Upgrade?

MGDesigns

I'm going to be upgrading my PC over the weekend due to the dreaded blue screen of death thats occured twice over the last week :banghead:

What brands would you all recommend in regards to memory and graphics cards?

tec-geek

I use ATI. I've heard alot of good things about Nivida, but they tend to be more expensive.

MGDesigns

eeeek no had ATI and it doesn't like 3D Rendering lol
Thanks anyway

Nuvo

I use an AGP x8 nVidia GeForce 6600 with 256MB of graphics memory, DVI-D, SVGA and S-Video output and some other magical stuff I'll never really bother with and it wasn't that costly really.
It's not the best named brand ever (the card maker, not nVidia), but it hasn't had any issues yet, and I can link both a DVI and VGA monitor up for dual support (currently my 27" LCD TV via DVI and my 15" monitor via VGA as I have no reason to use S-Video).
NVidia cards are the best type to buy if you're thinking of trying Linux as ATI really sucks when it comes to driver support.

As for RAM, the best name I can think of off the top of my head would be Corsair, which can be bought from Crucial, but it costs a fair bit.

For CPU's, it doesn't matter as long as it's Intel or AMD and not some other cack like Cyrix (I don't know if they still make PC CPU's).
Intel is still leading in the x86 architecture market in some area's, which is because they know more about it than anyone else (they did develop it), but AMD chips can be less expencive and less irritating when it comes to running 32bit code on them sometimes.
Intel chips are what you'd need in a laptop as they don't melt things when running (well, the M class ones anyway).

For screens, LG (Lucky Goldstar \ Life's Good) do some pretty good one's and chances are that LG made your monitor anyway as they produce most of the worlds LCD screen components.
My last CRT was an LG 17" Proview or something, and it did look pretty.
I only use LCD's these days as they don't cause the strange ringing in my head that CRT's and some other power hungry electronics do...

[/overboard]

MGDesigns

Thanks for the advice Nuvo
Currently using nVidia Inno3D GeForce 6600 GT, Intel P4 and 512MB DDR Ram

Hardware is all greek to me LOL

Aven

I mostly agree with Nuvo. AGP x8 is really nice to have, it's probably the best that I've used so far.

Nuvo

Actually, PCIe is faster than AGP, so if you're going for a new main board, get one with PCI Express along with a PCIe graphics card, if you want pretty 3D things.

MGDesigns

You know I love my pretty 3D renders

xPureNLx

I'm pretty late on this one, but here's my advice:

Graphics
Rendering mostly required a nVidea Geforce chip. Nowadays, nVidea is the leader in both "worlds", gaming and rendering. ATI is, how should I say, a little stuck in their development. That's probably why AMD could buy ATI that easily.

Okay, on-topic. Try a nVidea based graphics card with a minimum of 128MB of RAM. Do not forget to check out the busspeed, memory speed etc. Important: try to get a GT version (example: 6800GT is much more powerfull than the 6800XT). Oh yes, some basics: PCIE is much faster than AGP 8x, however AGP 8x never got it's full potentional in a graphics card.

Memory

The memory types mostly aren't that different. If you're an overclocking type of girl, try something like Geill. I personally had great experiences with both MDT and Corsair. I heard Kingston was great as well.

You could buy DDR2 memory (the 667Mhz modules), if your mainboard fits. It's not usefull yet, it takes more time to "communicate" with other components. My advice: wait a year before buying DDR2.

Check out the waranty before buying memory, that'll lead you in the right direction.

Hope this helps

- xPureNLx