Advice with Video Card and RAM

[CaptainXion]

I am in desperate need to upgrade my system. I have 512 mb of RAM and a 128 mb NVidia GeForce 6150LE.

First, I need to know which is more important for FSX, video card or RAM?

Next, can anyone give me a recomendation for which video card I should buy? I am trying to stick with NVidia and I heard that some of their overclocked models are amazing. I am looking to spend about $150.

Finally, how much RAM should I buy? I am looking to spend under $75.

I am running Windows XP Home Edition Version 2002 SP 2 on a HP computer.

I have a 1.8 Ghz AMD Sempron 3200+ processor. Is that good?

Thanks in advance!

-=CX=-

[Slotback]

Sempron 3200+ is about as fast as a single core 3.2ghz Pentium 4. Standard now is the eqivalent to a dual core Pentium 4 overclocked past 5ghz - higher end is quad core. So what you've got is fairly slow and cannot handle fsx well - regardless of RAM and videocard. To get good fsx performance you're going to need a whole new computer.

At the end of the year a new processor line comes out from Intel that's going to kick some a$$. I'd wait for that before doing any upgrades, but if you must, then that processor can run fs9 extremely well, and you can try upgrading RAM and videocard - some users have reported success even on slower CPUs.

You need 2gb AND a good video card for good fs9 or fs10 performance, and of course, a good CPU. For $75 you should be abled to get pretty decent 2gb RAM - anything more than about 3gb doesn't work with 32bit O/S so I'd stick with 2gb. Just make sure it'll fit your motherboard, and is right right speed, dual channel and so on..

And for $150 you could get a Radeon 3850, Nvidia 9600GT,

[Wii]

Either way, I would shoot for an 8800GTS/GT for PCIEx16 and if it is AGP, either get a new computer or drop the extra cash for the HD3850 for AGP.

[Mermaid Man]

yup new computer time.

512MB- no way good enough, XP and FS-X needs 2GB
CPU- Sempron are cut down cores, so slower than Athlons. Not even dual core.
On board video, rubbish.

No point upgrading, as limited to the rest of the components. I wouldn't waste any money on that rig, even for a short term solution.

[Wii]

I was actually running FSX on a laptop with the following...
P4 2.8Ghz
448MBs RAM
80gb HD
XP Home Edition
And an int. ATI graphics card...

2-7 FPS on minimal settings...
Lowish settings in FS9 15-25 FPS.

[markag]

You can run fsx on 1.5 GB of RAM, ATI Mobility X300 64MB graphics, and a Pentium 4 @ 3.0 GHz and get 15-40fps depending on where you are. Ask me how I know.

You must run it at 1024x768 with pretty much everything turned down. Turn on Bilinear texture filtering though so the sky colors get blended together. Otherwise you will have horizontal lines in the sky where the different shades happen.  I found best results happened when I set the frame limit to Unlimited.  Texture resolution was somewhere in the middle.  Other than that, you would just have to play with the other sliders and settings to get something that worked.

The reason I point this out is because some people will tell you that it is impossible to run FSX on older hardware.  It's not impossible, but you do have to make sacrifices.  

That being said, you could stand to have more oomph in your computer.  You can get 2GB of ram for $50-$70.  Make sure you check to see what kind your motherboard supports. Most likely it will be DDR2 if your computer is 3 years old or less, but make sure to double check.  

You also should look into a better graphics card.  An ATI 3850 for AGP would most likely be your best bet. You could even go to the older Nvidia 7 series if you want. If you do have PCI express then you have more options.  ATI 3850 or 3870.  Nvidia 8800GS or 9800GT or even a high end 7 series.  Most likely, you probably wouldn't see the benefits of a super great graphics card if you don't upgrade your CPU. There is no point in putting a lot of money into the GPU because it will be limited by the processor.

If you do know what socket your processor is, you may be able to find an Athalon X2 to upgrade to.  That would help the system out with scenery and maybe even allow for some autogen.

In the end what you need to do is determine what kind of perfomance you want to get out of the sim.  The amount of perfomance wanted is directly related to the amount of money needed to achieve this performance. I may even venture out to say the amount of money required grows exponentially for each level up in performance.  You just have to find where you would like to fit in.

Markag