New Computer

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Mohammed Hamada

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worpx

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ASKER

Oh sorry forgot to mention the sound and graphics.

Integrated Audio with Dolby Digital 7.1 capability

Video

256MB PCI-e x16 ATI Radeon X600 SE HyperMemory (with DVI/VGA-TV-out)

worpx

The "SE" in graphics card usually means that it doesn't perform very well in the x600 line. Its a typical consumer graphics card that does alright but doesn't hang with the big boys, so to speak -- say an X800XT.

Integrated audio on a mb isn't the best of quality for surround sound as an audigy card would be -- but its alright if you're not using it for media/game applications.

Overall, if I were in your shoes, I'd get something better.

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dapsychous

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ASKER

This machine was bundled with a brand new 19" flat panel, I dont know if I could have built a machine with a cheaper price tag with all of this stuff. So do you guys think all this was worth the price?

ASKER

It will be a gaming / Work machine.

Battlefield 2
Ages of the Empires
Counterstrike

dapsychous

Looks good for the gaming side, though you might want to put a little more oomph (is that actually a word) into the video card. Other than that, my company probalby would have charged 1300 -1500 for that setup, as long as its in a pretty case.

dapsychous

Second thought, looking at the list of games, looks like that card will work just fine for them. If you get into the BRAND new stuff (FEAR, WoW, etc), at that point, you may want to look into a better video card if you find that your framerate is suffering.

ASKER

I thought PCI express was alot faster than AGP, in my other machine I have the Gforce 5500 256 MB card in a 1.7 GHZ machine should I swap the cards?

The X600SE is below the X600Pro for comparison: http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/12/02/vga_charts_viii/page11.html

A PCI-e x16 card is faster than an AGP card only if the gpu can pump out the data faster than AGP. That card is not straining the bus at all. The 7800GS is AGP and can beat many PCI-e cards: http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/02/02/nvidia_7800gs_confirms_agp_aint_dead_yet/

The 5-series nVidia cards are not real contenders in the 3D gaming world.

ASKER

So in other words my X600 SE card blows away my Gforce card in my other machine?

The 5500 is far below the 5900, and the 5900 barely makes a showing on the chart. The X600 Pro is near the bottom, but it is there, so the X600 SE is not too far away, and is better than the 5500.

ASKER

Those charts show the X600 as being a horrid graphics card. I wonder if they are tweaking the in game graphics up to the max, which I do not intend on doing. I am not an Extreme gamer but just want to experience smooth game play without anything being choppy.

I have both an X700 LE and an X850XT - the X700 LE can handle BF2 medium settings and still keep up, while the X850XT lets me use everything at high settings except AA/AF. The cpu is an Athlon64 X2 3800+.

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jer2eydevil88

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