NZFF

With all these other polls going on(Which is a great thing) I thought it might be interesting for people to list their system specs and maybe even comment on what they like and don't like about it,what they bought and wished they hadn't and what they bought and now wouldn't be without.What turned out to be a bit gimmicky? We might be able to save each other some dissapointments if we know that exiting piece of hardware/software isn't as great as the asking price and would we be better off buying something else.Maybe we could list our addons in order of preference. Also if we know what each other is playing on we might know something of value for that particular setup that might be quite useful to that person using it.
Well I suppose I'll have to go first so you know what I mean.

AMD 2.4gig, ATI 9600 Pro, 1.5gig RAM, Siatek cyborg evo for Helo's and stick controlled aircraft and CH Products Yoke,Throttle Quadrant and Pedals for the rest.
Buttkicker seat shaker, E-Dimensional Headset and Microphone.
There is nothing here that I wish I hadn't bought and am very happy with all of it.

Great idea Codge! Nice system you are running there too!

I myself have an Intel 2.4ghz processor, an ASUS mainboard with a GeForce FXF600 (256mb) video card. I have 1.5gig or DDR400 RAM and 200GB of HDD space from recent upgrades too.

I know my system is ancient compared to some of you pro simmers here but it was top of the line when it came out- and with regular defragments and the right settings, I get fs2004 running quite well. Oh yeah- I have a DSE (Dick Smith Electronics) joystick with a throttle and POV Hat- nothing special but works great

My next upgrade would be to buy a GeForce 6600GT AGP graphics card. Does anyone else here have one and think it would be suitable for my system?

I buy all my hardware from NFC Technology (www.nfc.co.nz) in Remura. It's a good store with competitive prices and guys who know what they are doing. I recommend it to all you Aucklander's who want a PC upgrade.

Blast! I was thinking about making this thread myself...

Current system is: P4 3.0GHz (Northwood), MSI Neo2-P 865PE motherboard, 1GB memory, 256MB GeForce 6800GS, 250GB hard disk, DVD writer, Samsung 172x 17" LCD and an Enermax 485W PSU. I also have a laptop, but it isn't used for FS.

I have a microsoft precision pro joystick (which came bundled with FS98 back in the day, it still works well ). Also have a Momo wheel for my non flight simulating games...
incidently, i got (some of) my computer parts from XP computer which is 'round the corner from NFC in Newmarket... their prices tend to be cheaper than NFC but NFC tend to have better service

as for the 6600GT, apparantly its a really good value for money card. actually i just spotted a 6800GS for an extra $20 on pricespy, might be worth a look, sadly they don't really make AGP cards anymore

ive have two but now the kids a the misses use the old one i just use the hard drives as hangers and storage to save space on new one
OLD ONE
256mb msi nx6600agp graphic card
celeron m/b
intel 2.4ghz cpu
4x 40gb hard drives
furismo sound card
ram 1.gb

NEW ONE
intel p4 775 3.0 ghz h/t tec
asus 945p p5ld2 mother dualcore ready
asus 256mb extreme n6600 pci
seagate sata2 160gb hard drive
onboard sound card
ram 1gb ddr
photo

had troubles with new puter as it had when i got it a foxconn 925xe motherboard for some reason still unknown this was making everything go and blow up
things fix as follows in brand new puter
3 x power packs one in first 3hrs of turning it on
2x motherboards both foxconn until no3 asus 945p
1x seagate sata2 (fried ) was told later that motherboard only supported sata1
1x cpu 775 3.0
all leads cables etc
everything replace at least once , system only works now with the top postings system specs asus in this case was the way to go


joysticks saitek cyborg evo and saitek x45 throttle and stick
i use both at the same time evo for control and rudder and x45 for throttle and nice buttons still awaiting to build a sim copit before i buy rudder pedels two make it all the more for me when i take my first flight in it
i think thats about it
oh trolly i would go for the asus n6600 dont know if they come in agp though it has worked great for me and i have had the geforce 6600 two of them in new machine before they upgraded the card to asus and i didnt think it worked that well the asus is way better for only maybe $20 more

my pc my be concidred in the "lower lower lower etc.. end system"

1ghz P3
256mb ram
18.6GB harddrive
geforce 4 64mb
56k dial up modem
17" crt monitor
Saitek Rumble force joystik with throttle control
1 cumfy office chair

Very sad , it was all i could afford at 400buks ,but it has done the job over the last 8 mounths ,i'm waiting for someone to sell me thier old x-leae pc with much better specs lol my flightsim is not been running well latly , I have added a few to many addons to it I think and my harddrive space is a little low (3gig free) I uninstaled fs02 last week and that made things a bit beter.

3.2GHz Pentium 4
2GB Ram
300GB Hard Drive
nVidia GeForce 7900GT
2Mb broadband
17 inch LCD monitor
Saitek Evo Joystick

1Gb of RAM (x2 512 sticks)
200GB HD
256mb VRAM (ATI Radeon X300)
3.4Ghz (Pentium 4 HT)
3.5Mb Down Broadband
19" LCD Monitor
Saitek X52

I would say mine is somewhere in the middle .

Alex

nice to have such a top of the line puter i would think, gotta remember at your age i was still using tape player through a commdore 64 and my first flight sim game was f16 fighter falcon on my brothers amega 500 lol
i started out with flightsim on a $80 puter with a 32 if that graphic card with 128mb ram or was it 64 mb slow upgrade to 64mb card then two 128mb cards before i got my older puter it was jar jar jar but it was enough to get me well and truly hooked
computers are get out dated all the time with new software etc .. its hard to keep up but as long as you buy a mother board with dual core ready and update ram to 2gb (2x 1gb ) oh and at lest 256 graphic card aswell your systems should be sweet for fsx
64 bit programs i think will still be here in 5 years so we safe till then
cant wait to get vista for the puter though

After spending the morning chugging out some Jeanz Gap AFCADs the thought struck me that it's particularly easy to do this stuff on my present setup.
So I thought this might be of interest to some.

My computer is a bit ancient, but I splashed on a hot video card and BIG monitor.
It makes such a huge difference to the flightsim experience - VC views are almost lifesize and the detail is astonishing - 1900x1250 allows you to see the rivets on AI aircraft at 5 miles. Well not really, but you get the idea.
And when you need to work on multiple tasks...well, take a look below. That's a website with NZNE details on the CRT, on the flat panel AFCAD is open, plus Google Earth, and also the spreadsheet that keeps track of the whole show.



I'm looking out for a motherboard/CPU upgrade which still uses the AGP video bus, since I am wedded to the ATI card for some time. But I don't have any framerate issues so it would be a luxury.
System Spec:
CPU Intel Pentium 4, 2266 MHz
System Memory 1024 MB (PC2700 DDR SDRAM)
3D Accelerator ATI Radeon X800 Pro (R420)
Monitor
Plug and Play Monitor [Dell 24"Â￾ Widescreen LCD 1900x1250] (MW79665H0NJS)
Monitor
Likom D703X/L703X/LD7 [17" CRT] (1224344802)
Disk storage: around 500 GB, some networked.
Oh, and that's a MS Force Feedback joystick which I am nursing to its very end as I understand they don't make 'em any more

Charl wrote: I splashed on a hot video card and BIG monitor.
It makes such a huge difference to the flightsim experience - VC views are almost lifesize and the detail is astonishing - 1900x1250 allows you to see the rivets on AI aircraft at 5 miles. Well not really, but you get the idea.

boy, that really is some monitor

got to love those MS joysticks too- the ones i see in the shops these days aren't nearly as good as those, they all seem to be built for air-to-air combat (missle toggles and such)

Those Force Feedback ones are legendary. I've got one of those lying around somewhere, with the power transformer lying around somewhere else .

Alex

Nice setup Charl, I use an X45 and a Trakir 4pro, I might be lookin to getting a monitor as an MFD using touchbuddy.
http://www.touch-buddy.com/
Either that or make one myself using one of the other options on the net. Do you use the 2nd monitor for a MFD/MAP/instruments or is it for an extra view?

Second monitor is generally for instruments so they don't pop up to spoil the view.
Touchbuddy sounds fascinating. I think it would work best in a high-workload sim where someone is trying to kill you.
FS2004 aims to be more of a realistic simulator so I fly VC and mouse the "real" controls.
Still, to have a little touchscreen instead of a keyboard sounds intriguing. You could even create a "virtual touchscreen" using the second monitor.
Mmmm
How's your experience been with the Trackir? And what do you tell people who ask why you wear a silly hat at the computer

AMD 2400
1gb DDR 400 RAM
Geforce FX5700 256mb graphics
Two hard drives- total 160gb
CH Yoke and pedals, and a Microsoft joystick I'd never part with that I use in the fighter aircraft (as said above, they don't sell them anymore)
Couple of monitors, 17in CRT and 19in LCD (Sim on the 17 inch)

Alister

Charl wrote: Second monitor is generally for instruments so they don't pop up to spoil the view.
Touchbuddy sounds fascinating. I think it would work best in a high-workload sim where someone is trying to kill you.
FS2004 aims to be more of a realistic simulator so I fly VC and mouse the "real" controls.
Still, to have a little touchscreen instead of a keyboard sounds intriguing. You could even create a "virtual touchscreen" using the second monitor.
Mmmm
How's your experience been with the Trackir? And what do you tell people who ask why you wear a silly hat at the computer

I got the Trakir for Flaming Cliffs but I also use it with Falcon 4 and Pacific Fighters. I used to get shot down quite often by people who use Trakirs which is the main reason I purchased it and since then I find that I have better situational Awareness and I'm much quicker to get a Talley on bandits or the wingmen/flight lead. One thing I have found is that it can get interference from reflective clothing and the suns reflection out the window so curtains have to be drawn. I guess in future sims the trakir is an awesome piece of kit since 6DOF is now the way to go so the ability to move your head closer to the side of the canopy is good for spotting objects on the ground. FS2004 features 6dof but I doubt all pits feature the ability. My current project is to convert a suncom F15 split throttle to USB but I have to wait until Beta innovations releases the Plasma MM2 which is fully dx compatible. Some of the guys I fly with have full F16 pits, one guy made a whole pit by stripping a keyboard. He even got his X36 and modified it for greater throttle range. Some of the other guys use real simulator gear which is high quality but quite expensive. All of the buttons work (95% are used in F4AF for ramp starts etc, the other 5% are too secret to model or not modeled in the sim)
As for my pit well I'll start with a throttle and work my way up, not 100% sure yet as I like both the F-16 and the F-15E.

Well Jimmy, you never walk alone!
From the old world an old one:
Pentium 3 - 1.2 Ghz
512 Mb RAM
30 Gb harddisk
nVidia 64 Mb
inboard sound
Philips 17" monitor
Microsoft Sidewinder Pro FF joystick
ADSL 3mb/512kb

And still flying and loving Fs9.
But next year a new one, so watch out....Charl.

No matter what, we'll still have that sensational, sensuous, joystick!

Part of my current project




Testing the pots(probably replace em later this year)



Most of these old boards will be gone when the Plasma MM2 arrives. B) Then all I'll need is a new Mudhen sim.

That is really getting into the hardware huh?
Do you ever find a use for asymmetric thrust, with the split throttle?

Then all I'll need is a new Mudhen sim.

I hung my wings after Strike Eagle III. (Edit: I think I meant Janes, reading the reply). The sheer depth of that sim was incredible. I flew it on max realism, which meant you had to know stuff like the strengths of Iraqui radar so as not to get painted for the popup at Mosul. That in itself took some doing, given the mudhen is a 2-seater and you had to do all the laser designation and WSO work as well as fly the thing around the MiGs.
You'd be exhausted if you made the mission, which was not often.
But I digress; what's the latest and best, and what's on the horizon for the F-15?

FighterOps
http://www.fighterops.com/tacref.htm

The last F15E sim I had was Janes F15E but thats quite a few years old now. FO will feature T38, T37, PC9 for trainning then after UPT A-10/OA-10, F-16C/D, F-15C/D/E. Two seaters will have the online option like Janes Longbow 2 had or you can have an AI WSO. And FO will feature whole world modelling.