Hello everyone!
Recently I received a 75 USD gift card for Best Buy. Gleefully I ran to the store in hopes of finding a video card and a sound card upgrade. I handed the associate my current PC specs (listed below) and listened to his recommendation. He recommended:
Video Card: ATI RadeonX 700 (or 850) PRO (AGP Slot) - 200 & 250 USD respectively
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi - 130 USD
I went home and tried to gather some word-of-mouth. My acquittance immediately started ragging on ATI's bad drivers and configuration software as well as lack of support. They also busted on Creative for their lack of significantly updated chips. Perhaps those folks are fools, but they presented the following similarly priced and similarly powerful alternatives:
Video Card: GeForce 6600 (or 6800) GT
Sound Card: Audigy 2ZS
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Here in are my dilemmas two. The first is that I don't know if Best Buy carries the aforementioned GeForce and Audigy cards (and I really want to spend the free 75 USD). The second is that, while the superiority of GeForce drivers and Audigy technology was touted to me, I have no way to compare the products for what is best for me. The numbers, just as the goggles, do nothing! What exactly do I do on my PC? The usual bit of gaming. I play MMOs (WoW/GW) and am looking forward to Half Life 2 and Brothers in Arms. I don't do any video editing - I only watch DVDs.
If any of you fine gents or ladies would care to advise me on which video card and which sound card I should settle on, I will... well... I'd be very happy and grateful. Below are my current PC specs as taken from Belarc. If I missed something, please tell me!
Well, hopefully that covers it. Apologies for the long post and I look forward to reading your replies!
Edit: Forgot to mention - my budget is (roughly)325 USD cash and 75 USD gift card for a 400 USD total on PC upgrades.
Recently I received a 75 USD gift card for Best Buy. Gleefully I ran to the store in hopes of finding a video card and a sound card upgrade. I handed the associate my current PC specs (listed below) and listened to his recommendation. He recommended:
Video Card: ATI RadeonX 700 (or 850) PRO (AGP Slot) - 200 & 250 USD respectively
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi - 130 USD
I went home and tried to gather some word-of-mouth. My acquittance immediately started ragging on ATI's bad drivers and configuration software as well as lack of support. They also busted on Creative for their lack of significantly updated chips. Perhaps those folks are fools, but they presented the following similarly priced and similarly powerful alternatives:
Video Card: GeForce 6600 (or 6800) GT
Sound Card: Audigy 2ZS
------------------------------
Here in are my dilemmas two. The first is that I don't know if Best Buy carries the aforementioned GeForce and Audigy cards (and I really want to spend the free 75 USD). The second is that, while the superiority of GeForce drivers and Audigy technology was touted to me, I have no way to compare the products for what is best for me. The numbers, just as the goggles, do nothing! What exactly do I do on my PC? The usual bit of gaming. I play MMOs (WoW/GW) and am looking forward to Half Life 2 and Brothers in Arms. I don't do any video editing - I only watch DVDs.
If any of you fine gents or ladies would care to advise me on which video card and which sound card I should settle on, I will... well... I'd be very happy and grateful. Below are my current PC specs as taken from Belarc. If I missed something, please tell me!
- Dell Computer Corporation DIM4400
- Board: Intel Corporation D845PT AAA67834-304
- 1.70 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
- 768 Megabytes Installed Memory
- NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 200 [Display adapter]
- Creative SB Live! series
Well, hopefully that covers it. Apologies for the long post and I look forward to reading your replies!
Edit: Forgot to mention - my budget is (roughly)325 USD cash and 75 USD gift card for a 400 USD total on PC upgrades.