Citizen Abroad Needs Help

[Nkcowboy]

Ok, this may not be what you were thinking. I am an American diplomat living in Tanzania. I will be returning to the states this christmas. I am looking to buy the following:


A new video card (gaming),
Another 128-256 mb of RDRAM memory,
Another large, cheap hard drive for my videos,
and Possibly XP, not sure

*I also want to putrchase an XBOX*
*Does XP Take advantage of more than 128 mb of memory?*

If anyone can help me with places to buy or WHAT to buy (in these catagories), please help. Thanks to anyone who does help! Cheers.

 

[MrBond]

Whats your budget look like? For a video card, you'll probably want to go as follows:

Low budget: Geforce2 GTS
Medium budget: Geforce2 Ultra
High budget: Geforce 3 TI500 or Radeon 8500.

For ram, check Crucial. There's a link in the hot deals forum where you can save 16% off of crucial's prices

For hard drives, check with office max, office depot, staples, bestbuy, or newegg. The first three companies often have coupons that can knock off a chunk of the price. Bestbuy sometimes offers gift cards with drive purchases. Newegg is just about the best place to buy computer equiptment online.

XP supports as much ram as you can throw at it.

As far as where to buy XP, stick with a retail location where you can get a boxed copy. If you'd go the ebay route, it's a good chance you may end up with a pirated copy. If you're buying OEM, check for that hologram in the center of the CD. I'd go with the professional version, as the home version is neutered pretty badly when it comes to networking. If you'll be conneting to win2k servers, you'll probably want the pro version

 

[Chrios]

The reply from MrBond was on the money. Just built two systems w/ Hardware from Newegg after 5 weeks of research. Best prices, in-stock and fast shipping. Check the visiontek Geforce2 - GTS-V Newegg has for 65.00. It is a great upgrade for the price.
As a recent RPCV from Kyrgyzstan I can relate to the urge to get home and upgrade the ol' machine.

Cheers back at ya.

 

[Nkcowboy]

Ok. My budget, That would be about, $350 MAX. However, I would like to spend some of this money elsewhere (not many Hooters here, )

Thanks for the help, but are you sure about XP Professional? Is it really that much better? At home I do have a connection between 2 computers, but I won't have to buy 2 versions of XP, will I (one doesn't need XP, so is if compatable)?

Also, I hear that a new NVidia line is coming out in like January. IS this true? and if so when (cus I may be able to be here when it does, and prices may fall).

Thanks for all the help.

 

[FlippyBoy]

i wouldnt run xp with anything less than 256 megs. well personaly, i wouldnt run xp, period (win2k is the end of the line for me). as far as the vid card, $65 got a geforce2 gts sounds great!