Almost finished with my gaming rig, but what video card?

[taquim]

I've finalized almost everything, and here is the system I'll have in a few days.

Case: Lian Li PC60 ---------- newegg $175
PSU: Enermax Whisper 350W --- kdcomputers $63
CPU: Athlon Tbird 1.33 ------ newegg $189
HSF: Taisol CGK60092A ------- kdcomputers $39
Motherboard: Epox 8K7A ------ mwave $132
Ram: 512MB Crucial PC2100 --- crucial $124
Harddrive: IBM 60GXP 40GB --- newegg $126

Video Card: Undecided...what should I get? I have the money to get the Geforce3, but I keep hearing it's not worth it right now, and saving money is always good. Thoughts on the KyroII, or any other card?

Main reason for this upgrade btw is Tribes 2 and its constant sucking on my comp. I want it running super super smooth! And the same with 3DMark2001.

Transferring:
Pioneer 16x/40x DVD
Plextor 12x/10x/32x
SBLive! (should I change this?)
2 network cards (I use the old method instead of a router)

How important is applying Arctic Silver II? What are the temp differences between the stock thermal pad on the Taisol compared to scratching it off and applying AS?

I'll also be making rounded cables, and making them yellow =) I'll take a pic of the new computer later and post it.

Any other suggestions? Thanks all.

-----------------------------
Upgrading from this computer:

Athlon 650 (sucks for O/Cing)
Asus K7V (good for O/Cing =P)
Maxtor 30GB
Voodoo3 3000
256mb pc133

I'll probably hand this down to my little brother, or sell it to compensate for my spending.

 

[InsaneMorphius]

taquim,

Main reason for this upgrade btw is Tribes 2 and its constant sucking on my comp. I want it running super super smooth! And the same with 3DMark2001

Then fine sir, with the aforementioned clearly stated, a GF3 would be the way to go. The only problem with the GF3 is the immediate lack of games to take advantage of its power... not saying that currently running Q3/UT, or CS at 100FPS+ with all the goodies turned on is a bad thing.

Just a thought!

Morphius

 

[AppleTalking]

I agree with InsaneMorphius, if you've got the money to spend, why not spend it on a GeForce 3?

However, if you're looking to save money, I would definitely recommend the Kyro II. Search the forum here and you will find a wealth of posts about the Kyro II, most of them positive. If you're squeamish about buying into new technology, the GF2 Pro 64MB cards from newegg.com would also be a good buy. But they're more expensive than the Kyro II, and the small performance increase most likely would not justify the additional cost. The Kyro II almost always performs better than the GF2 GTS, sometimes better than the GF2 Pro, and occasionally performs on the level of a GF2 Ultra. It all depends on what games you're running. The Kyro II excels at games where there are a lot of hidden polygons on the screen, since the chip only renders what you can see. I'm not very familiar with Tribes 2, so maybe someone else can comment on the amount of overdraw the game has.

I would think about changing that SBLive! card also. The SBLive! is 2 year-old technology, and has been proven to have problems with the Via 686B southbridges, which the Epox 8K7A has. The latest Via drivers are supposed to fix this, but I haven't tested this myself as I don't have an SBLive! card to test it with. Think about replacing it with a Philips Acoustic Edge or a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz card, or if you want to go all-out, get a Hercules Game Theater!

Good luck!
Nick

 

[Bingo13]

What monitor do you have? A Kryo II or Radeon LE (with mods) might just be right if you are only running a 17" monitor. If you have a 19" or 21" get a Visiontek GF3 and fully enjoy the higher resolutions. The SBLive will be fine unless you just want to change, then go with a TB Santa Cruz unless you need all of the options on the Hercules GT XP break out box.

 

[lsd]

ugh you buy a tbird 1.33 and 512 mb of ram and don't want a ge3???
What wrong with you???
j/k
I wouldn't put anything less than a ge2 ultra in there. If your on a budget a Ge2 PRO only costs $140.

 

[mitaiwan82]

what video card for games? GF3 duh!

 

[taquim]

Ok, I'll get the Geforce3 then. This upgrading thing is expensive though. I probably wouldn't have hesitated on the Geforce3, but I spent a little bit more than I wanted on the computer case. Darn now that I add things up, the case and psu cost $250!

Oh well, I should be really satisfied with the end result, plus yellow round cables to add some color. I'm gonna need a way to paint my cd drives silver to match the case.

Thanks for the info everyone.

 

[SniperWulf]

The Kyro II is good, but if your looking for Tribes 2 performance you need to go with something with nvidia stamped on it. In my experience, The Kyro II is not the card to get if you want good Tribes 2 performance. I've spent this past week tweaking and playing with settings on my partners box trying to get it ready for the LAN we had this past weekend. Everything else that I threw at it ran like a bat outta hell. That includes Q3, Q3:TA, UT, CS, Deus Ex, Ground Control, and a few others.

I'm inclined to think its a game engine issue with like a 5% chance that there is something in the drivers that aren't right.