Hey guys, first of all, I want to say how excited I am for the NGX and that you folks here at PMDG are really doing something incredible for the FS community... Thank you. So I know that nobody really likes these personal Hardware topics but I would like to ask some of the wise users (and devs) here a question. So my specs are: Dell Inspiron 537Intel Core2 Duo E7500 @ 2.93GHz4GB RAMATI Radeon HD 4350Windows 7 64 bit and I would like to know if upgrading my video card or RAM would be helpful to run FSX better. Currently I am averaging anywhere from 17-25 fps (I set the fsx limiter to 38 which my game reaches at cruise if there aren't any intense clouds). I know that the NGX will run better than the Queen of the Skies and with that I get anywhere from 12-25 fps. I would buy a new computer altogether if I had the money right now but for the moment this will have to do. I'd rather not open up my system to install a new cpu or anything like that. So yeah, what would be helpful to upgrade if anything and what would you recommend purchasing if I am looking for better frames and maybe higher settings (+the NGX of course)? Thanks so much, your help is really appreciated, Regards

Ram will do little and a GPU upgrade is going to be hard. It might be hard to fit and also when I owned a dell they put in 400 or less watt power supplies so finding a gpu that can work under that wattage might be hard to find. Also I don't think their power supplies even come with connectors for GPUS.You'd be better off buying and building your own computer

Ram will do little and a GPU upgrade is going to be hard. It might be hard to fit and also when I owned a dell they put in 400 or less watt power supplies so finding a gpu that can work under that wattage might be hard to find. Also I don't think their power supplies even come with connectors for GPUS.You'd be better off buying and building your own computer

Yeah, CPU will help you more than anything. New CPU typically means new motherboard. New motherboard typically means new memory. As with any PC upgrade you have to consider the PSU, it may need to be upgraded...

Yeah, CPU will help you more than anything. New CPU typically means new motherboard. New motherboard typically means new memory. As with any PC upgrade you have to consider the PSU, it may need to be upgraded...

...and considering my 3 dells I owned were BTX means he is going to have to buy a new case and power supply along with that.

Yeah, hate to tell you this but that type of Dell system is pretty proprietary and isn't gonna let you do much upgrading. Time to build a whole new PC I think.

Thanks for the replies and the suggestions guys. Any suggestions where to start in terms of building a new computer? I hear it is the cheaper, more effective way to purchase a new system but I have only bought out of the box stuff before so I don't really know where to begin or what to get. It seems it's time to start saving! Regards

There are several topics in the PMDG board that'll get you going in the right direction. Do a search for 2500k or 2600k & it'll pull them up.

There's a ton of articles online if you Google it on how to build a gaming PC.The basic specs you want are an Intel Core i5 2500K or i7 2600K CPU with a good cooler (a good inexpensive one is the Corsair A70), a P67 motherboard capable of overclocking (the ASUS one is basically the best right now), 8GB of DDR3 1333 in the 2x4 configuration, and a video card based on the Nvidia 460, 560 Ti, 570, or 580 chipset with at least 1GB of video ram. Overclock the CPU up to 4.5GHz+ after everything's up and running. A build like this will let you play basically any game that exists right now at or near the highest settings on a 24" monitor.

That's perfect thank you Ryan, Kenneth and Taylor. Let the hunt for perfection begin! lolRegards