Valhalla Legends Archive

Hehe, I definitely inquired about the 3200 / 3700 memory. I only had to pay an extra 30 or 40$ for the 3700, so I figured I may as well. When I set out with a 2000$ budget, this company totally blew my mind with their offer. Even when they gave me their base offer (3.0ghz P4), they were very obliged to upgrade it for a small price. I've directed a lot of traffic and customers to them though, as I am sure they are aware.

I spent literally weeks looking through benchmarks on the Mobo and the Graphics Card before deciding. I had almost decided on getting a GeForce, but i've always been more fond of ATI and their drivers seem to push all games farther. Despite GeForce FX 5950 being "directly created to fully support DirectX 9.0", ATI still blasted it out of the water in the benchmarks with the  "eXTreme gaming" 9800 enhancement. Plus I get Half Life 2 (A voucher, close enough.) out of the deal.

As for the motherboard, I almost went for the basic Intel D875PBZ because I had heard nothing but good about it. I asked a few friends who had the board about it and they said they'd used it with literally no problems. It's really unfortunate that Asus cheaped out on not getting the CSA, but I still find it a better buy. I was actually fairly disappointed in Asus cheaping out like that, it's not something you'd expect from a company with that high of stature. I admit I am semi-mixing my priorities. I've got another 4000$ or so to put on my car before I can even attempt fixing it up for the road again, among other things. Damn me for cheaping out on the insurance.

Anyways, about the monitor and speakers i'm using right now:
- Viewsonic A90f+
- Logitech Z-560's

I am hopefully going to upgrade speakers one day soon. I've been looking at the Klipsch (Sp?) Ultra 5000's, they are absolutely amazing. But as I said, I set out with a budget and I totally think I surpassed anything I could have imagined for the money i've put out for this computer.

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Good deal with the PC3700 DDR Ram, was just pointing out shouldve compared pricing to the LL 3200 ram as well.

The Asus P4C800 did not have CSA Technology, however the P4C800-E does. (better late then never) You should always check their website in addition to looking at benchmarks btw :p

The ATI Radeon 9800 XT owns the shit out of the Geforce FX 5950 and lighter/quiter and doesn't take up 2 PCI slots.
For Speakers the Logitech Z-680 is better then the Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 Ultra and is about $50 USD cheaper. (Logitech offers both digital and analog connectivity)

Finally, your monitor sucks compared to your video card. The max refresh rate compared to what you card can handle is crap, the max resolution sucks as well and its dot pitch isn't good enough for the video card.  Ok, I'm being brutal but considering you have the best gaming retail video card available... it's all true. Your monitor is quite good but you should still have better. You need a 21" FD Trinitron flat-screen crt monitor. (Though one of those 24" Sony ones with a .23mm dot pitch would work too ($1750 USD)) One that has a much higher refresh rate and the first digit for its max resolution better start with a 2. Also, although its standard on most it should have a .24mm diagonal dot pitch.

Quote from: Hostile on November 28, 2003, 04:18 PM
The Asus P4C800 did not have CSA Technology, however the P4C800-E does. (better late then never) You should always check their website in addition to looking at benchmarks btw :p

*sigh* The Asus P4C800-E wasn't in stock at Beetek when I ordered the computer, but CSA wasn't so much of a priority I was going to make them order one in specially for me after they had already offered me such a great deal.

Quote from: Hostile on November 28, 2003, 04:18 PM
For Speakers the Logitech Z-680 is better then the Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 Ultra and is about $50 USD cheaper.

I actually changed my mind about the speakers I was interested in between posting originally and this reply.
- Creative GigaWorks™ S750 - 7.1
Now hold on before you give me some negative feedback on the selection. I always have used my computer for a home theatre. It's in my room, it's more comfortable to bring girls down here for dates and whatnot to keep out of the way of the family, and I just like the setup overall. Because i'm using it for a home theatre, having 7.1 sound would be a nice addition. Right now i'm running on the 4.1 Z-560's, and they just don't work for me.

I've never been a monitor genius so I appreciate your suggestions!

Well this is more for people who are actually following this thread, although I think its just me and you and we already discussed this in the channel... However! Despite the greatness of CSA technology, when 99% of your network traffic is from the internet rather then large, consistent LAN traffic, something like CSA is only too a minor advantage and in a general situation wont take up more then 3% of your southbridge bandwidth anyways.

As for the Creative Gigaworks, I am also considering this fine system. Its a bit hard to justify the $500 USD to spend on it however with excelent sound quality, compatibility with Audigy 2 ZS, 7.1 sound configuration and 700 Watts? Its almost irresistable.

For the monitors, well I'd be happy to suggest a few but when you know what to look for it shouldn't be too hard to find.