Soon will be buying a new , but what spec recommended ?

Not into major gaming, generally email, internet & word processing with occasioanl digital photos so nothing super needed but I'd like it to last a few years & run FMS ok.

Currently got a 5 yr old AMD K5-133 (early pentium equiv) & it runs FMS ok (approx 10 frame per sec) using 8mb on board graphics

Any recommendations ? Was thinking of Atlon 1800xp using 64MB on board shared graphics. Good enough ? That would be mega fast compared to current PC but is it future proof enough ?

Dont get the shared graphics, if in the future you want to upgrade it will be a bother, also it sucks processor power. For realflight the 1800 should do it.. Get 256 or even 512 megs of system ram and for video try to get a gforce 4, the mx series are very cheap....

3DMike has it. I would go with as much as makes sense for you. The 1800 is a good CPU that will last a long time as not many programs for normal, everyday use could use it all. 256 mb of RAM is great for XP Home or Pro, but if you get to be a power user, 512 is a lot better.

I would stay away from the fully integrated motherboard option. You will have a lot more freedom with your own choices for sound card, Video card etc.

i have a S3 Savage 2000 64MB AGP4 video card here, was going to build a new computer. but decided not to yet. if you're interested, i can let it go to you. it's brand new.

do I really need an expensive garphics card ? Current PC seems to run FMS ok after all & it doesn't have one. I'm only really buying a new one as want to move this one into sons room for his school work.
Note I'm in UK, not USA

how much do you plan to spend for a new computer?

i have several CPUs sitting here. AMD 400MHz, 500MHz.
i also have a lot of other CPUs for sale on ebay:
**WOW** Lot of 8 CPU's -- Winner takes all

repeat, I'm in UK, not USA

Wanting to pay minimum & get maximum of course !!!

Seems like I can get 1800XP, 128MB ****M, 30GB HDD, 64MB Geforce MX200 AGP, onboard sound, 52x CD-ROM, 56K modem, K7S5A motherboard & case for £315

That will be way more than I will EVER be needed for Word or Excel & I thought should be fairly future proof for basic entertainment use including FMS

Games ? That's what playstations are made for !!!

Yes, Exile... I noticed that you're in UK.

Any how, that system will be more than enough for anything.

cheers!

Find a one year old PCWORLD magazine and find a state of the art machine by Dell, Gateway, etc., that you like. Then go on line and search for it used. You will pay about 25% of what the year old magazine price advertises and it will do everything except wash your socks.

Fred
Colony of Virginia

Sounds like you really don't need a new PC, sounds like your son needs a PC. If you have lots of stuff on your current PC that you want to retain, it is going to be a pain to move it to the new PC.

Maybe you should just get your son a new PC. And he probably wants to play high graphics games (when he is not doing schoolwork, of course), have super sounds, and all that good stuff. The software that he needs (for school) might need a bit beefier PC than the one you have now.

I suggest don't try to buy a PC to be future proof. PC technology speeds along too fast, chip sockets change, add-in card slots change, memory slots change, etc, etc.

As stated above, you can get a really good deal, and a very good machine, if you buy last years model. They are plenty fast enough.

thanks for the info. I go for something similar to the spec I listed.

Totally agree with buying a spec thats a few months old & not the absolute latest. When I brought my 133 about 5yrs ago was possible to get 266's at about 2.5 times the overall system price. Within 6 months the 266 were sam prices as the what I paid for the 133. Was often tempted to spend a tiny part of the huge saving I made & upgrade it ot 266 but never ever did. My 133 has lasted 5yrs so far, so would have the 266.

The prices fall so quickly. Am tempted to buy a decent motherboard & only equip it with a lowly duron then plug in a fast athlon in few months time. However it's only about £30 difference even now between a 900 or 1100 duron & a 1800XP Athlon so may as well get the 1800 now. Of course once you currently go up to 1900, 2000 or 2200 prices rapidly jumps up. But in a few months there will only be a fiver difference.

Son gets the old PC (he's 9yrs). Most of the educational / entertainment software (edutainment I think they call it) only needs 486 or at most pentium 266 processor speeds so no problems there (my old 133 seems to handle the 266 requirement programs ok).

As for playing games on a PC, if you want good games & no hassles, lockups, contstant hardware upgrades, buy a playstation. I've advised manyy friends rather than buying state of art games pc @ £1000+ to buy a cheap old spec pc @ £300& a playstation 2 at £170. Winner every time on performance & overall much cheaper to buy, saving over £500 which buys a hell of a lot of games or software.

We do not play games on PC's... we execute simulations! If it costs more than $50US, it's a simulation, not a game!

Seriously, if you enjoy tinkering, consider building your own system. It's very easy to do and can save pounds of pounds (British humour). You need no "Computer expertise" and the result will be just what you want. The employment of used components again will greatly reduce the cost.
Geeky Fred

I do intend to buy bits frr a computer fair. Don't know if you have them in US but it's where lots of small retailers & some individuals bring all their stock to a large hall or conference centre & sell it for great prices. Mostly all brand new but some used & due to the competition can get for prices about 20% lesss than nornmal for small stores & less than half what you'd pay from a major chain store. Can get whole systems, part builds or individual bits. On what I'm thinking of, high street would be £600, small store £325 & computer fair £275. If brought just parts from a fair & plug togther at home total cost would be in region of £200 - £225 depending on the day.

I don't know about international shipping rates, but try www.newegg.com. I've used them for over a year now and have built serveral systems for friends and relatives. I also built my Athlon XP 2000 there. They have a sale on XP 1600's right now. I think it's somewhere along the lines of $53 bucks for the chip. I love Asus boards so I would recommend a A7v266E (what I currently use) or an A7v333. I also use a removable hard drive bay. I load all of my documents, simulators, and other important stuff on my drive, and the wife and kids have their goodies on their own drive. This keeps the kids from playing around and "blowing up" your goodies. It's about twenty something bucks for this plus the cost of a hard drive. Well worth the money.

I'll buy here in UK. I know it'll cost a bit more but know from experience at work that more than 1/2 of self builds have a hardware failure of some type in first few hours of running. Need a local gurantee.

bit the bullet & spent some money
£422 got me

ATHLON 1800XP+
ASUS A7V8X motherboard (8X AGP, 6 channel sound, gigabit LAN,
DDR400 capable, Firewire, USB2.0 etc etc)
80GB HDD (7200rpm)
64MB Geforce 4 MX440 + TV-Out
256MB DDR 266
DVD
56K modem
1.44MB Floppy Drive
upper range 350W 4 bay case
better keyboard & mouse
assembled

really pleased at the price, was going for less motherboard, case, etc & 40GB HDD @ £310 but decided to go for broke. Saved a bit as just put in DDR266 instead of DDR333 or 400. I'll wait unitl DDR400 sorts itself out, wait a bit longer until prices fall & then probably upgrade to it if perfomrance is there.
Currently most test are saying 400 no faster than 333 & even 266 to 333 only changes many speed scores from 1.40 to 1.42

just installed FMS & now getting 360 - 440 frames per sec !!! awesomely smooth compared to old PC with typically 10-25 fps

UK Exile

You did the right thing, Have fun.