Best computer for FSCOF

[Beagley]

Around mid September I'll be ready to buy a new computer, and I need to know what it should have in it? I'm looking at a $1500 budget. I'd like to have a flat screen for easier mobility, and MS Office would be nice too (I know it comes in package deals). What do you'll think? Should I build my own...?

AB Josh Beagley
Keesler AFB, MS
josh.beagley.us

[Captain_Slarty]

ask again in early september.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/captain...s/coolskul.gif

'If God had meant man to fly, He would have given him loadsa money. !!!.. They even told me god saves.. pah !.. not on my wage he wouldn't...!

[bigbear]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jun-07-03 AT 06:08AM (EDT)[/font][p]Josh,

Flight Simulator is very much CPU-intensive and not graphics intensive. That's why if you upgrade from a GeForce 3 to a Radeon 9800 ULTRA, you will see only a max of about 1-2 FPS performance boost. The only things that really put a strain on the graphics card in FS are AA and AF. So if you want a perfect looking picture with Anti-Aliasing 4x (no "staircase" lines) and anisotropic filtering 8X (no shimmering) WITHOUT LOSING FRAMERATE, get the 128 MB and DirektX 9 supporting ATI RADEON 9700 (standard version). In FS2002 it's perfect you don't even need a 9700 PRO version (saves 100$ !) or an expensive 9800 ULTRA.
For FS2002 (and surely for 2004 that will support DirectX 9) the 9700 is better value than the NVIDIA GEFORCE 4 (directX 8) and even the FX series (directX 9): only the newest very expensive FX 5900 (not even the 5800!) is faster than the Radeon 9700 with AA and AF on. Look at the tests in www.tomshardware.com or http://firingsquad.gamers.com/hardware/

Of course the 9700 cost a bit more than a NVIDIA TI4200-8x buth is really worth it!

Read also: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/forums/s...&threadid=6586

I run FS2002 at 1280 / 1024 /32 with anti-aliasing 4x en anisotrop filtering 8x. Beautifull picture, no "stairs"!
Target framerate locked on 24 : for me this is completely fluent and it gives the processor maximum resources for textures and other stuff. FS2002 flies like a dream even with my favorite but "framerate-eater" DREAMFLEET B737-400!
I have ALL options AND hardware things on, ALL DISPLAY-sliders on MAX, except for: VISIBILITY on 90 miles, CLOUDS on 75% recommended by the beautifull freeware FS SKYworld 2002 SE clouds addon.
ATC seems the be the biggest frame-eater: Normally i use 50 but with very heavy addon airports (like AIRPORT 2002 vol 1 by WILCO) with lots of AFCAD traffic, the best setting seems to be 25% for the best framerate. (which can drop to 10 fps or less in that case !!)

I have a friend with the same computer except for the video card: he has a Radeon 9700 PRO. Difference in framerate: NONE !
With this videocard it's the processor that is the "bottleneck" not the card. Go to http://firingsquad.gamers.com/hardware/ and read the CATALYST DRIVER REPORT: jump to COMMANCHE 4 which is comparable to FS2002 because it's also a DIRECTX 8 program and a typical "processor killer". You see: hardly any difference between even a 9700 PRO and a new 9800 PRO: on the contrary!

Of course the ideal should be a Pentium 6 GHZ because then even with AI traffic maxxed out and AIRPORT 2002 you should have 24 frames, but this processor is still on the drawing table i think. And at the time it will be available and FS2008 (!) is out it will be a bit slow perhaps if you have all sliders maxed especially with the slider to see the people walking in the streets or the individual leaves of the trees moving ...

Enough frame rates (24) means 512 MB (DDR)ram and a faster PROCESSOR which will NEVER be fast enough !


Bigbear

Pentium 4 2.66 GHZ
MOTHERBOARD: ASUS P4PE
512 MB DDR 333 Ram (PC 2700)
HERCULES 3D PROPHET 9700 (=standard RADEON 9700 )
WESTERN DIGITAL WD 800 JB (80 GB)
Soundblaster Audigy Player
WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL

[johnyyz1]

no need to waste your money here is a guide.........

* p4 2.6 DDR *don't get ripped off and let them scam you with sdram
* 512 ram or higher if you wish but start with 512 first
* radeon - the cheapest 128 gb video card i think it is 9000-forget about nvidea(too many compatibility problems)
* 2 hard drives - 20 gb / 100 gb put only windows xp/office/ect... on the 20 gb hard drive and everything else on the 100 gb harddrive.
* your harddrive should be 7200 rpm NOT 5400 rpm MAKE SURE YOU ASK.
note : intel 850 or 865 motherboad forget this other ##### and you will never have compatibility issues with other programs.

THE GREAT THING ABOUT THIS IF YOU EVER WANT TO UPGRADE LATER IT WON'T BE EXPENSIVE.

i am runing fs2002 on p3 667/512 ram/radeon 7500 and have no issues with framerates and i got everthing cranked up FULL !

good luck !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[shwncplnd]

compatibility issues with Nvidia? I've had both brands, and I never had any compatibility issues with Nvidia. Now ATI is another story. I won't even go there cuz I'll be vaporized by the flames. I believe that AMD is just as reliable as Intel. If you're on a budget, why use Intel?

Shawn