Hector Molina's Dash 8-400 Panel

[jlvandem]

Hey guys I was wondering if any of you guys use this panel. The problem is it's bringing my FS to almost a complete standstill but it's an awesome panel and I'd love to be able to use it. I'm not too good with this panel stuff. Could someone please help me out? Thanks.

Justin

[FSTipster]

I've got it and you're right - it's a very nice panel.

I don't have too much of an fps hit with it though...

Are you using version 2? It's dash8v2.zip if not.

If you are, could you post a brief rundown of your hardware spec please?

[jlvandem]

Yes I'm running v2. Here's my specs...

PIII 500 Mhz
192 MB RAM
64 MB GeForce 2 MX 400

Do you think maybe this isn't enough? Will v1 run smoother maybe? Thanks.

Justin

[FSTipster]

I think you're probably a little underpowered there.

The reason this happens on some panels is that the gauges can sometimes require some heavy calculations to drive them.

I've never laid eyes on version 1 of this panel so I've no idea if it would be less demanding.

Whilst I'm the first to appreciate that not everyone has spare money in their pocket, you might consider a modest upgrade of your processor (and m/board probably).

You can pick up a 1.2ghz Athlon chip for a ridiculously low price these days and you'd find the difference in performance astonishing compared to what you have now.

[jlvandem]

I've kinda been looking into upgrading but I really just don't know which motherboard to buy. Do you have any recomendations? Also if I get a new motherboard and processor I'd need a new audio card because right now I have an onboard audio card. Also where would be the best place to buy this stuff? Thanks.

Justin

[sethtriggs]

I've kinda been looking into upgrading but I really just don't know which motherboard to buy. Do you have any recomendations? Also if I get a new motherboard and processor I'd need a new audio card because right now I have an onboard audio card. Also where would be the best place to buy this stuff? Thanks.

Justin

I have an Athlon 1600 XP (1.0 GHz) with a VIA KT266A motherboard (by MSI). It runs excellently, and I got it for under $100. It even takes DDR RAM, which will help you go even faste!  I migrated FS from the slow laptop (that kept dying) over to the desktop PC with the above hardware and haven't looked back since.

-Seth

[jlvandem]

Hey thanks Seth I'll look at that bored. Now the next question will it fit in my box? I really don't know how to describe it for you guys but the best I can do is say it's an eMachines case from about 3 years ago. Don't know any of it's meassurements. Thanks.

Justin