computer hardware upgrade question!!!!

[æArchOAngelæ]

alright christmas is comin very fast, if u havent noticed lol well anyways my dad is going to buy me some stuff for my computer i need a new hard drive graphics card and maybe another 512 ram right now i can play ut2k4 at max everything and doom 3 at alittle abouve average and i want to upgrade my grpahics card the most but what would affect my games the most a new grpahics card or more ram? and hard drive wise. whats a better company in general maxtor, western digi. or seagate? thanks u guys if u reply it would be a mojr big help. i am looking at buying a ati 9800 256 mb and right now i have a 128mb nvidia 5200 ultra or somthing like that. i want to play doom 3 and counter stirike better.

so to sum it up more ram, or a better graphics card or a better processor chip i have a p4 2.7 ghz and can buy a p4 3.0 ghz w/ HT

 

[æArchOAngelæ]

alright i found my video card i remember now it is a Nvidia Geforce FX 5200 Ultra

 

[eipeks]

I would upgrade your video card. Your procesor is fine. (Ram is cheap, so save up for the extra 512)

However, if you are seriously into gaming, I wouldnt buy the 9800. Yea its cheap, and you'll notice an improvement...but for future value you might wanna get a 6800 or x800.

I've gone through 4 video cards in 4 years. Because I've always bought medium value cards. Mind you, I've had my 9600XT for the longest and its a great card, even today. But I'm planning on spending a little extra on my next card, one that's gonna last a while.

 

[ATIRAGEPRO]

"holiday iNN..."

The RAM isn't nearly as necissary as the Graphics card when playing Unreal Tournament 2004. You won't have a problem if you allready have at least 256mb of ram. However, the Graphics Card is ThE most important upgrade that you need. 9800 PRO as they call it, should be the ONLY thing on your list... all that other Sh**-(i mean STuff) can wait. ..... Weastern digital is the best brand of hd out there. (Avoid the Saegates!!! ) You don't need a new processor either!! (Spoiled rich kid!! lol)

 

[eipeks]

actually, I find my seagate HD extremly quiet. I can't even hear it running when doing a defrag.

And why buy a 9800 when prices are dropping on High end cards?

If you want to read the reviews, go check out http://www.tomshardware.com

 

[æArchOAngelæ]

actually im not rich, its just my dad knows all i do is play games on my comp i am only getting the video card and a hard drive for xmas and a shirt lol maybe toothpaste and some salon grade nice shampoo for my locks. well i have another question if any1 reads this.

how come i can play ut2k4 online and host a server with 32 people and have the server full and not have a bit of lag with max everything and when i play regular counter strike i have to run it with d3d 800x600 with 16 bit and i lag like an ass? why cant i run it in open gl with like 1024x768 32bit? when i do it says this video mode isnt suported and then runs in software mode?

 

[æArchOAngelæ]

can u guys recomend a high end card for under 200? lol hard isnt it if u can send me the link