MAMA gave me money to spend !!!!!!

[sr73bv]

OK, For X-mas this year Mama (my wife Rosa) said the skies the limit. Upgrade till your hearts content. All I really want to do is got to 3 monitors. We recently upgrade to flat panels at work so I got 2 17" CRT monitors for nuthin. I am hoping to integrate them into fs2004 for pherifial vision. my system is as follows.

Dimension 4600 Series, Intel 4 @2.8GHz
1024MB DDR SDRAM @ 333MHz
128MB DDR NVidia GeForce FX 5200 Graphics Card
80GB 7200RPM Ultra ATA Hard Drive

All this is GREEK to me, but I am happy with the 2004 runs and looks.

Might be blown away if I got to see something different or more powerfull.

I'm lucky I guess cause my neighbor is a computer repairman & web page designer, and will do any and all hardware changing or tweaking for a BB'Q this coming summer for the family's....

Please advise me on maybe a new video card that will handle 3 monitors. More power maybe for 2 more monitors, maybe I even need a second CPU, (which I have almost identical) to one I described above.

I told Rosa I would stay under $2,000.00 (I HOPE)

Thanks in advance!!

SR73BV in Oklahoma

[Scorpiоn]

For $2000 you could get an entirely new rig.  If that's solely for your graphics, you should of course go for the top of the line cards recently released by NVidia and ATI.

[Saitek]

You can spend anything you like on a computer. One thing that must be changed is that video card. I had one of those and it's ok - but seriously it is ranked very low. Mine in my sig is a bit better, but if I had more money I'd go for something better.

The top end cards often have a PCI Express slot (not to be confussed with a PCI slot) rather than an AGP. If you buy a top end card check that a) is it a PCI Express or an AGP and b) before you go looking see if you can find out for us if you have a PCI Express slot. My guess is that you won't. This is very important as you could damage your computer in trying to fit and the shop won't happily take it back after it has been opened.

This (slightlydated) chart gives you an idea on the cards.

[Saitek]

I'm in the UK, so things are more expensive. But this is one of the top end cards at the moment.


GeForce 7800 GTX Extreme Edition 256MB  (PCI-Express) -

[Jimbo]

[quote]I'm in the UK, so things are more expensive. But this is one of the top end cards at the moment.


GeForce 7800 GTX Extreme Edition 256MB

[JBaymore]

sr73bv,

First of all ..... hi and welcome to SimV.

I see two places that your current setup has "bottlenecks".

[wealthysoup]

 Gigabyte GeForce 7800 GTX 256mb (pci express)

[Jimbo]

[quote]

[sr73bv]

Gentlemen I really appreaciate all the info. With the replies that I have gotten on this subject I think I will scrap fs2004 and go back to playing PONG.

My son and computer neighbor understand all that you have input, and I understand,, that I will just stand nearby, smile and nod when needed, and pass out the cash.

Maybe multi monitors is down the line yet for me and I should just get video, graphics, and speed up to snuff first.

thanks again
sr73bv
1 legged pilot in oklahoma

[congo]

You don't need the 7800 GTX model. For some reason many here tend to recommend "dream" hardware when they themselves can only imagine what it would be like and freely hand out advice as if they are familiar with the hardware. Most own inferior old cards and if they "had the cash" they may or may not blow it on the hardware they are recommending.

Just like you stated, it's you who is passing out the cash.
Your nieghbor (if he is truly a PC hardware expert) should be able to build you a very cheap system with the required equipment, not the "extreme" hardware as suggested above. (the "X" in GTX means extreme, not so much extreme performance, but instead, extreme profits for the supplier. A normal, and much cheaper 7800 GT is more than sufficient for example, and lesser, much cheaper cards will do the job admirably)

If you can't be bothered or don't have the time to research the hardware yourself, then you are at the direct mercy of the mass of mis-information that will be presented to you.

You don't have a 333mhz front side bus speed as suggested above, no one here has that information, it was only "assumed" mistakenly from your ram spec.

Chances are that your current system can be upgraded sufficiently with a new video card only. I would not spend a great deal on a card for you present rig, as it uses an outdated AGP  graphics interface. A nVidia 6600GT or Radeon X800GT is sufficient and will get you a year or two's grace before needing another upgrade.

For $1000, I could build you an awesome gaming rig, alas, I'm in Australia, so the practicality of that is somewhat dubious.

Video card selection is a minefield of a journey and even so called "experts" can be mislead. It takes a great deal of research and knowledge to get it right.

Your nieghbor, being an "expert" either does not have sufficient knowledge, or he is planning on extracting a profit from you, beware.

If you still want a new rig, do some research, post your findings back here for approval, and I'll be happy to pick through your selections after you have put in a little effort of your own.

[ctjoyce]

Heh your system looks like my old dell. If I were you this is what I would get, as for $2000 you can get a brand new system.

Processer: Intel Pentium 4 650 Prescott $268.80
Motherboard: DFI LANPARTY UT 915P-T12 $135
RAM: OCZ Gold Series 1GB (2-2-2-5 timeings) $141.55
Video Card: Sapphire ATi Radeon X1800XL $369
Harddrive: SATA Western Digital 160GB $97
DVD-RW: Plextor PX-740A $57.99
Case: Lian-Li PC-7B $89
PSU: Hiper Type R $130
Total: $1,288.34 (Provided by Newegg.com)

Now before you jump all over me congo for suggesting top of the line stuff (mabe not the processer) let me explain

The ram is excellent. I have built quite a few systems with it and notice amazing preformance.
The processer will be a wee bit more than what you need for now but it has 64bit support so when Vista comes out you will be able to jump right on that band wagon.
The graphics card is the second to the top of ATis line, and beats out the 7800GT on price and function as FS9 isnt an OpenGL game your not going to notice it. Also this card is crossfire ready so you can just pop it into your new system  when you want to upgreade to that.

I hope that you are estatic with whatever you end up getting

Cheers
Cameron

[congo]

Right on the price mark with that lot!

[Saitek]

[quote]  Gigabyte GeForce 7800 GTX 256mb (pci express)

[Jimbo]

Both of you are wrong, and both of you need to to pop down to the opticians.

Aye ok i made a Mistake.

The "X" on GTX stands for Extreme, therefore i thought you was talking about that model on GTX extreme. I thought the "extreme" bit was just clarifying the "X" on the GTX.

LOL - im confused.

Unless they are two separate GPU's. And if so, whats the point of calling them GTX Exteme, when the bloody "X" means exteme already!

LOL

[Hai Perso Coyone?]

My card is second...whee....not wanting to show off....but that is the number of FPS I get....without that Hing Kong scenery