Hi Folks,

I'm sorry I haven't been around much lately, but I haven't lost my enthusiasm for Fs2002. I intend to pass to my son, my present computer and have the local shop build me a new one (they have built my systems for years).

At present I have:
Asus A7V mobo
Athlon 1ghz
640mb ram
SB Live Value
Elsa Gladiac Ultra 64mb (Nvidia)

Fs2002 runs quite well, with everything pretty well maxed, but with absolutely nothing to spare.

They are suggesting the following:

Gigabyte GA-8PE667 Ultra Mobo
P4 2.4ghz Northwood
or
P4 2.53ghz 533 Northwood
512mb PC333 2700 Ram
Creative Audigy Player
Gainward 4TI 4200 64mb Golden
or
Gainward 4TI 4200 128MB
or
Gainward 4TI 4600 128mb DDR

I'd be really grateful for any comments on the merits of any of the components, and whether I'd see a worthwhile difference from selecting any of the more expensive options of CPU or Graphics Card.

I apologise for asking the kind of questions which I know you must all be sick of answering!!

Regards, Jim H.

• RE: Upgrade Questions,jonahbird, 23:57z, 01-18-03
  • RE: Upgrade Questions,jimh, 14:30z, 01-19-03
    • RE: Upgrade Questions,jonahbird, 00:21z, 01-20-03
      • RE: Upgrade Questions,Ben_Chiu, 03:30z, 01-20-03
        • RE: Upgrade Questions,jonahbird, 05:27z, 01-20-03
          • RE: Upgrade Questions,Ben_Chiu, 20:19z, 01-20-03
      • RE: Upgrade Questions,jimh, 18:05z, 01-20-03
        • RE: Upgrade Questions,jonahbird, 20:02z, 01-20-03
• RE: Upgrade Questions,Emile, 07:24z, 01-19-03
  • RE: Upgrade Questions,jimh, 14:46z, 01-19-03
    • RE: Upgrade Questions,Emile, 17:00z, 01-19-03
      • RE: Upgrade Questions,Ben_Chiu, 20:08z, 01-19-03
        • RE: Upgrade Questions,Emile, 20:30z, 01-19-03

Hi Jim

The 4600 is my choice of card.

And with Windows XP I have 1GB of RAM.

My cpu is a P4 2.2 Ghz-----

and it all goes like greased lightening fully maxxed .

Go for it.

Regards
Frank

>Hi Jim
>
>The 4600 is my choice of card.
>
>And with Windows XP I have 1GB of RAM.
>
>My cpu is a P4 2.2 Ghz-----
>
>and it all goes like greased lightening fully maxxed .
>
>Go for it.
>
>Regards
>Frank

Hi Frank,

Thanks for the reply. The 4600 seems good then.

I've been running Win98se up to now, but this would appear to be the time to move on to XP. I've got a couple of questions.

Is there a real benefit, under XP, of having 1024mb of ram as against 512mb?

I run two PCs, networked together. Would the network work with one PC on Win98se, and the other on WinXP?

I don't fancy buying two copies of XP!!!!

Regards, Jim

Hi Jim

There's a lot of -"one man's meat is another's poison" about this, but I too have 2 PCs networked and at first I persisted with Win98SE on my 1.5Ghz machine whilst getting to know WinXP on the new faster machine. I came to prefer XP (I think it is less buggy) and had XP installed on the old machine.

I have done no measurements -before or after- but have always thought the more RAM the merrier, and Win98 was limited to 512MB.

After a brief spell with WideFS (superb software) I now run 2 graphics cards in my 2.2 machine and use just that one PC for simming.in front of me there is a 18" TFT for the panel and ahead of that is a 4'x 3' screen onto which I project the scenery. To the left is another 18" TFT to which I drag and drop FS Navigator and Overhead and other panels which can be called up there as needed using buttons on a Zkey panel. My main controls and avionics are PFC units. I experience no loss of frame speeds using this system.

In short, this does mean I could have left my 1.5 using Win98, and that machine only has 512MB RAM anyway. You would likewise be successful with Win98 on 1 PC and WinXP on the other.

Rambled on, but I hope some of this helps.

Regards
Frank

Greetings Frank:

> After a brief spell with WideFS (superb software) I now run 2 graphics
> cards in my 2.2 machine and use just that one PC for simming.in front of
> me there is a 18" TFT for the panel and ahead of that is a 4'x 3' screen
> onto which I project the scenery. To the left is another 18" TFT to
> which I drag and drop FS Navigator and Overhead and other panels which
> can be called up there as needed using buttons on a Zkey panel. My main
> controls and avionics are PFC units.

Sounds great! Let's see a picture!

Ben

-= VPC OffLine Reader 2.1 =-
Registered to: Ben Chiu
-OLR.PL v1.80-

Hi Ben

>>Let's see a picture!<<

OK. I've got the digital camera and will take one or two to send. Is it easy to send pictures as part of a message?

Regards
Frank

Hi Frank:

> OK. I've got the digital camera and will take one or two to send.

Great!

> Is it easy to send pictures as part of a message?

Just click the upload file link when creating or replying to a message in the File Upload forum. Note that if you don't post a message there or post/upload to another Forum, we'll never see it.

We'll either email you a link to the pix or just post the pix for you in this thread after we've tweaked it a bit (resample to 96dpi, resize to 800x600 max size, and save in a compressed format like jpg).

Looking forward to seeing your rig.

Ben

-= VPC OffLine Reader 2.1 =-
Registered to: Ben Chiu
-OLR.PL v1.80-

Hi Frank,

Wow! Now that is a setup!!

Your setup does sound terrific. Thanks for the explanation, as it confirms I should be ok leaving my No2 machine as it is for now, alongside the new one running XP.

I usually upgrade my No1 computer, moving the best bits discarded to No2, but this time my No2 is performing well enough, and I've got designs on a 21" Iiyama monitor. My son and daughter in law would like my No1, and a little help from them means I can go for a complete new system.

Regards, Jim

Hi Jim

Thanks for the kind comments. I have FS friends who visit from time to time and we have a great time. One is very skilled at flying the Airbus - puts me to shame

You'll enjoy the 21" Iiyama. It has a great reputation. Although they take up a lot of room I still think the CRTs give the best picture. A downside with projection is that my unit is limited to 1024x768.

Keeping it in the family is a good idea. My brother-in-law gets my old kit and shares my interest in simming.

Enjoy.
Frank

Hello Jim,
I did upgrade my PC to XP Pro and new hardware, these are my specs :
Mobo Abit IT7 Max2 P4 2.4,
1 Gbyte memory 333
Siluro (Nvidia) GF4 TI4600 128Mb DDR
Sound is integrated in the Mobo
All maxxed out and I like it ....
Regards
Emile
EBBR Brussels
Belgium

>Hello Jim,
>I did upgrade my PC to XP Pro and new hardware, these are
>my specs :
>Mobo Abit IT7 Max2 P4 2.4,
>1 Gbyte memory 333
>Siluro (Nvidia) GF4 TI4600 128Mb DDR
>Sound is integrated in the Mobo
>All maxxed out and I like it ....
>Regards
>Emile
>EBBR Brussels
>Belgium

Hi Emile,

Thanks for your opinion. I see that, like Frank, you have 1gb of ram. Do you notice a difference with so much memory?

You have XP Pro. What is the advantage of XP Pro over XP Home? I use the computer for business (Accounts Package and MS Office 2000 mainly), Graphics ( Scanning and printing photographs and slides mainly), and of course Fs2002.

I know virtually nothing about WinXP. I understand that it can only be loaded on one PC. I run two networked PCs, the second really to back up the first for busines (I live out in the backwoods). Since only I use the computers, I don't like the idea of buying XP twice!!

Regards, Jim

Hello Jim,
>I see that, like Frank, you have
>1gb of ram. Do you notice a difference with so much
>memory?
I cannot compare with less memory, the config was 1Gb.. I can tell you that when FS2002 and Activesky, FSNav, etc are loaded and running I still have 700 Mb available. I had to increase the Virtual Memory (swap) from 2.5 to 3 Gb otherwise I received (sometimes) an error message from FS2002 Pro at start "there is NOT enough memory available" ? Do not ask why, I do no know but it is solved.
>You have XP Pro. What is the advantage of XP Pro over XP
>Home?
XP Pro was in the basic config, that is all I can tell. I do not know XP Home
>I know virtually nothing about Win XP. I understand that
>it can only be loaded on one PC.
It is not difficult to move from Win 98 SE to XP (except to reload all the "stuff and addons") in fact XP seams very stable, some Windows displays are changed (but for experts as us...) and it runs faster, there are more tools available to tune (too much?).

With this config I have up 40 fps (the max I do allow) in standard scenery, very heavy scenery like EBBR it drops to 10 fps (I search why)

By the way I have a question for the experts , when you use "shift+Z" right next to the FPS there is an other counter , what does it mean?
Hope this will help.
Regards
Emile
EBBR Brussels
Belgium

Greetings Emile:

> With this config I have up 40 fps (the max I do allow) in standard
> scenery, very heavy scenery like EBBR it drops to 10 fps (I search why)

Drops in frame rate are usually attributed to having too many objects to render. There are way to tweak scenery at the designer level for more even frame rates, but I'll let experts like Al Wheeler explain how what works.

> By the way I have a question for the experts , when you use "shift+Z"
> right next to the FPS there is an other counter , what does it mean?

That displays your current G (as in gravity) load.

HTH,

Ben

-= VPC OffLine Reader 2.1 =-
Registered to: Ben Chiu
-OLR.PL v1.80-

Hi Ben,
You know every thing ....almost ....
Thanks for the responses
Regards
Emile
EBBR Brussels
Belgium