Power Supply Questions.

[Triple_7]

Looking to do some small upgrading here soon and was wandering if upgrading the power supply would do any good.

Its never ran nearly as great as i know it should.  FS2002 only runs decently with most settings just under medium :-/  And thats using AI models

Its running on a 250w supply.  Would upgrading to say, a 450w do some justice to the problem?  And would the computer handle it?  Or would upgrading it have little or no effect?

System specs in sig \/  

[GunnerMan]

Well you bought this computer from a place such as dell right? Well they try to use the lowest cheapest PSUs avalible. Albiet provides power for what you have in there. Upgrading your PSU will do nothing but make power more avalible/stable. It will not boost performance unless you are overclocking etc. If you want a quick performance boost I say new video card but to power this card you may need an new PSU anyways. After we get a $ number we can help you choose a video card ad if needed PSU. I bougt brand new Antec 430W off Ebay for 10$ so dont worry to much bout that

[Triple_7]

Well, running on the 128mb graphics card I'm not looking to upgrade it too soon.  Requirments for it was a minimum of 250w supply.  Unfortunatly it has no APG slots only PCI.

I thought about ram sence it can handle up to a gig but going cheap is the main thing at this point.  I'm looking at around $50 to work with.  Thats why I was thinking small upgrades.  

I guess I'm just confused as to why people with similar or lower systems can max out 2002 without a problem and I can barely run decently with low quality aircraft

It was not a name brand system.  Small company up north of here.  Its a nice system after all of the problmes were fixed.  Just that it seems to run far under what it is capable of.

Any other ideas as to what to upgrade thats cheap

[GunnerMan]

Well a gig of ram may help but I think your CPU is holding you back...  but for 50$ you should be able to find a PC-3200 512 stick easy. After that I would say new CPU and moterboard. I had an Athlon XP 1.2 Ghz cpu, 512 PC-2100 ram, GF 4 MX 440 64 mg card that ran FS2k2 on med low settings. So yes it does seem like you should get better performance from the videocard and ram if its faster. Im not sure why you dont get the performance. All I can tell you is search for spyware taking up cpu power and new ram.

[congo]

was wandering if upgrading the power supply would do any good.

Absolutely not. The power supply has nothing to do with performance and is either adequate and working or overloaded and failing. Black and white.

Requirments for it was a minimum of 250w supply.

This 250w figure they quote as a minimum requirement is only meant to ease the minds of every ignorant buyer, just about every PSU produced nowadays is at least 250w. They are basically saying "yeah, go for it, it's compatible with everything!"

Unfortunatly it has no APG slots only PCI.

And, as you were probably told before you bought it, PCI graphics cards are a waste of money, but I guess you just had to find out for yourself.

I thought about ram since it can handle up to a gig but going cheap is the main thing at this point.

If you buy RAM, it will need to be of an outdated type, and you will waste more money. It won't help. In fact, if by some chance your PC has decent RAM fitted, the addition of a cheap and nasty RAM module will probably slow it down even further!

[quote]I'm looking at around $50 to work with.

[Weather_Man]

A new PSU will help none at all. 250w is adequate for your system.

Taken all together, you have a decent office machine and a poor gaming machine. Don't put any money into it, it's not worth it. Without an AGP card, it will never play games like you want it to.

The only upgrade I may recommend is an Audigy soundcard (to take some work off the CPU). At least you can move that to your new system you should save up for.

[4_Series_Scania]

Congo speakes wise words, as ever  ;)

Take his advice, consign that PC to a scrap heap, get a newer one.

Compared to what you have now, even a current " low end " PC will be staggeringly better than your existing setup!  ;)

Just think of the potential for screenshots!

[Triple_7]

Systems only about 1 1/2 years old.  Not really outdated but not really for gaming eather as it seems.

The PCI graphics card i bought about 8 months ago.  I made the mistake of not asking before hand or i wouldnt have bought it.  I was going by my old sysytem where the 64mb PCI had made a huge difference.  And the 128 did make some improvement but not as much as i thought it would.  It was a mistake, but that was before i knew the difference between PCI and APG
 
Flight simming is my time killer and I would like to be able to do more then just take off and land on the runways.  Would love to download some of the high quality sceneries and get the AI filled in at a few airports.  But dont want a slide show eather

With summer here i will be working longer hours, and my woodworking can finaly get back to normal.  Not a large scale deal sence i work on my own but does supply a little extra cash once in awhile. Will be selling off my ancient IBM and a ton of other games and equipment no longer needed.  And have a display case that is already sold for $250 once i finish putting the glass in the doors.  So maby a new system isnt all that far out of reach.  But will take the advice and not spend anymore on this one  

Now if the bills will stay down and the gas price drops some more it would make saving a lot easier

Thanks for the info