Did i do a bad thing ?

[Splitpin]

After getting very frustrated with with my pc (the os ...xp ) ... i woke up this morning , and got myself a .... new puter.
I know i should have consulted the group first ..... so , for better or worse , i now have an HP 500-400A (Just the tower)
Specs : 500 gb hard drive (i also have 2tb external)
64bit , 4gb ram, AMD A4-6300 3.7 something brain ...WIN 8.1 , and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 705 OEM .
Sounded good , price was right ($677) AND .... fsx works like a dream

When i did the rego thing , it told me i will get WIN 10 at the end of the month ..... thats good.
I have to admit , WIN8 takes a bit of time to navigate , but as long as FSX works Im happy

[Ian Warren]

Its a good start Marty .. the HP tho ... but the thing is you have climbed the ladder into the Win7 OS department , be interested to see how you go with this.
Biggest thing is you can get into the 2PC mode which is very handy for many FS applications .

[Splitpin]

Cheers Ian ..... Im keeping the XP machine in the mean time .... just in case.

[Ian Warren]

End of the day, the machine has no re-sale value .. so idea is bring it up on-line , another monitor and away you go.

[Fozzer]

A good start, Marty.... ...!

....as long as your FSX runs SMOOTHLY with all your preferred settings, you will be a very happy bunny!

I run my Win 8.1 set-up in; "Classic Mode" (files/folders look like good-old Win '98/XP!).....Windows 8.1 display options!... ...!

Also......A "Classic Shell" Icon now appears in my Task-bar to replace the awful Win 8 Start Button and associated poo, and makes things easier to get to, to via this installation!...>>>

http://www.classicshell.net/

I've got used to the old Windows displays, so I always run the latest versions of Win in the old classic mode!

I like Familiarity!..... ...!

Paul....Classic Win 8.1.... ....!

[emfrat]

End of the day, the machine has no re-sale value .. so idea is bring it up on-line , another monitor and away you go.

In front of me, SuperBeast, the main flying machine, Win7 Home Premium with 2 x 1TB drives and another external 1TB drive.
To the left, Ol' Faithful, a Win98SE machine where I do my email and Office 97 stuff.
Left again, to MiniBeast, which is used for FB and Skype comms, as well as hosting the printer and a barebones FSX install, in case I accidentally delete something from SuperBeast.
Left again, to another Win98SE machine with a 2GB hard drive holding something like 16 hours worth of MP3 files, used as a jukebox.
To the right, but not in my home network, in the loungeroom, there is BigBeast, the previous flying machine, XP3 and I forget what size HDD. It has a new mobo, after the great disaster of whenever, and will one day the place of Ol' Faithful.
Also in there is an old XP box, which I bought for spares, and essentially provided an excuse for a discount on Win7 Home Premium.

[Fozzer]

...BUT... .....

...do you still have your old 1982 Sinclair Spectrum 48k, and your old Commodore C64, and Amstrad CPC464, .....and Amiga 1200?

....I do!.... ...!

Paul....8-Bit Collector.... ...!

[emfrat]

First computer was a Spectravideo, which competed in the Commodore 64 market and had a nice Basic, which let you do things without peek- and poke- ing. Daughter and I made an animated wireframe graphic of a dog, which would open its mouth and say 'Woof Woof' when you typed in '>call bonzo'
Younger bro had a Spectrum, with a FIFA soccer programme on it, which he broke into and had all the players dragging their knuckles on the ground, and the sideline ads promoting Vlad the Impaler

[gojozoom]

Congrats Marty,

However, a humble recommendation if I may.... STAY AWAY FROM WIN 10!!!!! At least for now... I've got a million technical reasons that I don't want to bore you with but...well...it's not ready yet.

Dan

[Fozzer]

To preserve my collection of old Sinclair Spectrum 48's I now use...>>>

http://www.spectaculator.com/

Wonderful program. Contains the "Multiface" for Zilog Z80 disassembly and Pokes!

Such 8-bit fun from the Olden Days!!..... ...!

Paul.....a bit here, and a bit there... ...!

[omitchell]

When i did the rego thing , it told me i will get WIN 10 at the end of the month ..... thats good.

M$ is good every second release. XP good, Vista Bad, 7 Good, 8, good god, 9 was set to be good and they axed it (And all testing staff involved in the project) so since they did that we are onto 10 which should be bad going by the cycle

[Ian Warren]

Congrats Marty,

However, a humble recommendation if I may.... STAY AWAY FROM WIN 10!!!!! At least for now... I've got a million technical reasons that I don't want to bore you with but...well...it's not ready yet.

I was thinking about .... but after that I'm not thinking anymore ..... I'll stick with the tried and trusted XP on this and Win7-64 on the others.

[toprob]

Marty, all the little improvements in PC components over time can add up to a huge jump in performance when you upgrade -- so I kinda envy you at the moment. No doubt you are 'having fun' reinstalling your addons, so we'll give you a day or two before expecting screenshots.

Congrats Marty,

However, a humble recommendation if I may.... STAY AWAY FROM WIN 10!!!!! At least for now... I've got a million technical reasons that I don't want to bore you with but...well...it's not ready yet.

Dan

It does make sense that if you have an older software to maintain, like FSX, you don't go jumping into a new OS without at least some assertion that it will keep working well, so I won't be in any hurry to update. Plus I have a lot of little tools which I rely on, I will need to be very sure that everything will keep going, but no doubt there'll be plenty of feedback on the flightsim sites, for me mainly FSDeveloper.com.

However I can't wait to update the tablet, and I'll update the Win7 desktop that my flatmate uses. (I've convinced her it will be for her own good.)

The only bad experience I've had with a new OS was Windows ME, everything else has been a great experience, so I tend not to listen to the every-second-version naysayers....

[mjrhealth]

Only thing is teh 6300 black edition will overclock to 4.6 not quiet as good as teh 4770k performance wise but not bad I had one.

[Splitpin]

Well ....... have i had a day. Have to say Win8.1 is different , i felt like a complete newbie .
Slowly getting all my bits and pieces back in place. I had an issue with my external drives not showing up , but that's sorted .

I cant get over how quiet this machine is .... no sound at all , keep checking that the fans are going I would like to add some more Ram if possible , so I'll open it up in the morning and check for extra slots .
Its also fast . I got a little worried when i saw "good start Marty" in your comments ..... Ive jumped from XP 32bit home to 8.1 , and its only a good start ? .... but i know what you mean.

Took Fozzers advise and changed the way it looks , which made things a lot more comfortable and familiar .
Sorry to go on ..... but the only scare i had was when i hooked up the monitor , and got the "no signal"msg .... pulled it out , put it back ...same. Then it dawned on me that this has a card on board ... moved the plug and away i went

All in all im happy with it , i love learning , and tweaking .... so i guess I'll be happy for a while . Just a matter of moving the hanger ..... might be time for a cull .

Thanks again for your input .

[Ian Warren]

I would like to add some more Ram if possible , so I'll open it up in the morning and check for extra slots .
Its also fast . I got a little worried when i saw "good start Marty" in your comments ..... Ive jumped from XP 32bit home to 8.1 , and its only a good start ? .... but i know what you mean.

I would look at the extra RAM , double that, be cheap for that PC, you would OK and ideal for your screens.

[Splitpin]

Cheers skinman ..... I've been reading about it , but i cant find out what sort of Ram it is. So maybe pull a stick and take it to the man , and get some more .
Should i go to 8 ? or more ? i know there is a limit that win8 will take , and its wasted on fsx

[Fozzer]

Marty...

For your computer info...

On the "Start" Button on the screen bottom left, search option....

....type in...dxdiag....and press "Enter"...

It will list all the bits and bobs in your computer....

...and makes you a nice hot cup of tea to boot!...

Paul.... ...!

[Ian Warren]

Marty .. let the Tech guys here add some input for the motor .. seriously pleased you have moved

[Splitpin]

Marty...

For your computer info...

On the "Start" Button on the screen bottom left, search option....

....type in...dxdiag....and press "Enter"...

It will list all the bits and bobs in your computer....

...and makes you a nice hot cup of tea to boot!...

Paul.... ...!

Thanks ol chap