Another Hardware upgrade question

[Guest Mark Hazeldine]

I currently have:Athlon 1.4GHz512Mb DDR RAMGeForce 3 Ti200I'd like to do a small upgrade either to a faster processor or more RAM. Which would give me the most "bang for my buck"?Windows task manager reckons that virtually all the time, my processor is running at 100% but i'm on average using only 4 5ths of my available physical memory. Would a RAm upgrade actually improve anything in my case?By the way, i don't want a new GPU yet. I'll wait for the GeForce 5!

[Guest Mark Hazeldine]

Anyone? My question can't be that impossible can it?

[MKaprocki 3]

If you're nearly always running at 100%, something is kind of strange. I'm assuming you're using XP. Check the Processes tab and see what program is using so much of the processor. Same thing goes with the ram, something seems to be eating it up. Either way, you would notice more of a difference upgrading the CPU than memory.MattAsus A7V333Athlon XP2000+512MB Samsung PC2700Gainward Geforce4 Ti4600 GS

[Guest]

Mark I'm in the same boat. I have a AMD 1.4gig running at 1.6gig and 512mb of PC2100, and can't run everything flat out. I figure to upgrade to a faster processor since FS2002 just wants CPU power, and could apparently care less about the video card. It sure would be nice if MS could figure out a way to take advantage of the GPU's on todays video cards. Everybody else seems to. :-hmmm

[Guest]

Hi Matt;As soon as FS2002 is minimized or shut down the processor drops right off to nothing, so I can only figure it is the FS using it. I get the same thing with the RAM too. If I minimize FS and open task manager, I can watch the available RAM increase.

[Guest]

Easy. Upgrade the CPU. Especially if you're trying to incease the framerate (adding more RAM will NOT give you more FPS). You'll always run at, or near, 100% CPU utilization - even with a faster one. Your RAM is fine. Even with XP you won't be hitting the swap file except, occasionally, with the most complex add-on aircraft and/or dense add-on scenery.Trip

[MKaprocki 3]

FS will use most of the CPU, but I was under the impression that his is always near 100%, even when not running FS.Matt

[Chris_CYWG 0]

I just did an upgrade over the weekend and here are my findings.Previous system :AMD Tbird 1200 running at 1370mhz Abit KT7A-Raid512 PC133Leadtek Geforce 4 4200 128MB overclockedNew system:P4 2.4B Northwood @ 2900mhzASUS P4S533512 MB Samsung 2700 DDRSame vid cardThe results are as follows throughout the upgradeThe video card on the previous system yielded roughly a 3-5 framerate increase from my Geforce 2 64MB Ultra, and also gave a 4000 point increase on 3D marks.Upgrading 1500mhz is a whole new game. Everything is smooth, and I fly with EVERYTHING maxed out, reflections, shadows, I want it as close to real as possible.. no point in upgrading and still keeping everything backed off. The lowest frame rate I have seen is 15, this is with Hawaii mesh, honolulu airport addons, traffic, complex panels etc. On my older system, I was down to 2.9 fps... I also gained another 4000 3D marks for a total of 12,100, and frames are over the 30 mark where they used to be high teens.The best thing you could probably do is the cpu... ever since FS2000, this program is a CPU pig, and will probably continue to be that way from now on,, the vid card is an improvement, but not as much as the CPU as it allows you to drive those sliders up.Chris

[Guest Mark Hazeldine]

Thanks for all your help guys. Yes, my CPU usage goes way down to about 15% when FS is minimised, so i know it's FS doing that. Also the memory goes down gradually as the textures load up into memory. I haven't noticed it run out yet. Guessed the answer would be to upgrade the CPU but i just wanted to check. My final query is that an Athlon 1.4ghz CPU is still quite a good processor and i wondered if there's some way to run a dual processor machine without ludicrous expense/time setting it up. It seems a waste to throw the old one away as it's not exactly passed it's use-by date!

[Guest ccgr]

In order to support dual processors you need to have an OS that will utilize it like Windows 2000 or XP. Regarding the memory you may get a slight increase on the performance but nothing too noticable. I would recommend a GeForce4, but if your CPU it being taxed perhaps a faster one would be in order. I would go intel since they lead the performance now. If you have any questions feel free to pm or e-mail me.