what video card should i get?

[jordo_99]

hi i'm building a computer this summer and what i've come up with so far is this:

MSI Motherboard -> Athlon 64/FX,Socket 939, ATX, nForce4, 4GB DDR, 1000MHz FSB

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ -> 1.8GHz, 512KB, 1GHz, Socket 939

Antec SmartPower 2.0 500 Watt ATX

XCLIO Case -> Black 250mm fan (6 open 80mm fan slots) 0.6 mm SECC ; Aluminum Front Panel ATX Mid Tower (AND 2-4 80mm fans)

OCZ Value Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) -> 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)

Maxtor DiamondMax 200GB -> Serial ATA150, 7200 RPM 16MB Cache

NEC CD/DVD+- Burner

Acer AL1916W 19" LCD Monitor -> 1440x900, 8ms, PC






I know i'm looking at gettting a puny processor as far as AMD goes but i'm on a budget.

I'm looking at spending around 125-175 on the graphics card and wanna get the most bang for my buck.

i'm concerned about:

(1) not gettting enough performance for what i want to use it for (playing new games and video/audio editing and animation)

and (2) getting too much performance for my 3000+ card to use to the fullest.

any suggestions? right now i'm looking at: GeForce 7600 GT, Radeon X1300 Pro and e-GeForce 6800XT. but don't know enough about cards to decide on one yet.


thanks a lot guys. especially those who actually read through this lengthy post. thanks - jordan

 

[cyrax]

XFX 7600GT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150145

Fits right into your budget.

That will be the best 'bang for your buck' card you can get.

 

[turtile]

Get the 7600GT

Get an Antec truepower or ther Fortron 450w PSU

Buy high performance ram with a rebate - its cheaper and faster.

 

[Chris_PC]

Another vote for the 7600GT, best bang for your buck

 

[jordo_99]

undate on what i'm gonna be getting

well i'm now not going to be getting a Athlon 3000. I'm now looking at getting a Athlon X2 3800 or Conroe E6300. so now i could get a card better than teh 7600 GT but i'm less willing now to go over teh 175 budget.

 

[caveman4810]

Love my X2 3800. Overclocks well if that makes any difference. I'm currently running @2630Mhz prime stable. I'm no overclocking expert either.

 

[PP Mguire]

I would wait for the Core 2 duos to come out. Would be cheaper and faster than what you currently have listed.

 

[MrZucchiniHead]

take away that 4gb of RAM, windows only handles 3gb and it runs faster with 2.

 

[PP Mguire]

Where do you see 4gig of ram at? He has mentioned a set of OCZ Value 2x1gig.

 

[MrZucchiniHead]

hi i'm building a computer this summer and what i've come up with so far is this:

MSI Motherboard -> Athlon 64/FX,Socket 939, ATX, nForce4, 4GB DDR , 1000MHz FSB

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ -> 1.8GHz, 512KB, 1GHz, Socket 939

Antec SmartPower 2.0 500 Watt ATX

XCLIO Case -> Black 250mm fan (6 open 80mm fan slots) 0.6 mm SECC ; Aluminum Front Panel ATX Mid Tower (AND 2-4 80mm fans)
OCZ Value Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) -> 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)

ok im confused, what ram and how much are you getting?