Need advice on new computer

[JeremyB 0]

Hi,I need to buy a new computer because I can't use my old laptop to fly in FS. I did some research and I found a computer within my budget and I think it's a good but I need some advice. I want to be able to use FS2004 and maybe FSX (not really important), low budget (under 500$ CDN taxes & shipping included) and I don't need a monitor. This is what I found on Canada Computers:Visionary VK-100-AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ 2,6 GHz Dual Core-2 GB DDR2 800 MHz (2 x 1 GB)-320 GB SATA-ATI Radeon HD 3200-Power Supply 450WPrice: 419.00$Shipping: 19.99$Taxes: 21.95$Final Total: 460.94$Finally, there is no OS included but I have Win XP Pro with my laptop, is there a problem using XP Pro with this system ? (I mean is XP Pro able to use all the ressources of a Dual Core)Thanks a lot for your help, this is really gonna help me as I'm not an expert in computers.Jeremy

[Plainplane 6]

You would have to buy a new copy of Windows XP for your new build.That machine would probably be all right for FS2004, keep in mind that the graphics card is an onboard chipset though.

[TechguyMaxC 516]

DDR2 is practically free now, might as well jump up to 4GB. Also the GPU listed is one of the onboard variety, best to go with a discrete card even if its el cheapo.

[JeremyB 0]

As I said, I'm not an expert so why should I keep in mind that the graphic card is an onboard chipset, what is the difference ? If I don't want to spend too much and I only want to run FS9 is it ok ?

[TechguyMaxC 516]

Onboard graphics are MUCH slower than graphics cards. You want a graphics card even if it's a cheap one.

[Carabou 0]

Hi Jeremy - my computer specs are somewhat similar to the one you're looking at I have -AMD Athlon 64 X2 42002 gig ramEvga Gforce 6800 cs 512 mb video cardMine came with an onboard video chip and it is worthless for FS2004/FSX as it doesn't have the power or capacity to properly display the fantastic detail the flight sims have. I bought and installed the Gforce video card and find I get reasonably good performance with FSX and very good performance with FS2004. Keep in mind that my machine has a somewhat slower processor than the one you are looking at. I don't think you need more than 2 gig of ram as I've checked mine with a freeware program (I believe Memstatus or whatever), and I'm usually using up to about 1.5 gig in FSX at most. Needless to say I have to tone down some sliders but most are at or close to max (AI in fs2004 runs well! ). Also I like autogen at dense or above.Since the machine you are looking at has a good size power supply, you could easily get a pretty good video card for it. When I last checked video cards were not too expensive. AS someone said before, you need to purchase a copy of the operating system as well.Hope this helps.. Howard

[Kosta 122]

You DON'T want onboard graphics - I remember couple of people around here saying that they had many troubles running FS9 in full screen, and they had onboard video. Get a graphics card, even a 50

[JeremyB 0]

Following all your suggestions I found another system at 474$ (taxes included):

• Dual Core Pentium Intel E2200 2,2 GHz
• DDR2 2 GB
• 320 GB SATA
• Geforce 7100 NVidia
• Windows Vista Family Premium

This one has a video card but I don't know if it's good for FS2004.Thanks again for your help guys, I'm progressing ;)

[TechguyMaxC 516]

That's still integrated graphics, and actually slower than the other one you picked out. If you buy parts it's much cheaper than having a system built for you. Would you be willing to try that, or do you perhaps have a friend/family member that could help you build a system? You'll get a lot more bang for your buck that way.

[JeremyB 0]

I don't know enough about computers to build one myself and that's too bad because I know that you can have something a lot better if you build it yourself. Anyway, I found another system that may do the job because as I said all I want is a PC that can handle FS9 perfectly and that's it no need for FSX, I prefer FS9. What I could do is buy this system (I'm pretty sure the video card is bad) and I could buy another video card for exemple I found one on Canada Computers:ASUS EN8400GS SILENT/HTP/256M nVidia 8400GS Chipset 256MB DDR2 Dual Display PCI-Express Graphics CardAnd the system:Processor AMD Athlon 64 x2 5200+ (2x 512k Cache) Motherboard AMD AM2 690/740 Chipset Memory 2G Dual Channel (2x 1G DDR2 667 PC5300) Graphics ATI Radeon X1200 Hard Drive 250G SATAII 7200rpm Optical Drive 18x DVD

[JeremyB 0]

I found another video card that looks better than the one I posted before:Asus EN9500GT MAGIC/DI/512M nVidia GeForce 9500GT Chipset (550Mhz) 512MB (800Mhz) DDR2 Dual Display PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card Any advices and suggestions will be appreciated !

[Carabou 0]

Sounds good (AMD 5200 and the GeForce 9500gt) - good luck. Just make sure that the computer has a Pci Express slot available before you buy it.Suggestion. If you do get any dual core AMD computer, I suggest you go to AMD's site and download their Dual Core Optimizer (free) and install it. Definately helps. Howard

[JeremyB 0]

Sounds good (AMD 5200 and the GeForce 9500gt) - good luck. Just make sure that the computer has a Pci Express slot available before you buy it.Suggestion. If you do get any dual core AMD computer, I suggest you go to AMD's site and download their Dual Core Optimizer (free) and install it. Definately helps. Howard

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look at this when/if I get this PC ;)