What christmas gift should I go for?

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Lone_Star_Lynch

Limp Gawd
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Nov 9, 2006
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What should I go for? My parents are asking me what I want for christmas, but I'm not sure.

There are 3 things I want to get, but only one can be afforded. Either a graphics card, cause even with over 2 gb RAM and a 2.3 ghz 3200+ Venice, CS:S lags when totally maxed out, and I'm tired of having to turn the graphics quality down.
The second thing I want to get is a new monitor. My old viewsonic CRT is dirty and takes up space, but the picture quality is still pretty good despite the strain it puts on my eyes, which is becoming noticeable.
The third thing is a new case. My old Enermax whatchamacallit is also dirty and even with four 80mm fans air flow isn't great, and I've pretty much lost every screw it has so I can't add any drives to it.

What do you recommend? I love gaming and I want to able to play Oblivion and CS:S on max, and any other good game that's coming out but a low end case, graphics card, or monitor can bog down performance. A crappy graphics card speaks for itself, and with a bad case your parts'll get too hot and that can make the frame rate take a dive. With a bad monitor, well, that sort of speaks for itself too.
 
Case isn't an exciting gift to receive. The other gifts you enjoy continuously.

Video card is the biggest performance increase out of the three.

Monitor is important, especially if it is hurting your eyes.

I would buy the most expensive thing that maxes your parent's budget. 8800GTS is about $430. 8800GTX is about $630. GTX is overkill I think, the GTS will do just about as much. Dell 24" LCD is about $650. I would ask for the LCD, then buy the GTS with your lunch money or whatever.
 
I think people could better help you if you give a budget of at least say which GPU/Monitor.
Also what is your current GPU? If your current CRT can't play your games at max there is no sense in getting a higher resolution monitor which will slow your GPU down even more.
 
my graphics card is a Norwood Micro 6600 256 mb. Sorry, I forgot to include the budget in. Probably around 200 for a graphics card right now, but my dad might bite the bullet and fork out the big bucks for a monitor. I don't want a huge one since I don't have too much room on my desk right now because the printer and case are directly to the left and right of the 17" crt.

Any good, cheap monitors that anyone knows of? I have about 4 inches of clearing on the left and right of this 17 incher, but only about 1.5 inches over top. So the best way to go would be a widescreen or another 17".
 
You could get a lot of different 19" widescreens for $200 on Newegg. I bought a Hanns-G branded one for $190 on Newegg and it is great 1440x900, 5ms response, not sure of contrast prob 700:1. I have enjoyed it but am selling it to a friend b/c I'm not a big fan of widescreen, biggest reason is because a lot of games don't natively support their resolutions.
A monitor does sound like a good thing to get now b/c later on you may want to upgrade your whole tower, this way you will already have a nice monitor and won't be putting money into something you will more than likely replace a year or two from now.
 
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