What should I get for my birthday? (March 5)

[ScottyB]

Coppied from Hardocp because I was banned up untill al little aio.: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=572995

To start a window fell on two of my fingers about 20 minutes ago and ripped the skin off of my middle finger and smashed the nails and I took two tylonal 3s with codine that I happend to have so bare with me. My birthday is comming up on the fifth and I may be getting some parts. My mom is giving me around a $150 gift + she has a $40 staples gift reciept that she is giving me. I am thinking on getting a new video card or ram + a cd burner.

My setup is as follows:

CPU: Intel P4 2400MHz @ 2880MHz
Motherboard: Albatron PE845 PEV PRO II
Memory: 512 MB of Corsair PC3200 @ 400mhz
Video Card: Elsa Gladiac (Nvidia GeForce 2 GTS)
Hard Drive: Maxtor 60.0 GB @ 7200 RPMS
Additional Hard Drives: Maxtor 60.0 GB @ 7200 RPMS
Monitor: 19" CTX
CDR/CDRW Manufacturer & Model: TDK 12x/10x/32x
Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live XGamer
Internet Connection: SBC Ameritech xDSL @ 768K
Operating System: Windows XP


I would like the same stick of ram or a new video card which I will probably have to throw in some of my own money for. Also what should I get from staples, they don't seem to have much of an onlibe selection and I was thinking of using the $40 on a radeon 9700pro but there site didn't seem to have any. Also this is the xard I likr for the looks http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?style=album
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...rtby=14&order=1

Sorry if that made little sence< io am getiing kindoa woosy, I thionk drom the medicinre.

 

[obeseotron]

I would say you're fine for RAM right now, and unless you burn a serious amount of CDs, I would go for a new video card. I would skip staples for any kind of computer hardware, the $40 off is nothing compared to the markup. As for what card to get, I would say if you can get one of the mod-able radeon 9500 non pros, you could have a cheap radeon 9700. To be on the safe side I would go with a 9500 Pro, or even a 9700 non-pro if you can afford it. Ti4200's have also gotten very cheap, and there are some companies that ship out of the box overclocked cards that you might wanna look into if DX9 isn't a big deal to you, and since by the time DX9 is a big deal the 9500 probably won't be fast enough anyway, its not a big deal.

 

[mroptimistic]

I would go with a new video card. TI4200 would be a good choice in my opinion. You can get a new 128mb version for about 150, and a new 64mb version for about 115. My abit 64mb is able to o/c to 322/607 and im gonna add some ramsinks to see if i can push it a little bit further. They o/c well, and are great cards. I run all my games at full detail and it looks great. Its no 9700pro but for the money its hard to beat.

 

[Budman]

I would ban you from AT also.

 

[ScottyB]

Originally posted by: obeseotron
I would say you're fine for RAM right now, and unless you burn a serious amount of CDs, I would go for a new video card. I would skip staples for any kind of computer hardware, the $40 off is nothing compared to the markup. As for what card to get, I would say if you can get one of the mod-able radeon 9500 non pros, you could have a cheap radeon 9700. To be on the safe side I would go with a 9500 Pro, or even a 9700 non-pro if you can afford it. Ti4200's have also gotten very cheap, and there are some companies that ship out of the box overclocked cards that you might wanna look into if DX9 isn't a big deal to you, and since by the time DX9 is a big deal the 9500 probably won't be fast enough anyway, its not a big deal.

If I get a video card it will be atleast a radeon 9700pro, it will be for 3d animations. I was just wonderin if it would be good to get the ram now and wait untill the prices drop for geofrece fx.

 

[bigshooter]

what program are you using for 3d animations, and do you do a lot of it? 512megs of ram is fine for almost anythign, unless you have a prog that requires more. You're also not going to be able to get the ultra version of the geforce fx. Preorders are pretty much over for the ultra, so the only thing left is the regular version. It's even slower than the ultra which wasn't much faster than the radeon 9700. If I were you and you don't want a radeon 9700 (don't know why you wouldn't get one) I would wait a few weeks past your bday and see if the new ATI chips are released. If not just get yourself a 9700, ATI will probably hvae the performance crown for the next 6 months, or longer if nvidia doesn't pull off a lot of optimizations in its refresh and/or nv35.

Oh and so this doesn't turn into a vid card flame war, i would personally get a ti4200 128 meg or a ti4400 if its cheap. ti4600 are still kinda expensive for what you get. Everything else in your system is fine. Do you really burn enough cd's where 6-8 minutes is really that much worse than 4 minutes?