Pc Upgrade Advice

[Kestrel_909]

Hello All,
I am no longer considering upgrading my PC as it's not an option, it's a requirement :(

With the growing demands I place upon it, FS9/2004 is so slow, and that isn't good for an Flight Sim nut. FS2002 worked reasonably well with addons, and had no major problems, as long as frames stayed about 25 I noticed no difference but 2004 isn't the same.

At the minute I have a
Dell Dimensio 4300,
1.6Ghz Pentium 4,
256SDRAM,
64Mb FeForce 2

Any general advice? I was thinking alone the lines of upgrading to 2.4Ghz, 512DDR or 1024, and new 256DDR Graphics card.
I have a friend who built one, 2.8Ghz, 1.5Gig RAM, 256DDR graphics card for under £400 and is a flying machine itself.

Is there a limit on how far I can go upgrading it?
How much would the above cost roughly, and any recommendations on who to go to, apart from a few local friends I have.

Advice much appreciated
:O

Merry Christmas to all!

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Kestrel_909,

The problem with Dell, Compaq, HP, Gateway, etc. is they are dead end computers. Usually you cannot upgrade the processor, since the CPU they use is usually the highest speed that motherboard can take. Also they use non-standard parts so you have to go back to them to upgrade, and they charge so much to upgrade they usually talk you into buying a whole new computer from them. (That is the rule, but there are exceptions.)

For your computer, I would suggest getting your total RAM up to 512Mb. (If you are running WinXP.) There is no need to go higher in your case.

As for graphics, the GeForceFX 5700 Ultra and the ATI All in Wonder 9600Pro are currently best bang for the buck.

Making those two upgrades will give your framerates the much needed boost.

Take Care,

Richard

[Kestrel_909]

Thanks for the reply Richard.

Yes I am running XP here.

Just a thought, as I am fairly happy with this PC at the minute as a tool for what I use it for, except Flight Sim, would it be simplier or more logical to build one top spec purely for Flight Sim and upgradable, so that in two years when say FS2006 or whatever comes along, I can again upragde if needbe?

It seems to make more sense, and means I could network the two together and keep this one purely as a PC for work and everything else, and the other soley for FS with no un-needed extras.

As I say, just a thought but makes sense to me. Comments?

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Kestrel_909,

If you were to build a gaming machine this is what I would recommend:

ASUS A7N2X-E Deluxe or MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR
AthlonXP 2500+ Barton Retail with Heatsink/Fan
2 x 256Mb Mushkin High Performance Level II Black CAS2.2.2 PC-3200
ATI All in Wonder 9600Pro or MSI GeForceFX 5700 Ultra
2 x Western D Raptor 10,000 SATA Hard Drives w/8MB Cache, Raid 0 (16k Stripe)
Lite-On DVD+/-RW
Antec SLK3700AMB or Antec Sonata Case
Logitech Z-680 500W Dolby Digital DTS THX 5.1 Speakers
WinXP Pro SP1

I think you should first look at upgrading your current system's RAM & Vid Card, but if you are ready for a new comp, the specs above would make a great gaming system that would not break the piggy bank.

Take Care,

Richard