Hello Veech,
Upgrade the RAM first. Even older titles like Far Cry, UT2004, Doom 3 and HL2
would only run smoothly for me once I had 1GB (and IIRC even 768MB). You
probably know this, but keep in mind that more of "slower" RAM (ie. not the
fancy
Redline / Ballistix / ??? stuff) is always better than less of "faster" RAM :)
IIRC, BF2 really needs 1.5 - 2GB (blame that on EA).
The 9800 Pro is still a great card (did you OC it?) but is definitely
getting long in the
tooth (think 1024x768 at mid-level details for (IMHO) playable frame
rates). A decent
purchase would be a X800GTO^2 (emphasis on the "^2") which can be unlocked to
a full 16-pipelines (since it was built from a surplus shipment of R480
cores) and OC'ed
to X850XT PE speeds (~$200), though you might want to consider a 7800GT
(~$290 after rebates).
The A64 4000+ is definitely nice - you'll get plenty of envy from me ;)
I'm only gunning for a Sempron 3400+ S754 PCI-E platform...
HTH
--
JW
