Dilemma

[Deagle]

Right now I have money to buy a new vid card or hd.
My choices are WD SE 80gb 8mbcache=$70
Ati 9000 4xagp=$90
Ati 9100 4xagp=$80
Pny fx5200 8xagp=$100
So which 1 should I get? My buget is $120 and please don't tell me go 2 newegg.
Thanx:D

[Fruss Tray Ted]

You don't have an AGP slot. What do you plan on doing with a card that won't fit?

I guess that means Caviar time :)

[classicsoftware]

What is your current video card?

What is your curent hard drive? Include size

How much free space is left on your hard drive?

How old is your hard drive?

What do you do with the computer?

If you do database work or anything disk intensive I would go for the drive.

If you do primarily word procressing and web browsing, I would go with the video card. That is with same cvaeat that FTT mentioned, You have to have an AGP slot.

[Budfred]

Is this for the computer you have or the computer you are planning to build??? If it is for the computer you plan to build, you will eventually need the drive and the video....

[Deagle]

I do have an AGP slot, it's a 4x. Right now I have a TNT2 32mb( I know its crap).
Yeah I'm buying this for my new comp. I guess I should buy the HD huh cause that's the cheapest I seen.
Thanx for your opions.:D

[ZURKE]

Most boards do have onboard video which may be disabled at a later time.

[Deagle]

Yeah I just bought the WD 80gb hd and want to know if I should install it into my comp now or wait and install it in the soon-2-be-built comp?
Also I don't know what is master/slave setting and jumpers:confused:
Could someone please enlightnen me.:D

[Budfred]

If you don't need the space (and from other posts it sounds like you don't) I would suggest saving it for the computer that is yet to be built....

Master, Slave, and Cable Select are settings on the back of drives that allow 2 drives to share the same cable. The way you set them varies depending on the drive, but generally the drive at the end of the cable is Master and the one on the middle connector is Slave. If you have only one drive, you can sometimes make the drive Master and sometimes you don't use any jumper. Cable Select lets the drives and board choose which is Master and which Slave. Again, whether or not to use it depends on the drive and the system it is in. Short answer, sometimes it is just trial and error to find out which way works....:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Deagle]

You're correct I don't need the space right now (still have 1/2 of 40gb hd free)Well since my is 80gb they don't come with a cable select.
Say, do you think I should make the 80gb master and the 40gb slave in the future? Or should I just partition the 80gb into many smaller ones?
:cool:

[Budfred]

Whether to put the 2 drives together depends on what you want to do with the old system. If you want to keep it intact to network with this one or to use it for a backup, you will want to keep the drive in it. If you are going to gut it for parts, then for sure use the drive.\

I would partition both drives so that you have a bunch of smaller drives that hold data, programs, operating systems and so on... separated from each other. It can simplify maintenance and troubleshooting.

[BigBlue66]

Word of caution: If you decide to use the WD drive by itself, remove the jumper shunt completely, otherwise, BIOS won't recognize it. That's an idiosyncracy of newer WD harddrives.

You will be very happy with the performance of an 8mb cache harddrive. I run them in both home systems. Pair them up with fast RAM and you won't even need the latest and greatest processor to have a fast system.