Need help with DVD ROM and video cards

[Onoborisan]

On Monday (4/16/01) I will be buying the following: (1) CUSL2-C ASUS Motherboard ($125); (2) Plextor 16x/10x/40x CD burner ($239); 256 MB (single chip) Kingston memory ($89); (4) 1GHz Intel CPU. Now I need to decide on the following:
(a) DVD ROM and (b) Videocard.
For the DVD ROM I was thinking about a Panasonic model. Can any of you offer any suggestions/model numbers/prices?
Also need help with the video card. Any advice? How are ASUS video cards? My dealer wants to sell me a Diamond Viper 770 for $59. Is this a good price or should I go in for a TNT-2 model. Can you suggest any good brand names? Gigabyte? Creative labs? I would like to use the video card for good graphics for the DVD and also for some games. I do not know much about this so you advice will be most welcome.

 

[Szyszkiewicz]

One thing i think you should look up if is your new Cd burner will work with CD Clone, I belive it does, however it's a nice feature to have.
The Viper 770 is a TNT-2 card, but you should go for a Geforce, there is a quite big difference. Why not try one from Creative labs, they usually have great performance and quite low prices, as does leadtek. If you like to have tv in/out and other speciall features, but still good performance, then I can strongly recomend Asus card. I'm using a Geforce V6600 deluxe and it works well on my TV and digital camera.
About the DVD. I'm using a Pioneer DVD, and it has one very annoying side, it makes more noise then other DVDs.