New Computer

[MattL]

I am intending on selling my current PC and buying a new one from Dell. It has to be optimised towards Flight Sim 2004. What would be the best process speed versus cost be from the following options...
2.4GHz
2.6GHz (+£30)
2.8GHz (+£110)
3.0GHz (+£240)
3.2GHz (+£390)
(All with Intel Pentium 4 Processor with HT technology and 800 front side bus)

The same with the memory...
256MB Dual Channel DDR 400 (2x128MB)
512MB Dual Channel DDR 400 (2x256MB) (+£90)
1024MB Dual Channel DDR 400 (2x512MB) (+£270)
2048MB Dual Channel DDR (4x512MB) (+£630)

And the video card...
128MB nVidia GeForce4 FX5200 with DVI, Dual Monitor Support and TV-OUT via S-Video
128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Graphics Card with DVI Dual Monitor Support and TV-OUT via S-Video (+£70)
128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Graphics Card with DVI Dual Monitor Support and TV - Out via S-Video (+£220)

From these options, ideally, they need to total £300 on top of the defaults which are the ones with no (+£xx) at the end.
Any feedback would be welcome.
Matt

[stretch]

Matti, do yourself a favor and try an Athlon processor for a change. They are geared toward gaming more than the Pentium chip. I'm not knocking the Pentium mind you, but my frame-rates even back when I was running an old AMD 400 Mhz were 30-40 fps with sliders half way up. I'm running a 2.0
Ghz now and fps is around 50-60 fps most times.

Aaron****

[MattL]

The only problem is that Dell UK only offer Intel chips on their Desktops and I have to buy from Dell as I'm buying it as a company computer and Dell are our supplier :(

[Wichita]

The money diff in US$$ between the 3.2 gig and 3.0 is almost $300.00. Go for the 3.0,you won't see that much less in fps.

David

[srs148]

If you have to stick around $300 on top of the purchase price, this is the best combo of recommendations i would put forth...

>2.8GHz (+£110)

>1024MB Dual Channel DDR 400 (2x512MB) (+£270)
*** i feel that 1Gig of is VERY important to performance..not just of FS2004, but of other apps as well

>128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Graphics Card (+£70)

---of course, the 9800PRO would be fantastic, but is simply NOT worth what they want to charge you to upgrade to it.

best of luck!

[MattL]

This is what I have selected so far to keep to my £1500 limit thereabouts.
Total Cost: £1,525.07
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
2.6GHz Intel Pentium 4 Processor with HT technology and 800 front side bus
512MB Dual Channel DDR 400 (2x256MB)
80GB IDE Hard Drive (7200rpm)
Dell 17" Value (15.9" VIS) Monitor
128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Graphics Card with DVI Dual Monitor Support and TV-OUT via S-Video
16x DVD Rom & 48x/24x/48x CD-Rewriter
Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Sound Card
Altec lansing 745 Speakers with Subwoofer
Microsoft® Office XP Professional

[Badger]

Matt,

Do yourself a favour and wait for Dell UK to release their new XPS model over here.

Hopefully around the end of August.

You can still have your choice of hardware, but the chassis is optimised for games, with bigger and better cooling and a bigger PSU, located in the bottom of the case.

Check out the Dell US site for full specs.

I'm buying one as soon as I can :)


Regards

Mark

[MattL]

The problem is that if I do get an XPS then the price will be astronomical as shown by the USA prices...$800 difference to the other Dimensions. The other issue is that what I do is when my computer has reached 3 years old it is then taken into the office which I run and is used as a simple office computer. This is what is happening to my current computer, so even though I would like the specs to suit FS 2004 I dont really want a completely optimised computer towards games.
Thnaks for the advice however, helps me decide what I can replace the other computer we have in 12 months time!

[ctwo7]

Let me give you a tip. If you are ordering stricly for playing flight sim on it them order out of the small business instead of home computers. If you costumize a home computer and costumize a small business computer the exact same way it comes out at least $250 cheaper. Because the Home PC gives you all kinds of junk that you won't need for running a simulator.

I ordered a Dell about 3 weeks ago and I have no problems with FS2004. Sliders all maxed out I run it real smoothly.

Dell Diminsion 4600
Pent 4 proc. 3.0GHz 800MHz FSB w/ HT technology
512MB DDR Ram
80GB (7200RPM) hard drive
128MB ATI Radeon 9800 (non-pro)
19in ultrasharp flat panel LCD
$2000

[Badger]

I see where you are coming from.

The upside is that the XPS is basically a Dell Workstation chassis.

I can't do anything about the price difference, but you could point out to your office that the system is actually designed around high end graphics and CAD applications.

The difference when you buy it is that Dell offer specialised games helpdesk support and its a really cool blue colour!

I've brought several of the 'proper' workstations for my engineering users.


Regards

Mark