Upgrade priorities ((Originally placed in the PC hardware forum but not much traffic there)

[Guest Shayt]

Hello fellow simmers, Believe it or not, I don

[Guest daveg4otu]

The one thing that will make the most difference is the Graphics card. Moving from an Nvidia GF2 /64mb to a Ti4200/128mb some time ago ,tripled my score on 3DBenchmark 2001.Get the best you can afford.Dave

[Guest wathomas777]

Disagree with getting the "best" you can afford on the video card, because you are more likely to discover another "bottleneck" elsewhere in the system that prevents the video card from truly being run at optimized speed.If you are on a limit, I agree with the following:1. Vid Card2. OS if not already using Win2k or WinXP3. CPU4. Motherboard if not able to use AGP 8X5. Memory.Try and upgrade each and every component a little bit. What you do is you don't limit your self by creating a bottleneck elsewhere in the system.Even buying a Vid Card that is the middle of the road, that is a 100 less, will allow you to upgrade to a much nicer CPU.Make sure your MB supports AGP 8X, to give that video card as much bandwidth as possible.Your memory, is the least of your worries in this scenario.I have learned the hard way that buying the "best" of one thing never compensates for having something else that is bottlenecking.Think of your Computer like a car. No matter how fast an engine I put in, it means nothing if my tires are flat.

[Guest Shayt]

Thanks,My mobo supports only AGP 4X! is so critical for FS2004? bare in mind that my RAM is only 2100 anyway. In some posts I read that the AGP X8 is more a marketing issue then something that really matter in FS.What do you think?Shay

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

AGP X8 will not make any discernable difference...I would first of all get the fastest processor you can afford(and yes, this may mean new motherboard, new memory etc..)Secondly, get a good video card..BTW, if you are happy with how FS2002 runs on your current system,you can run FS9 (some sliders to the left) just as well with no hardware changes..

[Guest wathomas777]

I agree. I think your MB and Memory look OK. (I'm running PC2100 as well).But I must stress that a nice CPU upgrade and modest Video Card upgrade will go much further than sticking with the CPU and buying the top end video card, (unless you plan on upgrading the CPU very soon).I have a VERY MODEST system by today's standards, all bought at minimum price at Wal-Mart, and I love how it performs. (Athlon 2400+, 640Meg PC2100, with an FX5200 Nvidia 80 buck 128Meg card). Some of the most issues people have are with slideritis, just don't be compulsive about full right sliders and you will be fine.