400 bucks to spend

Preacherman · Sep 8, 2002

Ok, here's my system
KR7A
XP 1800+
512 megs of Kingston DDR PC2100 Ram (2 sticks of 256megs)
Antex SB1040X SOHO Server case
SoundBlaster Live X-gamer
LinkSys 10/100 nic
Maxtor 40 gig HD
GF2 GTS
What would be my best bet for a upgrade?
I'm a gamer.

Zazuk · Sep 8, 2002

I would say a video card, GF2 works but is a little slow.

phungilax · Sep 8, 2002

If you're a gamer i would definately buy a new video card. geforce 2's just arne't cutting it now and days with high end graphical games. the new ati radeon 9700's are out, should be able to pick one up for under 400 bucks. Or a geforce 4 would be a good upgrade.

JimboZ88 · Sep 9, 2002

nice!

For the best deal around, people almost always overlook the in-between card of the gefore 4 line up, the TI4400. overclocked, it whoops the TI4600, and is very cheap. I live in Canada and i got one for $309, and it's cheaper in the states. www.newegg.com is selling a leadtek TI4400 for only $190.00!!! A very Sweet deal.
The ATI radeon 9700 is an awesome card, but it will really show it's potential when some more MoBo's come out with 8x AGP. so it's up to you.

Good deal-TI4400...$190.00 (kicks TI4600)
Better for the future-ATI 9700...$369.00 (8x AGP)

PS. there is a $179 difference between the cards, so chose wisely!!!

Preacherman · Sep 9, 2002

Thanks for the reply's.
I was wondering if going for a Ti 4400 and one of the newer chipsets would be the better way to go for now?
Something like the kt400 or kt333ce chipset vs. my current board.

Arkaine23 · Sep 9, 2002

upgrades

If you wanted a kt333 motherboard, you'd also need to sell your ram and get something better like corsair or mushkin PC3000 or PC3200. And you'd need to unlock your cpu to really be able to crank up the FSB and actually use the 1/5 divisor the chipset offers.

I'd wait on motherboards and ram for a few more months when the new amd cpu's are out and fully supported and the 1/6 divisor boards and 430+ MHz- capbale memory come along and have been tested for faults by the ppl here at the forums.

A video card would be a good solution for now, and save the rest for the goodies that will be here and have had a chance to mature by early next year.

hduong · Sep 9, 2002

I would get a new vid card too. But I wouldn't spend more then $200 on one. You can find gf3 500 ti for 200cnd. Here are some other suggestions, gf4 4200,radeon 8500,radeon 9000 pro.

krott5333 · Sep 9, 2002

ATI 9700's arent worth the money right now. Get an upper end Geforce, and a bigger hard drive.

27_inch_monitor · Sep 9, 2002

Fly out here to Seattle and ill show you around.....for $400.00

Preacherman · Sep 9, 2002

ummmm, NO

Darkpie · Sep 11, 2002

Get a Midrange Ti Gforce 4. The rest of you system seams to look good so Up grade you Videocard. And if you want Get a Second Harddrive.
But for starters get a better Video Card.

Good luck to you bro.

Preacherman · Sep 11, 2002

I really appreciate all the replies.
So here goes part two.
Everyone agrees that I need a new vid card so what would you recommend??

john240sx · Sep 11, 2002

i would get a Gainward GF4TI4200 64MB 3.3ns ram. you can overclock it really easy but it performs very good stock. it's $153 at newegg.

Mr.DLucey · Sep 11, 2002

Theirs a Sticky on the Gainward gForce 4200-64 video cards in the video card Forms. Read that before getting this card. I have a MSI gForce4 4200-64 and had no problems with it and it comes with overclocking software to boot. It cost $150 so you have $250 left to spend. How about a Water cooled CPU system

Then overclock to the max!

JimboZ88 · Sep 12, 2002

get a ti4400, overclock it and it is better than the ti4600! Newegg is selling a leadtek (which in my oppinion is the best brand) for only $190.00. it is a sweet card and you won't need to upgrade for a long time.

Slowmo · Sep 12, 2002

I agree with the bulk of the replies. Get a Leadtek GeForce 4200, or 4400, and then wait for the NForce boards.

Hawk · Sep 12, 2002

New video card GF 4 4600 :0)

Pcmod · Sep 12, 2002

get a ti-4400

garasaki · Sep 12, 2002

The brand of the GF4 isnt very important, the only difference is overclockability, and that's still a total crapshoot....I'd actually suggest you buy the one with the best software bundle!

I dunno why someone suggested you get a bigger HD...that wont do you much good unless you're outta cash. The new mobo idea isn't bad, if you're willing to put the work into it. But the performance increase wont be very big (like 10%ish...more like 25% if you unlock and up the fsb probably), so it may not be worth it, in the long run.

BBigJ · Sep 12, 2002

I agree with everyone here. Hold off on the new mobo for now. You're not going to get much of an upgrade there. Get a 4200 or 4400 gf4 and maybe a second hard drive if you are running short on space. Otherwise your system looks pretty good. If you want a fun project you can also go for the watercooling setup.

400 bucks to spend

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