New Computer

[HookEmHorns]

Hey ya'll,
I'm looking for a good new computer that is really good performance for not a whole lot of money... Sounds like everybody's situation right? haha.  Well I'm a college kid so you all can probably see the problem with the money situation...
I don't have much brand preference and whatnot since I don't know a whole lot about computers, so not a whole lot of technical stuff that I won't remember anyways please guys. haha
Any help would be really appreciated!
Thanks ya'll

[stevehookem]

The only way to get the full FSX experience is to build it yourself. It's much cheaper and you'll get much more performance.

Get a good motherboard that has a reputation for easy overclocking. I like the nVidia boards, some like Intel boards. I personally use the 780i and it is perfect. If you go that way, get the FTW model. eVGA hand picks them and adds solid state capacitors.

Go with the fastest quad processor you can afford and overclock the heck out of it. I run the Q6600 at 3.6ghz (stock is 2.4)

Most agree that the 8800 nVidia video cards work great with FSX. I have jumped to the GTX 280 just because I wanted to have something that is the latest tech and will last longer. The prices of vid cards drop everyday.

Get 4gb of fast RAM. I use the Corsair Dominator PC2-8500 (2gb x 2).

Use 64 bit OS. I use Vista but most here prefer XP for FSX. I haven't had any issues with Vista however.

Get a good CPU cooler. I use the Vendetta 2 and never get above about 50

[HookEmHorns]

I have no idea what any of that means, but thanks! haha. I have an old computer that I can hopefully get someone to put together for me once i get enough money for parts...
That is the only real reason i need a new computer, my old one just gets to the boot up screen and starts clicking and stuff. I don't know what happened...
The college i go to lets us have laptops, but I don't want to run FS on a laptop for a long time... Not sure these cheap things could handle it!

[stevehookem]

You're at Texas, right? I was just assuming that by your screen name.

Don't bother with the laptop. You'll be frustrated.

I know that UT has computer building and overclocking clubs. Find them and you'll get the help you need.

[HookEmHorns]

Nope, unfortunatley out of state tuition was too high for Texas...  
That is where I want to go to grad school. But for now its good ol' Northwest Missouri State.... Division II schools suck... haha
Thanks

[HookEmHorns]

I looked up the parts and that isn't too bad. That includes everything I need (except for  the monitor of course) to get a good computer. What about a DVD or CD drive? And a case for all of this? I think I might be able to use one of my old computers but I'm not sure. It is one of the old Dell computers that has windows 2000 on it! Flight simulator didn't work so good on it and it doesn't even start up anymore... haha