Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler - Attempting to rejuvenate an old PC for FS9

Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | PC Support | Attempting to rejuvenate an old PC for FS9

DVA10246
Captain, B737-800

Joined on March 22 2010
Century Club
Online Century Club

Cleveland Heights, OH USA

113 legs, 167.6 hours
111 legs, 165.7 hours online
111 legs, 164.5 hours ACARS
3 legs, 5.2 hours event

Posted onPost created on December 25 2011 17:11 ET by Mike Sarinac

Hi everyone, let me preface this by saying I have a very limited knowledge of gaming/computer hardware/etc....

My goal is to get an old lower end PC I've had sitting around into a FS9 operable manner. Currently, I can get it to average 15-20fps on a flight, but Active Sky cloud graphics, kill me, even on the lowest cloud/graphical settings. I run Scenery at a medium-low setting, and any add-on scenery turns into a slideshow compared to my usual pc. I also like to run noted fps killer add ons the Wilco CRJ/Feelthere ERJ/ and I'd like to purchase the Ifly737 but am hesitant to do it for this computer.

Specs are....(and again I'm not fluent in this language)

HP Pavillion
AMD Athlon XP 2800+
2.08ghz 1.43 GB RAM
GeForce 6200 256MB
Windows XP SP2

Outside of buying a new computer, I'm looking for suggestions on anything graphics cards, RAM, settings, anything else that might give a better performance. Money is not a huge concern, but I don't want to be pouring in gobs of cash on an almost 10 year old machine.

Thanks in advance!

Mike Sarinac

Captain, B737-800

DVA1416
Captain, B747-400

Joined on December 06 2003
50 State Club
Globetrotter
Quad-Jet Quartermaster
Everett 500 Club
Million Mile Club
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Millennium Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary

"Keep the blue side up!"
Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland Netherlands

1,021 legs, 2,992.7 hours
43 legs, 103.4 hours online
944 legs, 2,706.1 hours ACARS

Posted onPost created on December 27 2011 09:44 ET by Luc Maaskant

Hi Mike,

Surely you can upgrade here and there, but it won't improve things drastically. The problem is that you can only upgrade within the specs of your motherboard, which is limited. The hardware is about 9 years old since it was first introduced, which means it has been written off about 3 times now.

Your processor is already pretty much the best in it's family so don't bother upgrading that if you don't want to change your motherboard. RAM is ok too for Windows XP.

Try some second hand hardware websites looking for a new GeForce card, which will improve performance the most. I'm not sure whether your power supply unit or motherboard will support it, but a 6600GT would be your best bet. I think you can find these for about 20 to 30 dollars. (at a local second hand market I found one for 15 euros).

I don't know how much you have to spend but your best bet would be to use this PC for your home office or as a file server or just to give it away to charity. For 200 to 300 dollars you can buy some decent new hardware which will run FS9 a lot better than what you have now.

Luc

Luc Maaskant

Captain, B747-400

DVA1690
Senior Captain, MD-88
OLP

Joined on May 05 2004
50 State Club
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Online Quadruple Century Club
Stage 1 Jet Double Century Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary

"Life begins at Vr"
Longmont, CO USA

477 legs, 700.4 hours
468 legs, 686.6 hours online
254 legs, 389.4 hours ACARS
3 legs, 3.9 hours event

Posted onPost created on December 28 2011 09:39 ET by Trevor Bair

Mike - I was in a similar situation with a somewhat lower-end FS system several years ago. What made the biggest difference for me was a consultation session with Michael Greenblatt at FS-GS.com. He's a computer hardware/software guru who takes the time to talk you through your options and will even help you perform what is called a "system unification". This process allows you to squeeze the most out of your existing hardware. For me, it meant going from low framerates and stutters to running FS9 on pretty high settings for a comparatively low cost. Check it out: http://www.fs-gs.com/systemunification.html

Trevor Bair

Senior Captain, MD-88

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