Got to agree, the CUSL2 motherboards from Asus are pretty nice. (Intel 815e based). You can get them in several flavors. The C is the best of the lot, as it pretty much gets rid of most the built-in stuff and thus making it cheaper.
I have a Radeon 64MB DDR card Deja. I also have a GF2 Ultra 64 (Guillemont/Hercules). Both are good cards. I ended up using the Radeon because I like the overall look of the graphics in the 20 odd games I play.
But, if you are going to use W2K, then the GF2 might be a better choice as I don't think ATI has worked out the performance issues with W2K.
From an engineering point of view, I prefer the Radeon as it dissipates about 1/2 the current than the GF2 Ultra does.
Both the Radeon and GF2 cards have strengths and weaknesses. The Radeon handles real lighting better than the GF2, but the GF2 handles single textures faster than the Radeon.
In T&L performance, the Radeon does not lose any frame rate with up to 8 active lights in a scene. The GF2 starts losing frame rate after 2 active lights.
Clearing the Z-Buffer in the GF2 is expensive, but costs virtually nothing for the Radeon.
The GF2 has faster fill rates than the Radeon.
The Radeon can do cubic environment maps in hardware, the GF2 cannot.
What does all that mean? Well, if you are a Quake player, then the GF2 is a better choice. On the other hand, if you play Unreal, then the Radeon is better.
If you like eye-candy, then you will run in 32 bit color, the Radeon does scale well and can outperform the GF2 in 32 bit color depths.
The Radeon is cheaper than the GF2 Ultra card, so bang for the buck goes to the Radeon.
Either card would be a good choice. I prefer the Radeon, but that is my opinion.
Hope that helps.
