Best upgrade for a 100 bucks?

[Lumpy44]

So I have a hundred bucks that I have earned through selling and fixing old computers and I was wondering what the best bet would be for putting it into my media PC/Stuff I dont wanna do on my good PC. Here is what I have now. I assume a better CPU would be best, but would windows 7 be a better investment? Nothing is overclocked but it might be something I look into.
Thanks for the input.

AMD Sempron 145 Processor
  - Single core
  - 2.8GHz 45W
  - L1 Cache 64KB+64KB, L2 Cache 1Mb

Biostar MCP6P3 Board
  - NVIDIA GeForce 6150 GPU, On Board Graphic Max. Memory Share Up to 512MB(Under OS By Turbo Cache)
  - 4 x SATA2 3Gb/s Connector
  - Realtek ALC662 6-Channel HD Audio
  - 2 x DDR3 DIMM Memory Slot
  - AM3 socket

Geil DDR3 2G Memory
  - 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)

Orion HP585D 585W Max Power Supply

Gigabyte GV-R435OC-512I
  - ATI Radeon HD 4350 GPU
  - 650Mhz
  - 64 Bit
  - GDDR2 512Mb
  - HDMI output

HDD's
 - 40G (OS and Few programs)
 - 150GB (Media)
 - 150GB (Media)

I have another 4GB stick of RAM, but the system is only running XP SP3 so I cannot go over 3 GB at the moment.

[Raptor]

The processor and the hard drive you have your operating system installed on are probably the largest bottlenecks.

[Darthgumby]

Definately the processor would be first.  You can get some decent triple core/quad-core processors for around $100 - which would be much more efficient than your single core.  Make sure you get one your motherboard can handle though.  You'd probably find one that a 64-bit OS can run on as well, and your next upgrade can then be to Windows 7 64-bit.  With that you can use your 6GB of RAM, so that's two birds with one stone right there.

[Lumpy44]

The processor and the hard drive you have your operating system installed on are probably the largest bottlenecks.

I was considering putting the OS on one of the other HDD's for a while now. Would it be a big increase in performance.

I was looking at the Tri-Core by AMD, any thoughts? or is it better to spend the 30 bucks more on the quad?

Ya once I make a few more bucks I will get W7. Is 64 required for the RAM increase or is 32 ok?

[Raptor]

Depends entirely on the specifications and health of the 40GB and the other drives. List 'm and I'll have a look.

[Lumpy44]

This is probably overkill but its what I got from Everest


HDD
 -Drive #1 - Maxtor 2F040L0 (38 GB)
 -Drive #2 - Hitachi HTS541616J9S SCSI Disk Device (149 GB)
 -Drive #3 - Maxtor 6 L160M0 SCSI Disk Device (149 GB)

DRIVE #1   

Model ID   Maxtor 2F040L0
Revision   VAM51JJ0
Parameters   79656 cylinders, 16 heads, 63 sectors per track, 512 bytes per sector
LBA Sectors   80293248
Buffer   2 MB (Dual Ported, Read Ahead)
Multiple Sectors   16
ECC Bytes   57
Max. PIO Transfer Mode   PIO 4
Max. UDMA Transfer Mode   UDMA 6 (ATA-133)
Active UDMA Transfer Mode   UDMA 6 (ATA-133)
Unformatted Capacity   39206 MB
      
ATA Device Physical Info   
Manufacturer   Maxtor
Hard Disk Family   Fireball 3
Form Factor   3.5"
Formatted Capacity   40 GB
Disks   1
Recording Surfaces   1
Physical Dimensions   146.1 x 101.6 x 17.5 mm
Max. Weight   509 g
Average Rotational Latency   5.5 ms
Rotational Speed   5400 RPM
Interface   Ultra-ATA/133
Buffer-to-Host Data Rate   133 MB/s
Buffer Size   2 MB
   
DRIVE #2
   
Model ID   Hitachi HTS541616J9SA00
Revision   SB4OC74P
Parameters   310101 cylinders, 16 heads, 63 sectors per track, 512 bytes per sector
LBA Sectors   312581808
Buffer   7516 KB (Dual Ported, Read Ahead)
Multiple Sectors   16
ECC Bytes   4
Max. PIO Transfer Mode   PIO 4
Max. UDMA Transfer Mode   UDMA 5 (ATA-100)
Active UDMA Transfer Mode   UDMA 5 (ATA-100)
Unformatted Capacity   152628 MB
   
DRIVE #3

Field   Value
ATA Device Properties   
Model ID   Maxtor 6L160M0
Revision   BANC1G10
Parameters   310020 cylinders, 16 heads, 63 sectors per track, 512 bytes per sector
LBA Sectors   312500000
Buffer   8 MB (Dual Ported, Read Ahead)
Multiple Sectors   16
ECC Bytes   4
Max. PIO Transfer Mode   PIO 4
Max. UDMA Transfer Mode   UDMA 6 (ATA-133)
Active UDMA Transfer Mode   UDMA 6 (ATA-133)
Unformatted Capacity   152588 MB
   
ATA Device Physical Info   
Manufacturer   Maxtor
Hard Disk Family   DiamondMax 10
Form Factor   3.5"
Formatted Capacity   160 GB
Physical Dimensions   147 x 101.6 x 26.1 mm
Max. Weight   630 g
Average Rotational Latency   4.17 ms
Rotational Speed   7200 RPM
Average Seek   9 ms
Interface   SATA
Buffer-to-Host Data Rate   150 MB/s
Buffer Size   8 MB

[Raptor]

Wow. Maxtor Fireball ... Unlike the name would suggest, they're not very fast. It's a 5400RPM drive. (The 40GB one).
The Hitach is also 5400 RPM.. Is that a 2.5"?

You should use Hard Disk Sentinel to diagnose all of those drives and see which one is healthiest.

I'd recommend the other Maxtor. It's 7200RPM and has a SATA interface. Arguably the most superior drive in your fleet.

[Lumpy44]

Sentinal says the drives are all healthy.
The hitachi is a 2.5 and is SATA
But yes the good maxtor is getting the OS next.
Free upgrade haha. Now that still leaves me with a 100 bucks.

[Raptor]

I'd go for a second hand AMD Athlon X2 and stash the rest of the money in case something breaks down in the future.  Unless you need it for gaming in which case I'd go for an AMD Phenom (new).

Make sure you check the compatability list of the mainboard.

[Lumpy44]

I am more of an xbox gamer but i would do it on the pc if it was good enoguh. Looking at the quad core.
I do use some GIS stuff that is cpu intensive, so its an upgrade there.
Thanks a lot everyone