Seb

prana: i know optical mice aren't that good for fps, but i'm using one right now without major problems. you get used to the lifting thing, and i don't have any major problem with movements not registering. i'd love to check out the boomslang or another good mouse, except it's not available in my area. i wonder how much performance increase i'd get with it. i'll try my old ball mouse to see wether it works better than the optical, now that i got used to this one.

I will overclock, eventually. not right now, but eventually, when the processor starts to show its limitations with the latest games. so i'll stick with Abit.

I am going with the Abit K7T. It's less expensive than the Asus, doesn't have RAID but has 6PCI and an ISA slot, which is a lot better than 5PCI slots for the Asus. Since both cards seem to be pretty much equally good, why not go with the Abit? Thanks for your help guys!

hey, i read the whole anandtech review of the radeon and they said there were compatibility issues with VIA-based mobos... has anyone experienced that? i'm going with either an ABIT or ASUS card, and i don't want the headaches...

okay, i'll bring this thread back for one last question that i think you guys will like. i can get, instead of the Asus A7V, the ABIT KT7 RAID for 40 bucks more. Is the added expense worth the cash? I'm not going to use RAID right now, but maybe in the future it could be a possibility, i still don't know enough about the performance gains and the little technicalities to weigh whether or not it will be an option for me. So my question is the following: what kind of performance boost would RAID bring me? would it be worth it to invest the extra dollars (I'm on a fairly tight budget) for an eventual RAID configuration?

that's it, i'm going radeon. if it's such a close match, then why pay more? geez, i'm making big changes, going from an Intel/TNT2 combo to an Athlon/Radeon combo... Heh, change is good sometimes. gotta keep an open mind!

well if it's that close then i'll go with the radeon, they are less expensive. around here and in Canadian dollars, I can get the Hercules 3D prophet II GTS pro (geforce 2 gts with 64 megs of DDR RAM) for 557 and the Radeon DDR 64 megs for 424... that's 130 bucks less!!! is that a good decision?

ahrgh!!! Now voodoo enters the picture!! i thought I at least didn't have to worry about THAT, but nooooo... man, y'know what, I'm gonna go to the store and blindly pick the first card that falls under my grasp.

okay... so i should go with your advice and buy a radeon? i'm still a bit confused as to how a superior product that is widely available did not get as good reviews as an inferior product that is marketed better... the sites that did review the Aureal, i'm sure, gave it better reviews than the soundblaster cards, right? or does marketing hype affect computer emags too?

then why the hell is every gaming site out there recommending geforce cards? or maybe i didn't visit the good ones... it really seemed to me like nvidia had the market in their pocket and their cards kicked Ati's ***...

ok so when you buy a geforce you're getting fps, and when getting the radeon you're getting image quality... does that still hold true with the newest drivers for both cards?

We have to make this topic 10 pages long. then itr can die.

what's the difference between the 75GXP and the 60GXP?

ok i need a bit more info about raid, hoping you guys can help me out. i know raid stands for redundant array of inexpensive drives, or at least i think it's that. but i don't really know about its actual benefits and how it can be faster than ide. any of you guys care to enlighten me?

the philips sound card has received mixed reviews. look at gamer's depot and then at 3dsoundsurge.com for two of them. users on this bb are also mixed in their opinion. find the thread.

i'd have to pay the taxes if i declared the value of the parts... and if i don't declare them, then i have no insurance, and if they get damaged i'm done for. also, I'd have to pay customs fee too. plus, there'd be extra shipping costs anyways, and it'd be close to what I'd have to pay. unless somehow there's a trick... i don't know the system that well, so i can't figure out a way to make it work. i found a website with a lot of canadian estores, but they all have crappy selections and high prices. besides, i have a good computer store here with very good prices, but they don't carry everything, like IBM hard drives for example...

thanks Hofy -after looking at the IBM website, i thought it was obvious to go with the 60GXP because the performance (transfer rate) was better than the 75GXP, although the 60GXP line offered smaller sizes, which does not matter for me since I'm only going for 40gigs. or is there something hidden i did not consider? -I'd love to get a huge monitor, but you need money for that, at least last time i checked... i'm on a pretty tight budget here. then again, 24"... how glorious would the Klipsch bb look on this baby, i could see Hofy's red face up close and personal... :-D -I'm gonna try and get some good RAM, although I've never had problems with the generic brand I'm using... I always though RAM was RAM... All in all, I think this is a pretty good midbudget rig, ain't it? /edit/ forgot to ask: do you guys have any suggestion as to which card (i.e. brand and model) i should buy? I hear they'Re pretty much all equal, but I'm looking for a card that doesn't have too many features (TV out would be good though) and good performance at a good price.

w-s-n, actually it was a joke. I'm building this computer for gaming because gaming is the most demanding consumer application of PCs, and so if you have a good gaming PC, it'll do anything else really well. KBlair, thanks for all the nice info. As for the DDR motherboards, that means they're compatible with DDR RAM right? If that is so, then fogget it. The performance increase is not worth the dollar, at least from what I read in various places. 10% increase? A little bit too low. Remember, I'm not going all out here, i want the most bang for the buck. Ordering online is a problem since I live in Canada. By the time you change into US and facftor in the taxes, customs fee and shipping fee, it comes out more expensive. I wish there was a good hardware estore in Canada itself. Buy.com has a canadian site, but the choice is VERY limited. I'll go for a Pioneer DVD drive, but I still don't know which one to get. Is speed crucial? I'm guessing that if I use the DVD drive primarily for movies, then I don't need that much speed. CAS2 RAM. Is that a particular brand? If so, then if it's available here, I might consider it, so I can oc the memory speed abit (you can do that right?). Apart from that if you guys know a good Canadian estore, then that would really make my day. Any Canuck out there??

w-s-n, thanks for the case suggestions. I would love to get a bigger screen. however, bigger=more expensive, and i don'T wanna spend too much. my present screen is dying, so i might replace this screen with the viewsonic and then get a bigger monitor for the better puter.

Well, it's my turn to ask for advice on a new computer. The system is going to be used mostly for the Klipsch bulletin board, but I plan on getting in some university work as well as some 3D gaming action. I migh do some sound editing/mixing but that's not for sure. Of course I'll watch some DVDs to hear the effect on the pros and expecially to see what they look like on a computer screen. Here goes: -MOBO-Asus A7V -CPU-AMD Athlon, 1GHz or more. -RAM-256 megs of generic 133MHz RAM -HD-IBM Deskstar 60GXP 7200 RPM, I'm having some trouble finding those around here... It will be either the 20 or 40 Gb model. -DVD-Rom-Any suggestions? I'm considering either Pioneer or Aopen, Pioneer is more accessible but I don'T know the performance difference with Aopen. -Video Card-Hercules GeForce, maybe the Ultra but I don't know, they are pretty expensive... -Monitor-Viewsonic GS790 19" -Sound Card-I'm still trying to decide between the SB Live! and the Philips card. -Networking-Dlink 5-port 10/100 kit -Case-Is that really important? A good, sturdy, well-cooled case I guess... don't wanna spend too much. -Mouse-Still unsure, I'd like the Razer Boomslang, but I don't know, that' be triple the cost of the Microsoft Intelleye wheel mouse... -Keyboard-Generic bilingual. /edit/ I could see some overclocking in the future, so please consider that, esp. for the CPU/MOBO and the video card, as well as the case. I don't wanna drill holes for fans in the case, i want the oc process to be as easy as possible. ------------------ 'cuz nobody ever said "Pump up the treble!"

oh yeah? interesting... i guess it depends on the rest of the configuration. i want to try WinME too, but I'm not willing to buy it (since I'm not sure whether it'll work) and I still haven't found anyone in my surroundings with a copy. /edit/ what are the most interesting improvements in WinME? I still haven't figured out exactly what's different from an upgraded, all patched-up version of Win98SE...

i have read on a lot of sites that winME was less stable than Win98SE... I'd wait a bit before installing WinME, until the OS has stabilized a bit more with patching.

access time AND transfer rate.

Steve, I still can't believe how nice your setup is.

last time i checked, quantum fireballs were the fastest.