New pc advice

[Guest]

Hello, I want to get a new machine that specifically works well with flight sims. For various reasons, I want to buy a pre-built and have narrowed the vendor to Micron. Here's my first stab at a spec. Can you guys please comment? First some questions, then the spec.* For the CPU I have the option of 2+gig chips with a 533FSB (what is that and do I really need it?).* Do I really need 512meg of RAM or will 256 do?* Do I really need a 128meg video card, or will the 64meg do?Thanks for any help. Anywhere I'm going overkill on these specs. I'm going from a PentiumII 400, 4 meg vid card if that makes a difference.Millennia TS2 Xtreme (D100N) Quantity: 1 Unit Price: $1,299.48 Sub Total: $1,299.48 Minitower w/Front USB Intel Pentium 4 Processor 1.9GHz (400FSB) (256K cache) 512MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM-2 DIMMs 60GB ATA-100 hard drive (7200 RPM) Integrated ATA-100 IDE (Non-RAID Configuration) 1.44MB 3.5" Floppy Drive Integrated Customer Selects No Additional Optical Drive 16x48x Variable Speed DVD-ROM 128MB DDR nVidia Geforce4 TI4200 w/Super FX Gaming Bundle

[Guest SD Sim]

I'll try and help to the best of my ability...>* For the CPU I have the option of 2+gig chips with a 533FSB >(what is that and do I really need it?).FSB dictates the speed with which the CPU can communicate with the rest of the computer. The older pentium chips (Willamette core) had a FSB of 100MHz that was "quad pumped" to give an effective rate of 400 MHz. The newer Northwood core has a quad pumped 133 MHz FSB, for an effective rate or 533 MHz. The faster the FSB, the better.>* Do I really need 512meg of RAM or will 256 do? Depends on your operating system, to a degree. With Win 98, 256 is probably sufficient for FS2K2. For XP, you probably should go with 512 MB. However, PC2100 is pretty cheap, and another 256 MB should cost less than $50. Well worth the cost.>* Do I really need a 128meg video card, or will the 64meg >do? You can opt for the GF3 Ti200 or Ti500 cards (both 64 MB onboard memory), but the cost savings will be minimal compared to the GF4 Ti 4200. I would highly recommend the Ti4200.>Thanks for any help. Anywhere I'm going overkill on these >specs. I'm going from a PentiumII 400, 4 meg vid card if >that makes a difference. >Minitower w/Front USB >Intel Pentium 4 Processor 1.9GHz (400FSB) (256K cache) >512MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM-2 DIMMs >60GB ATA-100 hard drive (7200 RPM) >Integrated ATA-100 IDE (Non-RAID Configuration) >1.44MB 3.5" Floppy Drive Integrated >Customer Selects No Additional Optical Drive >16x48x Variable Speed DVD-ROM >128MB DDR nVidia Geforce4 TI4200 w/Super FX Gaming Bundle To be honest with you, I think your spending too much for what your getting. There is no mention of a monitor, so this is clearly on the steep side, IMHO. $1300 should get you a newer P4 2.26 GHz CPU with PC2700 memory, or better yet, Rambus RAM (also called PC800, with faster version of PC1066). Of course, ready made systems will cost you more than DIY, but I think you can do better with a little shopping around. I'll be happy to help some more if you like, just let me know.

[Guest flightpro08]

I highly recommend building your own computer. This works out to be a lot cheaper than a boxed machine. Another advantage to building your own system that that in boxed computers, you'll typically get stuck with a MOBO that does not allow for much tweaking. I just built my first 'home-made' system last week and will never go back to boxed computers. :-)Ryan-Flightpro08 :-coolVATSIM Pilot/ControllerZLA ARTCC Controller 1 (C-1)SAN TRACON Lead [link:www.taxiwaysigns.com]Taxiwaysigns.com Scenery Designer

[Guest]

Craig - First, I'd like to encourage you to not buy a machine from Micron, or anyone else, with those specs. The P4 chip that Micron is quoting is the older, and much slower, 256KB cache version. And that combined with the slower PC2100 memory isn't a very good choice for flight simming. Only buy a P4 CPU called a "Northwood", which has the 512KB cache. The Northwoods come in two types, those with a 100 Mhz FSB (quad-pumped to 400) and those with a 133 FSB (quad-pumped to 533). There's a lot of technical jargon that go with both and the jury is still out on which is the best and the fastest. For sure, though, the future is with the 533 Mhz version as that's Intel's upgrade path for the faster CPU's. So, you need either the 533Mhz FSB (which guarantees a 512KB cache Northwood) or the original Northwood with the 400Mhz FSB and 512KB cache. The key is to avoid any chip with only a 256KB cache - and use only the fastest memory available. Second, on your questions: you need the fastest CPU you can afford for flight simming - faster is always better. I'd go with not less that 384MB of RAM if running Win98 and up it to a minimum of 512MB if you're using WinXP. I'd recommend the 128MB video card. You don't really need it, but the initial cost difference is only about US$30 and it's definitely going to be a plus in the coming months as more games grow into it. And last, a comment about buying a pre-built. I'm with the guys who encourage folks to build their own. And I understand there are a large number of reasons why folks don't want to get into that. But..I would encourage you to take your specs to a small local computer shop and have them give you a price. You can buy the same, or better, components as those quoted by Micron for not more than US$800. And I'll guarantee that you can find many small shops that will give you an assembled machine for under US$1000 that will perform better than the one quoted by Micron. And, buying it locally gives you local support. I don't want to sound too negative Craig, but I really think the Micron with the specs and price given would be an expensive mistake.TripNorthwood 2.2a at 2.72Ghz Abit TH7II-R512MB Samsung 40ns PC800Gainward GF4 Ti4200 300/57030.30's DX8.1 WinXP ProInwin case / Enermax 431W PSU3DMark2001SE = 12055http://service.madonion.com/compare?2k1=4088814