I have about $300.00 for changes to my system. I currently have an elderly Princton 15" CRT monitor. Other specs are in my sig. Where can I best drop the bucks? Video games(currently DOOM3). Some minor photo editing, albums and such. A little music. What do you think?
you've got a pretty nice setup. I wouldn't suggest putting too much money into it, because it's an AGP system and it's socketA which are dying or dead now. All the stuff now is AMD-socket 939. Anything else won't go any further. The socket a's still run wonderful they just won't have any upgrade options. I would however get a 9800Pro and a 17" CRT monitor. If you'll be gaming and editing you don't want anything lcd, flat panel, the like. Samsung makes good monitors also.
You don't quite have the cash to afford a new v-card, proc, and mobo but you'll definately want to upgrade the old video card. This one's pretty nice: 6200 8x. I personally think you'll be better served if you save up a few more bucks and drop it on a new skt 939 motherboard, a decent processor along the 3200 line, and a nice PCI-Express video card, like the 6600GT or whatever nVidia comes out with this summer.
Yeah, I'd aim at a video card upgrade, but again, I wouldn't buy the absolute top-end video card. The 6600/6600GT is about the fastest card you'd want to put money into considering your system, and that'll set you back around $200 for an AGP version of the card, give or take a few bucks.
OK, new video card 1st. CRT or LCD? I've heard good and bad about both. CRT less money, size is no issue, I have big workstation. Can I use a dual monitor set up with both? I might be able to come up with a couple dollars more. Thanks
for gaming you'll be shelling out big bucks if you want to be gaming on an LCD. LCD's responce times for cheaper ones are relatively low, making screen blurry. CRT's last longer, have better responce times, better life and are cheaper.
yeah, CRT's are a much better value, you could get a 19" (18" viewable) CRT for less than a lousey 17" LCD anyday, and we're talking about a very nice CRT too. CRT's can support a very broad range of resolutions and some LCD's don't allow for different resolutions without distortion and muddying. The color is also more accurate on a CRT. LCD's are a little sharper with the better ones any way, and they obviously take up less space. If you're a gamer, the CRT is probably the way to go.
I can still do a dual monitor system with CRTs? As long as my new card will let me. I remember seeing somewhere that XP will allow me to do that. Does it show more of the scene or just spred it out over a wider area, and would that make the resolution change? I mean would the picture just stretch out and look funny. Shade
Yeah, you can do dual CRT's. Now, you'll want to make sure you've got a DVI to VGA adapter if you've got a card with only one VGA and one DVI port, but yes, it'll work. As far as the desktop, the stretching out depends on how you set the image and what mode you're using.
