I'm buying a new computer and...

My computer has reached its max on upgrades and such so I am getting a new one so I can play the new Sims, the new Zoo Tycoon, and the new RCT3- but after reading these posts not sure about that last one (?)

One other thing- can I keep my "old" monitor (2.5 years old) and still get new gaming capabilities to work on it with the new tower? I hope that makes sense-

yeah, CRT technology hasn't changed in a long time, really. if your monitor was good 4 years ago, it'll still be pretty good today.

on the other hand, if it's crappy, you may as well upgrade it. me, i am religious about upgrading my entire system every 6 months (insane, i know) but i bought a really great monitor about four years ago, and it's still just as good as the best CRT's today.

One thing I'd advocate, though, is getting a nice thin-screen LCD monitor. The technology on those is improving rapidly, and you can get a good quality LCD for not that much above a comparable CRT.

Either way, if you're on a 15" CRT, you've got approximately a 13" viewable screen - that's horror when you're trying to play games. Personally, a 15" LCD or a 17" CRT (approx. 15" viewable) would be recommended, if not larger.

I think my monitor is 17"- I may buy a new one in the future but the system is my main priority right now.

Is it worth all the hassles listed here to still buy the game?

What kind of system are you going to get? Make sure you get a decent video card for it.

I'm torn between a few varieties- but will most likely in any case purchase a Game card for it---trouble with my current system is it's a micro tower so an updated game card won't fit inside it

Yes, it is worth the hassles to buy the game as long as you have the hardware to actually run it. Just make sure that you get all the updates for it when they're available (right now I believe the most recent is "PATCH1")

This has probably been covered somewhere- but I am at work and don't have the time between calls to search but where do I get the patches?

http://www.atari.com/rollercoastertycoon/us/news/14

How did any of you download the patch? When I try the "check for updates" thing, it says internet failure. When I follow the link above and click on the ftp://ftp.infogrames.net/patches/rct3/RCT3_RETAIL-UPDATE1_USA.EXE link, it says action canceled: Internet Explorer could not link to the page you requested.

I tried clicking on 'check for updates' when I stick the CD in and the autorun came up, and it didn't work. So, instead, I went to Start-->Programs-->Atari-->Roller Coaster Tycoon 3-->Check For Updates

That launched a program which checked for updates, found one, downloaded, and installed it just fine. (NOTE: If you use a firewall such as ZoneAlarm, you'll have to allow the program access. This could be your problem, person. I use ZoneAlarm, and when I launched the updater, I got a notification that the program was trying to access the internet. I forget the letters, but there was an 'rct' in there, and since I just launched the program I figured it'd be safe :) )

^ Still no luck trying it that way. :(

Do you use a firewall? (Either ZoneAlarm, or that one that Microsoft is including with XP) That seems a likely candidate that would prevent you from connecting from a program other than a standard web browser.

I'm updating my computer as well. I was wondering what video card is good to get to run RCT3. I was thinking about a CHAINTECH nVIDIA GeForce FX5500... anyone know if this is a good card?

The 5000 series cards were not as strong as they should have been, but they are dirt cheap. I'd say if you get one, at least spend the extra $10 to $20 and get a 5700. We have one in Stephanie's computer and she runs City of Heroes and Sims 2 at reasonable rates.

The cards I recomend are The ATI RADEON 7000 and up and Jeff's recommendation of the 5700, Those cards arn't half bad. Also if you can find a local small business retailer shop around, you can get really good prices. I found one just by general interest, they have really really cheap prices for excellent equipment! Shop around! :)