This is the system that I plan on building motherboard Abit NF7-S memory Kingston Hyper X Series Gforce Fx 5900 video card and WD 10,000 RPM hardrive and of course a hardrive cooler to keep that baby cool. I have not use sata drive before would this 10,000 RPM drive make a significant speed increase or should I just buy a standard 7200 sata drive.
Lower access times among other things. You'll also benefit from the 8MB cache. Most high-end ATA drives now have this, but the budget drives are likely to run around with only 2MB.
Most of the time, the 10,000RPM spin rate is not worth the added cost and reduced disc space. The exceptions include hardcore video capture/mastering application and high-traffic server usage. For most users, a WDC 160GB SATA w/8mb cache is quiter, larger, cheaper, and not noticably slower anyway. That being said, it's your PC and your wallet... :good:
As for the rest of the system, you might find it a little wiser to go with the ATi Radeon 9800 Pro or 9800XT cards, basically because the DX9 on the 9800 (and 9600) is superior to the DX9 support on the GeForce FX line. Right now, you'll be able to do alright, but you'll start missing features for Half-Life 2 and likely Doom 3. It does affect some of the eye candy in FarCry as well.
Whats the difference between the pro and the XT I saw the XT's go for around 400+ will the price come significantly lower when the R420 hits the stores?
The XT has a higher clock speed and hardware temp monitoring. The XT is the fastest ATi card out right now, and it will drop with R420/R423 (Radeon X800). That being said, while the XT is faster, will you notice it? No, not without benchmarking.
Thanks Big Big for your reply I have another question I build a system for my friend with a 2600+ abit nf7 mobo and the XFX geforce fx 5700 it plays some games very well but halo in max settinngs will drop frame rates the 5700 costme $159 I still have a couple of days left that I can return the card do you think is a good idea to return the 5700 and get the 9800 pro I forgot the 5700 has 256 memory and the 9800 pro has 128 to keep my budget down will the memory make any difference in the card?
B is absolutely right. Not only that, but even with benchmarking you're only talking about a few FPS difference. Unless you're made of money, I'd go for the card with the best bang-for-$$$.
Yeah, the 9800 Pro if he can afford it. If not look at a Radeon 9600 Pro or XT. I got my 9600XT locally for $186 + tax for the Sapphire brand one.
