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Thread: This Is What I Plan To Buy... Good/Bad ?

  1. #1
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    This Is What I Plan To Buy... Good/Bad ?

    Hello Everyone,

    I think I'm going to finally break down and purchase a new system. I scanned this message board over the last few weeks and got many good suggestions. I was hoping to get some final feedback before I go ahead and spend the money.

    BACKGROUND:
    I am looking to pay about $500. The components I have listed below add up to $470. I haven't picked a Video Card yet; I was hoping some of you might have some advice. I am not a gamer, just want a card that would allow me to use the internet and basic multimedia stuff... Ideally i'd like to pay around $50.

    MY SYSTEM:
    Abit NF7-S NForce2
    AMD Anthlon XP "Barton" 2500+
    Crucial 512Mb DDR PC-3200
    WD HDD "WD800JB" 80Gb 7200RPM 8Mb Buffer
    Lite-On 8x DVD +/-RW
    Antec PSU 350W

    So how did I do ?

  2. #2
    Ultimate Member scottluebke2003's Avatar
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    That system is perfect! But what about a video card? Do you already have one?
    ~A life without Jesus is a life that's never fixed~

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  4. #4
    Hail to the Victors dajogejr's Avatar
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    darn good 1st system, Wall.

    Welcome to Sysopt.

    Curious posted a good card in your range, another would be an Nvidia GeForce 4 MX440 series AGP card.

    Internet/Email are all 2D apps, so...any basic card will do...I wouldn't go bottom of the barrel, though....

    Try this:

    http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...140-036&depa=1

  5. #5
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    Thanks for the suggestions...

  6. #6
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    I think you made a mistake in your link..that is a PCI version of the MX400.

    Anyway, for the absolute best in 2d quality, I would recommend the following:

    http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...106-153&depa=0

    Geforce cards aren't really known for high quality 2d. It isn't bad, but it isn't the greatest either - with the matrox, you get what you pay for, and scrolling is easier on the eyes as well (glyph antialiasing eliminates stuttering).

    Combine that with the fact that nvidia cards block out much of the text screen when scrolling to get higher benchmark scores and you'll see which card is better one.
    Last edited by causticVapor; 07-01-2004 at 11:03 PM.

  7. #7
    Hail to the Victors dajogejr's Avatar
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    Good point...sys....

    The only thing with that card is...dual DVI...and those DVI to VGA can be a pain...if there's not enough room..

    This is assuming he doensn't have an LCD w/ DVI...in that case, non issue!!

  8. #8
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    Nice. Here's another option too. Biostar M7NCG 400 nforce2 mATX with built in IGP (MX GF4 440 comparable). If you aren't going to use SATA (your HDD pick) you can get the Biostar for only $62.00 and version 7.2 that is shipping now how all voltage tweaks. It elininates the need for a video card (in your case) and slides in at about $20.00 cheaper, and probably another $20.00 for the video card you would add to the Abit. From my experience nearly all Crucial PC3200 is also cas 3 (Unless it's only 256 meg dimm) rated by "SPD", so you "might" not get a boot unless you hold down insert while booting and manually set cas 2.5 in the DRAM section regarless of the mobo you get (if it's nforce2 based). This happened to me when using Crucial and the Abit twice (although one was old Abit PCB nforce2 - but one was Rev_2.0). The Crucial defaults to "SPD" of course in the nforce2 bios so that sometimes causes a no boot scenario (unless changed to 2.5 cas latency manually, and it might require bump in DRAM volts *slight* ) Just a heads up to potential issue. Might boot for ya though. Possibly bios code has/was updated with a new bios release since my build/s, but the insert key, then cas 2.5, and 2.6 VDIMM did it for me.

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