't really see the benefit of the SSD. Simply because all the files I access most would be on the HDD. My system never shuts down anyway, I only sleep it normally. Reboots only occur because of updates, installs, etc. Any other reason to go for the SSD?

EDIT: ah I might also add that my R2 runs 2008 Server R2 in VM for school. So that's another reason why I'm gravitating to the processor. A RAM upgrade would be too expensive comparatively.

 

damn man that really sucks, glad to see you got into a better neighborhood though. I'd advise getting the processor if you don't want boot speed increase(which you said you didn't). Other than RAM, a good processor is the second best thing to upgrade for running virtual machines and such. hope this helps a bit.