I've had it with this Vaio.

[fisetdavid26]

Oh right, well the computer with NVIDIA is from 2001/2002

Back in 2001 the GeForce 2 MX was one of the top-of-the-line graphic card. Or at least it was one of the best bang for the bucks!

[pimento]

Back in 2001 the GeForce 2 MX was one of the top-of-the-line graphic card. Or at least it was one of the best bang for the bucks!

Actually the MX ones were the cheap ones! I think I have one sitting in a drawer at home actually..

[Bob]

PC mag did a story on this and showed that two cheap Nvidia cards in SLI are faster than one high priced card for less money. I recommend you get the issue, he built exactly what it seems like your looking for, and showed all the parts. January 2007 issue of PC magazine

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2074622,00.asp

[TheOne]

dont forget to get a shader 3.0 video card, as vegas wont play on a shader 2.0 video card(most newer ati x1xx or nvidia 6xxx should support shader 3.0).

i strongly sugest the intel core duo that somebody said around here, you can find a cheaper 1 with 2mb l2 cache, here, i'll give ya a list.

motherboard: asus p5n-e sli <<supports core due and sli for future, and asus is 1 of the better brands out there. $130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131142

cpu : intel core 2 due E6400, 2mb l2 cache $230
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115004

vidcard : GFX 7950GT < sli rdy, can play vegas and this 1 is fanless, so no noise, and 512mb ram. $280($250 after $30 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150189

ram: crosair xms2 $240($210 after $30 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145167

thats $880, misc parts like new psu, case and if you use the old hdds(or you could get a 300gb sata-II hdd for $70 or so if you find the deal) and you should be around the $1k goal(might be $1300 or so)

thats the major parts, you don't really need a good soundcard as most new motherboards come with a good 1 already(this 1 comes with 5.1 sound), and if you search around you could probably find better prices.( try www.pricewatch.com )

if you could get GFX 8800 or so, it'd be better due to that bein the only current card supporting dx10, but for that you would more than likely have to way till mid 07 to get cheap)

[Rockefella]

If you need a bigger budget, just let me know. Your mother needs some action this time of the year.

[NuclearCrap]

Just answer the following questions and I'll have all the parts chosen for you according to your answers:

1. Do you need a monitor?
2. Speakers?
3. Keyboard? If yes, wired or wireless?
4. Mouse? If yes wired or wireless?
5. DVD drive? (You can transfer your current one if you wish)

And remember, even if you get a discount at BestBuy, the price might still be higher than that of Newegg's.

[Quiggs]

I'll probably need all of that stuff new, except maybe the mouse. I have a spare MS optical trackball in the basement.

I'm just looking for tower specs, I can pick accessories on my own, since that's more personal preference than anything.

[man 430gt]

My Viao rocks! "Equip yourself like Bond!" Got his too!

[ruim20]

I have that exact Ati video card but AGP and it runs great, i bought it new for about 100€ and for that money you can't buy anything better, of course if you have illimited resources... go for a 7 or even 8 series, but only the Gts

I play games at 1024x768 and full detail, never had a twich, so i'm pretty happy with it. i have no ideia why you have to stay clear of it...

Just my 2Cs

[Kooper]

If I was in the market at the moment, here's what I'd go for:


1. A nice chassis with at least a 450W power-supply. No fancy shmancy lighting or anything, but a built-in handle would be nice, as would be lots of cooling vents and fans. Quick-release bays a must.

2. Beefy mainboard, meaning two PCI express slots (SLI), at least 4 memory slots, very high bus-speed (a crappy mainboard will weigh everything else down as well). Asus has always been a favorite of mine, just steer clear of VIA or S3 chipsets. Tradition dictates that it should be compatible with an Intel CPU (old habits). Built-in (at least) Dolby 5.1 sound-card would be nice.

3. Dual core Intel CPU would be nice, but can be expensive. Maybe pick up a cheaper 3200GHz CPU, then sell it off as soon as the dual-cores become affordable (will happen sooner rather than later).

4. Nice and fast GPU. Personally I wouldn't go for the new 8800 Nvidia as it's expensive as hell. The 7800 looks like reasonable bang-for-the-buck at the moment. Plus you could always add another one later. Not a big fan of ATI simply because I've never used it before.

5. Storage is always important. Rule of thumb is as big as possible, as fast as possible at as cheap as possible. Seagate has done the business for me in the past, with Western Digital not performing bad either. I'm using a Maxtorr at the moment which has been glitchless, but I've heard some bad things about it. It has to be SATA though and it must be guaranteed for at least 2 years.

6. At least 2GB memory, as high FSB as possible. No make in particular. I've always found Kingmax to be sufficient.

7. Two DVD-writers. BenQ has impressed me so far. No need for an FDD, but it's a cheap option if you really have to have one.

8. I don't particularly care for LCD monitors, except if I was going to travel with the PC much. LG's CRT monitors have always provided the goods, 19" would do the trick for me.

9. The rest I'm not too fussy about. The mouse doesn't need to be wireless, but it absolutely has to be optical and it has to be pretty small (the ideal size for me personally would be that it has to fit into your palm; you shouldn't be able to see it if you put your hand on it with fingers spread). The keyboard I don't care about as long as it has soft-touch keys (lord knows there's nothing as irritating as a key getting stuck).

High-quality earphones deserve mention I guess. And oh, don't forget the 1000 MBps ethernet card either.

[Spastik_Roach]

liar- HOLDEN commodore ftw

What the hell you playin' at boy...

[NuclearCrap]

Oh and don't even bother with R6: Vegas on PC, just play it on a console man, I'm serious. It's a poorly coded game on PC, my 8800GTX gets lags and stutters at exactly the same places on the same missions as when I played with a 7900GT, and the AI......man let's just say you'll see your enemies acting like retards......I'll try different settings, it just may be the 8x supersampling AA I'm using, switching to 8x multisampling AA fixes the stuttering issue on most of my games, but I haven't tried multisampling in Vegas yet. Either way, GR:AW still makes a much better shooter game for the PC from the same publisher.

[Quiggs]

A couple people have told me the new 8xxx cards aren't all they're cracked up to be, especially at their price point.

I've been looking at cases and the clean Euro-loving side of me wants just a simple black case, but the ricey side of me says gets something with a glass panel and/or some LEDs. I hate myself.

[NuclearCrap]

A couple people have told me the new 8xxx cards aren't all they're cracked up to be, especially at their price point.

Not the drivers, at least. Even on the 7900GT I see the same problems in Vegas. And on a game that works fine (Oblivion), my 8800GTX on max settings with 8xQ AA and 16x AF runs much smoother than my 7900GT on max settings with no AA and 8x AF. The selling point of this card is really DX10 support, which only the 8800-series has at the moment, and it's been proven that a 8800GTX at stock is faster than any non-8800 dual card setups, so it also has the best high-end price/performance out there.

[Zytek_Fan]

A couple people have told me the new 8xxx cards aren't all they're cracked up to be, especially at their price point.

I've been looking at cases and the clean Euro-loving side of me wants just a simple black case, but the ricey side of me says gets something with a glass panel and/or some LEDs. I hate myself.

Antec Nine Hundred
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129021
Cooler Master Mystique RC-632
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119119
Antec P180B
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129017
Antec P180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129154
Thermaltake Armor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811133154