Computer wizards, assist me!

[Uncle_bob]

I'm looking to buy a sound card and POSSIBLY a new video-card in the near future. However, I'm still a newb at some of these things. I can't really determine what video cards and sound cards will or will not work with my system, everything I read tends to be too ambiguous on the subject.

This is what I currently have:

OS: Windows XP
Direct X: 9.0
MotherBoard: MSI KM4M-V
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3000+ (2166 MHZ)
Ram: 1536 MB, DDR SDRAM
Video Card: AGP slot, nVidia GeForce FX 5500 (256 MB)
Power Supply: Ultra 350 watt ATX
PCI Slots: Three, none are in use.

Ah, I guess that's all the information that could be of use. Help will be rewarded with private time with Uncle. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif

[VioletSkye]

On 2006-03-30 18:29, Uncle_bob wrote:
I'm looking to buy a sound card and POSSIBLY a new video-card in the near future. However, I'm still a newb at some of these things. I can't really determine what video cards and sound cards will or will not work with my system, everything I read tends to be too ambiguous on the subject.

This is what I currently have:

OS: Windows XP
Direct X: 9.0
MotherBoard: MSI KM4M-V
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3000+ (2166 MHZ)
Ram: 1536 MB, DDR SDRAM
Video Card: AGP slot, nVidia GeForce FX 5500 (256 MB)
Power Supply: Ultra 350 watt ATX
PCI Slots: Three, none are in use.

Ah, I guess that's all the information that could be of use. Help will be rewarded with private time with Uncle. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif



Thats a descent setup http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif I really like MSI motherboards and the KM series is very stable. As for future upgrades, the only issue I see is the Power Supply. As for a recommendation, I would suggest a 6800GS AGP card. You can pick one up for around $220. Personally I think they offer the most bang for the buck, PLUS you can open up the 4 other pixel pipes and 1 other vertex shader and smoke the 6800GTs. The minimum requirement Power-wise is 350W which you have but if you start running into stability issues then you may need to go with at least a 400W or 420W, if not higher. You will need to have at least one free 4-Pin Molex power connector. As for a soundcard, it really depends on what type of setup you want. If you just want a cheap, descent dedicated soundcard then the Audigy would work well. If you want something more elaborate then you'll want to move up to either an Audigy2 or an X-Fi. X-Fi has support for DVD Audio as well as EAX 5.0 support whereas Audigy 2 only has support for DVD Audio and EAX 3.0. If none of that means anything to you, simply go with an Audigy card for $29.

BTW I recommend updating DirectX to 9.0C.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-03-31 10:41 ]</font>

[Luis]

Violet is right =)

[Uncle_bob]

Alrighty, thanks for the help. :>

6800GS? I'm assuming that's an nVidia card? And I think just the Audigy card would be nice; I'm not looking for anything fancy, just something better than my integrated audio, as it sounds horrible.

[VioletSkye]

Yeah, the 6800GS is an Nvidia card (it basically replaced the 6800GT.)
Newegg doesn't have any in stock, but TigerDirect.com has a really good buy on one:
PNY GeForce 6800 GS $179.99 (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1782292&CatId=935) Your motherboard supports 8x AGP 2.0 (v1.5) so this will work great.
The Audigy you can get from Newegg:
Creative Sound Blaster SB0570 Audigy SE 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz $28.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102003)
If you want to upgrade the Power Supply, check out:
Thermaltake 430W - $39.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817153023) Your motherboard has a 20 pin and a 4 pin connector which this Power Supply supports.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-03-31 12:06 ]</font>