kakarot

I know that the 8800 is based on the R200 core(Radeon 8500) and is alot slower that the R300 core(Radeon 9700). Based on this alone I would guess that the 9700 should be able to beat it in just about anything thrown at it. Not sure how things work with the FireGL's so wait until someone that knows better gives a more clear answer.

I would probably go with the Abit board out of those two, although I really like my Epox 8RDA. I have it running at 215 fsb and it's flawless. I only question the Asus board because it don't allow the use of any multipliers under 13 and also most BIOS for don't even unlock the Tbreds.

You can use Omega's drivers, which do not have the smartgart utility. But either way make sure you have fastwrites on in the bios.

It was bought on 10/25/02 and is the fully loaded model(retail) with USB 2.0, Firewire, Serial ATA w/RAID, sound and 10/100 LAN. It works flawless with my R9700Pro at 8x agp and it also unlocks the new Tbred cpus. I'm asking $80 shipped express anywhere in the US, and it comes in the original box with all papers/manuals and cds(original receipt included; paid $150 btw) If interested please PM me or email me at impala71@attbi.com PS. You can check it out here http://usa.asus.com/mb/socketa/a7v8x/overview.htm Edit- I can also throw in an XP unlocking kit for any Palomino owners you would like to unlock their cpus. The kit is brand new(never used) and you can get the details here http://www.highspeedpc.com/Merchant2/mer...ategory_Code=OC

Belkin 4 port KVM switch (PS/2, USB and speaker/microphone sharing) In original box with all papers....valued at $180 Belkin Pro cables -included 2 sets allow 2 PC's to share one monitor, keyboard and mouse and speakers....valued at $80 Asking $160 shipped anywhere in US. Valued at $240 (atleast) at any store. Parts were bought on 10/16/02 and are still brand new. Works great and doesn't kill IQ. Reach me at impala71@attbi.com Check it out here http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPa...ewSOHOSeries%2F

Sold!!!

Definitely get the R9500

I would wait until nVidia releases some DX9 optimized drivers. But you don't need to have a dx9 gfx card to use dx9, it's just that things will be done in software.

I agree, these are the best yet

I don't think that is possible, but if you have SP1 installed you can 'hide' it.

Have you copied the 'play' disk into the GTA3 directory? There's also a huge thread about crappy GTA performance here http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33619481 Hope it helps