Buying a computer

[Sunfly]

I will buy a computer, and would like to know the appropiate specifications to play fs2004 smoothly with all seetings at max
I was thinking to buy a 2.5 or 2.6 ghz processor, but I don't know what motherboard, video card, how much ram, etc, etc, etc

Please Help

[Iroquois]

I think it should all depend on what you want to spend. You want a good machine but you shouldn't have to spend too much.
First you want to decide whether you want an AMD or a Pentium processor. It doesn't really matter. The computer guy should be able to match your processor with a good mobo. You may want an onboard LAN connection and USB ports. Don't get one with onboard sound and graphics. Besure to get one with an AGP 8X port for high speed graphics from the graphics card. Some cards are only 4X but they work on 8X and allow you to upgrade in the future.  

For video cards you have a choice of ATI or Nvidia, I prefer Nvidia myself. For FS2004 you'll want to get a mid to high preformance card such as a GeforceFX 5200 for the low or up to a GeforceFX 5900 on the higher end. Geforce4 Ti cards are good ones in the middle of that range. Whatever card you choose, it should contain up to 64mb of DDR ram.

For Ram, you'll want atleast 512mb of SDR, DDR, or RDRam (Rambus).  DDR is the faster of the three but is also more expensive. Rambus is not all it's cracked up to be and probably a bad buy.

For sound you'll want a decent card with at least a 32bit processor. Sounblaster are the most common. The Audigy is top of the line but the Live! 5.1 series are always good. 5.1 Surround sound is highly recomended, esp if you intend to watch DVD movies on your new PC.

For storage devices, get a DVD-rom. They aren't much more expensive than a regular CD-Rom and they allow you to read DVD-R discs and watch DVD movies. For a hard drive, 60GB is a good size. You may wish to look into a CD-RW or DVD-RW drive as well. DVD-RW drives have dropped in price significantly but are still very expensive. You'll of course want a floppy drive.    

Everything else is about the same and can be left to which is the cheapest. Talk to the computer guy. Tell them exactly what you want. Remember to shop around for the best deal.

[Sunfly]

Thanks for replying

I didn't know that there are motherboards without integrated video or sound, are there??
I want to choose between three video cards:
-Radeon 9600 Pro Ultra
-Gforce FX 5600 256mb
- Gforce 4 Ti 4800
Which one do you recommend me, all of them are almost the same price 130 to 140



Anywa

[Iroquois]

I'm not an expert on video cards but try visiting http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/

[ATI_7500]

go for the 9600pro. it has a good performance and costs less than a 5600.

[Rifleman]

From what I hear, I would lean towards the Radeon too. It seems to have glowing reviews....

[congo]

Go here for the truth and see for yourself:

http://www17.tomshardware.com/graphic/2 ... 00-23.html

That el cheapo ti4200 is still looking good!!!!