need some advice

[eXiled]

hey everyone, I'm a casual gamer and put alot of value in performance. I'm now considering a new computer and i'd like to know if anyone sees anything i should be aware of/concerned about. Please note my budget is about 1.2k

Floppy WHITE €8,00
Coolermaster Centurion ALU Case €51,50
Sapphire Radeon 9800 PRO 128mb DRR TV/OUT DVI BULK AGP €210,00
Maxtor 200 GB 7200 RPM 6Y200M0 SATA €128,50
APACER DDR PC3200 512Mb €173,00
LOGITECH MX510 €40,00
NEC ND2510 8X +R/-R Dual Layer IVORY Bulk €79,00
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Boxed S939 €358,50
AMD MSI K8N NEO2 PLATINUM S939 €129,00


Sub-Totaal: €1.177,50

 

[ChipDeath]

What Power supply comes with that case? You'll need a fairly decent supply for that little lot. a Good brand 400W model at least.

Make sure that 9800Pro is not a 128-bit memory one (sapphire did make a few of these, but I don't think there are that many new ones around anymore).

I'd suggest at least 1Gb of RAM. Many modern games are not at their best with 'only' 512Mb.

---
Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @200x10 (~2Ghz), 1.4 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL/1x512Mb Corsair XMS PC4000 2.5-3-3-7
Sapphire 9800Pro (VGA Silencer Rev3) @418/742

 

[eXiled]

I'll have to buy the power supply manually..
And it is a 128-bit memory sapphire card, what is wrong with it?

Tnx for the reply btw.

 

[ChipDeath]

a 'Genuine' 9800Pro should have 256-bit memory. There was a big hoo-haa a few months back because Sapphire released a few cards which were 9800Pro cards with only 128-bit memory bus, which halves the memory bandwidth and effectively cripples the performance. I have in the past tried to find some benchies for just how bad they are, but have never been able to. I don't know whether anyone else has a link?

Incidentally, I'm referring to the memory bus width on the cards, which is <b>NOT</b> related to the <i>amount</i> of memory on the cards. e.g. my 9800Pro has 128<b>Mb</b> of 256<b>-bit</b> memory.

---
Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @200x10 (~2Ghz), 1.4 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL/1x512Mb Corsair XMS PC4000 2.5-3-3-7
Sapphire 9800Pro (VGA Silencer Rev3) @418/742

 

[Yossarian]

The Radeon 9800 Pro is supposed to have a 256 bit memory (see http://users.erols.com/chare/video.htm ) so the 128 bit will be slower. Check the graphics card section on Toms Hardware community it may inform you about this.
see :
http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=363095#363095

 

[ChipDeath]

<A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=363095#363095" target="_new">Completely Clickified!</A> (read the FAQ)

---
Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @200x10 (~2Ghz), 1.4 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL/1x512Mb Corsair XMS PC4000 2.5-3-3-7
Sapphire 9800Pro (VGA Silencer Rev3) @418/742

 

[Spitfire_x86]

Get LiteOn SOHW-832S DVD burner

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[BeyRevRa]

If budget allows it I would try to get 2 sticks of ram, be it getting another 512 or splitting it into 2x256, that way you can take advantage of the dual channel.

AMD 64 3400+
MSI K8N Neo Platinum
1 GB Kingston HyperX PC3200
ATI AIW 9600XT
WD Raptor 74GB