New Computer

[hoki1185]

I'm looking at a new computer but wanted to stay with a mainstream brand with a genuine warranty.The best specs I could find for a desktop were for an Acer Aspire X1700-0569IntelCore2QuadQ8200 2.33Hhz.4MB cache,1333 Mhz processor.4GB DDR2 Ram.1 TB hard drive.NVIDA GEForce G100 512MB Graphics card.I would replace the graphics card with a Gigabyte 9800GT.Would this unit be enough to run FSX?Is there a better card than the 9800GT in the 375 to 475 dollar price range.Any comments appreciated.Ian.

[brownbox]

that should be fine running fsx, although i think the settings would have to be about medium-high to get solid fps. That quad is good enough, but it is the lowest of the quads.

For the video card, the 9800gt is probably your worst choice. It seems to be beaten by many other cards in the price range. I would go for a ATI HD4870, which will set you back about $400. The technology in the 9800gt is a little old, and outdated. If you want to go nvidia, your best bet would be the GTX 260.

If you were to go for that acer, you would have to find out about the power supply, as it may not handle these cards.

Hope this helps

[hoki1185]

QUOTE (brownbox @ Jun 9 2009, 04:43 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

that should be fine running fsx, although i think the settings would have to be about medium-high to get solid fps. That quad is good enough, but it is the lowest of the quads.

For the video card, the 9800gt is probably your worst choice. It seems to be beaten by many other cards in the price range. I would go for a ATI HD4870, which will set you back about $400. The technology in the 9800gt is a little old, and outdated. If you want to go nvidia, your best bet would be the GTX 260.

If you were to go for that acer, you would have to find out about the power supply, as it may not handle these cards.

Hope this helps

The Acer boxes are now very compact and it would be a lot of heat dumped in a small area.I couldn't find any ref to power but the salesman said as long as they installed it the warranty would stand.Would alower power supply afffect performance or just lead to a 'burn out' of the compomentry.The sales guy did say they were built to take hiher end graphic cards.Ian.

I've got a budget of 2 to 3 grand.Any other suggestions for a unit preferably in the CHCH area.

[hoki1185]

Thanks for putting me right on the better card.

[NZ255]

I can't recommend ATI for FSX. They don't seem to do anything anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering wise

[hoki1185]

Where did you buy your unit and at what cost?Ian.

[pilot.masman]

mmmm, finally good too see someone with a good hearty budget. youll go far mate

[hoki1185]

Kids have left home.The mortgage is paid.It's time for a little indulgence.

[brownbox]

QUOTE (hoki1185 @ Jun 14 2009, 07:34 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Kids have left home.The mortgage is paid.It's time for a little indulgence.

How I envy you!

In regards to the video card thing, im not sure about the whole ATI vs nvidia thing. With flight sim, if i remember correctly, its best to stay with intel for CPUs and nvidia for video cards, however i thought this was now fixed with updates and patches. For most other games, they are all very much the muchness.

A power supply which is too small can lead to system instability, as the components can simply not draw enough power to run properly. It can also lead to premature failure of components, including both the power supply and the rest of the computer.

Have you tried local computer shops? For 2-3 grand, they will be able to get something extremely good sorted out for you, would build it, and put a warranty on it. This would also be a good place to start, as they would be able to make you up a pc to suite your needs, and they would worry about the compatibility of all the components.

Also, if you buy the components through the shop and get them to put it together for you, they will usually give you quite a discount.