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Homer and I both bought that Sapphire 9800 Pro off Newegg. Works fine.

I want 2gig of RAM and a 256mb X800 Pro... seriously though, that will work awsome for the gaming, hope it does equally well with the music recording. You will probably find that you'll need a sound card as well. The onboard sound probably won't cut it for music production. A lot of people tout the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum cards, but I wouldn't go with a Creative Labs card. They work well, usually, but they come with lots of useless software. The Turtle Beach or M-Wave cards seem to be a much better deal, and they're a lot cheaper. Check out some of them on Newegg, customer reveiws for the 7.1 Turtle Beach card and the M-Wave cards are quite positive.

wow...me wants.

I always thought starting a cyber cafe would be really sweet. But everyone's right, it's an uphill battle, specially in the 'states where almost every home has a computer. But some of them do alright. We have one here in Des Moines called "Clicks" that's fairly popular I guess. They're a "cyber bar & grill" so you actually can get good food there. Soda and chips works to though. I like the idea of having it not only be a cyber cafe, but also a custom build/repair shop. You'll definatly get some extra business that way, and if you advertise in the phone book as a repair shop, you'll get customers coming in who need a repair, and they might be totally surprised that you've also got a gaming arena there, and tell their friends. Names: FragTown Frag Inc. Lakewood Gaming and Repair Game while you wait Restore and more One idea you may have thought of already, is to have a table near the service area where customers who's system you've either worked on, or they've brought in for work, can be plugged in and setup right in-store. All three or four times I've taken my computer to CompUSA for an opinion on a problem, I've wished I could just plug it in and show them the problem. Also, you might consider a "Bring your own computer" area. Lots of gamers have their own computer, possibly better than your rigs, they might like the LAN feeling, but not like playing on someone elses computer. Let them setup their own rigs in a designated area. You'll have to make sure they're virus free before they jack into your network, but you know a whole lot more about that stuff then I do. I think that might bring in more business though. Every gamer likes LAN parties. Also, I've heard of local cyber cafe's doing monthly or weekly LAN parties, think about doing that too. That kind of ties in with the BYOC thing.

yeah, I read that the other day about Linux only using OpenGL. kinda wondering what I'm going to do about Battlefield... Yeah Dweez, I know it's free, but I wanted something right away since my parts were coming that day, and even though I've got a computer to post from, it's got no cd burner or other method of transfering files. I'm rocking a Pentium II 266 IBM with integrated S3 graphics and 96MB of RAM. Best thing in here is th 40x CD ROM. But, I used to play CS with it. Keyboard is doin wierd stuff too...gonna have to fix that... Once I get my computer up and running, and have an operating system to work with via Linux, then I will probably download a pirated copy of XP and put it on along with Linux, or I'll look into some of the Windows emulators I've read about. And J, I wish I could go get a G5, man those things are sweet. And OS X really is awsome. btw, the SUSE Linux Professional 9.1 comes with the latest Linux kernal, optimized for use with an AMD64 processor. woopie.

Well, I went to buy Windows XP Home yesterday, Target only sells the Upgrade version, so I went over to Worst Buy and found the version "For Installation on a new PC or one without Windows"...labled for $199.99. No thank-you. But I still needed an operating system, since all mine have either been included on the computer (with those damn "recovery disks" instead of a proper Windows CD) or a friend's copy that has outlived it's usefulness (see "reformatting help" topic). So I bought Linux. Yep, according to the Linux box, I am an "ambitious computer user". I got the only version they had, SUSE Linux Professional 9.1. As I've been reading through the manuals, I'm pretty excited about diving in. It includes a whole lot more than Windows, yet appears to be much simpler than Windows. Basically, the programs included are actually worth using. And they aren't automatically installed, so you can pick which ones you want to use. If I ever get this computer up and running, I'll play around with Linux for awhile and then write a full review article. I'm looking forward to being free from Microsoft.

Well, I got my components in today, and discovered why you don't buy refurbished motherboards for socket 754. I now have an Athlon 64 3000+ processor and a Gigabyte motherboard with no backplate or retention frame. Not sure yet what I'm going to do.

Got a couple questions about a reformat I'm doing on a friend's computer. 1st: I'm trying to reformat this computer, but I can't get into the BIOS to set the CD drive as the primary boot device, due to the fact that during boot up it doesn't show what key to push. I've tried F1, F2, Delete and Tab, doesn't seem to work. I installed Windows but it didn't format, instead another partition was created during installation of Windows. So, how do I format (right clicking on the disk icon and selecting "format" doesn't work), and install a fresh copy. 2nd: My copy of Windows, a legitimate copy, has been activated too many times, so after 30 days a new CD key will have to be purchased. I know there's a way around the registration process, can anyone PM me with either a website or the directions on how to skirt the activation process and not have to buy another copy? I don't really feel like waiting 90+ hours to download WinXP Pro and then have it not work.

yeah, I've got a 9800 Pro, bought it for $210, and it runs great, for $200 it's THE card to buy.

you'd be able to get one through gamespy/fileplanet or the battlefield vietnam official site. glad to hear someone else from the community picked this awsome game up, assuming my computer comes together as planned, I'll be up for playing with you mid-week next week.

yeah, i want a dual monitor setup. I had one for awhile with a 17" and 15". Didn't try any games on it, but it worked well for learning things like 3D modeling and UT level editor. Put up the tutorial on one screen and the program on another. I'd like a 21 inch, but I may just get two 19 inchers.

I've been wondering about how the new gen cards compare with the older cards. Where does the 9800 Pro fit in to the lineup with the new cards?

yeah, I'd definatly go with a 19-21" flat screen CRT over a 17" flat panel. screen real estate is valuable.

btw, those compontents will be coupled with my Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro, two 40 GB hard drives, a DVD drive and one or two 80mm case fans.

I have finally actually purchased a computer!! Gigabyte K8VT800 (refurb) Thermaltek 420 watt psu Athlon 64 3000+ 2x A-Data 512mb PC-3200 Shipping: $2.98 Total: $410.97 now I just hope everything comes together without a hitch...

J, check out this site for monitors: http://www.azatek.com/

The Fragbox is a mini-pc built by Falcon Northwest. Configured with: P4 3.4 2 Gig Corsair DDR2 ATI X800XT PE 256MB 160 Gig 7200rpm SATA Plextor DVD/RW Audigy II ZS Platinum Pro Cordless keyboard/mouse combo NEC 19in CRT Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 sound system = $4,829.00 ...wonder how much that would cost to build on newegg...

Dell grade B 17" monitor $35+ Grade B typically means that the product has either been used (typically in an office setting, a company will lease their monitors, then when the lease is up, they are classified as "Grade B" and re-sold) or they are sometimes new un-used products that never got sold and are now being replaced with newer models. Look for the "Special Notes" section and the "Condition" section when reviewing each monitor.

If you want a fantasy rpg that will take up a LOT of time, try out The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Since it's single player it has the luxury of creating a great story, yet it still has a huge world to explore, and enough side quests that you don't even have to touch the main story. It owned my time for a good few months and I don't even like RPGs. If you must have the multiplayer, try out Neverwinter Nights. I hear that some servers are "persistant worlds" or a massivly multiplayer online rpg with no monthly fee.

That's right ladies and gents, hicks and rednecks, it's time once again for the Iowa State Fair. We're celebrating 150 years this time around. Starting Thursday, Des Moines will be serving up foot-long corn dogs, giant turkey legs, fresh squeezed lemonade, beer, mini donuts, funnel cakes, deep-fried-twinkies-on-a-stick, pork; in short, more food than anyone could sample in the entire eleven days. Besides the food, there are countless musical acts from free local shows to national acts such as Kid Rock, Brooks and Dunn, Nickleback, and Puddle of Mudd. There's also a million things to see. It's been named #2 on the things to do this summer by USA Weekend, and made the list of 1000 things to do before you die. If anyone plans to be in town for it, give me a heads up. I'll be there at least one day.

the Asus Deluxe mobos are usually top of the line, however you probably don't want the socket 939. the processors for those are more expensive, though AMD is going to make that socket it's primary type, I believe. The socket 754 will become the budget system, much like the Athlon XP is now. However, at this point in time, I would go with socket 754 for the most cost effective solution. As for motherboard, how many bells and whistles do you need and of what type? Decide if you need all the SATA connections, raid, 7.1 audio, etc. The cheaper 80-90 dollar motherboards have most of the same features the 150 dollar boards have, mostly just lacking in one or two features like raid or SATA. Decide what you NEED in the motherboard, then buy the cheapest one to fit your needs. Also, check Tom's Hardware for a reveiw of socket 754 motherboards. It's a bit old, but a good comparison of 4 of the cheaper ($80-100) motherboards.

I'm about the same as you TeK, I upgrade around every 2 years, if even that. My Athlon XP 1900+ system finally crashed (I think the processor went bad) so I've been without a computer for a few months no. I'm just waiting on a new credit card to come in the mail to order a new system. I'm looking to spend no more than $600 with shipping, preferably closer to $500. I've been haunting newegg for the last month, and this is what I've come up with: (I'll provide links later, doing a virus scan right now, and the computer's too slow to browse much) Athlon 64 3200+ ($218) mid level socket 754 motherboard ($80-90) 2x512mb sticks of A-Data PC-3200 RAM ($77x2) Thermaltake 420watt psu ($42) That's the guts right there, I'm still debating about if I should add anything else. But right there you've got only $500 worth of stuff, so there's enough left over for a top of the line video card. I've got a 9800 Pro, so I'm not upgrading that right now. As far as what I might add: 120 GB hard drive ($90) Turtle Beach "Santa Cruz" 6 channel sound card (5 star rating out of 230 users) ($36) Plantronics Audio .90 headset ($18) The sound card would probably be my next choice, though I think I'll check out the sound on the motherboard before ordering a card, some like mobo sound, some hate it. I've only got a 4.1 surround system, so I may not even notice a difference. Also, my favorite cases are the Antec SOHO server series, though I have yet to shell out the money for one. (bought one once at CompUSA, but took it back cuz I couldn't get the computer working) Super strong feeling case, and great looking. Heavier than a backpack full of bricks though, even without the components in it. It's around $60 without the power supply and $80 with the power supply. Comes with 2 fans in back and places for 2 more in front, and the hard drive racks (6 spots) unlatch and come out for easy installation. Well, there's my take on a computer for TeK. Sorry I don't have links for you. I'll put some up later.

ah...hmmm

point him in the direction of this site when he gets set up.

or just play America's Army