System review please

[Michael Carter]

Would some of the computer experts here have a look at this new system I'm considering?

I'll be adding a separate video card, but I'm trying to keep the cost of the initial purchase down.

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16883103090

I'd like this system because it already has XP Pro loaded, the cache is 2MB, and the processor seems decent.

I'll only be using this for FS9 on a network.

Any thoughts or opinions are welcome.

[Gsey]

This system should work nice once you add your graphics card. FS9 runs well on todays computers. Even though this system is not the fatest out there I dont see any problems running FS9 with a few addons.

Gary

[David Rogers]

Mike,

You should do fine with this PC with mid to high settings on FS9.

Since the release of the Core 2 Quad, the price of Core 2 Duo systems like this one have come right down and are great value - with this in mind, if your budget stretches I would really recommend upgrading to the Intel E6600 processor, which has a 2.4Ghz clock speed as opposed to the 2.00Ghz clock on the E4400 that you're looking at here.

Bear in mind that FS9 (unlike FSX SP2) cannot utilize dual cores so you will be running on 1 x 2.0Ghz core on this machine, which could tax it with high settings, or in 'busy' scenery areas or complex weather settings.

I use the E6600 as my FS9 Server PC and I could definately recommend it.

The rest of the spec on that PC looks great - plenty RAM (for XP), storage, etc.

For a graphics card, bear in mind that state of the art units (like the Nvidia 8800 GTS) are *NOT* the best to go for when you are running FS9 rather than FSX. The drivers for most of these ultra modern (DX10 ready) cards have been optimized for FSX, and there can be some nasty side effects for FS9, such as anti-aliasing failure. (which I had while using the 8800 GTS with FS9).

So a slightly older but still powerful card will probably be better - for example GeForce 7950, 7800, or the ATI x1950 512Mb is great value, powerful, and works great with FS9.

Hope this helps.

[Michael Carter]

That helps a lot guys.

I'd just as soon had a single-core processor, but they're getting scarce.

Thanks for the replies!

[737NUT]

Did you see my post on the 120.00 computer. I run FS9 and FSX On FS9 everything is Maxed out and i get 30.8 on my 31FPS lock, On FSX i get 22-31 on my 31FPS setting.

Don't waste your money on a Duo Core if you are using FS9. :)
Rob

[Michael Carter]

I might use it for other apps down the road.

I ordered this system about 10 minutes ago. Don't exactly know when it will be here since UPS doesn't deliver on Saturday, and Monday is Veteran's Day.

It should be a lot better than the 1.3 Ghz Athlon Thunderbird processor with a gig of ram moving at 266Mhz.

Did I mention the FSB is 800Mhz on this machine? That should get things moving a bit.

I'll swap the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro into the new machine untill I get something better for it before I network them together, and then put the 9800 Pro back in the old machine.