NZFF

I've found what seems to be a good computer on trademe, and they say they will upgrade or change things if I want to.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=175860148

I said a while ago I'd rather stick with nVidia cards, I still stand by that but right now I'm not too worried if I end up with ATI. Does ATI have a similar program like nhancer for nvidia?
The only gripe I have with that system would be the power supply, I've been told by most places to make sure there's a good power supply in any computer bought from a shop, because most places will put in a small PSU in and then the cards and all don't get the power they need. Will that power supply in there, be enough?
'Intergrated LAN-SOUND and more!!' Does this just mean that there's on board sound?

I think I'll buy vista along with it, and maybe upgrade with another harddrive 10,000fpm for fsx. Any suggestions on a good quality fast harddrive?

Price isn't that much of a problem to me as long as I can get finance and fortnightly payments, seeing as that and a loan from the bank for a car (won't be for a while though) would be the only things I would be paying off.

Hi Peppermint,

I have an ATI and I must say that the support (drivers, enhancers) is pour if I compare it to NVidia. I wouldn't suggest ATI at all, it gave me hard times. Based on my experience only....

Looks like a standard setup ,the mother board only supports one PCI express slot ,also it has 775 socket set "OLD" 650watt psu is more than enough on this system and i wouldnt worry about that...
4gig of ram running on XP pro sounds ok ,all the keyboard bits and pieces are sweet i would like one of those keyboards .. this is way over priced i think and if you went to a shop like PB tech you would be able to build a puter with better specs at a cheaper price no doubt ,,the tower and whats in it is the most important area and the flash bits are just that flash ...

i dunno about those trademe computers that come up. From experience, theyr good on paper, but when you get them, theyv used cheap cases, PSU, no name branded ram, etc. They do the job, but im not sure how long past the warranty. It would be heaps cheaper just to get a shop to make you up a computer with the same specs (provided you pick the right shop)

Also, keep away from ati. I wouldnt even want to touch them with a 20m pole.

Hmm..ok. Might go down to the local shop when I get time and get a quote for a similar system, then compare the two. Thanks for your help guys.

While I had my ATI card(s) I had no problems at all. The upgrade to nVidia was purely because there was a sale and it was much cheaper than the ATI equivalent. I'd be happy to touch an ATI card with a 20m barge-pole.

Alex

ive had a 2900 and a 3870 both running on vista, with nothing but driver problems. Maybe it was just my system

Cards are really hard to keep up with so i dont really have a opinion when it comes to the brands much ,ATI ive never had and wouldnt only for the fact that Nvidia support have always been good to me ,i look at the brand part more than the drivers that support them ASUS or BFG with good memory and clock speed are what i look at more ,my 256mb 8600gts with a really high clock speed is in most part really good and nearly as high as a 8800gts card without the memory etc.. not that matters much when it comes to X as its more important to have a good high core CPU 3.0 ghz on a dual is recommended from me seeing MS sim is windows based the dual will always help ,fsim will run great on 3.0ghz core with the the other 3.0ghz running windows based software in the background ..

From PB Tech, I've picked out a few things that seem good, and all up only costs $3,482 + the cost if they build it, test it and to get it sent so all in all probably somewhere around $3,500, cheaper than the computer on trademe and (I think) it's better. Although not too sure if everything will work together, pretty sure they will though.

Asus nforce 780i motherboard
http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?item=MBDAS61205
Core 2 duo E8500 CPU
http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?item=CPUIT8500
Asus GTX280 video card
http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?item=VGAAS0249
2gb Corsair 1333mhz ram (2 sticks totalling 4gb of ram)
http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?item=MEMCOR13114
WesternDigital 1tb harddrive
http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?item=HDDWD1912
Case with no PSU
http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?item=CHATHM6000
Corsair 750w PSU
http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?item=PSUCOR0750

along with a 22" monitor ($403), Vista home basic ($145) g5 mouse ($101) and G15 keyboard ($118). I've got it all written down and will take the list to a few computer places and get some quotes on their price for them to build the system. Oops, forgot a dvd drive, though they're not that much anyway.

Get what you can afford and spend only what you need to get the right system

hey mate,

couple of things, i have been talking to a few guys around the airport who run FSX, most are runnning the latest and greatest Nvidea cards, and they all wish they had brought a 9xxx or a 8800gtx card, as at the moment these cards are eating the newer nvidia cards for breakfast. and the odd guy how has an ati card is going to upgrade that as it is giving him worse peroformance than a 7800gt card (was one of the newest ATI cards out, it slips my mind what one)

As far as processor goes, i can say i am very happy with my AMD phenom 9850 quad core, now i have the right motherboard, i believe that the pentium proccessors are still faster, but if you are on a budget, i can attest that the AMD chip with the right motherboard will give you great results. you wil really notice the quad core difference when running vista and fsx and any add on you might throw in.

at the end of the day get the best of what you can afford, but most emphasis goes on to the CPU, followed by motherboard, then memory, then hard disc and then video card. there are several reviews out that are saying the 9600gt (which is what i have) and the 8800gt-gtx are one of the better cards out there,


hope that is a little help

Jason