building a new PC

[strungout180]

Hello,

Im currently in the process of building a new pc for before I go to college, and would like some advice on my current system and parts that should be changed. Im currently having troubles deciding on a video card, the importance of higher end ram such as kingston and mushkin, and if the more expensive cases like antec are worth the extra cash. My current prospect for a system is as follows:

Motherboard: ASUS a7n8x socket A
Processor: AMD athlon xp 2500+ barton 33mhz fsb 512kb cache
RAM: OEM pc2700 512mb ddr 333mhz
Videocard: ATI 9600pro, Saphire atlantis 9500, or 9700
Harddrive: WD 80gb 7200rpm 8mb cache
CD-RW: Liteon LTR 52246s 52x24x52x
DVD: Liteon xj-hd166s 16x48
CASE: Generic 18" atx case w/350power supply or antec lanboy aluminum
COOLING: Vantec 80mm or 120mm stealth case fan
MONITOR: Viewsonic e70f+sb 17in crt or Samsung syncmaster 753df 17in crt

Which videocard would be best suited for this setup? is the performance difference from the 9700 really that much better than the 9500 or 9600 to warrant the extra cash? Im looking to spend in total around 1300 to 1400 tops on this current computer. Thanks for all help and advice.

 

[kevinthenerd]

If you're more worried about your rig than your grades, you'll fail out like I did.

Worry about whether your computer has a word processor to do your homework. Don't rely on others to make your shopping list for the ultimate gaming rig, or you'll end up wasting your money. You have a good idea, but you're asking the wrong questions.

Tell us more specifically what you want out of your system. There's no point in having the best of the best when you'll never take advantage of it. My Pentium 1, for example, serves me fine considering its task.

 

[strungout180]

Im defently not more worried about my rig than my grades at this point.

However I would like to have something that im able to play doom3 and halflife 2 on when they are realised this year. This computer will primarly be used for gaming as I use the computer labs to type up homework, generally to keep myself less distracted. I will also be using it for running programs like macromedia studio mx and converting .avi file to mpg and video cds. I would like to be able to bring my converting time down to somewhere in range of 3hrs.

My main questions lie around the video card and the actual differences between the ATI 9600pro, and the sapphire atlantis 9500 and 9700. Are the speeds of the 9700 and improvements in gaming really warrant the 100 dollars extra in price over the 9500 and 9600? Thanks for all feedback and help.

 

[Budmantom]

Check out the hot deals section, Dell just had a p4 2.8c with a 9800np for around $800.

The Dell system in my sig was $700 and it came with a DVD+RW.

You may want to explore your options.

Tom

 

[Anonemous]

Originally posted by: strungout180
Im defently not more worried about my rig than my grades at this point.

However I would like to have something that im able to play doom3 and halflife 2 on when they are realised this year. This computer will primarly be used for gaming as I use the computer labs to type up homework, generally to keep myself less distracted. I will also be using it for running programs like macromedia studio mx and converting .avi file to mpg and video cds. I would like to be able to bring my converting time down to somewhere in range of 3hrs.

My main questions lie around the video card and the actual differences between the ATI 9600pro, and the sapphire atlantis 9500 and 9700. Are the speeds of the 9700 and improvements in gaming really warrant the 100 dollars extra in price over the 9500 and 9600? Thanks for all feedback and help.

If you are into FPS games and playing new games constantly at the highest maximum quality settings, then by all means get the most powerful card out of the bunch. If you like RTS/Rpg type games and play FPS every now and then save the 100$ for later and get the 9500/9600 pros (both also oc very well with the 9600 pro ocing to 9700 pro speeds). You won't notice that much of a difference unless you play at the highest max settings with FPS games (or commanche4/3dmark2k3 etc...). Or you can go for the middle road and spend 200$ for the 9700 and oc that to 9700 pro speeds.

For converting videos, I would have to say Intel chips are much more efficient in video editing.
Have fun building!