I accidentally posted this in one of the Linux specific forums, but edited it out before any replies, and put it in its right place: here.

I am going to be building a *mostly new computer in the next couple of weeks, and wanted to get your opinion about the following setup. I put my current computer together 3 1/2 years ago, and while I have kept up a little about the latest and greatest hardware, I'm not as informed as I would like to be.

Let me know what you think of the following... i.e. brands, chipsets, price, etc.

MSI KT3 ULTRA-ARU VIA KT333 CHIPSET ULTRA ATA133 ATX FORM FACTOR 1xAGP(4X)/5xPCI/1xCNR/3xDDR W/RAID, USB 2.0 & AC97 AUDIO (CPU TYPE:AMD DURON, ATHLON) $113.42
AOPEN GEFORCE3 TITANIUM-200 64MB 4X-AGP WITH TV & DVI-OUT $129.00

SUPERCASE TU-129(7C523-129) MIDDLE TOWER W/350W (PENTIUM 4 READY) ATX POWER SUPPLY & FRONT USB CONNECTOR $55.00

KINGSTON KVR266X64C25/512 512MB PC2100 266MHZ CL2.5 DDR DIMM
$113.40

AMD ATHLON XP 1900+ 1.6GHZ (AX1900BOX) RETAIL BOXED W/COOLING FAN (3 YEARS WARRANTY)
$149.99


One question in particular, should I go with the above AOpen Geforce3 Ti, or this AOpen Geforce4 MX? They are the same price....

AOPEN GEFORCE4 64MB MX460 DDR VGA WITH DVI VI&VO(VIDEO CAPTURE & TV)#GF4MX460-DVVIVO $129.00

I'd go with the Geforce 4 since it has all of those in/outputs. I believe the Ti's are the high end card. The GF4MX should do nicely!! Outside of that decision, it's a nice looking setup.

GeForce 4 MX is a card to stay away from! (or so i've heard) i have a GeForce 2 MX with 64mb ram and i can run unreal tournament and tribes 2 (in Linux, of course) at 1280 x 1024 without dropping a frame. basically, i'm saying you don't need the best graphics card out there, unless you want to be anal. i'd look for a different case though, $55 might seem like a lot, but you'll find it is made of cheap plastic/metal and is flimsy, scratches easily and has an inadequate power supply (<=200 Watts)

verigoth

yeah, but check out his p/s (350w) that's just fine. I kind of agree with verigoth, you may run into support problems by getting the "latest and greatest" video card. But like taz said, it should do nicely - once it gets support. Check out www.linuxhardware.org I think they tell you if it's supported yet or not. Or you could check out www.xfree86.org I am sure they would have some good info too.

i wasn't talking about Linux support...i've been told that the GeForce 4 MX is a truly crappy card...i'd assume it's a hardware issue. anyway, just a clarification...and no, 350 w is not bad, as long as the case is tight

verigoth