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[Lister]

Good video editing/compression software should use dual-core to the fullest, as you say.  Games don't currently, because writing separate animation, rendering, AI, physics, and game logic threads that all work together seamlessly is hard.  What'll mostly happen with current code is one core will run the monster game loop, and the other one will handle the sound, data loading, and other background processes.

Eventually the new engines will figure out a good way to multithread, and then everyone else can copy from them.  Likewise, there are a few special tricks that come with 64 bit processors, but mostly it's just about the larger addressable memory space.  Still, no point in limiting yourself to 32 bit when 64 is available already.

As for video cards, I tend to try to find the best deal for the latest generation chip with the most RAM, because those two things will limit your gaming possibilities.  The speed of the chip is important for framerate, but I'd take a newer, slower card over an older, faster one simply because it'll be compatible with new games longer.  I use a 256 Mb X700 in my most recent computer.

The above may be choppy and difficult to parse.  It is past 3 AM and my geekery is overwhelming my writery.

[jough]

I've always liked the nVidia cards better, but right now ATI is kicking their ass in the mid-range.

I'll probably get an x800xl because it's fast, has a lot of memory, and 16 rather than 12 pixel pipelines, whatever they are.

[Lister]

I generally prefer nVidia as well, especially due to their superior driver-writing skizzles.  I went with ATI this time because I needed a card RIGHT THEN, and that was the only one that had 256 Mb under $200.  It's worked out all right.

Also: if you want a good deal on random stuff (occasionally featuring Dell monitors &c), have a look at Slickdeals.  People there look for this stuff and then I look there and then I know about it!

[jough]

I use a couple of price searching sites to compare prices when I'm shopping for stuff online.  Sometimes a place I never heard of will be the cheapest, but as long as somewhere reliable like New Egg is within the ball park I'll usually order from them or Buy.com or something, since they are reputable and have good return policies if something goes wrong.  Heck, New Egg will even pay for return shipping if something shows up DOA.  You won't get that from FiveGuysWhoSellComputerStuff.com.

From what I've heard ATI kicks nVidia's ass now in the low and mid-range, with the x800 chipset being almost as good as the higher-end nVidia.

I love me some Half Life 2, also, and while it seems to play well on both platforms they seem to have some kind of deal with ATI, so that's something.

The nice thing is that my motherboard has a decent onboard nVidia GPU (actually two chips, but I don't really understand the whole Northbridge/Southbridge multi-chip thing) so getting an ATI card will give me options.

[slink]

I generally prefer nVidia as well, especially due to their superior driver-writing skizzles.

Damn straight!
Also, my friend who switched to ATI had a hell of a time getting anything to actually work.

[CortJstr]

I have an ATI card and actually had to downgrade back to the driver it shipped with in Dec '04 for it to run Civ 4. Supposedly they've upgraded twice since the game came out and the now newest driver works as well.

[jough]

I'd love to get one of those nVidia 7800 cards, but they're like $500 whereas a somewhat less capable ATI card is around $200.

I don't know if getting a few extra FPS in Quake 4 is worth the three hundred bones.

But I haven't bought an add-on card yet, so I'll have to read more reviews I guess.

[misterqueue]

I used to be an only nVidia guy.  When I built my new system (about 4 months back) the ATI cards started looking a pretty pretty good to save a buck or two.

I've yet to have a problem with mine.  (I believe it's an x800 IIRC but I'm at work and I can't be arsed to look it up).

ATI is different from nVidia in that they actually state NOT to update your drivers unless you're actually having a problem.  This was a bit different for an update junkie like myself, but I have survived.

[jough]

I'm going to be dual-booting XP and SUSE Linux, so I've been finding components that have good support in both platforms.

I think there are drivers for any of the latest cards from either ATI or nVidia.

[V-Adore]

I've been having serious problems with my ATI driver lately -- in brief, City of Heroes runs for 5-15 minutes and then hard-locks. I've attempted to install new drivers, but the system still reads it as being the May 2004 driver this thing shipped with. An attempt yesterday to deinstall the driver, clean out traces, and install the newest update resulted in a borked installation ("blah blah standard VGA driver blah blah fuck you") and a System Restore. I'm thinking the easiest solution at this point is "until you can get a new system, do your damn homework and don't worry about gaming."

[jough]

Well, I'm building a new system, and would like to maybe play some games in the future (although I play maybe two new games a year, and mostly play a little chess online when I want to unwind).

Anyway, I will probably look at Quake 4's specs and see what they recommend.  I'd like to play that one, as I am a fan of First Person Shooters.

Plus, Half Life 2 will be coming out with an expansion pack around my birthday, so that'll be fun too hopefully.

[wombat]

No matter how many times I check this thread it hasn't wandered off topic.  What's the matter with you people?

[pmcd9]

No matter how many times I check this thread it hasn't wandered off topic.  What's the matter with you people?

You've discovered the one thing that we are the most deeply interested in.

~Paul

[arkabee]

You've discovered the one thing that we are the most deeply interested in.

dude it is raining so hard outside, i swear to god i just saw kittens building an ark.

oh, wait.

what "we" are most deeply interested in.

i like Dell support.

him "i need the error codes for the hard drives to send you replacements"

"i can't give you error codes until you ship me the replacements for the Power Supplies"

him "ok, can you email me the error codes, uh, later?"

i spoke to a man on a different continent which is also an island AND acountry because the previous person could not operate the telephone correctly too.

seriously, though, these new computers suck, there's no VESA bus slots to plug my 1MB card into.

i mean, really mr gates, my video car has One MegaByte of RAM on it you stupid fuck.

[misterqueue]

Plus, Half Life 2 will be coming out with an expansion pack around my birthday, so that'll be fun too hopefully.

Oh damn, please have mercy on this one poor soul!

Seriously, I expect to disappear for some time, right around the same time it comes out.  COINCIDENTALLY