noob computer question

[szymon81]

hey guys im looking to get a new computer as just moved out.

i dont know much about computers, and was wondering what u guys would recommend when buying a new computer. obviously my budget is limmited, but what is the best video card to get for playing flight sims?

also, what other specs? ie which is the best processor, how much memory do i need etc etc.

pls help a noob :smartass:

[szymon81]

ps i am leaning towards buying the computer from dell..

also, what is the opinon on the new windows system, ie xp is old now right? whats the new one called, vista or something. is it good?

[p_o_d_2_2]

Go with a Intel Core 2 Duo, model depends on our budget. Get 2 gigs of RAM if you are going to run Vista, and the HD really depends on how much stuff you put on your computer. Those are some basics, I'm sure that someone else here will be able to offer much more detailed advice :)

[SuperKungFu]

if you can, try to build your computer. (if it is a desktop). Otherwise, dell has some pretty good deals on laptops, but in terms of desktops, its a ripoff.

[VMFA-Blaze]

ps i am leaning towards buying the computer from dell..

also, what is the opinon on the new windows system, ie xp is old now right? whats the new one called, vista or something. is it good?

 

My advice is to stay away from Dell.. Build your own, at least you'll be sure of what you've got in there...

 

And you'll have a much better system.. You'll need to do your home work though.. check the forums and see what everyone is using and after you understand things more clearly go do some comparison on line shopping to get the best prices...

 

And just so you know there are plenty of virtual pilots here to help with all the questions you'll have...

 

~S~

 

Blaze

[Kuky]

I also recomend you build your own system. And as for flight sims (at least good ones) fast CPU is the priority and you can live with not to high range video card. Something medium range will do for lock on. The only reason to get a high end video card for lock on would be to use very high resolution, AA (Antialiasing) and AF (Anisotropic Filtering).

 

1GB or RAM is pretty much what you need to have at least... 2GB recomended but not really so much of an issue... 1GB will still be quite suffucuent... er... unless you want to get Vista. For that OS they recoment 2GB or RAM.

 

But, Windows XP Pro with ServicePack2 is still the most recomended gaming OS. There are lots of issue with drivers with Vista so if you get that you can expect some problems and incompatibilities.

 

So, Core 2 Duo based system would really be the best choice for any gamer right now, followed by 1GB and any decent 256MB card should be suffucient for most games... and not cost too much.

[3Sqn_Fudd]

Gotta buy and build your own... It's the only way to do it. Invest 15 hours of reading for a skill that you will use somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 times in your life.

 

Price wise you can't beat it either, you'll have power supplies and hard drives, a case, etc to carry over to future builds...

 

Get some knowledge, get a complete run down of what you think you want and we'll go over it with you. Here's what you may or may not need...

 

Motherboard

Processor

RAM

GPU

Power Supply

Hard Drive

Optical Drive

Case

Mouse/Keyboard

Operating System

Thermal Grease- 6$

CPU Heatsink and Fan (important if overclocking)

Monitor

Sound Card

Speakers/Headphones

 

Shipping Costs