Upgrade on a budget

[highlanderfil]

As of this minute, I am running an Athlon 3500+ with 2 gigs of RAM, a 120 GB SATA HD and a Radeon x800 XL 256 PCI-E on an Asus motherboard. I also have a pair of monitors - a 21-inch Sony flat CRT and a Dell 2005FPW. Games work OK, but I'd like them to work better. I play mostly racing sims and sports games. Two questions ensue:

- what video card would give me a significant boost without emptying my wallet?

- should I consolidate my monitors into one 19-inch "gaming" LCD or should I leave alone what I have and just get a video card?

As of this moment, I'm mulling a couple of offers - a 7900GS and a 7800GT, one for $150, one for $160. Anything else I should look at? My dream - x1900 AIW keeps running away from me.

 

[sisq0kidd]

You'll be regretting getting an ATI 1900aiw if you stay with dual monitors.

The best bet is to buy my video card in my thread /thread

Anyway, that 7900gs is your best bet IMO. Best bang for the buck if all the rumors about the 7900gs are true. Slightly better than a 7800gt with potential for unlocking.

Once you go dual monitors, you can't go back. Don't consolidate!

 

[highlanderfil]

Originally posted by: sisq0kidd
You'll be regretting getting an ATI 1900aiw if you stay with dual monitors.

The best bet is to buy my video card in my thread /thread

Anyway, that 7900gs is your best bet IMO. Best bang for the buck if all the rumors about the 7900gs are true. Slightly better than a 7800gt with potential for unlocking.

Once you go dual monitors, you can't go back. Don't consolidate!

Heh...yeah, I'm probably going to go with that 7900GS if my contact gets back to me soon enough. The AIW is one-monitor only, from what I understand, so I guess I'll give that one a rest - it's not like ATI is going to help me out any and I might just keep my TV tuner (Leadtek TV2000), since I am guessing the AIW wouldnt be MUCH of an upgrade over it.

So how about keeping the 21-inch CRT, since I wont get much money for it anyways and simply getting a better gaming LCD, what do you think? Or should I just be happy with what I have now and just change the VC? The 16ms response time on the 2005FPW is what's bugging me.

 

[sisq0kidd]

Originally posted by: highlanderfil

Originally posted by: sisq0kidd
You'll be regretting getting an ATI 1900aiw if you stay with dual monitors.

The best bet is to buy my video card in my thread /thread

Anyway, that 7900gs is your best bet IMO. Best bang for the buck if all the rumors about the 7900gs are true. Slightly better than a 7800gt with potential for unlocking.

Once you go dual monitors, you can't go back. Don't consolidate!

Heh...yeah, I'm probably going to go with that 7900GS if my contact gets back to me soon enough. The AIW is one-monitor only, from what I understand, so I guess I'll give that one a rest - it's not like ATI is going to help me out any and I might just keep my TV tuner (Leadtek TV2000), since I am guessing the AIW wouldnt be MUCH of an upgrade over it.

So how about keeping the 21-inch CRT, since I wont get much money for it anyways and simply getting a better gaming LCD, what do you think? Or should I just be happy with what I have now and just change the VC? The 16ms response time on the 2005FPW is what's bugging me.

The x1900 aiw does support dual monitors, 1 dvi, 1 vga. The vga is a seperate dongle. The reason I don't recommend it is their support for dual monitors. I am anal about alt tabbing out of games and that split second is important to me (yeah, I know told you I was anal).

What's exactly wrong with the 2005fpw? I heard it was great for gaming.

I would personally keep the setup you have now and upgrade the video card, but if the 2005fpw isn't cutting it, then just swap that for a gaming one, at the same time keeping your crt.

 

[highlanderfil]

Originally posted by: sisq0kidd
The x1900 aiw does support dual monitors, 1 dvi, 1 vga. The vga is a seperate dongle. The reason I don't recommend it is their support for dual monitors. I am anal about alt tabbing out of games and that split second is important to me (yeah, I know told you I was anal).

What's exactly wrong with the 2005fpw? I heard it was great for gaming.

I would personally keep the setup you have now and upgrade the video card, but if the 2005fpw isn't cutting it, then just swap that for a gaming one, at the same time keeping your crt.

Ah, I didn't know about the dongle. How about performance-wise then? I don't so much care about alt-tabbing.

There's nothing wrong with the 2005FPW per se, just the response time and the fact not every game supports widescreen, which causes some annoyance. But it might just be the thing to keep if I do keep the CRT, since I can use that for the non-WS gaming. Or I might pick up a WS LCD with better response times. Know of one?

 

[hennethannun]

you know that the 2005FPW supports 1:1 scaling, so that you could actually play non-widescreen games at 1280*1024 with no stretching.
why get rid of a nice, bigger screen for a 19" crt, when the screen you have can do everything the 19" could do and more...

also, why bother gaming on the LCD if you have a nice CRT on the same system. Use the 2005FPW for widescreen games, and use the CRT for 4:3 or 5:4 games...

 

[highlanderfil]

Originally posted by: hennethannun
you know that the 2005FPW supports 1:1 scaling, so that you could actually play non-widescreen games at 1280*1024 with no stretching.

Nope, didnt know that...how? When I play, say , NBA Live '06, it turns out stretched...

 

[hennethannun]

i think it is under display settings in the on-screen menu

sacling options are fill, 1:1 and aspect.


fill and 1:1 are self explanatory, aspect means it will expand the image as much as possible while preserving the aspect ratio.

you also have to make sure that your video card is not doing any scaling, so be sure to check your video card drivers.

 

[highlanderfil]

Originally posted by: hennethannun
i think it is under display settings in the on-screen menu

sacling options are fill, 1:1 and aspect.


fill and 1:1 are self explanatory, aspect means it will expand the image as much as possible while preserving the aspect ratio.

you also have to make sure that your video card is not doing any scaling, so be sure to check your video card drivers.

Thanks. Will give it a shot as soon as I get my new VC.