Building A New Computer - 128mb Vs 256 Mb

Ok call me dumb, but I am building a new computer on www.cyberpowersystems.com and I want to have a decent, but not too terribly expensive video card.

I am thinking of getting an athlo 64... anyone have good/bad experience with this?

My big question though is the video card. I will show you the options, and let me know what you think is the best.

ATI RADEON X300 SE 128MB 16X PCI EXPRESS VIDEO CARD
ATI RADEON X600 XT 256MB 16X PCI EXPRESS VIDEO CARD
NVIDIA Geforce 6200 Graphics with TurboCache supporting 256MB 16X PCI Express VIDEO CARD
NVIDIA Geforce 6200 Graphics with TurboCache supporting 128MB 16X PCI Express VIDEO CARD

Or are the 64 systems that bad right now? Should i go with a Celeron (I cant afford a P4 right now...)

ATI RADEON X600 XT 256MB 16X PCI EXPRESS VIDEO CARD

And if you wanne choose between celeron and 64 you really dumb Just kidding mate, take the 64bit

Why I take these two?

I hate geforce and intel

HERE IS THE STATS FOR THE COMPLETED SYSTEM! (its in aphabetical order, so the video card is near bottom)

CAS: HOT NEW! Xplorer Mid-Tower Case 420W W/ WINDOW & LCD Temperature Display (Silver Case w/Silver Face [+0])

CPU: (939-pin) AMD ATHLON64 3000+ CPU w/ Hyper Transport Technology

CDRW: CD-RW 52X32X52 (SILVER COLOR [+9])

FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 6in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (SILVER COLOR [+0])

FAN: AMD ATHLON64 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK + 3 EXTRA CASE FANS

FLOPPY: NONE

HDD: Seagate 80GB 7200RPM Serial ATA 150 8MB Cache [+5]

MOTHERBOARD: (939pin Sckt)MSI RS480M2IL ATI Radeon Xpress200 Chipset SATA PCIE w/Video,LAN,USB2.0,IEEE-1394,&Audio

MEMORY: 1024 MB (512MBx2) PC3200 400MHz Dual Channel DDR MEMORY

NETWORK: ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD

OS: NONE - FORMAT HARD DRIVE ONLY

POWERSUPPLY: STANDARD CASE POWER SUPPLY

SOUND: NEW!!! Creative Labs SB LIVE 24.bit 7.1

SPEAKERS: (SILVER)JUSTER NEON LIGHT SUBWOOFER STEREO SPEAKERS

VIDEO: NVIDIA Geforce 6200 Graphics with TurboCache supporting 256MB 16X PCI Express VIDEO CARD

WIRING: Professional Wiring for All WIRINGs Inside The System Chasis [+19]

is that radeon really much better? its about 70 dollars more...

Also, why on the other configurators, non 64, are the 128 cards MORE expensive than the 256??? makes no sense to me....

Is 64 really good? What are the pros/cons... Will Guild Wars run?

Hey, check out some studies that compare the overall performance of these cards. I have a pretty accurate study done by the magazine Computer Games that analyzed the efficiency of AGP cards only. I am quite confident that there are extensive ones that test out the new PCIexpress cards.
Ati vs nVidia is pretty much whatever camp you prefer, they are essentially equivelant in performance, although the new highend Ati is off the charts, the nVidia highend is following suite.
You need to have a processing chip that is 64 is because the new OS from Microsoft under the code name Longhorn will require it. This is in layman's temrs and if anyone would like to elaborate further on it with the complete in depth story, feel free.

check out the price increase by getting the 6600GT card

according to all reviews it is the best value for the dollar and is far superior to the 6200

be sure it is the GT model and not le or plain

Price on 6600 GT is like 100 dollars more. OUCHIE!

Hmmm, this isn't a flame, just a constructive criticism...

Getting an Athlon64 3000+ and a Geforce 6200 is probably not the best idea. The Geforce 6200 isn't a fantastic card and would probably hold your processor back from reaching anywhere near its full potential.

Unless you're planning ahead for the long-term, you might as well save money by getting a cheaper processor.

The 6600GT isn't much more expensive than the 9800 Pro if I recall correctly, and the 9800 Pro is considered a budget card today.

Mods feel free to delete this. I need to learn to quote multiple messages in one message instead of spamming. Bah.

9800pro is a very good buy It makes me a happy camper whilest I happily camp enemy spawns in WWII shooters with my sniper rifle or tank

on newegg the 9800 pro is 127 bucks.

i have the 9800 non pro and im running gws on max setting w/ 2x al/2x af

worth the invest and lets you play other games on decent settings too.

Look,this extra 128MB memory on 256MB card is required IF you are playing on high resolutions. Elsewhere, you should be fine with 128MB.

Woh good lord, skip the X300 (especially SE) and 6200 altogether. You don't HAVE to get an X800 XT, you could shoot for an X800 XL, which, with the money you're willing to spend, is the best bang for your buck.

The X300 isn't really even a gaming card, and the 6200 is pretty much considered as such as well. If you're tight for money, go for the 6600 GT OC by BFG, if you have a little extra money to spare, go for the X800 XL by ATi. Both are great cards, the latter being the better one, however, $100 more expensive (about 3-400 USD).

EDIT - I REALLY would recommend going for a card with 256 MB - it will be more future proof because of this. (The 6600 GT has 128, whereas the X800 XL has 256).

Well the problem is I have to KEEP this under 700 dollars! ROFL. (hey what can i say, the wife gives a limit...)

I went to www.cyberpowersystem.com and did the configuration... PERHAPS one of you could go there and build a better gaming machine than the one I just showed you for under 700 dollars. I dont need any monitor/keyboard/mouse/OS... SO, It's a CHALLENGE!

Let me know how it goes!

Oh and to let you know what I am running now... and the game looks great... here it is:

Celeron 1.8 ghz (dell dimension 2300)
382 MB RAM
20 Gig HD
128 PCI - Geforce 5200 card.

Well see it this way, radeon is officially a game card and geforce a video-editting card

You'd be wrong. Both ATI and Nvidia make different types of card for gaming (desktop, with the different "enthusiast" and "mainstream" sub-categories) and professional animation / video editing (workstation).

To all people reccommending the Radeon 9800 Pro; The Geforce 6600GT is in the same price range and a hell of a lot more powerful. I'm not an Nvidia cheerleader, I use both ATI and Nvidia cards, but anyone who reccommends the 9800 Pro instead of a 6600GT is kidding themselves.

I don't know about all that....
I bought a system from the original poster's mention, and it died in the box. literally.

You cannot go wrong with Vicious PC, or alienware. Simply cannot.

The best machine I have ever owned, and which I still use primarily for 3d rendering purposes, is the vicious pc. That thing is god in a box i tell ya!

Even if I can only afford the 128MB 6600? Would a less better card with 256 be better? I don't get it.

Someone that has a FEW minutes go to www.cyberpowerinc.com and use the Athlon 64 configurator and let me know what card they would do for around 700 dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I CAN do a 6600, but that means only 512 MBS ram - and It means only a base 80 gig HD... What's best for GAMING!?

Here I will make it easy. The base price here is around 500 dollars, so this is what I left to choose from. This is the ENTIRE list - so you can see the ones I can't afford. I could do like 180 dollars, but that would mean only 512MB and base HD...

NVIDIA Geforce-4 MX-4000 64MB AGP [+28]
NVIDIA Geforce-4 MX4000 128MB DDR AGP 8X EDITION w/ TV-OUT [+36]
NVIDIA Geforce-FX 5200 128MB DDR W/ TV OUT & DVI [+45]
NVIDIA Geforce-FX 5500 128MB DDR W/ TV OUT & DVI [+74]
NVIDIA Geforce-FX 5500 256MB DDR W/ TV OUT & DVI [+79]
NVIDIA Geforce 6200 256MB 8x AGP w/ TVO, & DVI [+111]
NVIDIA Geforce 6600 GT 128MB AGP8X w/TVO&DVI [+227]
Hot New!!! NVIDIA Geforce 6800 Ultra 256MB AGP8X w/TVO&DVI- Require Min. 480W Power [+544]
NVIDIA Geforce 6800 GT 256MB AGP8X w/TVO&DVI [+431]
Hot New!!! NVIDIA Geforce 6800 128MB AGP8X w/TVO&DVI [+287]
ATI RADEON 9250 8X AGP 128MB DDR W/ CRT & TV-OUT [+36]
Special ATI Radeon 9600 SE 128MB DDR AGP 8X w/ TV-Out & DVI [+64]
ATI RADEON 9600 XT 128MB DDR AGP 8X W/ TV-OUT & DVI [+151]
ATI RADEON 9600 XT 256MB DDR AGP 8X W/ TV-OUT & DVI [+107]
ATI RADEON 9800 SE 128MB DDR AGP 8X W/ TV-OUT & DVI [+135]
ATI RADEON 9550 256MB DDR AGP 8X W/ TV-OUT & DVI [+82]
ATI ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON 9600XT 128MB DDR w/ TV Tuner [+208]
ATI ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB w/ TV Tuner & Remote [+277]
ATI ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON X800 XT 256MB w/ TV Tuner & Remote [+512]
Hot New!!! ATI Radeon X800 PRO 256MB DDR3 8x AGP W/ TV-OUT & DVI [+430]
Hot New!!! ATI Radeon X800 XT 256MB DDR 8x AGP W/ TV-OUT & DVI [+514]

Don't bother getting a ghetto card. Just use the onboard on that motherboard and see how that flys. You should be fine.

For those lacking in power video chipsets, don't bother with more than 128M ram.

The 6600GT is your best bet for a real video card right now. BTW that motherboard doesn't support AGP cards, so you can discount those suggestions.

The amount of RAM on a card has very little to do with it's performance. What matters is the (a) number of bits [64,128,256], (b) chipset, (c) ram/core speeds [difference between the base/ultra/xt cards]. The amount of RAM onboard really has very little to do with performance, especially with a game like GW.

The 6600GT only has 128mB because it uses 1.3ms or so DDR3 memory clocked at 1GHz. It's some of the highest quality video memory available in terms of power and speed, and for the price it's at there's no comparison.

Note that the 6600GT and 9800 Pro are the same price on this site, but the 6600GT is a lot faster, a lot more powerful, and supports newer features like Pixel Shader 3.0 and other nice effects.

Note: Before any ATI fanboys jump in, I did spot the tv tuner and remote, but that would only add about $60-$70 onto the price anyway.

From the 4 you mentioned, get this one:

ATI RADEON X600 XT 256MB 16X PCI EXPRESS VIDEO CARD

But make sure the computer you are building has enough of a power supply to run it properly.

Alienware might have ok computers, but they are a waste of money. Anyone who buys from there should ask a friend who knows computers first, that person can probley build you a system that is at least 1K USD less that is the same.

And heres a decent system I put together with that website...

X-BLADE II Med-Tower Case 450W (SILVER)
(754-pin) AMD ATHLON64 3200+ CPU w/ Hyper Transport Technology
ASUS K8N NF3 250 Chipset MBoard
512 MB PC3200 400MHz DDR MEMORY (Major_Brand)
Seagate 80GB 7200RPM Serial ATA 150 8MB Cache
NONE - 2nd Hard Drive
NVIDIA Geforce 6600 GT 128MB AGP8X w/TVO
NONE - CD/DVD
NONE - CDRW
NONE - MONITOR
3D WAVE ON-BOARD 5.1 SOUND CARD
Price: $716.00

Could cut out the case for the extra $3. More fun to mod it yourself. I took out some of the cheap little $2 - $5 dallor things, thats where they can get you for an extra $50 sometimes, and a lot of that stuff is bottom line anyway, better to buy something useful that won't break or cause problems next pay cheque.

Or something else that I would go for personally...

ATX MEDIUM TOWER CASE 350 WATT (BLACK)
(Sckt775)Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 630 CPU w/HT Technology 3.0GHZ 800FSB 2MB Cache, 64 Bit
(DDR1 OR DDR2)MSI 915P COMBO FR I915P CHIPSET SOCKET775 PCI EXPRESS MB W/ SATA, GIGABITE LAN & 7.1 SOUND
512MB (256MBx2) PC3200 DDR400 Dual Channel (Major_Brand)
Seagate 80GB 7200RPM Serial ATA 150 8MB Cache
NONE - Hard Drive
NVIDIA Geforce 6600 GT 128MB 16X PCI EXPRESS VIDEO CARD-- Powered by Leadtek
NONE - CD/DVD
NONE - CDRW
NONE - MONITOR
3D WAVE ON-BOARD 5.1 SOUND CARD
Price: $728.00

I was about to post a system I slapped together on there, but it was identical to EnDinG's apart from the fact that I used an Athlon64 3000+ instead of an Athlon64 3200+ to save on money. Oh, and I selected the Asus K8V-SE motherboard, but only because it's the same as mine lol.

Sorry to say this... But that site is horribly overpriced. I don't know much about American sites but everyone I know on your side of the pond goes crazy over Best Buy.

I just tried making a budget gaming system on one of my favourite sites (www.ebuyer.com uk) and came up with this price...

System Case: Any basic form ATX tower = £20.00/$37.63
Motherboard: Asus K8V-SE Deluxe K8T800 = £61.94/$116.58
Processor: AMD Athlon64 Newcastle 3000+ = £95.66/$180.02
System RAM: Corsair Value 512mB DDR400 = £28.97/$54.51
Hard Disk: Seagate Barracuda 120GB 8mBc = £42.04/$79.11
Graphics Card: PNY 6600GT AGPx8 128mB = £99.97/$188.12
Sound Card: Built into motherboard = £0.00/$0.00
Network Card: Build into motherboard = £0.00/$0.00
Total = £348.58/$655.88

Violá. This is even assuming that you can't simply keep your current case and hard disk drive, as they should be perfectly fine. The site you are using is definitely on the expensive side.

Edit: I forgot to add the PSU (power supply unit), but if your existing one is rated over 300w I guarantee it will handle this setup.

LoL. =) Just figured if he set $700 as a limit, can't hurt to splurg another 20 bucks. Great minds think alike.


*Edit*
Thats some crunchy prices for the Corsair RAM. Nice to know that when I go and visit Scottland that I'll be spending money on computer parts out there... *Grumble*

Yeah it is a very nice price for RAM, but don't bother if you're expecting ultra low latency. It's DDR400 though, so it's great for most people.

don't be a nvidiot, get an ATI card

Constructive criticism.

[ ATX MEDIUM TOWER CASE 350 WATT (BLACK)
(Sckt775)Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 630 CPU w/HT Technology 3.0GHZ 800FSB 2MB Cache, 64 Bit
(DDR1 OR DDR2)MSI 915P COMBO FR I915P CHIPSET SOCKET775 PCI EXPRESS MB W/ SATA, GIGABITE LAN & 7.1 SOUND
512MB (256MBx2) PC3200 DDR400 Dual Channel (Major_Brand)
Seagate 80GB 7200RPM Serial ATA 150 8MB Cache
NONE - Hard Drive
NVIDIA Geforce 6600 GT 128MB 16X PCI EXPRESS VIDEO CARD-- Powered by Leadtek
NONE - CD/DVD
NONE - CDRW
NONE - MONITOR
3D WAVE ON-BOARD 5.1 SOUND CARD
Price: $728.00[/QUOTE]

That seems pretty reasonable, and not that bad. Now to get the money.

Forgot to mention, its also a PCIe, so expect a nice ride.

Its around the same cost of my current system (only I bought a few more toys when building it), so the cost isn't too bad. (Probley around $1050ish Canadian.)

Should have no problems playing any games for a while, the only upgrade you need is expanding to a gig of RAM eventually.

Theres also no stereo included, mainly because I don't believe in them. Headsets work much better to get that detailed sound... Distance, direction, depth.

*Edit*
Correction, that is almost my system. My mother board is a little different, but very close. Running dual 512 sticks with two more slots (for when I get the money) for another gig... Pretty well the only other difference. LoL. I'll tell you right now, it should run great.

Fanboyism makes baby Jesus cry.

use the mobo onboard?!?!?! omg. Your nuts!

intel and nvidia makes baby jesus cry, the world would be a much better place with only AMD and ATI

Except ATi lost this round.

Better try with Fudo, guys...

If you are able, buy at newegg.com or any major retailer and assemble by yourself (or ask a friend for help). You will save about $100, maybe even more and will be able to select components you want, not those the e-shop forces you to use.

I do not know how much the shipping and taxes are, so I left a little room (~$25). Also if you do not need a DL/DVD burner subtract another $50.

This is my recomended list.

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Newcastle 800MHz FSB Socket 754 Processor Model ADA3000AXBOX - Retail
Model #: ADA3000AXBOX
$149.00

ASUS K8N-E DELUXE Socket 754 NVIDIA nForce3 250Gb ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: K8N-E DELUXE
$128.00

RAIDMAX ATX-868WUP Blue Steel Gaming Case Computer Case 420W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: ATX-868WUP
$52.00

NEC ND-3520A Black IDE DVD Burner - OEM
Model #: ND-3520A BK
$48.99

SAMSUNG SpinPoint P Series SP1604N 160GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA133 Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: SP1604N
$78.50

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail
Model #: VS1GBKIT400
$79.99

ABIT RX700pro-128PCIE Radeon X700PRO 128MB GDDR3 PCI-Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: RX700pro-128PCIE
$138.00

Total(before tax and w/o shipping): $674.48 ($625.49 w/o the DVD burner)

P.S.: I bought a AXP 2400+, nForce 2 MB, 1GB RAM, ATI 9700Pro two years ago and I'm still happy with it

Stop making baby Jesus cry! What did he do to you fanboys?

I like Intel, AMD, Nvidia, and ATI... And I'll put one thing to you... If it weren't for Intel, how slow do you think AMD chips would be today? If it weren't for Nvidia, how slow do you think ATI cards would be today? The vice-versa works too.

Seriously, sorry for the thread hijack, but silly fanboy children simply do not get how corporate competition only helps the customer.

I love the system you suggested, great for someone who wants to play Guild Wars in great graphical detail, except this one bit.

The ATI Radeon X700 Pro is outperformed by the Nvidia Geforce 6600GT despite them being the same tier of card. I'm not fanwhoring, it's a fact, the 6600GT has higher clock speeds and much faster/higher-quality memory.

If anyone were to choose between an X700 or a 6600, I'd tell them to get the 6600 every time. ATI cards only get better than Nvidia cards when you hit the X800 XT PE.

Going to second that.

The price range on both cards are extreamly close, but if you want a card that won't outdate in the next couple of years, its what your looking for. Top of the line in its class, only out matched by, of course, the 6800 and most of the x800 series. Unless you won a bit of money or have a nest egg you wish to blow, I'd avoid those for now. Their price should drop in a year or so.

*EndEdit*
FYI Fanboy, some of the new Intel motherboards coming out are of course going to be the top of the line. Some dual chip beauties will be making an apperence shortly. After these, they are suppose to stop making AGP and focus on PCIe. AMD is a step behind to my knowledge, leaving them to of course come up with a better board after Intel releases theirs, only because they know what they have to beat.

And as a nice little fact for you, if there was only AMD and ATi, they would end up monoplizing the entire market, making computer life a living hell and rather boring / dull. Example, Micro$oft. People enough hate using the products since they are so buggy or flawed, but unfortunatly the only real user friendly software out there for most beginning / average computer users. We are taught the software in our schooling and most companies use it every day.

In my option, that sucks. There should be other programs that should be taught in school to broaden the views of people instead of being stuck with one option.

I'm willing to bet M$ has the next 20 years of software programmed out, but only releases a little bit to keep itself in power and money.

Now does that seem fair? No. So having two companies competing for product superiority is always important as to have honest competition of one trying to stay ahead of the other and helps to improve ideas as one tries for something the other hasn't, only to have the other company to do the same product, but only better or with even more improvement. Keeps laziness from kicking in and advances our technology farther every day.

No, AMD isn't behind.

To TOUCH the performance of an FX55, a 3.73 Extreme Edition had to be overclocked to 5.2 GHz.

Boards nothing, nForce4 Ultra/SLi rules all. Had my hands on the top of both, and I see no reason at all to buy Intel because right now they're still focusing on long pipe office software pipelines. When they stop predictive branching, I'll look at them again.

I have a 2.4 Northwood for rendering, a 3000+ [email protected] MHz for gaming, a 1 GHz Duron for downloading, a 300A Celeron as a hardware firewall, and a box of parts awaiting assembly when I finish some cases. I use both, as well as ATi and nVidia cards. I use SDR, DDR, and RAMBUS. (BTW, don't touch the last if you're budget conscious.) The latest round of intel runs blasted hot, is finicky to install, and just isn't as fast.

But what they have done is push AMD oto produce dual core, work on upping cache sizes, and play the game of attempting to stay on top (not difficult.)

And as for AMD having no DDR2, they're skipping it for DDR3 (already in testing) for the fact that DDR-2 can't hold latencies or speeds with DDR-1. It's no faster. Really. Look at some tech sheets and reviews.

Anyway, /end thread hijack, but that may put things in perspective...