PC HELP!!! Options

[Barkmann]

I know someone in MOB builds computers, can you give me your input on some stuff?

Building a new pc soon 80% for gaming, 10% for dl movies and music 10% other crap. Im not worry about cost.

Processor.?
Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E6700 (4MB L2 Cache,2.66GHz,1066 FSB



Memory?4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 4DIMMs



HardDrive?500GB Performance RAID 0 (2 x 250GB SATA 3Gb/s 7200 RPM HDDs)



Graphics Card? {which one?}

256MB nVidia Geforce 7300LE TurboCache

256MB ATI Radeon X1300 Pro

256MB nVidia GeForce 7900 GS



Sound Card?

Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ XtremeMusic (D) Sound Card



Or anything eles that is better? That I can get in Canada. Thanks



This post has been edited by Barkmann: 03/13/07 4:41am

[)--S@B0T-->]

Well sir, I have also used ATI cards since I began playing with PC's (only 11 years) and I wouldn't buy anything else! In fact, I still feel they build a good product, but I don't want one. I also run AMD processors so the buyout was a win - win as far as I was concerned.

My PERSONAL experience with ATI's products, support personnel and drivers began to take a turn within the last year in which I began to notice quality issues, installation issues, and poor customer support.

Three new cards failed within days of installation and after they were RMA'd with refurbished junk, continued to give me problems. After the third RMA, I got rid of them.

The driver catalyst couldn't be installed without Microsoft .net ver. xxx framework. Now, I am not using these cards in a business setting requiring this software, nor am I an SD or a network administrator therefore I did not want to utilize anymore Microsoft software than I absolutely have to, to receive maximum performance for my VIDEO CARD. I read up on all the .net workarounds from Microsoft for the ATI issues, edited registry entries, did everything ATI and Microsoft said to do and still had video problems.

The driver catalyst suite is updated monthly with a list of fixes from Hell and in turn would cause more problems when I downloaded the updates. So, it became an issue of do I put up with THIS set of problems? Or, do I download the fixes for those and get THIS NEW set of problems? I even tried the Omega drivers in hopes of circumventing some of the issues ATI's software seemed to have. Yes, the Omega drivers worked, but some functionality was lost and that was unacceptable to me.

Keep in mind, I still thought I had a great product here, just some silly little problems needed to be worked out.

Then I went into my local computer store for some parts and they had a demo machine running some 3dmark demo software and it looked AMAZING! It had an NIVIDIA card comparable with the ATI card I was running and I couldn't get that look. (machine specs were very similiar, etc., etc.) Soo, I bought the NVIDIA card and BAMMM! I had video I never knew existed before!! My machine had no more hiccups, no more getting dark in the middle of gaming, no more lock-ups, I mean not enought OOOOOOO's in SMOOOTH! Performance was astounding! You know what I mean when you first install a new card and really SEE the difference? Well, that was it!

So, even though there are horror stories with every product out there, I just felt it was time for a change and I found a great product in NVIDIA. When I install an NIVIDIA card I know I'm not gonna have any issues or have to jump through hoops remembering which catalyst suite will or won't work. I just install the DRIVERS and it performs!

If you are running ATI products and you are happy then I am even happier! I am thrilled for anyone that finds something that works for them and doesn't give them any problems and they are satisfied with their results!

I just know that I dealt with problems for about 4 months and we all know how frustrating that can be. Man, you just want them to go away and when you spend that kind of money for new components and then spend 4 months troubleshooting every problem under the sun, sending back mobo's, processors, memory, video cards, power supplies and nothing works......it's time that problem went down the road. When I installed my NVIDIA card, my problems ceased to exist!

NVIDIA is still the leader in SLI technolgy, even though ATI is gaining ground in the release of non-propriatary cards in the Crossfire set-up. NVIDIA drivers are just that. They provide functionality for a video card and aren't pulling double duty being crosslinked to Microsoft business apps, etc. Finally, I am very pleased and could not say that about my latest experiences with ATI.

I just believe you should get the best product out there for the money. Will ATI get my business again one day? Probably. But right now, I would not install and use another ATI video card if YOU paid for it! LOL!

Good luck and happy gaming!!

This post has been edited by )--S@B0T-->: 03/13/07 1:25pm