Upgrading Old PC

I have dug out my old PC and I want to upgrade the gfx card and memory but I've been out of the loop for a long time and am very rusty when it comes to PC components.

I want to use it for Flight Simulator X and Aces High 2 and anything else it will be able to play. Its going to be a long time before I can afford a decent PC again so Im hoping if I spend £100 max on this PC I will be able to play the fore mentioned games on high settings.

Here is dxdiag of the PC....

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.101209-1647)

Language: English (Regional Setting: English)

System Manufacturer: MSI

System Model: MS-7369

BIOS: Default System BIOS

Processor: AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.6GHz

Memory: 3072MB RAM

Page File: 956MB used, 4001MB available

Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS

DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

DX Setup Parameters: Not found

DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

Card name: ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series

Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.

Chip type: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x9442)

DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)

Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9442&SUBSYS_05021002&REV_00

Display Memory: 512.0 MB

Current Mode: 1280 x 720 (32 bit) (60Hz)

Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor

Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200

Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll

Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6925 (English)

DDI Version: 9 (or higher)

Driver Attributes: Final Retail

Driver Date/Size: 2/25/2009 22:41:10, 325120 bytes

WHQL Logo'd: Yes

So Im hoping to upgrade the graphics card and memory. Not sure whether the motherboard can take anything newer than ddr2?

I will probably also need a new psu as the current one is only 405w.

Any help, advice and recommendations are greatly appreciated.

100 quid isn't going to do much with that system. I'd start saving for an i5, 16GB and a GTX 760.

Cheers!

Luke

Hi Jonny,

IIRC, there is a member here named mrzippy who runs FSX on a computer with similar specs - you might want to do a search for him and ask his advice.

That means it's possible to run a "vanilla" FSX install (no addons) on a computer like yours, but be prepared to have to compromise a lot in your expectations. Your sliders will probably have to be set on the low side in order to gain acceptable smoothness, and you might not be able to run HD textures (4096) or complicated addons such as the PMDG stuff.

I agree that trying to really add any hardware to this current machine with the proposed budget might not be in your best interest. Maybe adding RAM to bring up the count to 8GB might help, and I think your current PSU might be adequate at this time for what you have.

Have you installed and tried FSX yet on this computer? If not, give it a go and see how the performance is with all sliders set to low and move one slider up one notch at a time until you can't live with the framerate/performance.

Also, you might want to consider tweaking the FSX.cfg, but that should be discussed after you see how FSX currently runs.

I hope this helps.

Good luck,

E-Buzz :pilot:

Hello

Like you I had an ageing XP setup.

My mistake was to waste money it.

Upgrading gcards,mem,PSUs,etc etc etc.

In the end old PC died anyway.

My BEST upgrade ..a new PC

And this PC was not an expensive gameing machine either

HP Pavilion something or rather ,cost just over £400 .

This PC runs 9 (don't know about X )beautifully .

I have got just about what I've always wanted from my sim......Smooth running .

Not entirely!, but stutters are now very much the exception rather than the rule .

I can use add-on airport scenery for the first time without snails pace performance.(this is a GREAT bonus some of the free airport sceneries are really first class)

I can use default airport hogs like Egll,Klax ,JFK etc with no performance issues at all.

In short you may be better of saving your £100 ,and try to save another £300 or so and go for a new PC.

PS I ain't no money bags either ,spending £400 was a big deal for me...but! I am so glad Idid in the end.

PS this Pavillion PC comes with only a 180 watt PSU believe it or not.

It starts in seconds (my old XP setup was taking up to thirteen MINUTES to get its botty Into gear.

)and iam completely happy with its performance.

If you are interested I can post more detailed specifications for this PC.

I hope this post gives you some reassurance that you don't have to spend a vast amount of money to get excellent performance from FS9.

Cheers Andy

So I've decided to do a more substantial upgrade. Thinking of getting these parts now then get a gtx 750 for Christmas or maybe a gtx 960 then further down the line get a i5 or i7 cpu and an ssd drive, then even further down the line another 8gb ram and maybe a second video card sli.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/GYHBVn

Intel Celeron G1840 2.8GHz Dual-Core Processor

ASRock Z97 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard

Kingston 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory

EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply

Any thoughts on my selections?

Upgrade your Hardware and old PC's,at the same time, keep take backup your data safe to the cloud servers.

Regards,

http://www.virtual-server.net