First post, by rakun86
Hello my fellow Vogoners, yet again Im in need of your wisdom 😀
I recently purchased a Compaq Deskpro En SSF. I really liked the way it was build, the ease of access to the components and the fact that it is small.
I realize that it is better suited for Win98 or 2000 but as i already have a Win 98 (PIII 550, Ati 128pro, V2 SLI, Sb Live, Awe64 Gold) and I hold no nostalgia for 2000, ive decided to make this an early WinXP machine.
For me its really more about the build than the games but i would like to play some 2002-2005 games (KOTOR, Morrowind, NFS Underground, GTA: Vice City).
Ive upgraded it with some parts that I already had so the current specs are:
PIII 1000mhz (i do intend to change that with a Tualatin 1.4 when I find one)
512 mb
USB pci card
120 HDD
LG DVD from the era.
The drawbacks of this machine is that it has no AGP and its PSU is only 120w. My Deskpro does not have a GPU integrated (other than the one on the intel chipset).
What PCI GPU would you recommend keeping in mind the weak PSU? (ive read the post here, most recomend an FX5500 or 9250)
The ones that i can buy now locally are:
Matrox Parhelia - 256mb PCI-X (not sure if I could even squeeze this in the case)
ATI 9250 - 128mb, 64bit
Zotac 6200A - 512mb, 64bit passive cooling (this one is a bit more expensive than the first two since its new or unused)
Or should i wait for something better to appear?
Also the system has an integrated sound system/speaker that is decent sounding and theres no need for additional speakers though i would like to put a sound card as well to be able to plug speakers sometimes.
What sound card would you recommend and can the PSU power that as well?