RAM, Graphics Card, or both?

[Guest]

Can anyone tell me how best tospend a little bit of cash to help my framerates in FS?Better to buy more RAM orbetter to upgrade graphics card?GForce4 MMX --> GForce Ultra FX 5800or 512M Ram to 1GB Ram?I can't really afford to do both, andthe graphics card is kinda expensive,but at a stretch I could reach thatbut I'm wondering if the cheaperRAM upgrade would be as good?CPU is quite new @2.4GHAmazed at what sort of rig I needto have for a smooth flight :)cheersDominic

[John_Tavendale 453]

512MB is plenty, a 2.4Ghz CPU is good, I'd go with a new graphics card. Forget the FX5800, go a Radeon 9700/9800 Pro ;)

[Vulcan 14]

I would agree with John, new graphics card although I'm not going to get into the Nvidia vs ATI debate :D You don't say what OS you are using or what other programs are running along with FS but if you have WinXP use CTRL+ALT+DEL and then open Task Manager and go to performance or processes tab you can see how much RAM FS uses, it is usually well below 512MB. I believe the new PMDG 737 uses much more but that is an exception.Rgds

[Guest]

I would think FS would use as much RAM as my computer could offer. Is this just how it was designed, or is there a way to let FS use more RAM?Thanks in advance.

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

512 Meg is plenty... if you want to upgrade on a budget, get a Ti4200 or ATI 9500 card. Your MX card is not up to the rest of your system..

[Guest DanWalloch]

My suggestion would be for the videocard upgrade, I personally am running a 128MB Radeon 9500Pro 8X AGP (running at 8X). I would suggest this card if you can still find it in stores or online because the card is no longer made by ATI. The card that replaced the 9500Pro is the 9600Pro which is baically the same card but the 9500Pro tends to run faster for most games than the 9600Pro. The 9600Pro will run you about $170-200 while the 9500Pro, if able to find it, will run you probably between $120-150. Another question for you, does your motherboard support 8X AGP?? That will allow you to take full advantage over most current videocards. Another thing is to look for a card that supports Direct X 9 which as you know FS2004 does support this which can also help you run the game smoother. One last thing, use CRT+ALT+DEL, bring up task manager and close out all unnesscary programs running the in background. Its all a matter of moving the sliders to find the right combination of looks and smoothness.

[Guest oyvindhansen]

If you are going for a Nvidia card, avoid the FX5800 at any cost, and go for the FX5900 instead.- Oyvind

[Guest ba747heavy]

I agree, 512 is plenty of RAM. Get yourself an ATI9500/9700, whichever is more into your budget.

[Guest]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge guys - I appreciatevery much. I just spent a while looking at the variouscard options - I'll follow your advice, I've founda reasonable Radeon 9700 offer online.Once question - how do you fit a graphics card? is iteasy? I did it years ago on an old Gateway machine in my office (ahem) and I just pulled out one of the slotsat the back, plugged the new one in, and connected themtogether with a cable that came with the card. Is itstill that simple, or am I going to need to concentratehard with some printed instructions?Oh - how do I know I have support for 8X AGP?All for the love of the sim :-)cheers again - preciated everyone,Dominic

[Vulcan 14]

Fitting a new graphics card is as easy as it was with your Gateway machine except there is no need to 'connect them together'.First change your display adaptor settings to VGA. Best done through device manager by either changing the current drivers to Standard VGA or by uninstalling the current display adaptor, when you reboot it should revert to Standard VGA. This makes sure there are no bits of the old driver left around to potentially cause problems.If the current card has an uninstall feature use that.Power off the PC, disconnect the monitor cable from your existing card, undo the screw that holds in the card and pull from the slot.Insert the new card firmly into the AGP slot, refit the securing screw and reconnect the monitor cable. Note, there may be a plastic 'hook' on the end of the AGP slot, flip this up to lock the card once it is installed.Power up again and install the drivers for the card and away you go.To see if your mo/bo supports AGP 8 either look in the mo/bo manual (easiest) or go into the BIOS settings and see if the options for AGP go up to 8x.Edited to include AGP info.HTH

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

Note that the plastic "hook" at the end of the AGP slot may have to be pulled clear, before you can pull the card out!