Where is my bottleneck?

[USMC_BEANS]

I have an AMD 64 bit 3400+ processor, 512 mb of DDR400 RAM and an FX5700 w/ 256 mb of v-ram.  Should I get a gig of ram before I upgrade the video card or video card and then ram?  Which one will really help me display FS2004 better?  Next month I will be starting a new job with a certain Seattle based aircraft company  ;) and will probably be able to afford to upgrade both, but in the mean time I am impatient and want to get one or the other.  So which should it be?

[the_autopilot]

Video card definitely.

6600gt is if your on a budget (its performence is very decent.). If you can afford better, perhaps a 6800 GT.

Congrats on your job with Boeing.

[USMC_BEANS]

Thanks!  I will try the 6800 gt then.  As for the job at Boeing, thanks, my gf keeps joking with me and telling me I will have to delete all of my Airbuses on FS9!

[GunnerMan]

I want your Job. My real performance killller is only having 1 and not 2 gigs of ram. Then my other "fake" bottleneck is my EIDE hard drives. My real one is prolly cpu.

[congo]

Get a 512mb stick of ram for now. It's cheap.

You may, after a month or two at Boeing, decide on a really nice card like the new 7800's, which may also force you into a new chipset (gets slightly more involved!), and you haven't said if you require PCIe or AGP compatible video cards.

3400+ cpu's are found on socket 754 amd chipsets, and they are not primo for gaming like the socket 939's.

Again, 512mb of ram will help in the short term until you decide on what video upgrade route you want to go. If you decided on the 6800GT, get the ram as well because it is only a small portion of the cost.

Buy at least PC3200 DDR400 CAS2.5 specification for the ram if possible. It will still work if you have slower ram at present, but it runs at the slower ram's speed.

The high spec ram has a better chance of being compatible with any future  upgrades.

[USMC_BEANS]

Thanks Congo.  I am just going to build a whole new computer I think.  Might as well do everything correct from the start!  Now to convince the g/f that we need another computer...

[congo]

You could sell what you have or give it to someone you like very much....  ;)

In any case, the existing machine could do with another 512mb stick of ram, so that may improve things a lot until you settle into the new job. Ram is very cheap if you shop well.