My new PC

[The Khan Artist]

Well, I've been saving up for quite a while, and now I'm finally getting my dream box!

After lots and lots of research, here is what I've come up with:

http://board.zsnes.com/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=7638

Any comments, suggestions?

 

[AlphaWolf]

If you realy want an ATI (I still prefer nvidia myself), I would recommend getting a radeon 9500, and not a 9700. The reason why is because you can overclock a 9500 to do just the same, and its only half the price. Yeah, it's a bit hack and not always guarenteed to go "just as fast" (although it can even go faster), as a rule of thumb, I would never spend more than $200 on a video card.

Also, another reason to wait for the Geforce FX is that the price on the competing cards will probably drop shortly after it hits the market.

 

[Lachp30]

Seems like a nice rig

 

[cooliscoo]

Nice Kahn, congrats man.

My new pc:

AMD Athlon XP 2100+
nVidia GeForce3 Ti500 Gainward Powerpack!
512MB DDR 2100 Kingston
19" Sony monitor
WinXP Pro
Asus Nforce 220D mobo
Creative SB Audigy with LiveDrive
Creative inspire 5.1 w/ subwoofer
PSX/N64 USB Converter
40x12x48 CD-RW
Sony DVD-rom 16X
Westell Wireseed ADSL modem @ 1.5Mbit/256Kbit (already have this, but oh well )

Got all parts from Newegg and the total comes to about ~$850. I'm going to use Overenight Air shipping cause i'm impatient, so that adds to the cost. Damn.. i can't wait to get it.

 

[The Khan Artist]

If you realy want an ATI (I still prefer nvidia myself), I would recommend getting a radeon 9500, and not a 9700. The reason why is because you can overclock a 9500 to do just the same, and its only half the price. Yeah, it's a bit hack and not always guarenteed to go "just as fast" (although it can even go faster), as a rule of thumb, I would never spend more than $200 on a video card.

Also, another reason to wait for the Geforce FX is that the price on the competing cards will probably drop shortly after it hits the market.

1) DirectX 9 - card will have a much longer lifespan

2) I want an All-in-Wonder, anyway

3) RivaTuner can turn the card into a pseudo-FireGL X1

4) I fully plan on waiting for the GeForce FX to come out

 

[AlphaWolf]

9500 can do all of that, except the all in wonder part (I think).

But IMO, the all in wonder features look nice on paper, but I never end up using things like that, even when I get cards like that.

 

[DuDe]

9500 can do all of that, except the all in wonder part (I think).

Does the 9500 support DX9?

 

[Niggy G]

lol, my dads just put together a multiprocessor machine, 2 * 2.2 Ghz Athlon MP and 768 MB DDR Mem, and a nice 17” flat Pannel monitor – Only thing in he won’t let me near it!

At the end of the month i think im gonna build a new machine with some crimbo money and my birthdays comming up.

 

[The Khan Artist]

9500 can do all of that, except the all in wonder part (I think).

But IMO, the all in wonder features look nice on paper, but I never end up using things like that, even when I get cards like that.

Eh, yeah, that came out kinda wrong.

I want the All-in-Wonder. That's the biggest part. If there was an AiW 9500, I'd get that.

So, here:


1) I want an All-in-Wonder

2) With DirectX 9, the AiW 9700 will have a much longer lifespan than the AiW 8500

3) RivaTuner can turn the 9700 into a pseudo-FireGL X1

4) I fully plan on waiting for the GeForce FX to come out for price drops

 

[AlphaWolf]

Does the 9500 support DX9?

Yep.

 

[Slougi]

Seems alright spec wise, but don't forget the following:
The monitor, mouse and keyboard are the _most_ important part of the pc, as well as the chair you sit in. Make sure you don't save money on those to get a fancier mobo/case/whatever, unless you need it. After all that is what you really use the most. The r9700 aiw is a killer card though, /me wants
And please please please get an extra sound card. Look at the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz for example, pretty cheap, very solid windows drivers and superb audio quality.

 

[The Khan Artist]

I'm selling all my old parts (sniff, bye, Z80!) for the express purpose of getting a good mouse, monitor, and speakers.

As for sound, I'm going to give the onboard sound a chance, here.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Go for a card that has a digital coaxial or optical output (coaxial is slightly better quality believe it or not). Its both cheap and excellent quality if your stereo supports it, and it eliminates the noise caused from the other components in your computer (e.g. hdd and cdrom interference). Those surround speakers that people like to sell for computers which use 2 1/8" stereo miniplugs are a joke.

 

[The Khan Artist]

The A7N8X Deluxe has onboard SP/DIF.

For sound, I think I'm going to get a good pair of Sennheiser headphones.

For a monitor, I'm looking at the Samsung SyncMaster 900NF.

 

[Martin]

Seems alright spec wise, but don't forget the following:
The monitor, mouse and keyboard are the _most_ important part of the pc, as well as the chair you sit in.

Yeah!

ph33r my 17" Samsung TFT, ph33r my Keytronics Lifetime Designer 3000 and...err :doh: ph33r my Microsoft Intellimouse USB

And you really ought to ph33r my IKEA "Nominell" chair.

The Khan Artist: The link doesn't work.

 

[The Khan Artist]

Yeah, the zSNES board got kind of h4x0r3d...

Here

 

[AlphaWolf]

If you're a serious FPS gamer, get a logitech MX500 mouse. Its an optical mouse that is as accurate as a ball mouse. You can move it around as fast as you want, and it wont fly around the screen. (e.g. where you find yourself looking all the way up or all the way down at times. Microsoft optical mice are especialy bad at this, I just threw mine away )

They cost ~$50, but its worth it because it will last.

EDIT:

Also if you live near a frys electronics, watch their friday ads for specials. About a year ago I paid $150 for a 19" monitor that goes all the way up to 2048x1536@75MHz (that was actualy the limit of my video card, probably goes even higher), flat CRT, anti-glare, .26 dot pitch.

 

[The Khan Artist]

Well, a monitor is first on my list of "things to get when I have more money". Second is a mouse. Third is a better speaker system. Fourth is a larger hard drive.

The nearest Fry's to me is 100 miles away, unfortunately... anyway, the SyncMaster 900NF does 85 hz at 1600x1200, and I don't think I'd ever need to go higher.

 

[Slougi]

The A7N8X Deluxe has onboard SP/DIF.

For sound, I think I'm going to get a good pair of Sennheiser headphones.

For a monitor, I'm looking at the Samsung SyncMaster 900NF.

Take a look at the monitors on www.monitorsdirect.com
Cornerstone has some very good and cheap monitors.

 

[The Khan Artist]

Since my Voodoo 5 seems to run everything I have (Unreal Tourney, Jedi Outcast, Oni, Half-Life, PSX w/ Lewpy's GFZ, N64 w/ Glide64, and even UT2K3), I'm getting a monitor instead of a Radeon. I'll probably still get the Radeon, but not for a few months.