Looking for a videocard/CPU/misc. parts, any suggestions?

John wrote:
On Wed, 09 Jul 2003 04:45:49 GMT, Cyde Weys
wrote:



I don't think the 9100 is powerful enough for my tastes. I think I can
get a bit better videocard still below the $150 mark, right? Should I
consider going with an nVidia card?


Well heres ONE benchmark which isnt the only one to go by.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...deon-9100.html
http://www.bytesector.com/data/bs-ar...sources&page=2

You notice the 8500/9100 is faster than the 9000 which you just posted
you were pretty satisfied with. The 4200 is faster on this benchmark
and probably in general but it doesnt have some features that the ATIs
have. In this test they claim 128 megs doesnt make much difference vs
the 64 meg.

If you want to keep it to play Doom III , Half Life2 etc then you
probably should get the 9500 Pro but the problem is they are
discontinuing various cards - one is the 9500 pro.

The 9500 Pro is $195 at NewEgg - just a bit too expensive for my tastes.

There was talk about BestBuy I think selling them - getting rid of
them for $150 the 9500 pro but the posts I saw said they couldnt find
any at the local Best Buys for that price.

You can easily buy the 9500 at Newegg for under $150.
Try to get a red PCB with the L-shaped memory if you are getting the
9500 so that you may be lucky and be able to unlock it with a software
mod and get a 9500 pro or 9700 at the price of a 9500. Not sure if
you can still do this.

Here's the page for the 9500 at NewEgg:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...ue=4396,366 8
The first one is advertised as "new black PCB version" ... the others
don't say anything special. Are these the magic red PCB ones that can
be unlocked via software to become bigger/badder than they otherwise
would be? I already know which CPU I'll be getting - I just need some
help with figuring out if one of these is the right videocard, because
the page alone doesn't tell me.

The 9600 pro which many avoid because its designed different - people
are looking for the ability to unlock and OC the 9500 /9500 pro and
9700 to get substantially higher performance. Look in the ATI subs.
However the 9600 Pro isnt a bad card at all.

The more desirable cards usually are the 9500 pro but its being
discontinued and the 9700.


You should get the XP.
Some boards /revisions of boards can only take up to XX speed
processor. You should look it up at your MBs site.


Well just from a casual look at Pricewatch to check which are good
deals - it seems like the XP 2600 333 $91 XP 2500 333 $85 seem like
good deals. Someone may have some comment about OC ability or some
other relevant factor that may make some other CPU a better deal.

I chose the 2500+ Barton over the 2600+ non-Barton because it's $9.00
cheaper, and the Barton architecture means it has 512K L2 cache instead
of the 2600+'s puny 256K cache. The clockspeed is rated lower though --
oh well. Is this a wise decision: choosing a 1.83Ghz clockspeed over a
2.06Ghz clockspeed because it has more L2 cache and is nine bucks
cheaper? Or is clockspeed more important, in which case I should go for
the 2600+?


Okay, maybe not all three clips, but at least two. The current one I
have is only one clip, and it just seems too iffy to me.


Well at Newegg - it was the Volcano 7 that I was talking about.
I noticed the plain old 7 was rated well for cooling but many
complained about the loud noise.

The 7+ which is around $22.50 is rated very well according to the
users though some still mention its a bit loud. Im used to the
screamers - the highspeed Deltas which were rated the best of the 60mm
fans before they started going to bigger lower rpm fans. Now thats
loud. Im not sure its all that loud but the pitch is very high which
makes it stand out way more. Some compared it to a hairdryer.
To me the Volcano 7 seemed fairly quiet.

Only you will be able to say whether its too noisy or not but it is
variable - depending on temp and slower RPM I think the max is in the
5000 rpm range vs , the 6000-7000 rpm of the 60mm deltas which spin at
the max all the time in the early versions I got,

Go to Cooler Guys and see what they recommend for a quiet and
effective fan too.




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