First time builder looking for input

[halutzparilla]

i haven't used floppy since 2001... i dont know why, never occured to me to use one...
most of my problems are solve by USB-FLASHDRIVE adn OEM CDs...

[gvblake22]

My floppy drive has been sitting on the shelf for at least a year or two now and I hope it stays that way for the rest of time!!! You can flash BIOS'es in Windows just fine now, almost every motherboard manufacturer has some kind of Windows BIOS flashing utility that makes updating a snap. And with Vista now supposedly being able to read from USB flash drives, I think the time of the FDD (Floppy Drive Device) has finally come to an end!

[Yellowhello]

I also use floppies for running MemTest, but I hear you can run that off a CD now a days... LOL...

[PTROTH]

More research-related questions:

I read a FiringSquad review of 8800GTX cards and now I'm a bit confused The array of 8800GTX cards is bewildering.

It would seem that the factors are 1) manufacturer, 2) price, 3) clock speed, and 4) memory speed, though not necessarily in that order.

Manufacturer - Seems like they differentiate themselves through factory OCing, game bundles, etc. I like EVGA's lifetime warranty (once registered), freedom to apply your own cooling system, and and step-up (trade-in) options. Game bundling isn't that important to me. XFX seems to have a good warranty program as well as good performance.

Price - Some variation here, but as I stated before for me I'd rather spend a few more bucks than cut any corners.

Just how important are clock and memory speed? I guess you can use either nTune or RivaTuner to OC your card on your own, but wouldn't it be easier to just by a factory OC'ed card?

[Yellowhello]

Evga is a great company. I would have no regrets if I were to buy from them.

Usually the one's that cost more are the one's that are factory OCed. You wouldn't be cutting corners if you didn't get a factory OCed one.

You could OC the card yourself, but then you lose the warrenty.

[gvblake22]

eVGA, BFG, and XFX are probably the top three nVidia card makers right now. They all make quality products and have great customer service and warranty. Clock speeds really aren't going to make that much of a difference in the end unless you are going for every extra point in 3DMark possible...

When buying a video card, look at the manufacturer's warranty terms and service reputation. Then consider the price, followed by the cooling solution. Finally, make the bundle, featureset, and clock speeds the tie-breakers if necessary.

What resolution will you be gaming at? Do you hope to or plan on enabling extra image enhancement techniques like anti aliasing or anisotropic filtering?

[Yellowhello]

I hazily remember Capper saying something about how bad XFX's customer service is... I could be wrong... Hopefully Cap will see this and clarify...

[PTROTH]

Not really sure about resolution - higher is clearly "better" but there are always trade-offs. I haven't picked out a monitor yet, but I've got a few dollars left in the budget (say $300-$500?) for a new monitor. I'd love a 30" but that just won't fly. Any suggestions?

[Yellowhello]

Dell 2707. I hear that is an AWESOME monitor.

Whoops, a little out of your price range... sorry... Maybe a nice 24in. or 22in. then.

[PTROTH]

I like the EVGA policies and reputation. The EVGA 768-P2-N831 ($529 after MIR at Newegg) is my current pick, but I also see the EVGA 768-P2-N835 ($579) and the EVGA 768-P2-N837 ($639). It seems the differences in these are the core and memory clock speeds. What difference do these seemingly small issues mean in terms of gaming?