PC Upgrade

[G]

I am a keen Flight Simulator user and MS new version FSX is too demanding
for my P4 system.

I am looking to upgrade to a Pentium Duo E6600.

I am not sure which Mobo to go for. I have a nVidia GeForce 7800GS 512mb
AGP card and think this will still be fine for Flight Sim so really want a
board that can take this AGP card. Is that possible or should I upgrade
this card as well?

Any suggestions gratefully received!

Cheers guys!

Graham

 

[Kent_Diego]

I am a keen Flight Simulator user and MS new version FSX is too demanding

for my P4 system.

I am looking to upgrade to a Pentium Duo E6600.

I am not sure which Mobo to go for. I have a nVidia GeForce 7800GS 512mb
AGP card and think this will still be fine for Flight Sim so really want a
board that can take this AGP card. Is that possible or should I upgrade
this card as well?
.....

The card should work fine for several more years. You did not mention your
system specs. It could be you just need more RAM to make present system
work. Finding a Core 2 Duo motherboard with AGP will be hard but there are a
few out there. You may also have to buy DDR2 RAM if getting new motherboard.

 

[G]

The card should work fine for several more years. You did not mention your
system specs. It could be you just need more RAM to make present system
work. Finding a Core 2 Duo motherboard with AGP will be hard but there are
a few out there. You may also have to buy DDR2 RAM if getting new
motherboard.

I have a P4 3Gig with 2 Gig RAM

I am reliably informed that FSX was designed to run best with Duo Core so
hence the CPU upgrade.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Kent_Diego]

....

I have a P4 3Gig with 2 Gig RAM

I am reliably informed that FSX was designed to run best with Duo Core so
hence the CPU upgrade.

A 3GHz P4 and 2 GB RAM should very well for any game.

So new MB, CPU, fan, DDR2 and maybe video card. You only need case, PS and
HD for an all new computer. That way you can keep/sell second computer as a
whole.

 

[G]

A 3GHz P4 and 2 GB RAM should very well for any game.

So new MB, CPU, fan, DDR2 and maybe video card. You only need case, PS and
HD for an all new computer. That way you can keep/sell second computer as
a whole.

You would think 'A 3GHz P4 and 2 GB RAM should very well for any game' but
not for MS FSX it is very demanding and in heavy graphic areas brings my
machine to it's knees ;-)

Thanks for the advice, will try and find a duo core mobo that can take my
AGP graphics card

Cheers

Graham

 

[Roy Coorne]

You would think 'A 3GHz P4 and 2 GB RAM should very well for any game' but
not for MS FSX it is very demanding and in heavy graphic areas brings my
machine to it's knees ;-)

Thanks for the advice, will try and find a duo core mobo that can take my
AGP graphics card

You may have a look at ASRock's 4CoreDual-VSTA which accepts AGP video
cards: <http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=4CoreDual-VSTA>

(and two DIMMS of DDR1 *or* DDR2 RAM).


Roy

 

[DaveW]

Motherboards that can run Core 2 Duo CPU's almost all use the newer PCI-E
video cards. Your AGP card is slower.

 

[Frank McCoy]

Motherboards that can run Core 2 Duo CPU's almost all use the newer PCI-E
video cards. Your AGP card is slower.

Not really ... yet.
(Old argument.)
None of the cards these days really pushes the limits of 8xAGP.
Possibly they will someday.
Where things crap out, is somebody building an PCI-E card, and then
putting an AGP bridge in the thing; or building an AGP card and putting
a PCI bridge in the thing; as that's the easiest way to make a card for
both markets, instead of designing two cards from scratch. All anybody
buying either usually does, is look to see if the card-type matches
their motherboard. Unless you know, it's hard indeed to tell how the
innards were designed.

 

[Paul]

You would think 'A 3GHz P4 and 2 GB RAM should very well for any game' but
not for MS FSX it is very demanding and in heavy graphic areas brings my
machine to it's knees ;-)

Thanks for the advice, will try and find a duo core mobo that can take my
AGP graphics card

Cheers

Graham

Generally speaking, reusing your AGP video card would be a fine plan.

But the problem is the chipsets on the motherboards that still support AGP.
The chipsets don't really overclock that well. If you ever wanted to
overclock the E6600, like so many other people do, the AGP chipsets
are already being overclocked by the manufacturer (i.e. the FSB on the
chipset was designed for FSB800, and is being run at FSB1066). Which
means there might only be 10% more headroom to overclock via the FSB.

Otherwise, there are VIA chipsets, and even some boards with Intel 865G,
that have AGP slots and support Core2 Duo. As with anything involving
computers, try to read some customer reviews, to see how trouble prone
your prospective purchase will be.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...908 1073407577&bop=And&SrchInDesc=core&Page=1

But since your plan is to run FSX, I'd really suggest a PCI Express motherboard,
and a new video card. Like the 8800GTX. The reason is, FSX is poorly designed,
and eats computers, no matter what size they are. While I didn't keep
any URLs, there is even a claim from an FSX developer, that they designed
FSX for a "not yet shipping" computer, rather than targeting today's
mainstream. You might want to read some more reviews and feedback from
people dealing with FSX, because it seems no matter what you do, you'd
be hard pressed to get buttery smooth performance. To handle FSX, I'd
at least want a platform that can take 4GB of RAM, and then if the need
arises, you have 4 DIMM slots to fill up. Some of the VIA chipset boards
are more restricted on the amount of RAM you can install (when there are
two DDR and two DDR2 slots, you can only use one kind of RAM at a time).

Paul

 

[G]

Cheers Roy appreciate the link, will go research!

As you say Paul and I agree FSX is designed for the next level computer
which ain't good for me.

Thanks again guys will do some homework

Graham

 

[Conor]

Motherboards that can run Core 2 Duo CPU's almost all use the newer PCI-E
video cards. Your AGP card is slower.

Utter ****ing fantasy. I am so sick of this bullshit being posted. AGP
was never maxed out. Like for like, an AGP card is no slower than its
PCI-e counterpart.