Recommended upgrade

[lmponte]

Hi there everyone,

I Currently have a PIII 800mhz with 640Mb SDRAM and a GeForce MX400 with 64Mb.

I would like to know what upgrade to you guys recommend for this machine, without spending more than 280-290 dollars, or about 300 euros.
I want better performance on FS2002.

Thank you,

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[theMK]

1st. Do you`ve a socket or slot proccessor?
(how to find that out - just open your PC and search the cooler on the mainboard - if there is something like a module you`ve a slot - if there`s just a fan and the cooler on the mainboard - it`s a socket (easy to find out!))

2nd. Your vid card! - buy a Radeon 64ddr or a Radeon 7500 "build by ATI" (or any NV card) - that would improve your perfomence!

[pvalexl]

Well first of all, i've noticed that theMK always seems so support ATI. I'm not trying to start a flaming thread here, but based on my personal experience with ATI, i was not very impressed. Go out and buy yourself a Geforce4 ti4200 card.

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[jsalvador]

I've been wondering the same thing.

I went out and bought a Geforce4 MX420 PCI, but another option was the ATI Radeon 7000 PCI at the same exact price.

Anyone know which one would of been better?

[lmponte]

Ok, thank for the suggestion, but there goes my 300 euros limit!

I just don't have the money, and I want an upgrade that can stand a reasonable performance for some time.

Thanks anyway,

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[Vike]

I think your MX card will be fine in the short term if you upgrade your CPU. What's the fastest CPU your motherboard can take? If it's not a newish m/b the you may need to buy another one - that'll put you over 300Eu but not by too much.

Adam
[font color=blue]The FS2K2 Homepage
http://www.engberg.co.uk/fs[/font]

[lmponte]

I think the fastest my motherboard can take is a P3 1ghz.
I think you are right, I will have to wait and go above my 300 limit, because buying a new mobo and processor I will also have to buy new memory because I have SDRAM only.

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[Vike]

If it's any consellation, I was in your position a few months ago, knowing that if I wanted to upgrade anything then I would need a new mobo, memory, processor and graphics card.

After saving the pennies, I put together a 512Mb, Athlon 1800+ with a 64Mb GeForce2 Ti. The good news? FS2K2 runs like a dream. I have all the sliders maxed except AI (set at 87%) and even flying the Dreamfleet 737 there are no stutters or shakes even at the busiest airports.

So keep saving the euros. It's worth it :)!

Adam
[font color=blue]The FS2K2 Homepage
http://www.engberg.co.uk/fs[/font]

[piano]

512Mb of ram gives the sim room to run smoothly. Ram capacity is
almost as important as the processor speed and can often make a slower processor appear to speed up.

Here are some simple analagies that illustrate basic computer operations and how they work together.

Ram capacity is often overlooked. It is like the surface area of a desk in an office. The more area you have to work with, the more items you can work with before you have to go to the filing cabinet(i.e. the hard drive).

The hard drive is the filing cabinet. Everything is indexed so it can be found. However, there is what is called a swap file. That is a temporary space where the computer puts information related to the program being run when there is not enough ram. The size of the swap file is determined by the amount of free space on the drive. If a computer has a small ram capacity and a small swap file programs can not run well because the computer spends more time juggling information. Try to determine the total disk space you will ever need, then double that. A two drawer filing cabinet is not as good as a four drawer cabinet. Remember, all future programs will have more lines of code to store. The cost per gig goes down after you get past a certain point.

Once a program is running, the processor checks the cache, the
ram, the hard drive, including the swap file, for the information it needs. Several operations are eliminated if the information is found in the cache or ram. This can make a great processor really pump! The cache capacity is built into the processor and motherboard designs, so the easiest spec to upgrade is ram capacity.

Graphics operations are another department. Its like the art department in a corporation. If the art department sends over a completed project, the processor only has to put it up for display. If the project is incomplete, the processor has to put the remaining pieces together, then display it. Newer graphics cards seek to put together completed projects so the processor has less to do. How different cards do this is a whole different
story. Graphics cards are like a computer within a computer. The same basic principles apply(i.e. more ram on the card is better).
The capabilty of a graphics card is determined by how it uses the various components on the card, including its memory capacity, in addition to its clock speed. (i.e. 2 clock cycles per operation to do what another card can do in 1 clock cycle)
Both cards may give equal quality, but one is not as eficient.

To sum up;

Brute processor speed is only one important specification of a smooth running computer. Ram type, total capacity, and ram speed is a very important part of the equation. Besides, ram is less expensive to upgrade than almost anything else in the computer.

Al

[stabilep]

A new processor. In fact since the P4's are out the P3 may be incredibly cheap so try and get the fastest P3 available that will fit in your slot/socket. because FS is processor dependent it will give you the best performance upgrade. Its like 189 dolars for the biggest bestest Pentium 3 (1.26 ghz and 512k cache)
well under your 280-290 dollar limit.
"ASK NOT WHAT I CAN DO FOR YOU! BUT WHY CAN'T YOU DO IT YOURSELF!" me