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General discussion

Building a system (I need advice/criticism)

Aug 22, 2004 12:01AM PDT

Hi, I'm building a system for the first time and I've got pretty much all of the parts picked out, but I'm stumped when it comes to the graphics card. Could I get some suggestions on what to use? By the way, I plan to be using the system for "casual gaming". I'll probably take it to the occasional LAN party, but I'll mostly be gaming at home. Here are the specs (and I'm also open to suggestions on the other specs.:

*Lian Li PC-65B case in black
*Antec True550 power supply
*Asus P5AD-2 Deluxe motherboard
*Intel Pentium 4 530 Processor w/ HT and 800MHz FSB socket 775
*1GB Corsair XMS PC-4000 RAM
*Two 10000rpm 36.7gb Western Digital Raptor HDDs (Raid 0)
*Creative Audigy 2 ZS Gamer sound card (I want Jedi Academy and Halo)
*Pioneer A07 8x DVD burner
*Pioneer 120 16x DVD drive
*Ten dollar Sony floppy drive
*NEC FE991SB CRT monitor
*Creative Gigaworks S750 speaker system

I've been considering the ATI Radeon x600, but the x800 looks like it's considerably more powerful. I like to play my games at the highest resolution, etc. without any chopping, and the x800 might be more along the lines of what I'm wanting.

Just out of curiousity, would it be possible to connect 2 PCI-express graphics cards, such as the GeCube Radeon x300 256mb, to this motherboard (perhaps via an adapter to fit two plugs)? That configuration would only be about $50-$75 more than the x600, but alot more powerful.

Thanks in adv.

Tim

Discussion is locked

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www.newegg.com
Aug 22, 2004 12:18AM PDT

for better prices. I doubt the PCI video connection. Drivers take assigned resources and may conflict, but there's a lot I've never heard of. Searching Google for gaming PC advice may take time but may yield info including video cards to avoid and a gaming forum for more specific experienced advice.
At least your 550watt PS is a good move.

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Re: www.newegg.com
Aug 22, 2004 3:15AM PDT

Newegg.com has some excellent deals, as does Zipzoomfly.com. A majority of these parts will come from those.

I picked the 550w PS for several reasons, but the biggest is that I'll probably be adding some Zalman heatpipes and fans sometime in the future. Leaves me plenty of room for expansion.

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You have great taste.
Aug 22, 2004 2:37AM PDT

Not sure that you will find a lot of people with PCI Express video cards at this time.

The Sept issue of Maximum PC uses the Radeon XT 800 Platinum edition and All-in Wonder VE in their Dream Machine 2004. They give some reasons. I don't know if one can see the articles on their website.