jesusbonjovi
Member
Good day gentlemen (and ladies if there are any out there)
This is my first post...i lurk a lot so I've been around just don't say much.
I would like to apologize for the length of this post in advance but any help would be greatly appreciated
I recently purchased an Athlon 64 2800+ with the ABIT "KV8" K8T800 motherboard from newegg.com $215 shipped (i was charged for tax :'( ) and i was hoping for some suggestions on RAM a graphics card.... and a 19" CRT monitor.
I intend on using my drives and cards from my current setup?a shameful piece of machinery that has been pushed to its limits for over 4 years now. I am upgrading from my first PC, a budget HP 500Mhz Celeron that came with 64mb RAM stock which i upgraded to 192mb. I couldn't even add another drive to it until i took its guts out and transferred them to a new case. i now have a DVD+RW drive and a 40x cdrom drive i use when copying cds on the fly and I have 2 hard drives, one is an 80GB drive and the other the 10GB drive that came stock. Also i have a 3mbps Cable internet connection that i cant even take full advantage of since my computer starts to die when i download at full speed (~380kb/s).
I use my (crappy) machine for all sorts of stuff (like i said i push it to the limit). I use my computer everyday for communication and entertainment (mp3s, movies...) Gaming on my system is limited i don't play many games but i would like to start playing old games i missed out on over the years and also i would like to play some new games. My gaming experience has been limited to mainly Half Life, Counter Strike, Quake 3, emulators, and games such as Starcraft and Red Alert. I like working with photoshop and other programs used in web design such as dreamweaver and flash, i have been working with these programs on a 15" monitor with a max resolution of 1024x768! i also do some simple audio (Acid, Fruity loops, Sound Forge) and video work (Virtual Dub, Divx).
I can already do lots of stuff on my 500Mhz Celeron and i know with the Athlon 64 2800+ i will be able to that and more the only problem seems to be that i don't know which video card is good for me. I am wondering if it is at all possible for me to get a video card that is not too expensive but that will allow me to run upcoming games such as Doom 3 and Half Life at acceptable quality and frame rates (if that's even possible....) I'm still not sure how much i am willing to pay for a video card. As my second option i am thinking of waiting till after both Doom 3 and Half Life 2 are released to make my decision... If i choose the second route then i will need a low cost video card for the moment so i can get my system up and running, any suggestions on video cards if i choose approach?
Also i will be needing RAM, i am a bit confused by this talk about CAS timings and i am not sure whats good...i was thinking of getting PC3200 i dont know much about RAM i always just thought to go with the capacity and just get the cheapest costing one with the highest capacity...seemses theres more to that than i though. Also, capaciy wise, i was thinking of getting 512mb of RAM...or 1GB of ram...what kind of improvement over 512mb would i see with 1GB of ram... first i was thinking it is a bit of overkill too have 1GB of ram but i do tend to work with many programs open at once... but i am not too knowledgeable about these thigns since all i have worked with is 192mb of ram which by the way i did see an increase in preformance when i jumped from 64mb.
Monitor wise i am currently eyeing any 19" CRT monitors below $200 that are good, i want to be able to work at resolutions maybe up to 1600x1200 and i dont want to kill my eyes with the refresh rate. I can stand some flickering (i think) but not too much. i have seen a Viewsonic G90m for $177 shipped... anyone know much about this monitor? sounds to me like a good deal.
As you can tell i am a bit limited on knowledge of these new high end products. I'm pretty much alone on this decision its just me and the internet. No known acuaintances that can really help me with this decision. So i am consulting you guys for information.
-Again Sorry about the length of this post... i just wanted to make sure i explained my situation as best as possible since i have noticed the need to be specific. although one thing i have not been specific on is my budget or price range...i'm not sure how much all this will cost i have some money [Financial aid money 🙂] just that once i use it i will be poor again and i dont work so i am looking for the best bang for buck since not sure when i will come into more money.....fall maybe.... (I hope i did okay)
Many many thanks in advance.....
-Alex
This is my first post...i lurk a lot so I've been around just don't say much.
I would like to apologize for the length of this post in advance but any help would be greatly appreciated
I recently purchased an Athlon 64 2800+ with the ABIT "KV8" K8T800 motherboard from newegg.com $215 shipped (i was charged for tax :'( ) and i was hoping for some suggestions on RAM a graphics card.... and a 19" CRT monitor.
I intend on using my drives and cards from my current setup?a shameful piece of machinery that has been pushed to its limits for over 4 years now. I am upgrading from my first PC, a budget HP 500Mhz Celeron that came with 64mb RAM stock which i upgraded to 192mb. I couldn't even add another drive to it until i took its guts out and transferred them to a new case. i now have a DVD+RW drive and a 40x cdrom drive i use when copying cds on the fly and I have 2 hard drives, one is an 80GB drive and the other the 10GB drive that came stock. Also i have a 3mbps Cable internet connection that i cant even take full advantage of since my computer starts to die when i download at full speed (~380kb/s).
I use my (crappy) machine for all sorts of stuff (like i said i push it to the limit). I use my computer everyday for communication and entertainment (mp3s, movies...) Gaming on my system is limited i don't play many games but i would like to start playing old games i missed out on over the years and also i would like to play some new games. My gaming experience has been limited to mainly Half Life, Counter Strike, Quake 3, emulators, and games such as Starcraft and Red Alert. I like working with photoshop and other programs used in web design such as dreamweaver and flash, i have been working with these programs on a 15" monitor with a max resolution of 1024x768! i also do some simple audio (Acid, Fruity loops, Sound Forge) and video work (Virtual Dub, Divx).
I can already do lots of stuff on my 500Mhz Celeron and i know with the Athlon 64 2800+ i will be able to that and more the only problem seems to be that i don't know which video card is good for me. I am wondering if it is at all possible for me to get a video card that is not too expensive but that will allow me to run upcoming games such as Doom 3 and Half Life at acceptable quality and frame rates (if that's even possible....) I'm still not sure how much i am willing to pay for a video card. As my second option i am thinking of waiting till after both Doom 3 and Half Life 2 are released to make my decision... If i choose the second route then i will need a low cost video card for the moment so i can get my system up and running, any suggestions on video cards if i choose approach?
Also i will be needing RAM, i am a bit confused by this talk about CAS timings and i am not sure whats good...i was thinking of getting PC3200 i dont know much about RAM i always just thought to go with the capacity and just get the cheapest costing one with the highest capacity...seemses theres more to that than i though. Also, capaciy wise, i was thinking of getting 512mb of RAM...or 1GB of ram...what kind of improvement over 512mb would i see with 1GB of ram... first i was thinking it is a bit of overkill too have 1GB of ram but i do tend to work with many programs open at once... but i am not too knowledgeable about these thigns since all i have worked with is 192mb of ram which by the way i did see an increase in preformance when i jumped from 64mb.
Monitor wise i am currently eyeing any 19" CRT monitors below $200 that are good, i want to be able to work at resolutions maybe up to 1600x1200 and i dont want to kill my eyes with the refresh rate. I can stand some flickering (i think) but not too much. i have seen a Viewsonic G90m for $177 shipped... anyone know much about this monitor? sounds to me like a good deal.
As you can tell i am a bit limited on knowledge of these new high end products. I'm pretty much alone on this decision its just me and the internet. No known acuaintances that can really help me with this decision. So i am consulting you guys for information.
-Again Sorry about the length of this post... i just wanted to make sure i explained my situation as best as possible since i have noticed the need to be specific. although one thing i have not been specific on is my budget or price range...i'm not sure how much all this will cost i have some money [Financial aid money 🙂] just that once i use it i will be poor again and i dont work so i am looking for the best bang for buck since not sure when i will come into more money.....fall maybe.... (I hope i did okay)
Many many thanks in advance.....
-Alex
