Video And SOund Card

[WAnKeR]

Whats the best Video card out there?
Same with a sound card...

Thnx

[nihil]

Oh Dear!

You really don't understand do you? There IS NO BEST................you will have to take that a bit on trust, but I have good reason for saying it.

OK, the marketing Johnnies will say our card will do this and that and the other......but if the rest of your kit isn't up to that standard and your apps don't require it, you are just wasting money. They are using artificial benchmarking tools in an ideal (for them) environment.

Almost every day people come up with these questions, and they cannot be answered intelligently, in isolation. You have to look at the whole setup.

The screen I am using at the moment is a CTX 17" LCD flat screen. The best it will offer is about 1064x768 @ 75Hz and 32Bit colour. To put it bluntly, a mid range 8Mb videocard will support that spec, so the 64 MB GeForce4 is a waste of money to me.

Now, if I hook up one of my 21" Sony CRTs, it is a different story, and a 128Mb Radeon Pro is not out of place. Also some screens are better than others, I have a G54 IBM 15" that will refresh at 100Hz with a Radeon 7000 card. And a couple of secondhand Compaqs that will do 90. You really must achieve specification balance to get value for money

As for sound cards, this is similar. If the speakers are within about 3 feet of your desktop, then V92 or whatever on the MoBo is quite adequate. If you only have 2 speakers, the same thing goes. I can remember people spending thousands on expensive HiFi to run in a room that was the accoustic equivalent of a cross between a dumpster and the washroom in a railway station............total waste of money! On top of that, the speakers have to match the quality of the sound card.

My message is: "don't let the marketeers con you" they lie as a profession

OK I rant a bit about this, but I have seen too many guys go for processor upgrades, videocard upgrades, soundcard upgrades and so on, when the box only had a poxy 64 or 128 Mb of memory!!!! (RAM)

If you are thinking of building a system, then you need to tell us what your budget is, what you are going to be using it for and how long you expect it to last you (upgradability requirements)

Sorry that I cannot give you an answer, but I hope that I have encouraged you to ask a few more questions.

Cheers

[WAnKeR]

Now, if I hook up one of my 21" Sony CRTs, it is a different story, and a 128Mb Radeon Pro is not out of place. Also some screens are better than others, I have a G54 IBM 15" that will refresh at 100Hz with a Radeon 7000 card. And a couple of secondhand Compaqs that will do 90. You really must achieve specification balance to get value for money

first off..lol

my budget isnt to tight..you can just suggest stuff and ll see what i can do.

im strictly looking for hardware things..EVERYTHING..im starting from scratch
software is taken care of..

Can you give a guy some input?(me)
and

[SDK]

Best Video Card? Ati Radeon Pro 9800 XT
Best Sound Card? Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Platium Pro!

[WAnKeR]

Ok..info recorded.soto speak....anything else???

[nihil]

Right mate! I understand a bit better now.

1. A good monitor is essential. 21" and at least 1200x1600 resolution. You want to run it at 85Hz refresh rate. [ going by your nick, your eyes are under enough pressure/strain ]
2. PC3200 Memory (watch the MoBo specs for how much it will take!)
3. 800Mhz FSB
4. I would go for two hard drives in a RAID 1 array (mirrored) That gives you security which is important if you are using the machine for study or home business. Go for ones that give the best warranty, and get fan cooled drive bays for them.
5. DVD read/write/re-write drive. A Sony or similar quality that supports all formats.

I think that SDK is about right with the audio/visual side. You do not have to go mad, but a decent set of speakers with subwoofer are essential, or you don't need a good audio card. WARNING: Keep the subwoofer well away from the base unit...........the bass vibrations kill hard drives

You haven't said what your main uses for the machine will be, so I will stop at this for now.

Cheers