Graphics and Soundcards + some other stuff

[-dewey-]

OK, I'm thinking of buying a new mobo, memory + cpu and possibly a new sound card and video card.

A friend told me that this is the cheapest price he could find for those pieces. First of all was he right? I searched around abit but couldn't find anything cheaper but I've never bought this sort of stuff online before so I don't really know good places too look.

I've no idea where to start with the video and sound card though, at the moment I'm running a 1ghz athlon with a ATI Rage Fury Pro and a SB Live! I've no idea how good/bad these cards are so thats where I need some help. Should I keep 1 or both of these for my new system or upgrade both? If I should upgrade what should I upgrade too, I'm setting myself a budget of £350 without VAT so after the mobo etc that leaves me £130 to spend. Unless of course there is a better/cheaper mobo alternative out there.

If I don't need to upgrade the video and soundcard have you any suggestions as too what I could spend the remaining cash on? 512mb of RAM or another HD would be nice and I've already got DVD/CD and CDRW drives so I don't need those.

Any suggestions?

 

[-dewey-]

Decided to get the 2100 Athlon motherboard pack instead of the 2400 so I had more cash to spend on a decent graphics card, these are the specs.

After looking at several reviews for a GFX card I decided that this would be the best choice. (review here, please tell me if I made a mistake and/or there is a better option ). I also decided to get 256mb more RAM which brings me up to £294 without VAT.

The only thing left now is a soundcard... any suggestions?

 

[Embattle]

Shame those packs include a KT4 board over a nForce2

 

[Sawtooth]

Recently someone asked me the same question. I told him to go for a slower cpu Athlon 2.2+ rather than say 2.7+) and spend the difference on a better graphics card. I'm recommending the Radeon 9700 pro. These are coming down in price now if you shop around a bit, especially if you just get the card without the "free games". If you want a decent soundcard get an Audigy card (Audigy 2 just offers 6.1 surround sound over this) Mines been quite good but as a warning, the drivers from Creative are always a bit twitchy from my experience. My Dad has a Sonic Fury soundcard. I think the companies rebranded itself now, used to be Turtle beach I think, but it was rtaved about for ages as better than the soundblaster live cards.