Time for an upgrade?

[Guest BrunoF]

Hi guys,Need some advice....Is it time to upgrade my computer? I get poor frame rates (5-8) at KMIA (FlyTampa! Scenery), with PMDG's aircraft, some clouds and lots of addons that are suppose to improve the look and make my flying even smoother, although they do work, they haven't helped a lot.... Here are my system Specs, any input is welcome!XP1800+1GB RAM (Corsair)ASUS A7N8X-XGeForce Ti4600Thank youBruno Francescoli.

[gosta]

Hi Bruno,your motherboard supports CPUs up to the XP3200, so that would be the first option (provided your RAM can match the CPU FSB speed, i.e. 400MHz, or PC3200 if you prefer).Apart from that, you may want to look into upgrading your graphics card - however, if it's a choice between either CPU or graphics card, the CPU upgrade will provide more performance gain. Having said that, with adequate cooling, your CPU may overclock quite a bit, so you may decide on a better graphics card in combination with overclocking your existing CPU. The bottom line is: Do you want to buy a single component that will give you an instant performance boost, or are you comfortable with tweaking your settings and trying out different things? If it's the former, go for the CPU. If it's the latter, I would go for a graphics card, overclock the processor and wait a month or so for the new Prescotts to have an impact on AMD's prices and pick up a cheap XP3200...Cheers,Gosta.http://www.hifisim.com/images/as2betateam.jpg

[Guest BrunoF]

Hi Gosta,Thanks a lot for the information.I think I'll go for the XP3200 or XP3000. On thing though. How an I know if my RAM matches the CPU FSB speed? Thank you,Bruno Francescoli.

[Guest Xtra]

If it's PC3200 DDR or better (higher number), it will quite readily support the bigger Athlon processors. If not, it would be worth investing in some. Not hugely expensive.

[Guest BrunoF]

Thank you very much! :DBruno Francescoli.

[Bluescaster]

Hi Guys, Sorry to butt in on this thread, however I'm still in the early stages of getting to the bottom of what's in my computer - Could I be a pain and ask for a simple explanation of terms? I seem to read so much that just as I THINK I'm beginning to understand, I read something that throws me out again.Therefore can you explain how the "Motherboard" and the "CPU" (Processor?? ) fit into things, and maybe how the "RAM" effects the graphics card which I see written as i.e. nVidia FX5600 128Mg.etc.I ask as it seems to me that these four components are the basis of what makes my flight sim work,(or not!) fast/slow - or give, Good image/bad image. Sorry if these questions are unclear but my mind boggles at all these terms and components which I'm struggling to undestand. ThanksRegards Blue.

[gosta]

Hi 'Blue',you'd be best off starting a new thread, as it's more likely to get additional viewings. As to the basics, 'CPU' stands for 'Central Processing Unit', which is an IC chip that handles all calculations. A motherboard is the PCB upon which all IC chips are mounted, which are required for your computer to run. A graphics ard is a separate, motherboard-mounted PCB containing its own CPU which processes graphics information only. RAM is 'Random Access Memory', and refers to motherboard-mounted storage devices where information from your hard drive is temporarily stored for quicker access.Cheers,Gosta. http://www.hifisim.com/images/as2betateam.jpg

[Bluescaster]

Gosta, Many thanks for taking the trouble to answer my queries. I'm learning slowly but it has been an uphill struggle with some of the stuff.I've also just switched on ot the fact that I can "Search" this Forum - I have been reading it for a month or two thinking I could only go to each page shown under the various subjects! See how dumb some people are :-)Regards Blue.

[gosta]

It took me some time as well to figure out the 'search' function, so I wouldn't worry about that... :).Cheers,Gosta.http://www.hifisim.com/images/as2betateam.jpg

[jfri]

>Apart from that, you may want to look into upgrading your>graphics card - however, if it's a choice between either CPU>or graphics card, the CPU upgrade will provide more>performance gain. Having said that, with adequate cooling,>Gosta.>Are you sure about this? I read a processortest and one of the conclusion that could be drawn was, for games the CPU choicemade little difference in performence. You would better spendthe money on a good graphics card.

[gosta]

This is true for most games, but FS is extremely CPU-dependent. While with most games, the bulk of the calculations consist of graphics rendering, a simulation has to calculate all underlying parameters, such as flight dynamics, wind etc., which have no effects on graphics. So a faster CPU will improve performance a lot.Cheers,Gosta.http://www.hifisim.com/images/as2betateam.jpg

[jfri]

>This is true for most games, but FS is extremely>CPU-dependent. While with most games, the bulk of the>calculations consist of graphics rendering, a simulation has>to calculate all underlying parameters, such as flight>dynamics, wind etc., which have no effects on graphics. So a>faster CPU will improve performance a lot.This makes sense. But will a better graphics card also improve performence? I have an old NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX 440 64 M DDR.If I replace it with newer graphics card for example a NVIDIA GEFORCE FX5900XT (which according to a test gives good performence at an affordable price) will I notice a significant improve in performence on FS9.Do you know if your answer also is valif for other flightsim programslike IL2 etc?

[jfri]

I also have XP 1800+ and I have a framerate around 20-25, with most settings close to max and resolution 1027*768 32.

[gosta]

>But will a better graphics card also improve performence?http://www.hifisim.com/images/as2betateam.jpg

[Guest ccgr]

what is your price range? The cheapest upgrade would be to boost the CPU. Unless you want to change platforms to AMD 64 or Intel's 800FSB with hyper threading. Depending on how soon you plan on upgrading it may be beneficial to wait for PCI Express which will be the new card standard for future video cards. That should be out middle of this year...