9700 PRO vs 9800

[xanther]

query 1)
i was on my way to buying a dell. when they gave me a choice of 9800 pro vs 9800. the pro was 200 dollars more.. so i thought to myself should i get a 9700 pro AIW instead. i was trying to look for comparisons in the articles here, but they only seem to concentrate on the pro's also. what would you folx suggest i do? best price per performance? and also i would not mind paying up to 50 dollars more for a AIW if it comes down to it.

the system i was to purchase was quite fast so it is not like i need a fast card, but my work is graphic related with hobbies in 3dd design. also i wanted to try out the AIW because i was curious what tv would look like on my 24inch monitor, has anybody tried TV on monitors? is the resolution outstanding? i run tons of hdd intensive tasks everyday on my free time with newsgroups which leads me to query 2.

query 2) i spend many hours a week saving attachments from newsgroups or using par files or unraring gigs of files, (all very time consuming) and i was wondering if the new WD raptor WD360GD- 36GB SATA 10k RPM drives would help me significantly, then... lets say a IBM's or MAXTOR's SATA that is well over 100GB at 7200rpm? Is the performance well worth the wide gap in disk volume? has the SATA matured to a state where i as a single computer user would be able to take full advantages of it? whichsetup should i go for. 2HD's of "mainstream" 100+GBs? -or- 2HD's of "high performance" WD raptors?

as price is concerned i believe both are equal, my current setup is 4HD's of 40gb 7200 rpm, and two 75gb ibm main drives.
(if there was a question on this topic please point me in the right direction)

thank you for your time and consideration. peace

 

[TROGDORdBURNINATOR]

i would not mind paying up to 50 dollars more for a AIW if it comes down to it.

Do that.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

That, or you can get the Winfast Leadtek 2000XP deluxe for $55 shipped at newegg.com

I don't think that the 36gb drive will be enoughf or you on its own, unless of course everytime you save something, you're willing to save it in a different drive, some people just want to save it in their my documents in their C: drive.

One thing you could do is get a Raid 0 setup of 2x 100GB drives and then a 200GB drive to back those up onto, or something of that sort. Ask the Dell person about it.

ALso, with a 24inch monitor, I assume you're running a resolution of atleast 1280x1024 or something close to it so the TV would not be very clear for you as you raise the resolution and try to watch in full screen, but if you're going to watch it in a corner of the screen or something, it'll work just fine.

 

[TROGDORdBURNINATOR]

the TV would not be very clear for you as you raise the resolution and try to watch in full screen, but if you're going to watch it in a corner of the screen or something, it'll work just fine.

Mmmm kay, lay off the crack, buddy. The AIW will cap at high quality at 640x480 (set to ATI VCR) and will have that ammount of pixels while full screen regarless of what the desktop resolution is. Keep in mind that's pretty close to 480p. Of course, the larger the display, the easier it will be to see pixels. The only way to escape this truism is by raising the capture res. Guess what? TV looks like crap on a Large TV too. Have you ever sat as close to a 24" TV as you would to a monitor? Try it... Unless you suggest that he go out and get some pro-tools for $4000 I don't think your advice really has any relevance here...