Building a new Computer

[Mike]

Hi guys,
I have two questions.
I plan on building a new computer and using the Sapphire Radeon 9700
Ultimate Pro as a graphics card, but I would probably get it OEM. It
would come with the card only, so how would I know what cables and
things I need to get it working? The website selling it doesn't say
anything about it.
The computer I'm planning on building would have the following specs

Aspire X-Alien Turbo Aluminum case
DFI Lan Party NFII Ultra Motherboard
Athlon XP 3000 Barton 400fsb CPU
512mb 3200 DDR
Sapphire Radeon 9700 Ultimate Pro
Thermaltake Volcano 11+ Xaser Edition

Will this computer run the latest games at good speeds? Will it be
obsolete in a year? I'm on a rather tight budget so will be picking
up the pieces as I get the money. I've never done this before.
Thanks a lot for your time!

Sincerely,
Mike

 

[jeffc]

Hi guys,
I have two questions.
I plan on building a new computer and using the Sapphire Radeon 9700
Ultimate Pro as a graphics card, but I would probably get it OEM. It
would come with the card only, so how would I know what cables and
things I need to get it working?

You don't need any hardware - the monitor cable just plugs into it. You do
need the correct driver of course. Presumably, even though it's OEM, the
driver should come with. If not, download from the video card web site.

Aspire X-Alien Turbo Aluminum case
DFI Lan Party NFII Ultra Motherboard
Athlon XP 3000 Barton 400fsb CPU
512mb 3200 DDR
Sapphire Radeon 9700 Ultimate Pro
Thermaltake Volcano 11+ Xaser Edition

Will this computer run the latest games at good speeds?

Without knowing specific compatibilities (I don't even know if that
motherboard is an Athlon motherboard), it should be fine.

Will it be obsolete in a year?

Define "obsolete". Everything is obsolete in a few months according to some
people. On the other hand, I'm still enjoying some older games that I
hadn't gotten around to earlier on my 1998 computer. I have a newer
computer too, of course

 

[DaveW]

The 9700 video card is NOT DX9 compatible, and the newest games use DX9.

 

[Strontium]

When are you going to get off that crack habit?

-
DaveW stood up at show-n-tell, in OD6Eb.138065$_M.701988@attbi_s54, and
said:

The 9700 video card is NOT DX9 compatible, and the newest games use
DX9.

<snip>

 

[Mike]

You don't need any hardware - the monitor cable just plugs into it. You do
need the correct driver of course. Presumably, even though it's OEM, the
driver should come with. If not, download from the video card web site.


Without knowing specific compatibilities (I don't even know if that
motherboard is an Athlon motherboard), it should be fine.


Define "obsolete". Everything is obsolete in a few months according to some
people. On the other hand, I'm still enjoying some older games that I
hadn't gotten around to earlier on my 1998 computer. I have a newer
computer too, of course

The only computer I have right now is a Celeron 733mhz with a
GeforceMX 440 PCI, as I have no AGP slots. I guess I mean will I be
able to play games on it in a few years, as this computer is starting
to fall below system specs. I'd also like to be able to do things
above 640x480!

Thank you very much!
Mike

 

[jeffc]

The 9700 video card is NOT DX9 compatible, and the newest games use DX9.

But they don't require it.

 

[Jon Danniken]

The 9700 video card is NOT DX9 compatible, and the newest games use DX9.

Bullshit. That card is supports the DX9 and OpenGL2.0 API's.

Jon

 

[Jon Danniken]

Will this computer run the latest games at good speeds?
Yes

Will it be obsolete in a year?

It's hard to say. I usually build myself up a new box every year and a half or so.

I'm on a rather tight budget so will be picking up the pieces as I get the money.

You're getting pretty good stuff there, Mike. Personally, I'm going with slightly less
bleeding-edge componenets than yourself, since they will be replaced in a year or so (9600OPRO,
MSI K7N2-Delta L, and using my current 2000XP until the Barton's come down in price a bit).
More bang for my buck that way, and I don't feel so heavily invested in any one system; at least
that's my philosophy. There's certainly nothing wrong with geting nicer stuff like you are
doing

Jon