Hardware Upgrade Questions PLEASE HELP

[sidsata]

To Anyone who can help,
I currently am running a system that I'm afraid to fly Fs2004 on just because I dont want to attempt to fly it without decent frame rates. System Specs:

Intel P4 2.0 Ghz 512L2
1GB DDR SDRAM
nVidia Ti 4200 64MB

I am somewhat of an amateur to hardware upgrades and am on a budget. I am going to upgrade soon and had two options in mind...
Either I go all out and spend $600 on an AMD Anthlon 64 3500 processor( I have been told it kicks #####) conversion and upgrade my video card up to an nVidia 5700LE with 256 Vram. Also using the ram and other components on my current system. The other option is upgrading my Intel chip up to the max my motherboard supports (2.8GHZ 1mb L2 cache), and getting an nVidia 5950 or some other at that level. This project would run no more than $400 for me. Which do you think is the better option for me. And in general what gives Frame rates more horsepower in FS, is it processor or video card. Also, what is the best Video card for FS9, is it nvidia or ATI. Thanks for your time

Sid

[aigean]

you definately want a lot processor for FS, although you also need a pretty decent video card too to really get good results (and you'll also want 1gb RAM). that probably doesn't really help you out much, but unfortunately fs2004 is a gaming beast in all aspects.

my philosophy behind upgrading is to get the best processor and mobo you can afford, then you can always upgrade the other parts as you go along. if you buy a mediocre processor now, you're stuck trying to upgrade on top of that. better to get the best foundation you can. if you have to, you can always run the geforce4 a few more months until you get the funds.

and i have the athlon64 3500+. not to toot my own horn, but it's a good choice IMO.

will you be putting this together yourself, or are you hiring a shop to do it for you?

[sidsata]

I figured that the processor would be most important. aaron, what vid card are you sporting and what kinda frame rates do you get so I know what to expect. I am debating between Anthlon 3500 and 3400 and if that extra bus speed boost at 2000mhz makes a huge difference. the 3400 is about $100 less with motherboard. i am debating whether or not to do this myself. I have a guy at my university computer shop that will put it together for $60 bucks if I buy from him. If i buy myself, which is a bit cheaper, one of my buddies says he would help me put it together. My concern is if I need to re-install my OS to convert from Intel to AMD. Give me your input if you have any. By the way, I will most def not wait out on my vid card, its just too slow for other games too. Im gonna at least do the fx 5700 if not 5900 or beyond. Thanks. Id love more input.

Sid

[zoynyne]

Your current system would do fine for FS2004 - you just wouldn't be maxing out settings.

It WOULD provide a very decent experience with very decent framerates though.

You'd definitely not have to be running at minimums with it.

[pgjeff]

Agree with the last post about your system doing fine. If you keep 3D clouds down, I think you'll enjoy it quite a bit.

Win XP Pro
P4 2.8 @ 3.2
XFX FX5900XT w/ 53.03 Drivers
512Mb Corsair XMS Dual-Chan.
SB Live 5.1

[aigean]

well, i agree with these guys. first step is to try fs2004 out on your current rig. nothing to lose there, and i think you'll enjoy yourself quite a bit.

the info on my rig with framerate shots is here http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/DCForumID29/1453.html

note these shots were made to challenge the video card and processor, so in normal flying my frames are significantly higher.

[sidsata]

thanx for the input all, I will definately try out FS9 before upgrading. Do you all think that pushing the processor up to 2.8ghz from the 2.0 I have now would be much of a help if I am already gonna get a new vid card. Something like a fx5900 or something. Thanks

Sid