Santel

I want to be able to run EQ with everything turned on. Run the hotest UIs and still keep my frame rates at least 60+ during raids.

I was considering an ATI 9800 128mem.

However I was wondering would it make any difference at all if I has 128mem or 256mem.
at resolutions at least 1024x768 up to 1600x1200

My other gear is going to be as follows:
P4EE 3.2G HT (assuming I can find one otherwise just a P4 3.2)
1GB PC3200 mem (should I go up to 2GB would this help?)
Audigy 2 Sound Card

Monitor:
NEC MultiSync FP2141SB CRT (22")

Thoughts and opinions...

Taleisin

Fozzik

Nvidia's been a little iffy lately... their new drivers seem to be a step in the right direction... but their DVI compliance, noise, heat, and DirectX 9 support are still lacking overall. I think if you have to get a card now... you had the right idea in the first place. Radeon 9800 pro 128 Mb (the 256 Mb might give a bit more performance, but probably wouldn't justify the extra cost). Either card (Nvidia or ATI) is going to play EQ just fine.

When Taleisin says get an AMD Athlon XP 3000+ or an Opteron... what he means is get an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ . It's cheaper than the 3.2 Ghz P4, it's just as fast, and it has support for 64 bit computing down the road when the software is available. I really don't want to get into an Intel vs. AMD arguement... just giving my opinion. If you like Intel, get the 3.0 Ghz P4 instead. The performance will be very close to the same as the 3.2 gig P4, and you'll save a good deal of money.

2 gig of RAM will make absolutely no difference in EQ. The only thing it will help with is if you window out of EQ and open Photoshop or something like that.

Unless you are going to get a really high-end professional CRT... DVI is not the way to go. DVI is what you want if you are getting a flat panel... but CRT's are still better for games...
The reason you want DVI with a flat panel is because the signal stays digital. It's created as digital in the video card, you send it as digital through the cable, and the flat panel displays digital. The signal is never converted... so it's much better. (but only if you get a vid card that puts out a good DVI signal, many of them don't, most Nvidia cards don't).
CRT's display analog. So if you are using a digital cable (DVI) it has to be converted in the monitor into a signal the monitor can display. So... you might as well let the video card do that conversion. Use VGA for your CRT. I think it's a good choice you made on the monitor. If I were you I would look at Samsung before I bought anything... but NEC is certainly respectable.

Here's the big problem though. This computer is going to cost you a BUNCH of money... and you are still going to lag on big raids. You are still going to lag in PoK when it's crowded. I hate to give bad news... but a lot of the lag you get in crowded areas is not from your computer. The fastest computer in the world can't cut down the server lag, and the lag coming from other people's computers.

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Elder Fozzik
65 Feral Lord
Solusek Ro

Santel

First of all thank you to those that replied...

One quick question...

That Samsung monitor, were you refeering to the 1100DF? I never heard much about Samsung and haven't seen any reviews on their products in my searches. Are these that new?

The stats on this monitor are very impressive .20mm WoW though this is the first manufacture I have seen that had this low of a dot pitch. The price is a lot better than any of the other mainstream monitors. Is this the one you were refeering to?

Sthikik

I have a Asylum Nvidia 5200 with 256 meg... I had an ATI 9600.. ATI sucked, Nvidia is much better now I have all graphics turned on, and the only bit of lag I get is minor from "tree intensive" zones like Burning Woods or Umbral Plains... and with the ATI I could hardly move unless I was in Top Down view mode

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Sthikik FuzzyDragon
Iksar Shaman
Beneficium Decem
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Teddyboy420

Right now I am running a GeFroce 4 MMX 440 64MB, nothing spectacular, but for the price it's an awsome card and I really have absolutley nothing to complain about. I can turn everything on in EQ and I only get lag in highly populated zones like Bazaar. Personally, I will never again put an ATI card in one of my machines. I have dealt with more than a few ati cards and I just don't care for them at all.

For Christmas this year I am upgrading my video card. I have done quite a bit of research on the video cards that are now available, and with my personal experience I have decided on a Geforce fx 5700 or 5900 Ultra. THey aren't too expensive and they keep up with ATI's top of the line cards while being a middle-of-the-road card. Do yourself a BIG favor and do a google search for video card reviews, check out the benchmark tests and all that good stuff.

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4:20

sundanzkid2001

I just had to repair my machine, soooooo I upgraded went to P4 3.0 with HT, new motherboard, and ram. DDR400 1gig of it. Wow what a lot of improvement, get one with the ethernet built in, but make sure its the intel CSA type it goes into the motherboard chipset at the processor side and NOT on the pci bus. Big difference!!!!!! WOW WOOT I zone in about 6 secs into pok and Bazaar is like the old machins POK still useable and i can walk or run in there. i am still useing an older gforce card with 128 meg of ram so not video card increase. If you want to know what motherboard or any of the exact things I can get for you, email me link is on website www.geocities.com/sundanzkid2001

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Guild Leader Coalition of Honor
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terris thule server

Fozzik

The dynaflat monitors from samsung are far and away the best CRT's that I've ever seen except in the really high end professional stuff. It's hard to describe exactly how good they are... and they are so reasonably priced. I use a Samsung 955DF... and couldn't be happier. There are plenty of reviews on samsung monitors... but most of the reviews lately have been about their flat panels (which are also, by the way, fantastic).

Dolby

The ATI 9800 isn’t a bad card considering its price. I tried out a ATI 9800 256mb and had some stability issues with their latest drivers. I was using Intel’s latest chipset 875P (mobo IC7-G). However I think most mobo manufactures released a bios update that fixed the problem with some ATI cards and the 875P chipset.

Right now I have a PNY gforce fx 5900 256mb. At the time it was a lot more expensive and its not really any faster then its ATI counter part but I feel its more stable.



I don’t think you will notice much difference if any from 128mb to 256mb with Everquest. In other games that have even larger textures the more memory will help you.



You have a nice setup there, similar to mine. The bottle neck is definitely your video card. I think you will be happy with an ATI 9800 128mb if your budget is tight but if you have a few extra bucks I'd go for the gforce fx card.



That’s a decent monitor you have. I personally still favor the CRT's mainly because of all the graphics work I do. Unless you want to save space or need something that doesn’t give off so much heat (I have 3 monitors and switched to LCD because of heat) there’s no need to upgrade your monitor.

sundanzkid2001

Yes thats the mobo i just got Abit IC-7Gmax advanced II, it is one sweet mobo.