Hi everyone!I am looking for the most bang for my buck.I am a senior computer analyst who unfortunately works on high end mega processors. My PC knowledge is limited as my career focus is in large scale I.T. mainframe systems. I wanted to come here and ask a few basic questions about my PC and see what this community might suggest.First I will tell you what I have.1. Asus P4S8X-MX socket 478 motherboard (supports overclocking but I am having some trouble with that)2. ATI Radeon 9200 128 MB GPU AGP3. 1MB DDR 3200 unbuffered memory non ecc4. 100 GB serial ATA hard drive (40 Gig unused).5. 60 GB IDE Ultra DMA hard drive (30 Gig unused).6. AGP 8X support (1.5 volts only)7. Pentium 4 2.48 GHz 512/533 processor without Hyper Threading support (hyper threading does not show up in the Bios with this chip)8. 2 DVD IDE RW light scribe dual layer drives. I am trying to run FSX and FS9 flight sims with PMDG 747/400 and plan to purchase other add on planes, like the concord, and various other systems for the flight sims.My PC performance is presently borderline. Unfortunately I do not know how to tell you what my Frames Per Second rate is, I assume this is somewhere in the flight sim software but I do not know where since I am new to this hobby. LOL I can tell you all about a CRAY super computer but do not understand PC's or the sims very well. Thats why I am asking the EXPERTS! Presently I see the frames stall from time to time and when running FSX mostly, FX9 is more responsive.One thought I have is to upgrade the GPU. This will have to be an AGP upgrade since I do not support PCI/E on this board. I know there are a number of AGP cards available all the way up to 512 MB DDR2 cards and maybe higher (if you know of something better let me know). I have wondered if there is a cut off point where going higher with these cards would make little difference given the limitations of the AGP 8X interface. Do any of you have experience in this area? What would you recommend as the best card for my system? How far can I expect to get in performance after an upgrade and where will I begin to see an increase in performance begin to fall off (equalize) as I go up in the higher end cards?The next thought is in the PC memory area. Would going up to 2MB of system memory help that much? Do any of you know how to overclock this board and keep it stable? I have tried to overclock the system processor to 2.88GHz but it became unstable with FS9 and FSX running forcing me to bring it back to 2.4GHz speed. I am asking about the overclocking but I am also wondering if anyone knows if this Mother Board can overclock the memory chips also? Asus manual is not clear if the CPU overclock also brings the memory speeds up on the bus as would be expected. Any good info on a place to go for general system overclocking info would be great as would any info you can share here on this subject.Next thought is to buy a processor that supports hyper threading and which is faster. Would this help me much, what are your suggestions, I have not had any experience with hyper threading PC's?Another thought I had is to add a second serial drive and run it in a raid configuration bringing the two matched drives togather as one. Is this really a good idea? Will I see much in performance by doing this and how do I set this up?Any other ideas you have would also be appreciated. I am trying to get as much out of this box as I can. Unfortunately a new PC is not presently in my budget and with the holidays coming and I don't see it in the near future as well.I know I have ask for a lot of information and I apologize to those who do not have time to respond to all of it. If you could share information on what you know that will be appreciated. As much as I would like to think I am the only one in this situation I am certain I am not. Rest assured that what ever you tell me will also help others in this situation as well.Many thanks in advance for anything you can share!Now that I look at what I have written I should have changed the title to lets build a PC. (*grin*)Monty HowardN9ZN - Extra Class Amature Radio Ticket HolderTampa, Florida U.S.A.

Not even ONE friendly response?Did I write to much?Oh well... At this point I will take non friendly responses also. (LOL,LOL)I know I ask a lot in one post. If you have info on any part of the post it would be appreciated as well.Monty Howard(New Flyer in training, no wings yet but I collected a feather)

Hi Monty, I'ld suggest you read along in Bob's thread here: http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...13512&mode=fullA fundamental thing missing in your question: What do you intend to display it on? Also, which are the upgrade paths within the near future or even lifetime of the components? IMHO, this is a very bad time to upgrade and I'ld hold to after New Year and/or await Aces action regarding FSX performance. For FS9 a good AMD64 system seems good enough. Right now, it appears bushflyers enjoy FSX most. At least I do! :-) Hope this adds to thoughts, kind regards Jaap

What I am looking for is the best way to max the machine I have out to get the best all around performance and best graphics display I can acheive. I am begining to wonder if it is even worth while to consider upgrading my machine. The more I look at it it seems the mother board has so many limitations I may not be able to go far with this PC.Without realizing you responded to this post I posted another thread concerning only my AGP graphics card and how to upgrade it. It seems I can only add a GPU that has 1.5 volt support and that appears to have severly limited my choices for a new AGP GPU.I want to spend most of my time running FSX and want to get the best graphics I can get out of the box I have. My goal is to greatly improve the overall performance of the PC in the process with other upgrades but only if they will offer significant improvements for the money spent.Waiting to do the upgrades may cost me the opportunity. Fortunately my other half has not discovered my upgrade funds but if I keep them around long she will. Sometimes I wonder if I am alone with this problem.Monty

Hi Monty, 1.5V is standard so nothing to worry about. You still haven't mentioned the dsiaply(s) or resolution(s). Kind regards Jaap

This is the 10th attempt to reply to you message. I have lost several pages thus far since the reply did not take.Test testOK! It is working now. :-)I got a reply from another forum member here that tells me my card will only do AGP 4X. My PC requires 2 notches in the connector to fit onto the mother board.When I look inside ATI catalyst it show I am running AGP 8X bus speed however. I frankly don't know what I have but I do know the number of cards with two notches in the gold connector are slim to none and most are pretty old technology.I have a NEC monitor capable of more than 1600*1200 at 32 bits. THe ATI 9200 is supporting over this resolution presewntly on my machine. I intend to run only one monitor but may move up to two if I can get things working well (doubtfull at this point.) If not I may just throw this pile of junk into the trash I am so fed up with it.When I bought the PC the sales guy showed me the manual for the mother board and it said it supported 8x AGP cards. If only 4X cards have two notches then I guess I was lied to.Monty

Hi Monty, 1600x1200 is huge. If it's a CRT, you could lower the load on the GPU by lowering the reslution. FSX is a RAM monster. With limited funds, I would stick with what you have/FS9 and only add a better GPU. Pls note a new GPU might also require a new PSU. For FS9 with a mid-class P4, a 2nd hand 256MB 9800pro or alike would be perfect IMHO. With a 256MB GPU, you could run a relatively small AGP-aperture to not sacrifice too much of your physical RAM. I'll leave the technical bit to Bob, he knows much more in the 'voltage minefield'. :-) I thought it was safe to plug almost any modern AGP-card into a 4-8x AGP-slot. Please excuse me if this was wrong. Hope this adds to thoughts and kind regards Jaap

>I got a reply from another forum member here that tells me my>card will only do AGP 4X. My PC requires 2 notches in the>connector to fit onto the mother board.Look at this photo of the ASUS P4S8X-MX mobo--the AGP slot is standard AGP 2.0+ with a single slot key to prevent a 3.3v board from being inserted (green arrow).http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-2/1151...MX-AGP_Slot.jpgThe larger "notch" at the end of your ATI video board next to the "L" shaped bracket tab is common to all AGP boards, and is not a slot key notch per se. It fits over the end of the slot connector (at the red arrow) and allows a mechanical latch to engage that L-shaped dog-ear. From what I see, any standard AGP 4x-8x board should fit OK into your mobo.See the photo at very bottom of this page:http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/11/23/pc_...101/page16.htmlThe bottom (blue) card edge is an AGP "1.5v" slot...note the larger slot next to the bracket tab I refer to. Just above it is a Universal AGP board that has two slots in the middle of the connector plus the larger bracket tab slot. The one on top is the 3.3v.>When I look inside ATI catalyst it show I am running AGP 8X>bus speed however. I frankly don't know what I have but I do>know the number of cards with two notches in the gold>connector are slim to none and most are pretty old>technology.>When I bought the PC the sales guy showed me the manual for>the mother board and it said it supported 8x AGP cards. If>only 4X cards have two notches then I guess I was lied to.If Catalyst says you're running 8x, then the board must be signalling at 0.8v...could be that ASUS only means that you need the so-called 1.5v slot key for the card to fit. The manual says both 8x support and 1.5v-only AGP...it can't be both. I'd guess they're confusing the mechanical spec for the slot ("AGP 1.5v") with the electrical characteristics of the card (AGP 8x).RegardsBob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V L-300Santiago de Chile

Great News!I am going to tear this box down soon and look at the slot as well as contact ASUS after they open from the holiday weekend.I'll be back in a few days.Thank you,Monty HowardN9ZN / Tampa Florida