new machine.

[davemead]

this is a spin-off of my post ''good news!'' in the pc hardware forum.
in that post i stated how my current pc has tragically died, and its time for a new one.

i have a two part question...

the specs for the machine i am looking at are:
MSI 945gcM5 945MC
Intel dual core e2160 1,8ghz
2GB ram
250GBSATA II HDD
windows xp pro
(2) geforce 7600GT in SLi
$775 (US)

this is for fs9, not fsx.
good? decent? or crap?

my second question is, i am going to use the current hard drive as a slave. i know i cant just copy programs over, but im wondering, with all the anti piracy measures in 3rd party add ons for fs9, what am i going to have to do to get those working? Here is a list of what i own:

PMDG 737 600-900
Flight 1 ATR
Captain sim 757, the original block...b?
Carenado C206 full pack
Carenado mooney
pss AB pro and dash 8 (i know these are a lost cause)
ultimate traffic 05
Active camera
fs2crew for the pmdg 737
eaglesoft cessna citation X (the older one from '04)
Feel there ERJ145
im probably forgetting some, but i think thats it.

as always, any help will be/is greatly appreciated
Dave

[Leo112]

What's the bus speed???


For a reinstall of FS9 on a new system first off don't delete your install from the old machine. Just rename the 'Flight Simulator 9' folder. Many things can move right over such as your texture folder and freeware scenery... It's vary important you learn how to slave your hard drive. FS9 runs best on a secondary drive anyway. You may need an 'Ultra ATA' PCI card to plug in your old drives. My machine needed RAID turned on in the BIOS. There's allot of new hardware going on in newer machines but it's vary important you keep your old drive with you FS9 installation. For reinstalls you'll find this vary valuable as you'll see below...


BEFORE YOU INSTALL ANYTHING ADD-ON WISE MAKE SURE THE FS9.1 PATCH IS INSTALLED AND FSUIPC IS INSTALLED/REGISTERED (VERY IMPORTANT)....


PMDG 737 600-900 --- Complete reinstall starting with the 600/700. Keep your existing aircraft folders for this aircraft (that has all your liveries). Once you reinstall just delete the new folder out of your FS9\Aircraft folder and substitute your original folder. This can be done with all your aircraft.

Flight 1 ATR -- This has to be reinstalled via the Flight1 wrapper (all Flight1 products need the original wrapper to activate the various gauges). Once installed you can do like I explained above for the PMDG bird to keep your liveries with minimal headache...

Captain sim 757, the original block...b? -- Complete reinstall. You may need new installers as I did. With a new machine you'd do well to get the Block F, it's outstanding...

Carenado C206 full pack -- Rename your new FS install's gauges folder to 'gauges.new'. Move your older gauges folder to your new install. Move the Carenado
birds from your old FS install to the new 'Aircraft' folder. Look in the effects folder of your old install for any entries for Carenado birds. In essence Carenado's work doesn't need a complete reinstall.
Carenado mooney -- As I stated above...

pss AB pro and dash 8 (i know these are a lost cause) -- If you have this installed in your original installation it should work when you reinstall FS. Just move the appropriate files in the same locations in your new FS install.

ultimate traffic 05 -- This is an easy reinstall via the Flight1 wrapper as mentioned above.

Active camera -- Easy reinstall, the company still offers support

fs2crew for the pmdg 737 -- I have no idea

eaglesoft cessna citation X (the older one from '04) -- A simple copy over like I mentioned above. Most other ES birds need a reinstall via the Flight1 wrapper.

Feel there ERJ145 -- Simple reinstall.

im probably forgetting some, but i think thats it. -- Whatever you forgot I'm sure you get the idea by now...

[angels355]

Hi Leo, good advice.

Dave,

I've been told that if you get Acronis, and take an image of your old hdd that you can transfer the entire thing over to another hdd w/o losing anything, no keys lost etc.

[angels355]

Hi Leo, good advice.

Dave,

I've been told that if you get Acronis, and take an image of your old hdd that you can transfer the entire thing over to another hdd w/o losing anything, no keys lost etc.

EDIT: Forgot to mention: I wonder if that sounds a little on the high side? I don't know I haven't been shopping very much. Check on what Dell has to offer w/ regards to processor speed and the core 2 duo.

Also check into building it yourself. A Wolfdale processor would be way better. The 1.8 ghz core 2 duo is great compared to any p4, however it could be considered yesterday's tech, while the Wolfdale is current. Check out what you can put together yourself with a Wolfdale setup. Make sure to buy a high quality power supply, a bad power supply when called upon to deliver more watts, could let go and burn out your brand new mobo. Courtesy of loki, here are some good psu brands: Antec, Enermax, PC Power & Cooling, Corsair, Seasonic, OCZ. With these brands you can count on them to deliver good wattage that won't burn out your new mobo.

[Leo112]

If you go with Dell check the business option. Don't get the home/office machines. For $800 you should be able to walk away with a pretty decent box for FS9 (with XP not Vista preinstalled)... Don't use Vista with FS9, it'll only cause you trouble.

I wouldn't copy my whole HD to another HD if I were you. Just slave the old drive in your new box...

[alastairmonk]

Let me just add that a twin-card SLI system will not benefit FS2004 (although you may get the benefits playing other "games") so consider getting one good card instead if FS2004 is the primary application.

Also note that FS2004 can only utilize one of the multiple cores, although you may be able to utilize the other core for secondary programs.

Alastair

[ppgstf]

You beat me to it Alastair, all of the advice sounds good to me.

The thought I had was the price seemed a little steep, especially with a 1.8ghz dual core CPU. You didn't mention what the PSU was?

[davemead]

my big drawback with purchasing a dell, or hp, or what have you is that i dont feel like dealing with someone in Bangladesh every time i have an issue, plus all the hardware they use is proprietary. So if a cooling fan dies, I cant just get a cheap $5 fan, i have to get a $30 fan from dell.

as for that machine itself, the guy who came up with those specs said he could price match anything, so ill put something nice together on dell or hp's websites and see what happens.

Did i understand alastairmonk correctly in saying that i would better benefit (for fs9) to get a nice 512 mb graphics cared instead of two 256's paired up in sli?

[alastairmonk]

Hi Dave,

My understanding is that neither FS2004 or FSX can utilise the benefits of SLI, so for these sims the second card would be surplus baggage and you would get more out of a single, quality card.

Personally I've always used nVidia cards, but if you prefer ATI I'm sure someone here can comment on which is the best.

Bear in mind that for FS2004 the most benefits will be from a really good processor plus good card and dedicated soundcard, rather than stinting on the processor in favour of a really good graphics card.

Also, I've yet to be convinced about the real benefits of the "3Gb RAM fudge" as there are reports that it can make FS2004 unstable, so unless you plan to fly really complex aircraft over really dense scenery, 2Gb RAM should be sufficient. Obviously FSX is a different story, and if you're looking to move onto FSX then the desired specs. will be much higher.

As always it comes down to balance. You could spend a reasonably modest amount on a better system that will be great for FS2004 and replace it in 2-3 years with "new technology" or go for the very best now and keep it for longer. I have no crystal ball and have no idea what's round the corner, but the historic trend of faster and faster processors seems to be changing to plateau out on the raw power in favour of smaller, multi-core processors that run cooler and consume less power.

Sadly, any system you get or build will be almost immediately obsolete, so decide exactly what you actually need and let that inform your decisions.

Alastair

[IronmanMLR]

Every time I have added a second harddrive I had to re-install XP. I set my harddrive jumper's to master for the primary harddrive and slave for the secondary harddrive. I typically don't use cable select.

Stay away from Walmart specials! They are ok for browsing the internet, but for serious game playing you want something better. If you can build it yourself, do so; if not, get a friend who can.

Mike