[gurusan]

Hey all...I'm new to the site, I used to be into computers but then my obsession moved to cars....and now I'm back to computers since it's too cold to work on my car.

I have an old POS dell T800.. (512mb ram, tnt2 m64, 20gb quantum fireball, and a p3 800mhz).

My main computer was a dell inspiron 5150, a great little laptop...but it lacked video power (geforce go 5200 32mb)...a great card, but no memory!!! ...anyway...I spilled beer on it and now I'm using the old desktop.

I can't stand the slowness of this, I reformatted and installed windows 2000 but it's still really slow.

So I decided to get back into the puter scene and build a new puter with a budget of 500-600.

So far I have:

-AMD 64 3200 socket 939
-DFI nForce4 Infinity mobo
-2 x 512 mushkin pc3200
-using my old 20gb quantum fireball + whatever new HD i get

This summer I'll be swapping the CPU out for a dual core.

My question is: what is the BEST vid card I can get under 100 bucks? I was looking at some geForce 6600s 256 mb with active cooling....maybe I can overclock them to GT speeds?

and...where can I get a budget PC case+reliable PSU(400-500 watt continuous) for under 70 bucks or so.

Also...is it worth it having a RAID 0 setup? Will it work with my current IDE 20gb HD and a new WD raptor or something? Or do they both have to be SATA? and WTF is SATA and how does it differ from IDE?

Like I said, I used to be into computers but now that I'm back into them I am a bit lost. I can tell you anything about Hondas/Acuras/turbo setups though!

Thanks!

[Apokalipse]

Albatron 6600 (8 pixel pipelines, 256MB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814170071

you won't be able to use a Raid 0 unless you have the same size drives. WD Raptors are 36GB, 74GB or 150GB
and I don't think you can use a Raid 0 with one IDE and one SATA drive.

SATA is a relatively new interface, which gives faster transfer speeds than IDE. the cables are also a lot thinner.
if you don't have Windows XP SP2, you will need to get SATA drivers to run any SATA drive

I'd also recommend this power supply, and get a case from whatever money left over
it's rarely a good idea to use PSU's that come with any case

*edit*
you only need to post one thread about your topic. I deleted your other one

[Trotter]

it's rarely a good idea to use PSU's that come with any case

Except for an Antec, and maybe a ThermalTake.

You posted what you've got... So, is the $500-$600 before you get them, or after?

If it is after, I'd say look at this case/PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129158

And this graphics card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130265

And this hard drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148065

$456 w/shipping, before any rebates. You'll get $5 instant on the card, and $10 mail-in on the drive.

[Apokalipse]

Originally posted by Trotter
Except for an Antec, and maybe a ThermalTake.

yes, those are about the only exceptions
there are a ton of cheap cases that come with PSU's, and about 99% of them are no good