Quake3World

Long time no see everybody. Been busy with life and have been hard-pressed to find time to get on the computer, let alone Q3W, but hopefully both will change now. So, after trying CoD 2 and Q4 and being saddned by the level at which I had to play them to get a respectable, smooth framerate, I've decided its time to upgrade before I actually purchase them and get online with em. My current specs are as follows:

DFI LANPARTY UT nF3 250Gb Socket 754 mobo

AMD Athlon 64 2800+ Newcastle 800MHz

1 gig of Corsair ValueSelect PC3200 DDR (Timings are 2.5-3-3-8 and its started showing errors in Memtest86 Test #5, tried relaxing the timings to 3-4-4-8 and ended up being forced to clear the CMOS)

Sapphire Radeon 9600XT (special edition with passive cooling and ATI's driver OC enabled)

Maxtor 120 GB w/ 2 meg cache, 7200 RPM

Maxtor 200 GB w/ 8 meg cache, 7200 RPM

POS Dell Quiet-key SK-8000 (not quiet at all, but I like the the snap the keys give)

MS Wheel Mouse Optical (like the wheel's spinning click)

I think that covers it. I'm thinking the things in need of being upgraded is the RAM (errors=bad) and the video card. I'm thinking after those, if I have some money in my budget left, I may splurge for a SATA drive of some spec, possibly a Raptor. My range for my upgrade is about $350, possibly $400 USD. I'd still be comfortable with just a gig of RAM, I'm more focused on a good video card. I'd like to stay with ATI, but I don't know wether I'd get the most out of say, a 9800 Pro, or if going with some X series card would be a better idea. I've been stingy on memory the last two upgrades to my gaming box, this time I want good stuff. Also, this Dell keyboard is starting to wear out, and the only reason I've even kept it this long is that I like the way the keys feel when pressed, the feedback is strong and theres a nice "loud" click to them. If anyone can recommend a good keyboard that would match this one, I'd probably add it in to my upgrade. Also, wouldn't mind getting a new mouse of some sort, but the reason I haven't used my MX-510 on the gaming box is that I like the feedback and responsiveness of the MS mouse. So basically, or those who hate to read a little, I'm looking for:

New (preferably ATI) Video Card

Better RAM with better timings and a lack of errors

Keyboard and mouse (with clicky-responiveness like the ones I've got)

ati's new cards are barely better than yours

Thanks for that constructive comment.

CheapAlert wrote:ati's new cards are barely better than yours

sphincterboi says what?

@smithy, all boils down to what you want to spend.

actually, he is kinda right.. the largest jump that you will see is going to a X800, other then that. its kinda sad seeing the jump from the X800 to the X1800 :/

i really thaught that ATI was going to do a beter job with there cards.

in my mind set right now, Nvidia is in the lead. and it will be hardpressed to replace my 9800 PRO with any of the current prody's available.

and in the 300USD pricerange, you can make alot happen, give me a min and i'll see what i can dig up, and grab reviews also.

As already said, the latest installment of graphics cards from ATi are somewhat...dissapointing.

The 1800XL is about £100 more expensive than my 7800 the last time i checked here.

The 7800GT (which i'd highly reccemend you get if its in your price range) is a rather good card:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/ ... 00_23.html

From 1800XL points:

Only matches, but does not outperform, rivaling GeForce 7800 GT in majority of applications

We'll, looking, the prices of the 6800's are still high, and considering you want a ATI Based product ( i dont blame you )

the cards to take a look at are the X800XT based cards, they still hold there own.


here is a VGA chart that will show you where shit stands..
http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/07/05/ ... page4.html

Or ofcorse, you can get the Asus X850XT PE for 350+ Tax USD form newegg.

As seen here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121541

Btw, check the fist review on newegg for the X850 PE "moderate improvement over 9800pro"

Ouch

anyway, i hope this helps a little bit towards the decision process mango,

good luck

the 1800xl supposedly are great overclockers. no problems hitting xt speeds.

the new ati cards are looking better with each new driver set. plus you get more features and better iq.

i checked newegg and the cheapest gt is only $20 less than the cheapest xl.

DFI LANPARTY UT nF3 250Gb Socket 754 mobo = AGP...

doh!

Anyone heard or used the ABIT NV8? I did a newegg search for all 754 mobos with PCI-Express 16x, and got this one and an ASUS with identical features for about $15 more and with a wait on it. Could anyone recommend a socket 754 mobo with PCI-express, Surround sound audio controller, and gigabit ethernet for about the same price as the NV8 ($69.50 USD)? BTW, got a Powercolor X850XT (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814131297) to put in whatever mobo I decide upon.