I've got a buch of parts left over and should probably put a computer together.

I'm looking for a cheap/good video card that has the 256 mem (is that right?). Something that will play the games now and upcoming ones as well. 9700pro should be pretty cheap right now? Any suggestions? If there isnt anything real cheap out there, then I could just go with a cheapo card and use the other computer for reference or what not.

Also, I have like 2 HDs. Should I try to erase them on the current system before installing in new computer or does it matter? I replaced both because I couldnt get them to work. Could've been a bug but I dont know. So is there a check I can do on those?

I'll have more questions later. Remember to type your answers at a 3rd grade level. Thanks.

As far as the hard drive goes, no you dont need to wipe them, that is if you are installing WinXP. When you install windows xp and you get to setting up the partitions, just delete the partion and recreate it and install.

Whats a cheap vid card to you? 50 bucks? 100? 150?

cheap would be 100

if I try to reformat the drives with this computer, I dont run any risk of messin up my system (2HD) AND, if not how would i go about doing that?

9700pro is a 128MB card, but mine handles all the games that I've tried acceptably well WoW, Doom III, HL2, BF2, CS, etc - I run WoW at 1600X1200 with everything but filtering maxxed -it lag spikes occasionally, but not often (only in battlegrounds :P ). With WoW system memory is key, 512 just won't cut it, I've heard good things about 1GB but I have 2 in mine and the griffs are smooth where before when you left IF it was like a powerpoint slide show.

9700pro is a 128MB card, but mine handles all the games that I've tried acceptably well WoW, Doom III, HL2, BF2, CS, etc - I run WoW at 1600X1200 with everything but filtering maxxed -it lag spikes occasionally, but not often (only in battlegrounds :P ). With WoW system memory is key, 512 just won't cut it, I've heard good things about 1GB but I have 2 in mine and the griffs are smooth where before when you left IF it was like a powerpoint slide show.

1) games are using ram beyond 1g? interesting. I thought only high end stuff like CAD was doing that, i have 1g (Corsair XMS), lol on powerpoint comparison.

2) I have a 21" sony multiscan E540, I usually have video on default which tends to be 800x640 but even when I switch I dont see too much of a difference except that things become really small, is there another advantage? (9800pro allinwonder installed)

3) I went on Newegg this morning just to check prices of vid cards. There were some pretty sharp differences in price. What specs should I be looking for? 'Cause one card would be $140 and another $60, but they looked pretty much the same.

Your game could be using 1g ram but you still have your system to worry about. Alot of performance comes just out of basic maintance like defragging and keeping everything up to date.

As far as a video card goes, Ive had my 128 9800 pro for 3 years now and it STILL kicks ass. A video card is going to be an investment where the cheap route just wont cut it, Id recommend dropping $200 on one because you will want one that will last. (www.tomshardwareguide.com)

Yea I've had my 9700pro since I got back from Bosnia. Yes I spend $400 on it because it was the brand spanking new AIW model. BUT I'm still able to play basically any game that comes out at 1024x768 on medium settings. I would say maybe a $200 6600GT from nvidia would be the way to go.