Birdman

Lol. Um, I think CS: Source is gonna be enough to keep me interested for awhile. Since CS has kept everyone interested for 5 years.

I disagree. The original Radeon was a direct x 7 card and only had 32MB of DDR RAM on board. Later a 64MB DDR version was introduced that had VIVO(I own two of um). Those kinda cards could prolly benefit from some textures stored in system RAM. It won't help in the newest games today though.

Nope.

With newer cards i dont think system ram is used to store textures any way. Which would mean the setting you guys are talking about doesnt change anything. Current video cards have RAM that is much faster than any system ram out(think 1GHz GDDR3) so if you pulled information from your system ram your performance would take a huge dive downward. Early on in the AGP card days the setting had meaning, but no longer.

This is true.

I would rather have more RAM, Faster processor, maybe dual processors, Faster Video card, better motherboard, DVD Burner, Better sound card, better cooling, bigger power supply, nicer case, better mouse, bigger monitor, more speakers than to have any kind of RAID. If I did have RAID it wouldnt just be RAID 0 either. Point being RAID would be the final step in having an ultimate setup for me, and it would be a RAID setup that consists of more than just 2 drives(which is just asking for trouble). RAID 5 all the way. RAID is gonna net lil' performance in a normal desktop environment. If you're going for an entry level server box then RAID is gonna be standard fair.

Eventually, but I'd say Quake 4 is a lil ways off. A general Quake forum would be coo though. In the article they talked about how Q4 was gonna pick up where the Q2 story left off, and pick up on Multiplayer where Q3 left off! If the multiplayer is as good as Quake 3's then ima be a happy man. Don't see how current computers can have 16 players on screen in the doom 3 engine with realtime shadows and lighting, but it would be great if they could.

There's a dual core ATI card. Can't remember if it's 9700 cores or 9800 cores though. If i were looking for a new setup right now I would look for a highly overclockable system. If I were going with Intel I would get a new LGA 775 socket board with PCI express slots with PC 4000 DDR 1 RAM. Slap a 6600GT or x700XT in, and you would be on your way. Throw in a 3.0GHz prescott processor and i'd call it a deal. If i were going AMD i would get a socket 754 pin board with a 2800+ Athlon 64 processor and some low latency DDR 3200 RAM. With an AGP 6600GT or x700XT. I'd get a big copper heatsink for both setups and add a phat 80mm fan on top for some great overclocking potential.

Great card, but it's 100 bucks over budget.

Nice

I'd go with the vanilla 6800. Or if the AGP versions of the 6600GT and x700XT are out by the time HL2 is, then I would go with one of those. They are only gonna cost 200 bucks and run just as fast as 9800 level cards. This would leave 100 bucks to invest in a gig of Low Lantency RAM, or maybe a faster processor.

When is this thing set to drop?

True. You can also get SMART utilities from the hard drive manufactor that will let you change and monitor settings on the harddrive. Hitachi Downloads Page

Not to nit pick, but anti static bags are designed to keep static on the outside of the bag on not the inside. The outside of the bags are made of a semi conductive material to discharge static around a sensitive electronic device inside the bag. Paper works good as an insulator though.

If im not mistaking both WD and Hitachi drives have the same kinda bearings, and both offer low noise options when you check out their S.M.A.R.T. settings(if noise pollution is an issue). For the record the harddrive is usually the last thing you have to worry about when it comes to noise in a PC.

I think 10K drives are a waste of time as long as the max size is under 100GB. I also think WD makes great drives. But I prefer hitachi. I own several Hitachi and they are all great performers. the 7k250 is almost as fast as the 10k WD drive in some tests and is faster than the 7200 RPM drive in most tests. Maxtor has a 16MB buffer drive out, but can't recommend it. 7k250 reviews http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/200311141/index.html http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/20031001/index.html Purchase a 7k250 PATA here http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductList....B&Brand=HITACHI SATA here http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductList....B&Brand=HITACHI

either way it's still gonna be at least 3-4 weeks away.

Nice. You know anyone that has tried that SiS chipset>? I don't think i've ever heard of it. But for what you paid as long as it works it'll be great.

Nice. Is that atlantic blue pearl coat>? My brother has vehicle that color.

Or were you talking bout a CPU, Mobo, RAM bundle for cheap? I was thinking you meant something specifically for folding.

I doubt it. Wouldn't be hard to setup like 3 motherboards with 1 good powersupply and split it though. You can buy those threaded rods and spacers to stack the mobos. Then get some USB keys and install a linux based OS to run folding from without harddrives(or do it all over a network somehow). I figured up the cost and it would be about 500 bucks for 3 motherboards, 3 1.8GHz Durons, RAM, Power Supply and Heatsinks. Overclock the Durons to 2.2GHz and you'd have a nice phat stack.

If you don't mind me asking, what kinda setup do you have that is gonna require a 1U cooler?

True. So all the Geforce 4 cards are gonna be out of luck right? So it'll be from the Radeon 9500 up and the Geforce FX 5200 up? Ahah true. We pretty much have one or two hardcore folders on our team. We have a lot of active members, but the all have 1 or 2 machines. We need more peeps with folding farms like these.

That's pretty cool if that's true. Course it's gonna leave a lot of people out in the dark unlike 3dmark 03 which will work on a direct x 7 card.

True. I think people running @ stock speeds and voltages really dont have anything to worry about till their processors exceed 55 degrees C. I got a small form factor pc that is overclocked and it stays @ 125-130 degrees F when under load(and it's always @ 100% load on the CPU). If you got one exhaust fan, a heatsink rated correctly for the CPU that you are using, and it's properly installed; then you won't have heat problems with your processor.