Upgrade queries

[Ruggerbugger]

I'm pretty happy with my system as it is now, can't exactly afford a new one at the moment anyway, so I have a couple of questions about some upgrades I'm planning.

1. I currently use a 9800 Pro along with a 19" monitor that doesn't officially support 1600 x 1200 but will display it (ok in games, desktop can't refresh quickly enough). Is there a reasonably priced AGP card that would be an improvement, or would I be better off switching to a decent TFT screen?

2. I'm using the onboard sound of my A7N8X-E deluxe, which is pretty good, but I'm wondering if a discrete card such as an X-Fi would be any better for HL2 etc?

What do you think?

[ultim8um]

If the monitor doesn't support more than 1600 x 1200 at say 60hz then changing the video card would have no effect as its the monitor with the limitation!

Therefore you would need to change your monitor to be able to use 1600 x 1200 at a suitable refresh rate. Bear in mind that most 19" TFT LCD's are the same resolution as 17" panels e.g. 1280 x 1024. You would need a 20"+ panel monitor to get to 1600 x 1200.

Using a discrete sound card will almost certainly give you better sound but perhaps more importantly it could free up CPU time in games such as HL2 thus making for higher frame rates and a smoother running game.

[Ruggerbugger]

So the ideal option would be a discrete sound card and a 20" TFT? Would my 9800 Pro be able to drive that at a decent framerate? I'm mostly going to be using the system for office work, but don't want to compromise games performance at the same time.

[teachmech]

I don't think that a 9800 wil be any good for gaming on such a monitor, however for everyday activities it should manage.