Help Deciding

[Badjokesben]

I have two PC's right now that go as follows:

My Nephew's PC
Athlon 2500+
Asus AN7N8X-X
512 MB Samsung PC2700
WD 40GB Hard Drive
Ge Force 4 Ti4200
Cheap Case with Raidmax 350W PSU
Audigy 1

My Multimedia Rig
Athlon 2800+
NF7-S
1GB Corsair Value PC2700
WD SE 120GB
AIW Radeon 9800 Pro
Antec Sonata w/ True Power 380W
M-Audio Revolution

(In the future I will look in to an Intel or A64 processor for this one)

My Working OC Rig
Mobile Athlon 2600+
DFI Infinity
Memory
WD Raptor
Audigy 2 ZS

What I need help with is deciding hat video card to go for. I am not going to buy a next gen card because they are too expensive and I don't want to risk damage with OC'ing. I would like to buy either another 9800 Pro and OC it, or a 5900XT and OC it. My question is, which one would you suggest? Which one will OC better? Which one will perform better after attaining their highest OC? I will also take suggestions on memory (since I can't find the OCZ gold PC3700 at newegg), cooling for both the video card and processor, and a case. Eventually I'll invest in water cooling, but right now I'll have to air it out.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Badjokesben]

I suppose nobody knows.

 

[ForceCalibur]

If you damage your card (somehow, I've never seen it happen before) by overclocking, just RMA it. Whats the problem?
As for the 9800 Pro vs 5900XT, Get a new Radeon 9800 Pro. THe 5900XT's core overclocks fine, but it uses very slow 2.8 ns memory in most cases. If you want to overclock Nvidas cards, try a 5900 NU.

THe 9800 Pro beats out just about every Nvidia card in DX9 games. If you know what you want to play, that should give you an idea of which card you should buy. Farcry? HL2? Painkiller? Get Radeon. Older DX8, DOom3? Get an Nvidia.

Keep in mind that the whole point of overclocking is just to get free performance. However, if it means spending a little more for a new card gets you the same price/performance deal, your not actually spending more dollars per frame, it's more economical in the long run to buy one of the new cards.

The only issue I can't figure out is how long it will take the AGP port to be phased out. If its 1 year, that's a problem, especially if you buy a new card now.

I am really debating whether or build a cheaper socket 939 rig + a new PCI-express graphics card, so that it will last me a bit longer.

 

[SneakyStuff]

I've got the same board, it'll fit any card out there, but I would say that if he wants a good card, get a 9800 Pro.

 

[Badjokesben]

Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
If you damage your card (somehow, I've never seen it happen before) by overclocking, just RMA it. Whats the problem?
As for the 9800 Pro vs 5900XT, Get a new Radeon 9800 Pro. THe 5900XT's core overclocks fine, but it uses very slow 2.8 ns memory in most cases. If you want to overclock Nvidas cards, try a 5900 NU.

THe 9800 Pro beats out just about every Nvidia card in DX9 games. If you know what you want to play, that should give you an idea of which card you should buy. Farcry? HL2? Painkiller? Get Radeon. Older DX8, DOom3? Get an Nvidia.

Keep in mind that the whole point of overclocking is just to get free performance. However, if it means spending a little more for a new card gets you the same price/performance deal, your not actually spending more dollars per frame, it's more economical in the long run to buy one of the new cards.

The only issue I can't figure out is how long it will take the AGP port to be phased out. If its 1 year, that's a problem, especially if you buy a new card now.

I am really debating whether or build a cheaper socket 939 rig + a new PCI-express graphics card, so that it will last me a bit longer.

I agree. I'm very happy with the performance of my AIW 9800 Pro so I was leaning towards the 9800 Pro. I just wanted to make sure that there is not an Nvidia card out there that can OC enough to overcome the performance advantage of a stock or OC'ed 9800 Pro.