System:
Dell Dimension 4400
1.7ghz P4
768mb PC2100 RAM
40gb WD Caviar
160gb Maxtor, both on a SIIG Ultra ATA 133 card
Sound Blaster 5.1 Value
MSI GeForce 4 Ti4200 64mb
Antec Cyclone blower in open PCI slot
400 watt Coolermaster psu (to be installed)
I'm trying to decide which new video card to buy and think that I'm going to go with a 9800 Pro 128mb because I'm not sure I'll get that much bang for the buck from a 9800 Pro 256mb and can't use the full capability of a 6800 due to mb limitations (i.e. 4X AGP). Moreover, I may want to go with PCI Express in a new setup.
Questions:
(1) What brand of 9800 Pro is best? On newegg, they had an MSI with a huge heatsink, but it's now not listed. They also have a nice Sapphire that comes with a Zalman heatpipe on it.
(2) VGA cooling. If I get a card without additional cooling, is the Arctic VGA Silencer (v3) a good bet? What about a Zalman heatpipe? Speeze dual fan case cooler next to the video card? Other ideas?
(3) What about case cooling? I could put in a cooler in an open 5.25 bay, but don't know anything about modding my Dell case.
A lot of questions I know, but that's what this site's about. Thanks in advance for any help.
Dell Dimension 4400
1.7ghz P4
768mb PC2100 RAM
40gb WD Caviar
160gb Maxtor, both on a SIIG Ultra ATA 133 card
Sound Blaster 5.1 Value
MSI GeForce 4 Ti4200 64mb
Antec Cyclone blower in open PCI slot
400 watt Coolermaster psu (to be installed)
I'm trying to decide which new video card to buy and think that I'm going to go with a 9800 Pro 128mb because I'm not sure I'll get that much bang for the buck from a 9800 Pro 256mb and can't use the full capability of a 6800 due to mb limitations (i.e. 4X AGP). Moreover, I may want to go with PCI Express in a new setup.
Questions:
(1) What brand of 9800 Pro is best? On newegg, they had an MSI with a huge heatsink, but it's now not listed. They also have a nice Sapphire that comes with a Zalman heatpipe on it.
(2) VGA cooling. If I get a card without additional cooling, is the Arctic VGA Silencer (v3) a good bet? What about a Zalman heatpipe? Speeze dual fan case cooler next to the video card? Other ideas?
(3) What about case cooling? I could put in a cooler in an open 5.25 bay, but don't know anything about modding my Dell case.
A lot of questions I know, but that's what this site's about. Thanks in advance for any help.