Boring upgrade......Like-new system

[kc10]

Do not under estimate the value of an adequate power supply,sufficient quality memory(even sdram!) and a clean HD with speed and plenty of space.I had my mind set on all the glamorous,fun-to-discuss upgrades like the newest vid card or some new p4 5.1 gig.....My little p3 1.0 with a GF2mx 32mb is completely revived and absolutely screamin' thanks to the following "boring" upgrades:

WesternDidgital 15g 5400 hd --->IBM 40g 7200
256mb pc133 sdram ----------->512mb
150watt ps(ouch!) ------------->300w
Win98SE ---------------------->XP pro

I still have some blurries because of the card limitations,but I have plenty of speed whether it be FR or switching views or texture drawing.And no sliders or checked boxes kill my FR anymore.Before I even had to keep acft shadows off.Now I can use multitexturing,AA,reflections,autogen....well I'm being redundant,so I'll quit.
Please do yourselves this favor,make sure you have given your machine a chance to show you what it can really do before you junk it.

[font color=blue size=2]KC
Ft Lauderdale,Florida[/font]

Also,my cpu operating temperature has dropped 28 degrees!!!

[tjkotula]

>WesternDidgital 15g 5400 hd --->IBM 40g 7200

Hard drive spindle speed always helps, especially the ones with larger 8MB caches, but even going from just 5400 to 7200 rpms will give you some improvement because the drive will load textures faster.

>256mb pc133 sdram ----------->512mb

More RAM almost always helps up to a point. Especially with Windows XP. Once you hit the 1GB mark, you probably won't notice a difference in these times, but over 1GB will help 2-3 years down the road.

>150watt ps(ouch!) ------------->300w

Oh yeah, big ouch there. It's amazing how much an underpowered system will underperform. One time a guy with a 900 Mhz Athlon posted that upgrading from a 200W to a 350W power supply virtually doubled his fps from 15 to 30 and completely cured his blurries.

>Win98SE ---------------------->XP pro

XP is much better than 98SE at manging memory. XP actually determines what's needed to perform a task rather than just throwing a predetermined amount at a program based on it's complexity and size.

>Also,my cpu operating temperature has dropped
>28 degrees!!!

Now that's truly amazing, but I suspect it's because your rig finally has enough power that it can actually back off a little rather than putting maximum stress on itself to perform tasks like Flightsim.

Congrats. Gives solid evidence that a faster processor or better video card isn't always the answer to the best performance.

Tim Kotula

XP 1800+ o/ced to XP2000+ (1.67Ghz)
MSI KT3 Ultra Motherboard
512 MB Crucial PC2100 DDR
OC Systems Enhanced GeForce 4 Ti4200 64 MB DDR o/ced to 330/640 Mhz.
Sound Blaster Live! 5.1

Think you've got computer problems? You haven't until you've installed the latest version of FS!

[gdub2611]

Tim, yourself and the captain seem to be the guru's of hardware(and hopefully i can be one one day!) and i was wondering, is there any possible damage of getting as high a power supply as ppossible on your system? does it fry chips or anything? im currently designing my new system and want to get as many things ready for new technology, 'future proof' the system.

Thanx in advance
G-Dub

[tjkotula]

As far as I know, there is no such thing as 'too much' power. A 350W PS from someone like Antec Performance is ideal these days, but a 420W or greater will prep you for the future and will help if you plan to get the latest hardware - Especially a combo like an XP2800+ or 3.06 Ghz P4 and a Radeon 9700 Pro with 2 optical drives, high-end sound card, high power speakers, multiple fans, etc.

Tim Kotula

XP 1800+ o/ced to XP2000+ (1.67Ghz)
MSI KT3 Ultra Motherboard
512 MB Crucial PC2100 DDR
OC Systems Enhanced GeForce 4 Ti4200 64 MB DDR o/ced to 330/640 Mhz.
Sound Blaster Live! 5.1

Think you've got computer problems? You haven't until you've installed the latest version of FS!

[gdub2611]

Thank ya Tim!

Wondering if i can pick your brain for a wee bit more...?

In what order of ranking would you put these cards?
Radeon 7000 128MB SDR AGP TV-out
Geforce4 128MB MX 440SE (im guessing this one is rather poor as it is an MX)
Radeon 9000 128MB DDR DVI
Hercules Prophet 9000 128MB
Radeon 9000Pro 128mb Atlantis AGP DDR DVI Retail
GeForce4 Ti4200 8x 128Mb - TV Out - DVI

Your help will be greatly appreciated as always

Thanx
G-Dub

[ahmedmumeni]

G-Dub,

Have a look at this page. http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic...charts-02.html

It shows you many video cards in performance in order, have fun!

http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...0b6a75b6c1.jpg

[tjkotula]

>In what order of ranking would
>you put these cards?
> Radeon 7000 128MB SDR AGP
>TV-out
> Geforce4 128MB MX 440SE (im
>guessing this one is rather
>poor as it is an
>MX)
> Radeon 9000 128MB DDR DVI
>
> Hercules Prophet 9000 128MB
> Radeon 9000Pro 128mb Atlantis AGP
>DDR DVI Retail
> GeForce4 Ti4200 8x 128Mb -
>TV Out - DVI

Top to bottom:

1. GeForce 4 Ti4200 8x, 128 MB DDR (Best value/bang for buck)
2. Radeon 9000 Pro, 128 MB Atlantis AGP (good budget card)
3. Hercules Prophet 9000/Radeon 9000 128 MB DDR (good budget cards)
4. GeForce 4 128MB MX 440SE (yep, not a good choice)
5. Radeon 7000 (don't bother)

Tim Kotula

XP 1800+ o/ced to XP2000+ (1.67Ghz)
MSI KT3 Ultra Motherboard
512 MB Crucial PC2100 DDR
OC Systems Enhanced GeForce 4 Ti4200 64 MB DDR o/ced to 330/640 Mhz.
Sound Blaster Live! 5.1

Think you've got computer problems? You haven't until you've installed the latest version of FS!

[gdub2611]

Hehe thanx man, i certainly will!

G-Dub

[gdub2611]

Thank you!

G-Dub

[budreiser]

Thanks here also. I'm finally getting serious about a major
upgrade. Started getting the wheels turning about a week ago
with the anticipation of an October release of FS2004. Now that
the announcement is out for a summer release, I gotta get my
rear in gear. Please, let's hear from people like tjkutola so
a dummy like myself don't get led astray. I am going to try to
build my first machine and have an idea I will need a lot of
help. But I have confidence I can do it, even though I am 67.