upgrades to a free computer?

[skysurfer2010]

I was recently given a dell dimension 8200.

Specs:
2.8ghz P4
512MB PC800 RDRAM
40GB hard drive
nVidia GeForce4 Ti 4600

I will  be installing FS9 on it. Would love to install FSX on it, but I'm sure that would be a waste of time.

Would you run this PC as is or would you spend some money to upgrade anything? I wouldn't mind sinking $200 to $300 into it if it could last me up until after summer. I wouldn't mind sinking more into it if I could install FSX on it and keep it for a year. If not, after summer I'd like to build a nice gaming PC, but that might not happen if the funds aren't there. I might be stuck with this PC for a year.

Suggestions? Is it worth doing any upgrades? Even if you don't think it is, what would you recommend to upgrade so it can at least run FS9 moderately well?

[congo]

The Graphics card is horribly out of date, so, you'll need a new AGP Graphics card and some more ram, another 512mb stick if that's what's in there now, or you may want to get 2 x 512mb modules to replace the 2 x 256mb modules if that is what's fitted at present. The 40gb HDD is also small so you may need more space, you'll need to determine that yourself.

Depending on the mainboard, you may be able to overclock the cpu up to over 3ghz for some extra grunt.

Basically, 1gb or more ram and a modern graphics card will make a world of difference, but don't expect FSX to be an overwhelming success on that machine. It's fine for FS9 though.

Try to include mainboard details in future posts so compatibility of components can be determined. It's sometimes difficult to determine the mainboard models of Dell PC's, they use "special" editions

[skysurfer2010]

that's pretty much what i was thinking. the one thing that really sucks is they have 4 sticks of 128mb ram!

which card would you recommend? would the 7900 series be too much for a P4?

and you know the deal with dell... i'm not sure what mobo is in it. i just assumed it's one of their own.  

[GunnerMan]

Well your computer uses RDRAM, made by RamBus. A company that just about flopped, good concept didn't work. So to get 1 gig of that is going to be in the 400$ range judging by Neweggs price, wich is a LOT of money for 1 gig of ram. You can get a 7900 im sure it would be a tad fast for the cpu but you get the added bonus of the ram etc. Your looking at about 600 for some upgrades that mean something.  For 600-700 you could get a C2D 6600, 2 GBs DDR2 ram, and a 7900 or 8600/8800GTS, thats with some decent ram, a good mobo. Buy a tad slower ram and a cheaper mobo, get an AMD chip you save even more money. Depends on what you want.  May need a new PSU as well but what im saying is if your looking to upgrade this to run FS9 very well and FSX decent then your gonna spend more than its worth. Think about a "rebuild" rather than an upgrade.

[skysurfer2010]

thanks for the replies guys. i just found out the PC is only 1.8ghz and has a GeForce2 MX 400 GPU.

I'm thinking of upgrading the hard drive and the GPU. i don't want to spend a fortune upgrading this dinosaur, but it's all I have for now. Any thoughts on which GPU I should choose?

[jimcooper1]

thanks for the replies guys. i just found out the PC is only 1.8ghz and has a GeForce2 MX 400 GPU.

I'm thinking of upgrading the hard drive and the GPU. i don't want to spend a fortune upgrading this dinosaur, but it's all I have for now. Any thoughts on which GPU I should choose?

How much do you want to spend?  A GeForce FX5200 or FX5500 should do the trick at about $30

Regards

Jim

[skysurfer2010]

ideally the cheaper the better. i assume i'd be better off building a gaming PC starting from the ground up in the future, but I probably won't be getting to that for a while. so whatever i can do now to enhance my experience without putting a huge dent in my wallet would be great.

anything up to $100 would be no problem. $200 or $250 is ok if it will greatly benefit my PC.

[jimcooper1]

ideally the cheaper the better. i assume i'd be better off building a gaming PC starting from the ground up in the future, but I probably won't be getting to that for a while. so whatever i can do now to enhance my experience without putting a huge dent in my wallet would be great.

anything up to $100 would be no problem. $200 or $250 is ok if it will greatly benefit my PC.

OK lets find out exactly what Components you've got in that baby!
Download Belarc Advisor from here http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
then report back with your Motherboard Make/Model

Hopefully it will take SDRAM as well as RDRAM.. if it only takes RDRAM then...forget it!!

Regards

Jim

[skysurfer2010]

ideally the cheaper the better. i assume i'd be better off building a gaming PC starting from the ground up in the future, but I probably won't be getting to that for a while. so whatever i can do now to enhance my experience without putting a huge dent in my wallet would be great.

anything up to $100 would be no problem. $200 or $250 is ok if it will greatly benefit my PC.

OK lets find out exactly what Components you've got in that baby!
Download Belarc Advisor from here http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
then report back with your Motherboard Make/Model

Regards

Jim

ok, i'm installing XP on it right now and getting it set up. i'll report back when i have it up and running and let you know.

thanks for all the help so far!

[jimcooper1]

Dell's generally have an Asset Tag on them..does yours still have this?

OK done a bit of research.

[skysurfer2010]

and you recommend the FX5200 or FX5500 for my PC?

i'm having a really hard time getting my broadband to work on the new(ish) PC. the ethernet card is lighting up and the broadband is fine (i'm using it right now on my laptop). for some reason nothing comes up on the new PC under network connections. any ideas?

[Gunny04]

Get nothing below a 6600 AGP card, that is about where you can max out FS9 in the graphics department, I almost maxed FS9 out on my AMD athlon XP 3200+ 1gb ram and a 6200, 6600 would guarntee good, the ram shouldn't be a problem, FS9 runs fine on 512 as thats what my HP had in it before I upgraded to a gig. Look around on ebay you can find 6600s quite cheap these days.

Gunny

[congo]

and you recommend the FX5200 or FX5500 for my PC?

Keeping on topic........... Those graphics cards you list above are a waste of time.

If you do get a 6600 video card, get a 6600GT minimum, other 6600 models are substandard and won't do the job properly.

A 7600GS or better yet, a 7600GT will be a better choice. (AGP models only - that's if you have an AGP slot which I only assume because of the vintage of the system.)

WIth 512mb of ram you will be severely limited. You should try to get 2 x 512mb

[jimcooper1]

and you recommend the FX5200 or FX5500 for my PC?

Keeping on topic........... Those graphics cards you list above are a waste of time.

The present graphics card is a GeForce2 MX 400 which has a bandwidth of 2.7Gb/sec
The FX5500 has a bandwidth of 6.4 Gb/sec

OK it may not set the world alight but there will be a significant difference.  The limiting factor is the CPU.
In my opinion a 'decent' graphics card will not yield a value-for-money performance boost.

As the PC was free..I don't really see the point of spending $250 on memory and graphics card to get a few fps.  It will run FS2004 adequately as it is with a little better GPU.

Regards

Jim

[jimcooper1]

and you recommend the FX5200 or FX5500 for my PC?

i'm having a really hard time getting my broadband to work on the new(ish) PC. the ethernet card is lighting up and the broadband is fine (i'm using it right now on my laptop). for some reason nothing comes up on the new PC under network connections. any ideas?

Have you checked
Settings-Control Panel-System-Hardware-Device Manager
to check the status of the Network Adapter

In all probability you haven't got the correct driver (unless you got all the driver disks with the PC)
You'll need to download them from the DELL support site.