I got a used 19'' Sony CRT, people change to "hip" LCD:s and you can get one quite cheap. It's very good for mapping to have a bigger screen. It's not as sharp as an LCD but it's pretty good, if you don't try to have too high resolution. Anyway, if you get a CRT, don't get a shadow mask one, but a trinitron/diamondtron grille thingy.
It's also physically big. Do you have a lot of space on your desk / in the computer room? That might make the decision. 

trinitron/diamondtron grille thingy

aperture grill:
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/crt/crtMask-c.html

in my experience, the two lines i have on my aperture grill monitor are hardly ever noticeable. only when i'm working on something with a lot of bright, near-white colours. 

Seriously consider getting 2x1GB instead. It does really make a difference in modern games.

Also about 3D, friend of mine got 1900xt and while he likes it, it sounds like an aeroplane taking off inside your case, ie. HOLY SHIT LOUD. Don't know about 1800, but I assume the cooling solution is not that different(?). 

:( 

is that there's software (RivaTuner) avaible that allows you to manually set your GPU fan speed according to use. You can either set the fan speed to adjust itself according to actual GPU core temperature or you can make it adjust between 3 profiles (Windows 2D, light 3D, heavy 3D) you can customize.

During boot-up, the fan on my 6600GT sounds like a jet taking off indeed. However once I get to Windows, the GPU fan is throttled down to 60% and when I play games it's up to 80%. It's completely inaudible when using Windows and only makes a slight noise when playing games.

This, combined with the Zalman Fanmate (6$) for manually dropping the speed of CPU fan, the loudest parts of my computer are now the CRT monitor and harddrives. 

Bought one, my review:

http://phaitplays.blogspot.com/2006/05/quick-review-saitek-x-52-flight.html 

I just upgraded the other week to a NF4 SLI mobo with a amd 64 4000+ 1gb matched pair ram, 9700gt nvida gpu and this thing screams though all the games I play at 1280x1024 with full AA and AF, it looks stunning.

Cost a bomb though :) 650 quid including a new case, fans, and etc... worth it tho.

If your looking at a 9700gt card, go for the BFG one as it is overclocked slighty (as standard) and thus u get pwn fps 

current setup (with cpu overclocked slightly (2.6 ghz) gets me a 3dmark05 score of 8400 ish. as a comparison. 

er 

So that means Zwiffle is... Catherine Cross? 

OMG spoilers 

as little as possible 

Err yes, a 9700gt. its a graphics card =) 

You must be mistaken there somewhere. 9700gt videocards do no exist. Or is this some obscurely rare ATI Radeon card? Because I am 100% sure NVIDIA never had one by that model name. 

You probably mean an NVIDIA 7900GT? :) 

all the links for my website changed thanks to gamespy (or something),
and they also messed up the auto redirect so it takes you to the wrong place...dont care about the details. all i know is,

anything that used to be:
http://www.planetquake.com/underworld

should now be:
http://underworld.planetquake.gamespy.com/

new domain examples:
http://underworld.planetquake.gamespy.com/index.html [main page]
http://underworld.planetquake.gamesp...rev060426.html

once you goto the new main page everything should be the same anyway.
if you find any broken links let me know by email. 

eventually they should fix the auto-redirect thingy so that all your links you have on your websites to my reviews etc should auto-redirect to the new URL:

http://underworld.planetquake.gamespy.com/index.html

you could update your own links to my site/reviews if you wish to be sure. 

are being used in a tourney:

http://www.quakeworld.us/?a=home&news_id=88&tourney_id=3

I modified just the item placements, so they're still true to the originals. More people will now be able to enjoy the major goodness that is a Fribbles map! 

pretty legendary maps there, haven't loaded a fribbles map in ages.

also, inertia... you seem to be up on your Quakeworld, so I've got a question for you. I'm working on a high-res idbase texture pack, so I'm trying to get the pack complete for a load of maps, in SP and DM. What are the most commonly played idbase maps in Quakeworld? Please don't tell me DM3 :)

Currently the only DM maps i'm working on are Aerowalk (is that still played even?), Aggressr by Tyrann (only because I love the look of it) and your map Slipstream, heh.

Cheers. 

dm2, dm4 and dm6 in DM. dm3 and e1m2(?) in TDM. I think.

Starbuck, do you know Randy's great textures? http://qexpo.quakedev.com/booths/randy/18.html I don't remember if the base textures were included, if they are not then you should contact him (#qc in irc.anynet.org). They are fantastic in my opinion. 

DM3 and Aerowalk are without question, the most played idbase maps in QW. 

allows you to manually set your GPU fan speed according to use.
that's possible with ATI, too.

One thing if you get an ATI card: DONT INSTALL THE CONTROL CENTER! Get ATI Tray Tools instead. Simpler interface, more functions, less memory, etc. 

DONT INSTALL THE CONTROL CENTER!

I agree, even if your are administrator, your are not allowed to open it !! A shame !!!

Now how can I remove this fucking control center without breaking all my ATI DirectX9 functionality ? 

DONT INSTALL THE CONTROL CENTER!

I agree, even if your are administrator, your are not allowed to open it !! A shame !!!

Now how can I remove this fucking control center without breaking all my ATI DirectX9 functionality ? 

.. for double post :/