So the computer needed a little upgrade...
 

Well, the computer was having some issues (motherboard related), and with the Tax Refund, looked like it was time to upgrade and fix it. Just put in an Athlon 64 3000+, MSI k8T motherboard, 512mB pc3200 RAM, ATI Radeon 9600XT. I didn't go with them to buy it, so im not quite sure why we ended up with the 9600 over waiting for a good sale or price on a 9800PRO. Anyway, finally got it up and running, and hot damn! is it nice. Just picked up a Seagate 160GB SATA hardrive, but haven't installed it yet. I wasn't inittially looking at one that big, but when all is said and done, it came out to under 100bucks, so i figured it was worth it.

Not too thrilled about my 3dMark and PCMark scores yet, but once i wipe the drives, and toss in the new Serial ATA drive, tweak all the settings to how i want it, it should be a fun system.

I would get rid of the 9600XT and get a Sapphire 9800 Pro for 200 bucks. Then your scores would be awesome as hell.

Yeah, the videocard is definitely your bottleneck. I'd get a 9800 Pro ASAP. :)

-Lasereth

Little upgrade? Thats almost an entirely noew computer ;)

I'd second that :)

Well, with the Hard drive it was right around $650. A little more than I thought we were prepaired to spend, but apparently not.

I haven't seen my brother since they picked it up (school and work), so i need to find out what they paid for the vid card and what kind of return policy the store has while we can still find the receipts. Hopefully we can get a full refund, and save it toward a good sale. If not, we'll see what happens. if they paid within $50 of what the 9800 or 9800pro costs, hopefully i could talk them into getting the better one.

In getting teh 64bit chip, good motherboard, faster hdd, etc. we were kinda planning for the future, and getting the basics to leave open the possibilities of upgrades in teh future. Getting the 9600 ( Still a great card though) instead of the 9800 seems to be making a good system for now, rather than one that will work and be good for some time to come. If they prices are close, it just doesn't seem like good planning to me.

Oh, Im not debating the specs at all--its pretty much what my next machine will be. I just think its funny you called it a little upgrade when you replaced almost all the parts of the computer :)

yeah....just don't try formatting and reusing the same winxp disk....if so, expect problems wtih activation....sheeeeeeeeeesh

while you are spending the money, why not buy the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB? You will be able to run games that havent even been thought of yet!!

ever think that by the time you need 256MB on the 9800, there will be a bigger and better card already out. I reallydon't see the extra 128mb being worth the extreme expense of the ati version of the card.

Update :

Well, i talked to my brother, and he payed $200 for the 9600XT...about the going price. Bestbuy had a sale for the 9800Pro 128Mb for $200 (after 50 mail in rebate). Still need to take the other one back tomorrow, but got the 9800 and put it in. Hot Damn did it make a difference. 3dMark03 scores went up from ~3800 to a happy little 5900. For the same price, im glad we went to the effort of returning and buying teh 9800.

Also, hooked up that serial ATA 160GB drive. Haven't backed up and taken out the other one yet, but got this one in and partitioned. Went to format it and damn near pissed my pants. Did a straight out format (not quick format), and the entire 160GB was done in less than 10 seconds! Put a 20GB in my dads comp on the good ol EIDE, took several minutes to do that one, and it was a fraction of the size of the SATA.

Hafta say, now that the video card swap is dealt with, i am damn happy with the new system :D

hmmm...innnteresting. do you think i would notice a performance increase using an ATA133 on a sata cable. My mobo manufacturer makes somethig called serillel that allows you to hook a hard drive up to the sata cable instead of the regular 80 pin cable...

its $25, do you think it would help?