New monitor or SSD?

[NotSoHonestAbe]

So, after Christmas, I am of course, left with some spare money. Now My computer isn't the best, but it's worked well handling games. When I built it, the only storage device I had available was an 80GB HDD using an IDE ribbon cable. It looks ugly and has awful rpm, so it takes about 5 minutes to boot into windows. I also have a small monitor. (Samsung SyncMaster931bf) and I have a choice between getting an SSD for a boot drive, or getting a bigger monitor. Which one would be the better idea?

[Dim]

Depends; does your motherboard have SATA II?

In general an SSD is a better idea, but we need to know your monitor specs as well as the general age of your computer to know which is the better investment for that computer -- will your motherboard bottleneck that SSD? Will your graphics card fail to give the larger monitor decent performance? Etc.

[GrandmasBoy]

Ooh that's a tough one. SSD and 1080 are a must nowadays for an optimal computing experience. However I would guess judging by your hard drive that you have an older motherboard which would limit your speeds from the newer SSD's.

Honestly my heart is torn I don't know what to tell you. That HDD sounds horrid but also I would not be able to game on that monitor.

Follow your heart young padawan. LOL

[Dim]

Ooh that's a tough one. SSD and 1080 are a must nowadays for an optimal computing experience. However I would guess judging by your hard drive that you have an older motherboard which would limit your speeds from the newer SSD's.

Honestly my heart is torn I don't know what to tell you. That HDD sounds horrid but also I would not be able to game on that monitor.

Follow your heart young padawan. LOL

It is a tough one; whatever he puts in will be bottlenecked by at least one other component, really.

[Cameron]

I would say get a modern HDD and a cheap 1080p monitor

[brightspark101]

I would suggest getting a descent monitor, if you spend a reasonable amount of money on this now you won't have to buy another monitor for at lease a few years.

An SSD would give you a greater performance increase but like the other guys have said it sounds like you might not benefit due to the age of your motherboard. SSD's are also constantly falling in price, so by the time you've saved enough to upgrade again you won't have to spend as much! Its not an easy choice to make but that is what I would do.