Got a 2900 Pro, Now What?

[flashstar]

My computer has the following specs currently:

7800gtx, A64 3200+ Venice @ 2.4 ghz, Fatal1ty AN8 SLI Nforce 4, 2gb Patriot ram, 17" cheapo viewsonic screen, 2x 80gb Hitachi 7200 drive in RAID 0, X-FI Xtreme Music (mic port broken), 500 watt Bluestorm w/ 2 15 amp 12v rails.

I'm looking into the following upgrades: 3800+ A64 X2 ($47 shipped), 20" 1680 x 1050 Viewsonic VA2026W($219), 2900 pro ($200), Cooler Master Real Power ($80).

I just barely missed the $170 deal on Ebay for a 512 mb 512 bit 2900 pro, so I hunted one down on Ebay and got it shipped for $200. I also heard that my 500 wat Blue Storm power supply will be cutting it a bit too close in terms of power so I have decided to upgrade my power supply. The Athlon 64 3800+ X2 should also give me a good 60% performance increase in games like UT3 that utilize dual core cpu's. A bigger screen would be nice as well.

Since I'm basing my upgrades around my new 2900 pro, I'm curious as to what you think. Should I get something else in addition to the above, should I get a different monitor? Was getting the 2900 pro a good decision for the price and will it be powerful enough to drive games like UT3? I used a 9800 pro back in the day, but I've heard a ton of complaints about ATI hardware recently, so I would just like to make sure that I'm not wasting a ton of money. :soda:

What's your opinion?

Thanks.

[JamesXP]

The blue storm should be fine....


you will need a whole new platform imho, 775/AM2

[flashstar]

Thanks for the reply. I've just been putting off getting a new platform due to costs. I plan to go to a Phenom or Intel Quad something later on next year as long as it has Crossfire. I hope too that I'll be able to find another 2900 pro later. Seeing that the 2900 pro supposedly takes 17+ amps (especially when overclocking), I just feel safer with a new psu. Maybe I'll get better overclocking results.

[chaos]

Here's a couple at Newegg...http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048&Configurator=&Subcategory=48&description=&Ntk=&srchInDesc=2900

[SeasonalEclipse]

You really do not need a whole new plateform. Id get a opty 165 and keep your system as is for a while longer. What do you plan to do with it? Even on a new platform crysis wont run extremely pretty on a 2900 pro. You might as well keep your costs down until something better comes out. (my 2 cents.)

[flashstar]

Here's an update:

My 2900 pro from Ebay (who knows about warranty :santa:) is coming either today or monday. My 3800+ X2 is also shipping and will be here at the same time. In addition, I purchased a Cooler Master Real Power 750 because over at the Sapphire forums, they said that there was no way that my Blue Storm could handle the video card. :bang head I guess that I was going to need a new psu anyway because I'm planning on waiting for a few more months and then upgrading my motherboard, cpu, ram, and getting another 2900 pro. I picked up a Samsung 206bw monitor while I was looking for a psu.

Do you think that it's safe to run the 2900 pro in my Blue Storm for a day until the Real Power gets here? I really want to see what it can do, but I'm worried that I might be getting close to what my Blue Storm can handle.

Thanks for the tip seasonal, I'm actually planning on getting the Intel Wolfendale 45 nm quad core when that comes out and overclocking it to somewhere in the mid 3 ghz range. Coupled with another 2900 pro (if I can still find one), hopefully I won't have any major bottlenecks. Anyway, I'm planning on running games like Cod4, UT3, and Crysis on medium to high settings on a 1680 x 1050 screen.

Chaos: I thought that Newegg was running out of 2900 pro's for good, so I got one on Ebay. Needless to say, they all came back in stock the next day. :mad:

Thanks for the tips again.

[SeasonalEclipse]

you should be fine as long as you do not OC with the blue storm. Now you probably might want to get a better PSU when you get the full new rig, but for the moment I really do not think you need a new PSU for what youhave right now.

[flashstar]

So... I summoned up all of my courage and put the 2900 pro into my computer. After turning it on and booting up, I installed the 7.12 Catalyst drivers. I then opened up GPU-Z and noticed that the card had already been flashed to a 2900 XT with full XT clocks! :santa: I have been spending a ton of time worrying about doing the flash myself and this kind of makes it less traumatizing. Anyway, I'll see how well my power supply holds up for the next few days. :attn: