HELP: Buying a Card

Joined
Jul 27, 2004
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1
Okay, so here is the deal. I am going to college and will be there in three weeks, so I need to buy a computer in the next couple of days so it will ship in time for me to take it with me when I go off to college. (I am pretty big into gaming, and a huge CS fan) My only problem is buying a video card. I have to have a card for the pc and I have to buy one in the next few days.

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3000+ Processor (512K L2 CACHE)
MOTHERBOARD: Albatron Nforce2 Ultra DDR 400 Dual Channel MB w/ LAN, USB2.0, & Audio
HDD: 80GB 7200 RPM ATA 100 HARD DRIVE
MEMORY: 1024 MB (512MBx2) PC3200 400MHz Dual Channel DDR MEMORY MONITOR: (BLACK) ViewSonic® E90B 19inch .27mm SVGA MONITOR
SOUND: 3D WAVE ON-BOARD 5.1 SOUND CARD
VIDEO: ATI RADEON 9800XT 256MB DDR AGP 8X W/ TV-OUT & DVI W/ full version Half Life 2

This is the current, basic setup for my computer. I want a computer that can run any of the news games coming out, but I don't know if there is a cheaper card out than the 9800XT (or a slightly more expensive but better one) that I should buy while waiting for the new pci-e cards. I know some are already out, should I go for one of those? Are there any cards out there that will run new games well, and give me no reason to waste my money on the 9800XT? Should I just get a 9800 Pro? or an X800 Pro for $30 more? I am not big into tweaking and overclocking, 'cuz I don't want to destroy a piece of hardware that's costing me around $400. Most posts I have read say wait for the new PCI-E cards, but I can't because I don't even have a computer yet. What would be a good buy until I can purchase one of those in about a year or so? I am on a budget of about $1550 and with everything (including shipping of the pc) I have, the price (w/ the 9800xt) is around $1520. I hope this post isn't to confusing and your responses will be greatly appreciated.
 
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