| Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | PC Support |
PC Upgrade? |
DVA8890
Captain, B747-400
Joined on August 03 2010
DVA Five-Year Anniversary
Everett 250 Club
Triple Century Club
"The sky is NOT the limit."
Plano, TX USA
336 legs, 1,301.6 hours
77 legs,
255.8 hours online
328 legs,
1,249.9 hours ACARS
2 legs,
4.5 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
January 21 2012 14:20 ET by Alexander Brinson
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Hello,
It's been a while since I posted and I'm trying to figure out how to improve my computer. Here are my specs that I know of:
AMD Athlon 7750 Dual Core Processor 2.70 GHz
6gb of RAM
300W Power Supply
ATI Radeon 3200 HD Integrated Graphics Card
I know that I neeed to upgrade my power supply and video card. I run fsx and fs9 at med settings or so and get approx 30-40 fps in FS9, and 20-30 in FSX somehow, but I would like to upgrade due to other games I have on here and I'd like a little better FPS in fs. Any help would be great and I'm on about a $150 limit
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DVA7016
Senior Captain, B767-300
Joined on February 14 2009
B757 100 Club
Everett 250 Club
Triple Century Club
DVA Five-Year Anniversary
"I5 2500K - 560GTX - 8GB Ripjaw"
Essex GB
385 legs, 1,090.6 hours
384 legs,
1,089.6 hours ACARS
1,821 legs, 4,442.9 hours total
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Posted onPost created on
January 21 2012 16:25 ET by Alan Barber
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Alex - I don't think that the upgrades you woul be able to afford are going to make much of a noticeable difference to your simming experience. What do you use as a control method? Joystick, yoke. At the moment if I was in your position I would look at getting a yoke or a new joystick and stick any cash left over into your savings for a later day.
If I was absolutely set on upgrading hardware I would plump for replacing the GPU. What motherboard do you have? I'll have a look and see what options are open to you.
Alan BarberSenior Captain, B767-300
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DVA1690
Senior Captain, MD-88
OLP
Joined on May 05 2004
50 State Club
Quatercentenary Club
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
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Posted onPost created on
January 21 2012 17:15 ET by Trevor Bair
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I agree with Alan, With only $150 to burn, I wouldn't bother with any upgrades because you won't see much of a difference. You'll get much more bang for your buck with a joystick/throttle quad/rudder pedals/yoke etc. All of those can be easily had within that price range.  good luck!
Trevor BairSenior Captain, MD-88
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DVA5255
First Officer, A330-300
Joined on November 17 2007
Western United States
31 legs, 54.8 hours
15 legs,
18.7 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
January 21 2012 18:38 ET by Louis Vanbelkum
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| Save the money towards a new build I don't see anyway to upgrade either. New joystick or some software.
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DVA5255
First Officer, A330-300
Joined on November 17 2007
Western United States
31 legs, 54.8 hours
15 legs,
18.7 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
January 21 2012 18:47 ET by Louis Vanbelkum
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Alan Barber wrote:
Alex - I don't think that the upgrades you woul be able to afford are going to make much of a noticeable difference to your simming experience. What do you use as a control method? Joystick, yoke. At the moment if I was in your position I would look at getting a yoke or a new joystick and stick any cash left over into your savings for a later day.
If I was absolutely set on upgrading hardware I would plump for replacing the GPU. What motherboard do you have? I'll have a look and see what options are open to you.
Problem with the GPU is he is running a 300W power supply i can't see any decent upgrade being worth it due to having to buy a new power supply.
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DVA7016
Senior Captain, B767-300
Joined on February 14 2009
B757 100 Club
Everett 250 Club
Triple Century Club
DVA Five-Year Anniversary
"I5 2500K - 560GTX - 8GB Ripjaw"
Essex GB
385 legs, 1,090.6 hours
384 legs,
1,089.6 hours ACARS
1,821 legs, 4,442.9 hours total
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Posted onPost created on
January 21 2012 19:09 ET by Alan Barber
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Suggested the GPU because of the current on board graphics - don't know where a 3200HD sits in the GPU performance charts but a bit of googling shows that a 9800GTX will beat it hands down so chances are some of the 8000 series Nvidia cards could well do too. 300w isn't a lot to play with and a lot would depend on the mobo, and as we all agree any performance gain is going to be minimal.
Alex - if you post some more specs here then overclocking might be an option. Then all you would need to buy would be a beefier fan. Is your CPU a black edition? If so, the average overclock seems to be to 3.2ghz, some have got 3.5ghz that would be noticeable but that would still fall short of an Intel q6600 for example. A lot will depend on your mobo.
Alan BarberSenior Captain, B767-300
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DVA5255
First Officer, A330-300
Joined on November 17 2007
Western United States
31 legs, 54.8 hours
15 legs,
18.7 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
January 21 2012 19:13 ET by Louis Vanbelkum
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After a little thinking I think I found the PERFECT replacements, if you can go a little higher on the upgrade cost.
New power supply.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4252524&sku=D15-1200 $20 super cheap 50 more watts
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1241995&sku=G452-1048 $70 mobo
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1723936&sku=A79-3670 $120
Cost total $210 $60 over budget
Reason for why i choose this setup.
PSU cheap but gives you another 50 watts to play with
new mobo for the processor looks decent/cheapest one i could find to keep cost low supports that processor and many kinds of ram i think more speeds then my mobo i just bought that was $170
processor is the same 2.7Gz but is quad core, and black edition allows you to overclock (not suggested on stock cooler but you can buy coolers for cheap $25 or around there for air) and has its own graphics like intel chips do. This AMD line of processors is special because it allows you to run both the processors graphics and Crossfire it with another AMD graphics card. I do not know the limitations but i think the cheaper ddr3 graphics cards cost around $50 and would be supported as a duel. So you have really good future cheap upgrades.
So there you go also idk what kind of case you have to know if that mobo would fit it is Mico ATX, if you need i am sure i could find a ATX board for the same price.
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DVA8890
Captain, B747-400
Joined on August 03 2010
DVA Five-Year Anniversary
Everett 250 Club
Triple Century Club
"The sky is NOT the limit."
Plano, TX USA
336 legs, 1,301.6 hours
77 legs,
255.8 hours online
328 legs,
1,249.9 hours ACARS
2 legs,
4.5 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
January 21 2012 19:32 ET by Alexander Brinson
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How do I find out what motherboard I have? I have the Gateway DX4300-05. It origanally had a 640GB hard drivem but it broke and I put in a 1TB hdd. I'm not too great with computers, but in my house I'm number 1
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DVA8890
Captain, B747-400
Joined on August 03 2010
DVA Five-Year Anniversary
Everett 250 Club
Triple Century Club
"The sky is NOT the limit."
Plano, TX USA
336 legs, 1,301.6 hours
77 legs,
255.8 hours online
328 legs,
1,249.9 hours ACARS
2 legs,
4.5 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
January 21 2012 19:34 ET by Alexander Brinson
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And aslo, you know the giant stick some people have on the back of their wireless adapters, mine broke, how do I fix it? I have it set to one spot that makes it work, and if I move it at all, I gotta find the spot again which takes a good 10-20 mins. I have my laptop on standby incase I need to use the internet and this thing breaks down.
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DVA5255
First Officer, A330-300
Joined on November 17 2007
Western United States
31 legs, 54.8 hours
15 legs,
18.7 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
January 21 2012 19:48 ET by Louis Vanbelkum
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I am doing a little research but i am coming up short.
Also with that processor i did some research and you can use up to a 6670 as a second graphics card for duel :). Which runs about $100 for future ref.
Doing this computer stuff is really easy i just recently built my first computer a youtube video is enough to walk yo through it. Its just a couple of screws and some wires.
I am still looking for your mobo, but i am pretty sure it looks like a mid tower case and would be a ATX mobo. I wish i could say more then that.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5525804&CatId=1509
is a $40 case and would offer upgrade ability and room for more gpus. You could steal your old ram and disk drives from your old case.
Plugging in that HDD is all the skills you need to build a computer ;).
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DVA7016
Senior Captain, B767-300
Joined on February 14 2009
B757 100 Club
Everett 250 Club
Triple Century Club
DVA Five-Year Anniversary
"I5 2500K - 560GTX - 8GB Ripjaw"
Essex GB
385 legs, 1,090.6 hours
384 legs,
1,089.6 hours ACARS
1,821 legs, 4,442.9 hours total
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Posted onPost created on
January 21 2012 20:23 ET by Alan Barber
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Alex - download and install this to find your Mobo - it will be under the Mainboard Tab http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z/versions-history.html
Alan BarberSenior Captain, B767-300
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DVA8890
Captain, B747-400
Joined on August 03 2010
DVA Five-Year Anniversary
Everett 250 Club
Triple Century Club
"The sky is NOT the limit."
Plano, TX USA
336 legs, 1,301.6 hours
77 legs,
255.8 hours online
328 legs,
1,249.9 hours ACARS
2 legs,
4.5 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
January 21 2012 21:38 ET by Alexander Brinson
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Model is RS780
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DVA5255
First Officer, A330-300
Joined on November 17 2007
Western United States
31 legs, 54.8 hours
15 legs,
18.7 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
January 21 2012 22:14 ET by Louis Vanbelkum
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| that mobo i showed you is already mico atx which is when i searched what your current one is so no %100 here but looks like it would fit
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DVA8890
Captain, B747-400
Joined on August 03 2010
DVA Five-Year Anniversary
Everett 250 Club
Triple Century Club
"The sky is NOT the limit."
Plano, TX USA
336 legs, 1,301.6 hours
77 legs,
255.8 hours online
328 legs,
1,249.9 hours ACARS
2 legs,
4.5 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
January 21 2012 22:46 ET by Alexander Brinson
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Not too sure about what this all is, but I really need that big bulky thing for my wireless adapter cause its starting to mess up again.
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DVA5255
First Officer, A330-300
Joined on November 17 2007
Western United States
31 legs, 54.8 hours
15 legs,
18.7 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
January 21 2012 22:49 ET by Louis Vanbelkum
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Buy a new one (always fixes all broken things ;).
I am just suggesting you replace your current mobo and processor, and to go with those changes throw in a better power supply and you get a better computer with upgrade ability. Compared to now your using a am2 socket which is impossible to find a better processor that will really gain any thing because you can't even buy a new processor that uses am2. AMD newest platform is the AM3+ and the FM1. The processor i suggested uses FM1.
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DVA7016
Senior Captain, B767-300
Joined on February 14 2009
B757 100 Club
Everett 250 Club
Triple Century Club
DVA Five-Year Anniversary
"I5 2500K - 560GTX - 8GB Ripjaw"
Essex GB
385 legs, 1,090.6 hours
384 legs,
1,089.6 hours ACARS
1,821 legs, 4,442.9 hours total
|
Posted onPost created on
January 22 2012 06:48 ET by Alan Barber
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Alex - a fix for your wireless adapter would be to buy a USB adapter and disable you card from within control panel. As for your upgrade path you are going to find it very hard to get a new CPU for that mobo - they are no longer manufactured. As far a a GPU goes, your mobo has PCI-ex16 so power supply allowing there is a bit you can do there - but given that FS is CPU intensive I'm not sure that would help much. From what I can see you have three options:
1. Try overclocking your CPU and see what you think, if you are happy with the results you could get a half decent graphic card which could future proof you a bit when you can go for a new mobo. Downside is Gateway boards generally don't allow much in the range of overclocking. I'll do a bit of research.
2. Go with Louis's suggestion which is a bit beyond your budget but will open up a better upgrade path for you.
3. Stick with your PC as it is and get a new controller.
Alan BarberSenior Captain, B767-300
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DVA9193
First Officer, B757-200
Joined on November 14 2010
50 State Club
Century Club
Western United States
144 legs, 268.9 hours
133 legs,
244.7 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
January 22 2012 13:43 ET by Joel Robinson
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I went from a 280 power supply to a 430 and bought a Nvidea GTX550Ti that is superclocked(whatever that means) for 189 at Tigerdirect.com
Joel RobinsonFirst Officer, B757-200
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DVA8890
Captain, B747-400
Joined on August 03 2010
DVA Five-Year Anniversary
Everett 250 Club
Triple Century Club
"The sky is NOT the limit."
Plano, TX USA
336 legs, 1,301.6 hours
77 legs,
255.8 hours online
328 legs,
1,249.9 hours ACARS
2 legs,
4.5 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
January 22 2012 17:10 ET by Alexander Brinson
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I already have Saitek Pedals and what not, it's the cpu i need to upgrade and this annoying adapter problem. Are there any good wireless adapers via usb that you recommend?
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