system for FS2004

Trying to get back into flying,old system took a dump,have everything but tower, here is the problem I only have $150 to work with

any advice would be deeply appicated. thanks in advance.

gonzo54

Obviously for $150 you aren't going to get a screamer, but you can get a box that runs FS9 reasonably. I would get at least an i5 processor and a reasonable graphics system. At that price you won't get an addon video card, but integrated graphics can manage to run FS9 OK.

 

As an example here is a box for $169:

 

https://www.amazon.com/HP-Quad-Core-Windows-10-Refurbished/dp/B01CV9G1BO/ref=lp_565098_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1558281444&sr=1-3

 

For graphics it contains an Intel HD Graphics 2500 integrated graphics system. While not ideal, this site shows that it matches some low end graphics cards like a GeForce RTX 2060 and Radeon HD 5450.

 

https://benchmarks.ul.com/hardware/gpu/Intel+HD+Graphics+2500+review

 

I knew someone with a 5450 and while he had to watch out for complex scenery (low frame rates) FS9 flew OK.

 

Hope this helps,

gonzo54 - I agree with Tom, you don't need a screamer by today's standards to run FS2004 at the max. Try searching on Amazon or Ebay for a tower with a minimum 3ghz processor and at least 8mb RAM, that'll handle FS2004 plus most add-ons as smooth as silk.

If you can stretch your budget a bit, you can try any of the options Tom gave you, and add a cheap Nvidia GPU. It will do wonders, when compared with the Intel GPU (specially regarding image quality with that IGP).

Many thanks Mr. Gibson, I'll be trying to fly again soon,and just so you know

your dc 6 is one great aircraft.

Thanks, glad to help. I agree that a video card may help, but you can try it with the integrated graphics first and then add the video card when you have more money.

Only my opinion: Delay gratification, save-up more money, and get a little better system than $150 bucks will get ya...

For years I ran FS9 on an emachines Vista32 system with a mere 2gig RAM (stop laughing). It was a refurbished unit from Newegg for $200; I added an HD5670 vid card ($75) and later upgraded the cpu to an Athlon 64x2 6000+ ($30 NOS unit from ebay). Certainly not a hotshot by any means but ran FS9 at 1080 with fps locked at 30, barely complained of Aerosoft Manhattan scenery (though couldn't handle BlueSky scenery). (Medical bills with no insurance precluded me getting anything better.)

For years I ran FS9 on an emachines Vista32 system with a mere 2gig RAM (stop laughing). It was a refurbished unit from Newegg for $200; I added an HD5670 vid card ($75) and later upgraded the cpu to an Athlon 64x2 6000+ ($30 NOS unit from ebay). Certainly not a hotshot by any means but ran FS9 at 1080 with fps locked at 30, barely complained of Aerosoft Manhattan scenery (though couldn't handle BlueSky scenery). (Medical bills with no insurance precluded me getting anything better.)

 

 

Ah the old Emachines. I bought one new from Micro Center with Windows XP on it. I changed parts in that machine for years and limped it along until I finally built my own PC years later. It ran quite a few versions of FS. Medical bills is also the reason I stayed with the Emachines PC for a long time. That machine really was built like a tank.