I Have $100.00 BUCKS

[Guest flynman2]

I Have $100.00 BUCKSWhat should I spend it on.........Upgrading my AMD XP1800 CPU to a XP2400Adding more DDR PCI2700 RAM.....from 512 to 768I think my vid card is fine...it is a EVGA GF4 Ti4200I am wanting to get rid of the NG slide show so what would improve my performance.......ThanksRandy Smith

[Guest Ray CYYZ]

That little a CPU change will do pretty much nothing.An extra 256 Megs of ram is not going to do much as you already have 512 and even with FS9, PMDG doesn't eat over 400 in worst case levels.Video card is about right for your system speed and a real one is going to run $300-400 so is out of your price range.That pretty much leaves you with money for beer and pizza so you can sit in front of your machine flying more }( Since I can run FS9 & PMDG at a little under 20 fps on my AMD 1.4c/GF3, I think you need to manage your expectations better and move them sliders to the left a bit more, or fork out the $3000 it will take to have them where you want. The sliders set your frame rates, not PMDG's aircraft.You have a slide show because you CHOOSE to have a slide show. :-violin Ray

[kjackson 0]

Randy, I have to agree with Ray on this one and it's not often that Ray and I see eye-to-eye on many subjects. PMDG's NG works great on my little 'ole 1.5GHz PC with the same video card you use. I have been enjoying NG and many other aircraft using FS9 with great frame rates.For $100.00 you and I can get drunk and eat pizza all night while defying FAA regulations concerning alcoholic beverages in the cockpit. Sounds like fun to me. :-)Regards,

[vscimone 16]

Don't forget EBAY. I have gotten some great deals from people who are upgrading their systems and trading up with video cards, memory, whatever. Of course there is always a risk of getting something defective, but so far I am batting 1000 with a video card upgrade and a memory upgrade, both of which I got for about 1/2 retail.VinPMDGwww.precisionmanuals.comhttp://www.vinscimone.com/dancnkid.gif

[PLazarus 0]

Randy,I've built many many systems and upgraded even more for people and the reality is you aren't going to see much difference with any of those upgrades, as already stated.The memory may give the greatest effect, but better still..save your money, try and reduce the number of processes happening while running FS...all those little icons in the bottem right corner..loose as many as possible, scan for spyware ( adaware is OK and free ), if you're using XP, press ALT CNTL DEL and kill some of those processes..they all use up resources that could be used to increase those frames. Lastly do a defragmentation of your hard disk.$100 for a good night out... too much money... down here in Lima you can do it for $30..including pizzas !Hope that helps,Paul in SPIM

[Guest RangerJack]

$3000 bucks?Here is my system which I do run full detail with great performance in FS9.350W ATX Case $80Abit IS7 $1003.0 P4/800 O/C to 3.3 $390Radeon 9700 Pro $2001GB DDR 400 $240All the rest can come from the old system. So that is about 1000 bucks for top notch performance. And yes that is with the retail fan. Just a thought for you guys thinking you have to buy some 3 grand PC. Prices may vary:|Ranger

[Guest Ray CYYZ]

I can get a ATI 9800 Pro and a case of beer for $1000 here.$799 for the card, 15% sales tax, and gas and beer ;)Thats a video card, now I need a system to plug it into right? :-lolRay

[crvm 0]

I hate to differ from this thread's trend but I too built my system and use to have a AMD XP1800+ and going from that to a XP 2200 made a difference for me. If fact I would say with a video card such as yours the only thing that will increase frame rates would be a newer faster CPU. Don't expect a great increase but you WILL see some increase. Ram is always good to have more of, I have 512 but could not hurt to get another 512 ;)[h4]Best Wishes,Randy J. Smithhttp://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-8/196432/winglets_lg.jpg [h3] AMD XP 2200 |MUNCHKIN 512 DDR RAM |ECS[/b ][i] K7S5A MB[/i] |GF2 MX 32 MEG and still runs GOOD!|WIN XP PRO |MITSUBISHI DIAMOND PLUS 91 19"[/h3]