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[ianhind]

This is more my end of the price range than the other thread.

Continuing to use FS9 = no cost

Was Windows XP already installed on the PC? If so it might be an OEM version which cannot be transferred to a new PC. Do you have the installation CD for XP? All this influences whether you need to budget for a new copy of Windows 7.

Anyone got an opinion on a reasonable graphics card that won't be pushed too hard by FS9? Looking at benchmarks on the web, they all seem to use phenomenal screen resolutions which none of my screens could cope with so I suspect 1280x960 (??) is the optimum here. I wonder if the high resolutions in the benchmark tests are needed to show the differences between the cards?

Once the graphics card is defined, it probably helps to decide how much of the budget is left for the rest of the hardware.

Ian

[DaveB]

Hi Ian

Yes.. it's more my end of the market too

If his current pc was an oem.. then he might be able to reuse his disc (if he had one). I had the HD die on my office pc a few years ago and having tried to use the 'rescue' option.. I was told by Novatech (the seller) never to do that (though this was the instruction on the flimsy document that came with it)! Anyways.. they couldn't help with the drive as it was out of warranty but they DID sell me a new one to replace it I used the disc that came with the original system to reload XP and it worked like a goodun'.. then spent the next 2 days upgrading it to SP3

I honestly don't know which card would run FS9 without problems as there are so many other factors that can slow or speed it up. Whenever I've replaced a graphics card.. I've never quite got what I expected and different cards, even from the same manufacturer display things slightly differently. My Nvidia 8800GTX 768mb card runs FS9 quite well as does the E8400 3ghz dualcore cpu but it's never 'fast enough' or more to the point.. faster than I want to see Annoyingly, it runs FSX slightly better if anything Truth to tell.. I'm so out of touch with hardware these days.. I'd not know what to advise one way or the other

Interestingly (to me anyway) I looked at the i7 online today and contrary to what I'd heard here, it only has 4 cores not 8 (reasonable for a quad core cpu) though it does have 8 pipelines using intels HT technology which might give that impression. That aside.. they're still darned fast whichever way you look at it. Prices around £180 (plus vat I guess) for the cheaper of the 3 which isn't bad in the grand scale of things but with only £400 available.. I wouldn't consider it an option.

ATB

DaveB

[ianhind]

For me an i7 is overkill. If I want a quad core, the i5-760 is supposed to offer the best bang/buck which is what I used in a new PC to replace a Q6600.

Equally an i3-540 is also supposed to be a pretty good CPU but in the benchmarks it is barely ahead of my E6850 which predates your CPU.

If you recall recently, one of the old CPU tests showed that Peter's i7 CPU wasn't much faster than mine. That didn't make much sense so clearly the whole combination of bits and pieces is important.

So you takes your choice and cuts your cloth to your budget (mixing metaphors? ).

All I was trying to do was come up with some ideas for hardware. Since you mentioned Novatech, I will throw this one in: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prod ... 3544G.html. Add a 1Tb disk at £40 (anything smaller is not a large saving), a DVD-RW at about £15 and perhaps you can see where I'm coming from in asking for a graphics card that would be ok and fit the budget.

Some of you will suggest AMD systems which might offer more power for the same prices but I don't know about those, so suggest away.

And even if this is not up there with the i7s, it uses current hardware and has to be better than a 1.1GHz Athlon.

Ian

[DaveB]

I like the mixed metaphors

I agree entirely mate. TBH.. the Novatech stuff isn't bad, even at that end of the market. They can put together an all-singing-all-dancing monster should you so wish but the budget pc's last and for the money.. it'll be a big improvement over what TG is seeing at the moment. I've never had a problem with Novatech either having bought 1 pc for myself (the aforementioned office pc).. 2 pc's on behalf of members of staff and numerous 'bundles' (mobo+cpu+memory) over the years

Certainly something to consider TG

Ian.. I've just remembered I never sent you that E6600 either did I

ATB

DaveB

[austerdriver]

I fixed my post about which operating system you may use. Sorry for any confusion.

[ianhind]

Dave

I don't need it any more . I've enough kit here and about to hit eBay with some of it. Rationalisation some would say.

However if you want me to check it out to see if it works, you can be the recipient of whatever it makes on eBay. Could be £30 based on recent auctions.

If anyone's interested, I do have some DDR2 RAM that doesn't work with Intel CPUs (well 1 Gb works but adding more and the PC doesn't start). Something about 64x8 memory bank? Googling the part number it seems to be for Dell Optiplex and I think also for AMD motherboards.

They came off eBay (I didn't realise what they were) and I'd put them back but I don't like selling without knowing they work ok. There's 3 of these so if anyone wants to give them, PM me. Early Christmas present if they work for you!

1GB 240p PC2-5300 CL5 16c 64x8 DDR2-667, Nanya, NT1GT64U8HB0BY-3C

Ian

[DaveB]

Rgr that mate It's not that I never intended sending it.. I did but it got buried. I know it's here now and probably no more than 4ft away from me but can I see it.. err.. no

If you tumble across 3gb of Corsair ram suitable for an Asus P5Q Deluxe mobo (I think it's called Corsair Dominator or something like that).. no.. hold the press. I got curious and looked. The Dominator ISN'T compatible but this is.. Twin2X4096-6400C5 G. It's 2x2gb and useless on WinXP 32bit (the full 4gb that is) but that's a 32-bit OS for ya

ATB

DaveB

[tonymadge]

Ok I would go for this its cheap and powerful all you need is to add a graphics card and a copy of XP rather than opt for the optional Windows 7
I got this for my Dad and its very fast I put my old GTS8600 card in it and its more than enough for FS9

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... 78&subcat=

Primo Trinity" Intel Pentium Dual Core E6500 2.93GHz DDR3 System

System Specification
- Case: OcUK Hades Micro ATX Case
- Power Supply: OcUK Value 450W Power Supply
- CPU: Intel Pentium Dual-Core E6500 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.93GHz 2MB L2 Cache
- Motherboard: MSI G41M-P25 Intel G41 (Socket 775) DDR3 microATX Motherboard
- Cooler: Intel Approved Cooler
- RAM: OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 Dual Channel
- Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
- Graphics Card: Onboard Intel GMA X4500 Graphics
- Sound: High Definition 7.1 Onboard Sound Card
- Optical Drive: 22x DVD+RW SATA Dual Layer Rewriter

This Week Only Offer
was £279.38 inc VAT
£256.37 inc VAT

That price is good till Tuesday night

Add this

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... ubcat=1009

Gainward GeForce 9800 GT Green Edition 512MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card
£69.99 inc VAT

This will keep you well within your budget.
I know some moan but I have had superb sevice from overclockers and always go to them first for bits

[Fodda]

Yes I used to go to overclockers first every time too until they sent me a graphics card that had the seal broken and didn't work at all out of the box. They then charged me £20 to send it straight back saying it worked. It never did on my PC or on a mate's PC. However a different new card from a better supplier worked first time. Just Google overclockers complaints to see that this is a fairly common experience from other customers.

Go to overclockers if you want, but don't expect any kind of help when they send you an obvious return that doesn't work. That's one hell of a paperweight for £200.

[tonymadge]

Fodda I had a duff graphics card packed up after 3 months, overclockers replaced it with no hassle. You had a bad experience so fair enough don't use them. But it's a bit unfair to call it an expensive paperweight
I have no bad experiences and I have bought numerous times from them. Now MESH are a different story I hate them b@stards as they lie take your money and lie some more