SurClaro Flight Simulator Resources

Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 4:07 am Post subject: AMD Duel Core CPU's

Is anybody out there using the new AMD Duel Core CPU's yet? They have the following availiable

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Socket 939 Dual Core = $399.99

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Socket 939 Dual Core = $499.99

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Socket 939 Dual Core = $619.99

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Socket 939 Dual Core = $789.99

I know that all games on the market do not yet support these chips... but the speed of them is just unreal!!! I agree so is the price... but I have high hopes that Santa might find a way to bring one to me for Christmas! Pray

Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 4:29 am Post subject:

I vote for neither. I need a brand new computer! Is it better to build a pc or just buy?

Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 4:32 am Post subject: Computer

Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 6:10 am Post subject:

This coming summer, I am going to make a big leap in my computer knowledge. I am going to build a pc all by myself. First, I have to educate myself with several books. Anyone recommend good resources?

Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 8:25 am Post subject:

Yeah, believe it or not, local libraries, mine does anyways, keep current on computer info and technology.

Otherwise, just google what you need to learn about, and make sure you check a couple sites about the same info you need. Some will give some and others will give alittle more on the same subject.

Good luck

RD

Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 9:22 am Post subject:

Watch for the Gaming magazines on the newstand. PC Gamer usually puts out a yearly hardware guide. I guess those 'Power User' PC mags might be useful too. I've seen several "Build your own gaming PC" issues each year. Or the respective web sites may offer up free tutorials. I might just build me a screamer in the New Year! Cool

Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 9:31 am Post subject:

I'm going into the AMD Quad/Dual core scene full on in the new year. As Sandpiper mentioned, not a lot of games have dual core compatibility yet but they will. The beauty of dual core is that anyone with an Nforce4/Socket 939 can upgrade to dual core by simply purchasing the dual core CPU...THAT'S IT. No need to change mobo/chips/slots/adapters...just click it in. So if you already have an AMD 3200 Socket 939, get a x2 3800 and it slaps right in...voila! Two CPU's for the cost of a couple of hundred bucks. One of the best innovations since the PCIe architecture.

And the advice of building your own...just do it. Look at comparable systems, plug in the model/make info into google and get the scoop. Check around other forums, libraries (great idea Ardie! I do it all the time) and get up to speed with the latest technologies. You can save yourself a lot of money, time and ease of upgrade later on as you know what the capability of your system is, rather than allowing a manufacturer to limit such upgrade. And it really is simple to do. Everything fits 'one way only' and all you have to do is be careful, read three times before installing and you are on your way. You won't regret it...but do your homework first. Time spent in research really does add up in the long run! Plus you got a bonus...you have a PC you can practise on before working on your new one.

Exx

Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 1:14 pm Post subject:

I have just bought a new machine with the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Socket 939 Dual Core, 1gb ram and a NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT. I am now running FS9 with all the sliders to the right with excellent frame rates. I spent the first few weeks flying VFR just to admire the scenery. However, a word of caution if you are thinking of upgrading. I had a few older games which would not work due to the new processor being so fast, although some can be made to run by putting them into Win95 or Win98/ME compatibility mode.

Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 4:35 pm Post subject:

Regarding: Build your own computer...

The primary advantage is that you can choose componets that will meet the requirements of FS9, like a heavy duty power supply. Building your own is probably more expensive than the ready made ones, but you get what you pay for.

Most store bought computers have skimpy power supplies cheapie hard drives. These computers are designed for business machines and like Dell they may have odd ball motherboards that are impossible to support...

The best buy I have found is the in house computers sold by Fry's Electronics. You can get them on sale for $275 (includes XP and 256 memory). The have a 2.66 Intel processor plus IDE and SATA drive busses and a 400watt power supply... You can put a whole bunch of hard drives on them. The BIOS is excellent. Plus computer comes with a book detailing the mother board and the BIOS..

The Fry's computer comes with a cheapie keyboard and mouse and no monitor.. But Best Buy has a 19 " Insignia tube on sale for $60 (after rebate). I have two of them and the tubes are excellent.. Best Buy rebates can be done online now and is fast...

A big plus is that if you have a problem with Fry's computer, take it to Fry's excellent on the spot tech support counter... No more tech support phone calls with some idiot that can't speak English..

Tj

Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 9:18 pm Post subject:

@ Flight - You can't assign the processor's or put one to sleep then if you wish? Similar to Intel's mutli-CPU affinity settings? How old are the games you are talking about?? Sometimes they do play way too fast...but you can always step down via BIOS to slow everything down if you wish. Have you ever benchmarked that rig? Like to see some scores if you have so others can get some 'inside info' on it.

TJ...Best Buy...*shudders*. Never heard of a person building a PC that was more expensive than a package deal though. Thanks for the tips on the product supplier (Fry's). They are located...??

Exx

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 7:47 pm Post subject:

Exx. The game I was having problems was DX-Ball2 (the clone of the Defender game) Thanks to your question about setting affinity, I went over to the AMD forums where I found loads of comments about older games not working (and even some newer ones) So, right clicking on the game process in the Task Manager and clicking on set affinity solved the problem, although not completely because the ball still whizzes around a lot faster than it did on my old machine a 1.8 Athlon. As regards benchmarks, the following is an extract from 3D Mark 05
3DMark Score 6648 3DMarks Game Tests
GT1 - Return To Proxycon 30.0 FPS Game Tests
GT2 - Firefly Forest 19.1 FPS Game Tests
GT3 - Canyon Flight 32.8 FPS Game Tests
CPU Score 6016 CPUMarks CPU Tests
CPU Test 1 3.2 FPS CPU Tests
CPU Test 2 5.1 FPS CPU Tests
Fill Rate - Single-Texturing 3128.5 MTexels/s
Fill Rate - Multi-Texturing 7999.8 MTexels/s
Pixel Shader 184.7 FPS
Vertex Shader - Simple 55.9 MVertices/s
Vertex Shader - Complex 38.1 MVertices/s

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 9:33 pm Post subject:

Sweet. Nice, and thanks for the benchmark data. Helps out a lot when people see that and use it to compare when buying/building a system.

I had a problem with Simcity 3 running too fast. Before I even got to click anything I had power outages, population complaints etc. and before I knew it...they ousted me as Mayor LOL. Stepping down the multiplier everytime I wanted to play it was a pain so sadly...no more.

Exx

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:01 pm Post subject:

LOL. I encountered that problem in simcity 3000 when I upgraded to a new computer a long while ago. Scrolling was WAY too fast. If I upgrade to a newer computer (or build my own), I might experience a larger problem. That's not good.

BTW I am pro in Simcity 3k, not 4.

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:41 pm Post subject:

I built my own PC... sometimes, you will find prices lower when you build, but the usual one is that the prebuilt one are cheaper. but then when you build your own, you can chosse all those differnt parts you want different MB, CPU, RAM, HDD, all that other good stuff

Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 2:42 am Post subject: Old Games