Simviation Forums

heres my specs.


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System Information
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Time of this report: 8/31/2005, 13:46:31
      Machine name: HOME
  Operating System: Windows 2000 Professional (5.0, Build 2195) Service Pack 4
          Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: INTELR
      System Model: AWRDACPI
              BIOS: Phoenix-Award BIOS v6.00PG
         Processor: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.00GHz, ~2.0GHz
            Memory: 248MB RAM
         Page File: 194MB used, 769MB available
       Windows Dir: C:\WINNT
   DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: /PackageInstall
    DxDiag Version: 5.03.0001.0904 32bit Unicode

Processor : OK
nothing about your video card : if it's a chip integrated in your motherboard, then you're in trouble to play flight sims.
RAM : 284Mo is wayyyyyy too low. 512 is a minimum now, 1024Mo the best.

How much does RAM cost??

and also how much does a goodish video card cost?

thanks

Being French, I don't know if the range of prices I'll get here corresponds to your reality.
Best thing for you would be to go online for an online shop selling them : you'll see the range of prices for your country (sorry, I just know French sites for these). A vid card costs about 200 euros for the mid range.

Processor, Rubbish.

Ram, Not enough, and too slow anyway.

Integrated Graphics, Rubbish.

That is why your PC is "Pants".  ;)

Define a price range, and I'll happily give you some ideas of the cost / components required to replace.

I say replace, as upgrading that current box you have, will be a waste of time & money.

www.overclockers.co.uk

www.scan.co.uk

Two PC Stores (UK Based) that I use.

what if i bought another video card?

what type of video cards are good, and how do i know if they will work on my computer?

It would be like putting a top hat on a hobo, it's still unaltered at the core.  Ergo what you need is a shave, a shower, and new outfit!

Computers age.  It's an undeniable, unescapeable fact.

The first thing you have to do is to decide exactly what you want from your computer. What do you want it to do? Knowing that essentially all programs are getting bigger and bigger and that they will soon to be coming to us only on DVD, I wanted one that would play DVDs without the slightest jerk, jitter, hiccup or stutter. That meant I had to have a good graphics card. I use only ATI cards because it reads right on the box that it will play DVDs-- to my knowledge, no other maker puts that on their boxes. $500 for a high-end video card is a but much, so I went with the mid-priced ATI X700 Pro PCIe card because it's compatible with my computer. I paid 215 USD for it, tax included.

Next, I wanted my machine to do its thing quickly, i.e., I didn't want the CPU to have to wait for the RAM to do its job, so I put in an extra 1 Gb of the same type of RAM that came in the machine when I bought it. Having 1536Mb of fast RAM really helps in the response time between hitting the key and seeing the result.

I was going to upgrade a three-year-old homebuilt, but after some educated thought, just went ahead and bought a new machine and put the above detailed upgrades into the new one because to upgrade my homebuilt would have cost more and I'd still have an old machine running an old, slow AMD 1400 MHz chip, using 1 Gb of PC133 SDRAM and a 4X AGP (ATI, of course) video card with 64Mb of VRAM.

Bite the bullet-- buy a new machine and be happy. I am!

I totally agree, buy a new computer. You can replace your graphic card or add some ram by the time, for exemple a year after you bought your computer. But after several years, the graphic cards evolve, and you need more powerful CPUs to make them work fine. And a new CPU often means another socket for your mother board, which means a new mother card. And as a lot of elements of your pc are linked, you quickly figure out you gotta buy a new computer. Rotbeer's right. Moreover, I guess your graphic card uses the AGP standard. The new cards use the PCI-Express standard, which ain't compatible with the AGP one.
Hey bzhyoyo (pseudo a bit hard to write and remember), you're the first french I see on this forum. Awesome ! I'm not the only one !!!  :D

Oh, I didn't read what I'd write. A mother board is the same as a mother card. Which word do you use ? Anyway, now I think you can easily understand what I've written.  :)

If you have integrated video and are short on cash, you may have to make compromizes.  I upgraded from a similar situation, as I described in another thread.  My recommendation:

Buy a video card before upgrading ram!!!!!

When you do that, you'll actually be increasing your ram at the same time.  Because with integrated video, some of your system ram is being siphoned off for video memory.  You buy a card, you get that ram back.

Are you guys considering krist3 may not have the cash flow to go out and do massive upgrading?  If he did, I don't think he would be asking his question in the first place.

krist3

My recommendation, go on ebay and get a good used video card.  I bought my GeForce 5500FX 128 for $35 off ebay.  It sells for about $110 in the stores.

Thanks guys, i bought a video card. and although CFS3 dosnt go very well, the other games i have go real well now.

it will do the trick...........for now