need hardware advice

im buying a new computer for gaming/school work and need an expert oppinion on the following specs;

-PROCESSOR - AMD Athlon XP 3000
-MOTHERBOARD - ATX 400Mhz FSB Socket A Motherboard, 5 PCI, AGP 8x, ATA133, 8x USB 2, 1x 10/100 LAN 3x DDR Slots
-MEMORY - 1gb
-HARD DISK - 120Gb 7,200rpm Hard Drive
-SOUND - C-Media AC-97
-GRAPHICS CARD - ati radeon 9800 pro 128mb
-MODEM - Intel Hardware PCI V92 56K Modem
-DVD ROM - 16x DVD ROM
-CDRW - 52x32x52 CDRW

i mainly want to know if this computer can handle all the new games like farcry, doom3 etc
any oppinions will be greatly apprecited, thanks

Far Cry:

Minimum
Supported OS: Windows® 98SE/2000/XP (only)
Processor: 1 GHz
RAM: 256 MB
Video Card: 64 MB DirectX® 9.0b-compatible graphics card
Sound Card: DirectX® 9.0b-compatible PCI card
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0b (included on disc)
DVD-ROM: 4x DVD
Hard Drive Space: 4 GB
Multiplayer: Broadband with 64 Kbps upstream to play (512 Kbps upstream to host 8 players)
NVIDIA® nForce(tm) or other motherboards/soundcards containing the Dolby® Digital Interactive Content Encoder required for Dolby Digital audio

Recommended
Supported OS: Windows 98SE/2000/XP (only)
Processor: AMD Athlon 2400-3000+ or Pentium 4 2-3 GHz
RAM: 512-1024 MB
Video Card: 128 MB GeForce 4 128 MB to GeForce FX 5950; ATI Radeon 9500-9800 XT
Sound Card: Sound Blaster® Audigy® series
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0b (included on disc)
DVD-ROM: 8x-16x DVD
Hard Drive Space: 4 GB
Multiplayer: Broadband with 64 Kbps upstream to play (512 Kbps upstream to host 8 players)





Doom 3:

The minimum system requirements for Doom 3:
- 1.5 GHz processor (Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon)
- 384 MB (megabytes) of memory (RAM)
- 64 MB video card (by ATI or nVIDIA)
- 2 GB (gigabytes) of empty hard drive space

The recommended system requirements from PC Gamer magazine:
- 2.0 GHz (or better) P4 or Athlon processor
- 512 MB of RAM
- ATI Radeon 9800 video card
- 5-channel sound card and speakers

The following video cards are supported by Doom 3:
- nVIDIA Geforce 4 MX (the bare minimum)
- nVIDIA Geforce 3
- nVIDIA Geforce 4
- nVIDIA Geforce FX (and higher)
- ATI Radeon 8500s, 9000s and higher

So looks like you would be good.
Remember, Google is your friend!

i've already seen those specs but thanks anyway. what i dont understand though is that there is the ati radeon 9800 pro and the ati radeon 9800xt. are these cards the same with just varying names or are they different and if so which is better?

i'am not even getting technical in there specs. cause to me they are old.
there are 2 versions of the pro 128mb,and 256 mb
256 is more money
XT is more money tham 256 pro and use to be ATI's flagship (over $400.00)
A 256 pro can be turned into a XT with a bios flash.


The 256MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro is probably the least popular ATI graphics card until you turn it into an XT.

But thats all old technology (even tho the 256pro and XT )are still
up there in cost .there tech is a done deal .

side note AGP is just as good as PCI in speed (for at least till 2006)

If your a fan of ATI maybe you should look at the new X700 Pro $175?
or in the Nvidia world ,that would be the 6600GT.

Sad part is whatever new card you buy(not last year and half ,like 9800)
If you buy an X700 today ,9 months from now ATI already has the next chip passed through R&D and they are already talking about were to preorder the next generation Graphics Card thats going to be hitting the
streets,and taking the place of yours...So you got 9 months to brag about whatever new card you have ,,, and thats about it.

i realise the computer specs aren't the best but i'm on a budget of about £750 (for the whole new computer) so can't afford the newest stuff could you advise me which is the best graphics card out of the following;

-Geforce fx 5900XT 128mb
-ATI Radeon 9800SE 128mb
-ATI Radeon 9800SE all in wonder 128mb
-ATI Radeon 9800 pro 128mb

Well it's going to be a shootout between the ,
5900XT and 9800 Pro 128...so .They are very close
in most tests.

5900XT's
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDe ... 128&depa=1 GIGABYTE

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDe ... 183&depa=1 very nice card for the money Leadtek


http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDe ... 119&depa=1 MSI ( I am a big fan so you no what card I have) I just gave it away .lol I had it Flashed with MSI 5950Ultra UnderClocked Bios
drop the temp 15c ,and I keep it clocked at 860 Core,860 Memory for a year..that was a great card..It still is


9800PRO 128mb
This is a good deal (refurbished) means the original buyer sent it back
does not mean there was anything wrong with it

ATI OEM SAPPHIRE RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB DVI/TV 8X AGP (OEM, BAREBONE)
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductde ... 68R&DEPA=1

http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp ... =Refurbish


ATI SAPPHIRE RADEON 9800 PRO ULTIMATE 128MB DVI/TV 8X AGP (OEM, BAREBONE) good deal here for $185.00

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 99R&depa=1

http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp ... =Refurbish

http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?style=album

This is what that card would cost you :somewere else
http://www.dealtime.co.uk/xPC-Sapphire_ ... O_ULTIMATE

plus I always like Sapphire.,plus the Fact (that card ,the PRO_ULTIMATE)
has real nice cooling on it(it's passive cooling,with that nice heatsink)
no fan ,no connection to your power supply,nice and quiet,So those
are all pluses.

It's the 7th one down on this page .
http://www.dealtime.co.uk/xPC-

Now we talk about refurbished (I have bought many refurb's ) In neweggs case (I have bought stuff from them ,since the first day they
opened,and have sent stuff back to them after I changed my mind too)

And thats what that means (that whoever bought it ) this is my thinking
on that card (that they probably did not have the room for the card cause they had clearence issue's with all the other pci cards that they had installed on the motherboard because of the nice passive cooling the card has on it ...you would not have that issue ,most you would have is Graphics Card taking up the AGP slot ,then if you had onboard
sound,thats a space not filled with a sound card (even if it was you would still have room ,and an Ethernet card (plenty of room ) that card there probably takes up as much room (height wize ) as a 6800 Ultra.

But what all this means is when it came to his door he opened the box.
thats it .

I would try to get that SAPPHIRE_RADEON_9800_PRO_ULTIMATE.
thats a great price ,and a nice card (passive cooling) no fan to burn out.

hope this helped ya some what .

wow thanks this has help me out alot:) i think i'm going to get the ati radeon 9800 pro. just to get this straight, is the ati radeon 9800SE all on wonder not as good as the ati radeon 9800 pro? because i'm getting this computer> http://www.jal.co.uk/pages/monarch2600vs.html which you can add upgrades to by scrolling down and selecting the hardware from the drop down menus and the all in wonder card costs more than the 9800 pro so i thought it was better, is this not the case? also one last thing is the sapphire radeon 9800 pro the same as the ati radeon 9800 pro?

http://www.newegg.com/app/SearchProduct ... asp?DEPA=0


http://www.newegg.com/app/searchProductResult.asp?

http://www.newegg.com/app/searchProduct ... rManu=1561

It's your Standard Edition
run of the mill (thats there entry card in that series 9800)

It will still play anything out there. on med level

That one that your getting has a FX5700 (not great but not terrible)
I would keep saving up for a replacement card ,and use that one
untill you run into trouble with it(ati competion to that was the 9600)
I would not run out and buy a card yet ,,,,the closer we get to Xmas
the cheaper Graphic card prices will go down ...think about that .

lol ok i thought it meant second edition for some reason, so why does it cost than the pro version?

I just tried those links of mine I am fixing them .lol?
don't no what happened there.lol

You mean the SE costs less than the PRO (cause it does you better look again)

for some reason those linlks are not holding...go to any one of them
and then when you get there at the top ,type in there search 9800SE.
abd you will see most ar 30 to 40 to 50$ cheaper than the pro.

http://www.jal.co.uk/pages/monarch2600vs.html
this is were i'm buying the computer. if you scroll down you can pick from the graphics card upgrade box. the SE is £90 more an the PRO is £60;/

there price jump is cause it's an ALL IN WONDER CARD ,that means
Watch DVDs, TV-ON-DEMAND™, captured content through File Player on an HDTV ready television using optional component output
That card is used for more external viewing on TV, HDTV ..you don't need that,cause thats not what your using it for.(Watch DVDs) means playing
it on your PC,but watching it through a large TV.

I just looked at that list again,you should get that 256 pro for 30.
and then when you get it ,30 secs after you open the box Flash it to an XT.(cause thats the only card you can do it with ) It would take me about 29sec.lol,,it's simple to do ..I have a Nvidia BFG5900XTOC,,,now that card comes from BFG already overclocked.within in the first 5mins
of having it (I flashed it with 3 5950Ultra bios) and that card to date
has been flashed over 82 times in the last 6 months .no problem ,card runs like a champ..In just one day it got flashed with modded 5900XT,
and 5950Ultra bios 25x takes a licking and just keeps on ticking.I've
seen people flash there card 1x and ruin it cause they were stupid,and
never read enough on the process to feel comfortable about doing it ,
but once you get past the first time you laugh how easy it was .lol

EDIT: didn't see your below post because you posted it while i was writing mine lol. are you sure the 256mb is better? i've heard cards with a big ram are kinda dodgy
ok thanks for clearing that up, i'm gonna go for the 9800 pro as its a good price and as you said all i want the card for is gaming anyway so dont need the all in wonder btw proccesor wise is the amd athlon xp 3000 any good?

Thats BS you want that card there if you can get it .then turn it into this.

http://www.newegg.com/app/searchProduct ... rManu=1315

http://www.newegg.com/app/searchProduct ... rManu=1561


http://www.newegg.com/app/searchProduct ... rManu=1419
thats with a bios flash ,then you have a card thats worth over 300
and does the same thing.
like i said would take 30sec's
Were getting into the 512mb video cards ,whoever told you that obviously had no clue ?.

when you get a chance do a search on (9800pro to a 9800XT)
and read about it (it's somple )



There are settings on Doom 3 that you can't even use unless you
card has 512mb of ram ...so