Please Please People, Read This! Do Me A Favor!

Ok, see my comp is in dire need of serious upgrading. Now I have about $100 so I could buy some(not much, but some) stuff. Maybe a new HDD or something. The problem is that I need ALL that cash for PS2 games. So I can\'t get anything right now(unless I want to sacrifice one PS2 game, which I would almost do). So that brings me to my point,  I\'m pretty sure the main thing I need to get for my comp is a new 3d card. Unfortunetly I don\'t have $700+ for a Geforce 3, but I heard Geforce 2 Ultras are getting cheaper. So, does anyone know for about how much I could get one?

Also I need you to give me some prices for a couple other things:

10-20gb HDD
1.5 AMD ThunderBird(or equalivent)
Good sound card
256 RAM chip
Digital Camcorder

10-20gb HDD :  20gig $77

Decent price, but I imagine that would be the minimum.

1.5 AMD ThunderBird(or equalivent)  : (I could only find a 1.2 AMD, it ran for $207

Good price, but that\'s w\\o the mobo or the excessive amount of fans you would need to cool it.  AMD chips run very hot.

Sound Blaster Live: Platinum $100

Pretty much top-of-the-line.  All Alienware PC\'s carry em.

256 RAM chip  : PC150 $100, RDRAM $320

If you got a mobo for a Thunderbird, it prolly can use RDRAM, I\'d go for that.

Digital Camcorder : $350 Example: http://www.us.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=90043719&loc=111
I don\'t know much about digicams so you should look all over.

All computer prices are courtesy of http://www.pricewatch.com
Hope that helps.

Ok thanks.

$207 for a 1.2ghz TBird is amazing! I have a decent(kinda) motherboard already. Unfortunetly its maximum processor speed it 500mhz. DOH!

$100 for a sound card=ouch!

Unfortunetly you didn\'t mention the thing that I wanted to know about most: the price of a Geforce 2 Ultra.

hrmmm well I think you should wait till the summer rolls around the corner. I\'m pretty confident that they will have P4 1.8 ghz out and probably P4or 5 2 gig hertz out then. Just to show you what i really mean, http://www.pricewatch.com had PIII 1 ghz for 1 grand alone couple months ago, now u can get one for 229 dollars. Im sure in the summer prices will drop even more. I plan on waiting till summer and getting my hands on a mobo+p4 1.5 ghz set . As for a GeForce 3....drooool I wish I can get one. Its like 600 + dollars right now, maybe itll drop to 400 in the summer. Wishful thinking eh?

[nO-One]

I can promise you that you have to get a new mobo if you want to get a Tbird.They are SocketA CPU\'s and will not even fit in a mobo other than a socketA mobo (also known as Socket462),they also need a special chipset (AMD750,VIA KT133,VIA KT133A,AMD 760 etc).
RAM is very cheap know adays so that is always a good buy.
You have said before that you needed a new HD.
And you don\'t need a GF.2 ULTRA they are about 495$ (last I knew),you\'ll be fine with a GF.2 GTS,but I would wait till the GF.3 is officially launched,the prices of GF.2\'s will fall.

What exactly is  GF2 GTS? How much less powerful is it compared to a GF2 Ultra? I want the best I can get, besides a GF3. Maybe next summer or something I\'ll be able to get a GF3 for cheaper.

How much would a mobo that could support a 1ghz+ processor be?

How much is a GF2 GTS?


P.S. Which is better, GF2 Ultra or GF2 GTS? GF2 Ultra I\'m assuming.
Thanks.

[nO-One]

GF.2 GTS is the basic chip.The difference between a GTS and a ULTRA is that the core on the GTS is clocked at 200Mhz and the ULTRA at 250Mhz,and the memory on the GTS is at around 300Mhz while the ULTRA is at around 400Mhz (460 if I remember correctly).
A decent mobo would be around 150-200$ (Abit KT7,ASUS A7V or MSI K7T pro A),but I\'ve never been good at this dollar thing we use kronur here in Iceland

Ok well thanks anyway.

On Pricewatch.com it says $328 for a GeForce 2 Ultra and about the same amount for a GF2 GTS.

Hopefully the price will drop when GF3 is released.

http://www.anandtech.com read there.  learn.

Just by a Kyro II when it\'s released (in April I believe). It\'s nice and fast - and only $150! It\'s a steal.

Hrmm... I\'m gonna hafta disagree with you there Sammy. I\'ve been an nVidia fanboy since TNT2 and I must strongly recommend the purchase of the GeForce2MX (that is if you\'re looking for a "value solution") The next major release of the Detonator Drivers are just arround the corner, and I\'m rootin for some HSR functionality!

If my fantasy does become reality, KyroII would run like a lame duck stapled to the floor!!! But the ultimate descision is in the hands of the buyer ..... the certainty of the KyroII? or the potential of the Gf2- MX? ....... ah, the descisions one must make in life......

Get a new video card, processors dont matter alot these days. Wait till geforce 3 is out and buy a Geforce Pr0 DDR or higher. Geforce 2 ultra is currently about 350- 400 us here in singapore, but the price will drop very soon

I also thinking of upgrading my pc to a new pIII 1ghz (I have a 667 mhz now), but do you guys know if I need a new heatsink or fan, or even a new power supply??

http://www.hardwarezone.com is a singaporea site, but its prices are in sing dollars. It will give you an idea which mobo to combine with which processor and HDD. It also has a great comments feature. I think its pretty useless for you americans, but it\'ll give you an idea

Originally posted by Avatarr
Hrmm... I\'m gonna hafta disagree with you there Sammy. I\'ve been an nVidia fanboy since TNT2 and I must strongly recommend the purchase of the GeForce2MX (that is if you\'re looking for a "value solution") The next major release of the Detonator Drivers are just arround the corner, and I\'m rootin for some HSR functionality!

If my fantasy does become reality, KyroII would run like a lame duck stapled to the floor!!! But the ultimate descision is in the hands of the buyer ..... the certainty of the KyroII? or the potential of the Gf2- MX? ....... ah, the descisions one must make in life......

Check out Anandtech Awy. It seems the Kyro II completely destroys the MX. I, too, was considering the MX, but it\'s just too slow IMO. The KYRO II on the other hand compares more to the likes of Geforce 2 GTS and Ultra (it even beats the GTS in some of the benchmarks - pretty impressive by a $150 pre-release card, don\'t you think?). I\'m not a nVidea fanboy - not with those prices anyway. I think they\'re good, but if you don\'t have $300-$500 to spare then I don\'t mind looking for alternatives.

BTW, I can\'t really see a great potential in the MX. It\'s very limited by it\'s bandwith (or lack hereof). It\'s a nice card for low-end PC\'s, but there is a point where it just can\'t compete on anything but the price. If you like 1024x768x32 or above it just can\'t cope with it. But for low res it\'s a nice cheap card - I just don\'t like it\'s obvious limitations.

[nO-One]

There have been a few other reviews where the KyroII got slammed by the MX.
But like Avatarr I\'m an nVidia fan and have been seen the TNT.1.
It\'s a good card,not a super card.But I really do hope this thing makes it,cuz nVidia is getting too confy as the king of the market they need a wake up call and lower the prices.
Also be sure to keep an eye on ATi,their card is good but their drivers aren\'t,and they are supposed to be purchasing Sonic Blue\'s (formally known as S3) graphics department.We could be seeing some good stuff from the Canadians.