New Video Card, Or New Hard Drive?

**tesco** · 07-07-2004, 05:44 PM

ok, relatives coming up in august so i will probably getting lots of money (hopefully...), plus my dad wants my old comp parts so he will give me money towards whatever i get..

So i've got to decide, do i want a new video card, or do i want a new silent bigger capacity hard drive. hmm...right now i'm leaning toward hard drive, because i am working to make my computer quieter.

here is what im looking at for hard drive:
Seagate 120gb 7200rpm 8mb cache - 149.99
Seagate 160gb 7200rpm 2mb cache - 149.97

How much differene does the 8mb cache bring over the 2mb cache? a lot? around 150 is highest im gonna dgo for a hard drive, i can also get a hitachi drive cheaper, but i like seagate so i dunno.

Here are the video cards im looking at:
Saphire Radeon 9600XT 128mb - $227.99
Saphire Radeon 9800SE 128mb - $212.99

I'd probably spend about 250 at most. The 9800 se isn't that bad is it? on bigdawg's pinned guide it seems to be about on par with the 9600xt. What else is it missing? (i know there is no heat sensor, which is something i would like to have...)

So, come on, help me decide.

edit: What the hell is a 9550?? never heard of it. any good?

**clocker** · 07-07-2004, 05:58 PM

Well, I have a 9600XT and would recommend it to anyone, but I'm not a gamer so I don't know how it stacks up in that area.

Seagates are very nice HDDs, can't go wrong there, either.

Hard to say which is the better investment...my first thought would be the video card, after all, you are always looking at the screen.

I'm also thinking that you are about due for a new motherboard, and your new one will prolly support SATA, so why get a PATA drive now?

**tesco** · 07-07-2004, 06:03 PM

Originally posted by clocker@7 July 2004 - 13:06
Well, I have a 9600XT and would recommend it to anyone, but I'm not a gamer so I don't know how it stacks up in that area.

Seagates are very nice HDDs, can't go wrong there, either.

Hard to say which is the better investment...my first thought would be the video card, after all, you are always looking at the screen.

I'm also thinking that you are about due for a new motherboard, and your new one will prolly support SATA, so why get a PATA drive now?

Not planning on upgrading that though....not yet, anyway. If i do that, might as well get a new processor, then i might wanna also buy a second 512mb ram stick to run the pointless dual channel (bad investment lol)...so ya, takes a lot of money that i dont have.

might upgrade that later this year, or next year, it's fine for now.

Hard to say which is the better investment...my first thought would be the video card, after all, you are always looking at the screen.

also, im always listening to the computer.

**clocker** · 07-07-2004, 06:13 PM

True, but it's easier to silence a HDD than it is to manually add pixels....

**tesco** · 07-07-2004, 06:17 PM

Originally posted by clocker@7 July 2004 - 13:21
True, but it's easier to silence a HDD than it is to manually add pixels....

The screen isn't going to look any different than before.

Just in games might get a better FPS.

**clocker** · 07-07-2004, 06:22 PM

Sounds like you've already decided.

**Spicker** · 07-07-2004, 06:27 PM

if u play high graphix games then i wud get the video card.... but for now ur fx5200 seems fine...

u can answer this question urself rossco.. i thought u knew better

j/k

btw where u getting all this money from?

buy me something

**tesco** · 07-07-2004, 06:30 PM

Originally posted by jaigandhi5@7 July 2004 - 13:35
btw where u getting all this money from?
buy me something

ok, relatives coming up in august so i will probably getting lots of money (hopefully...), plus my dad wants my old comp parts so he will give me money towards whatever i get..

Ya, kinda did decide...if enough people think i should go for video card though i will. dunno.