Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | PC Support |
Please examine these choices and offer an opinion please... |
AFV011
Senior Captain, B777-300
Joined on September 19 2004
GVA 5 Year Anniversary
Online Two Fifty Club
Triple Century Club
Historic Triple Century Club
"Remember...140, 250, and REALLY FAST" Midwestern United States
394 legs, 606.7 hours
274 legs,
430.6 hours online 86 legs,
126.5 hours ACARS 8 legs,
16.0 hours event 501 legs, 763.5 hours total
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Posted onPost created on
February 02 2007 22:41 ET by Michael Carter
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This is my first computer build. I've shopped for several months for off-the-shelf systems, both from the majors and the boutique game system builders. I have not decided yet to build this myself. I'm not an ignoramous when it comes to computers, but I don't have the experience to judge whether or not these components will get along with each other. Compatability is not so much an issue. All of the specs for each item are there in black and white. It's the "let's all get along together" aspect that has me worried.
I want the system to be stable, and I want be be assured the components I've selected for this will all "get along" in the long haul. Drivers, hardware, OS, etc, etc. So many choices for this stuff without knowing if it will actually work together even when the specs say it's compatible.
Here it is:
GIGABYTE GA-M55SLI-S4 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Thermaltake W0106RU Complies with ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V version 700W Power Supply - Retail
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Windsor 2.6GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADA5200CSBOX - Retail
CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
GIGABYTE GV-NX79G256DP-RH GeForce 7900GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
I'm going to use the optical drives and the case from my current system.
If anyone can make improvement suggestions without compromising stability or breaking the bank, I'm willing to consider them.
Thanks.
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DVA2348
First Officer, MD-11
Joined on May 18 2005
Century Club
Overland Park, KS USA
132 legs, 397.4 hours
11 legs,
18.5 hours online 94 legs,
270.9 hours ACARS 3 legs,
5.0 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
February 02 2007 22:54 ET by Mike Roth
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Three questions, one, where do you plan on buying things, two how much do you want to spend, three what are you planning on using the computer for?
Mike RothFirst Officer, MD-11
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DVA2253
Senior Captain, DC-8-61
COMM
Joined on April 01 2005
Everett 250 Club
Online Century Club
Eight Century Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
"I'd rather be flying!" Church Hill, TN USA
862 legs, 1,344.5 hours
108 legs,
165.2 hours online 299 legs,
485.1 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
February 02 2007 22:57 ET by George Lewis
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I don't know much about the AMD systems Michael, sorry I can't offer more of an opinion on them. I've head good things about Gigabyte motherboards though and Corsair memory is good stuff. SATA is definitely the way to go. You'll like the PCI-Express stuff - the chassis and motherboard layouts are designed with cooling in mind - should be a good system!
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AFV011
Senior Captain, B777-300
Joined on September 19 2004
GVA 5 Year Anniversary
Online Two Fifty Club
Triple Century Club
Historic Triple Century Club
"Remember...140, 250, and REALLY FAST" Midwestern United States
394 legs, 606.7 hours
274 legs,
430.6 hours online 86 legs,
126.5 hours ACARS 8 legs,
16.0 hours event 501 legs, 763.5 hours total
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Posted onPost created on
February 02 2007 23:03 ET by Michael Carter
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NewEgg.com, $1300.00 tops for what components are listed, and FS9 on Win XP Pro.
In addition, I'll just be using it for browsing and the occasional music download or listening to intenet radio.
I want this computer to be able to handle the DF 727, TeamSpeak, ServInfo, UT Europe, GA1, and any other add-on's I decide upon in the future relative to the equipment I've selected in the here and now, and settings in FS at a reasonably high, if not maxed out level.
*I'm not at all interested in WinVis or FSX, or dual core processors.*
I'm at $1008 and some change right now.
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DVA1763
Senior Captain, B757-200
Joined on June 29 2004
Everett 250 Club
Online Six Century Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
Seven Century Club
Oklahoma City, OK
723 legs, 2,015.0 hours
645 legs,
1,824.0 hours online 585 legs,
1,608.7 hours ACARS 10 legs,
44.8 hours event 740 legs, 2,044.9 hours total
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Posted onPost created on
February 02 2007 23:05 ET by Steve Pickle
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Mike, I would go with an ATI card. My NVIDIA 7900GT does not get along with FS9 very well. I get a ghosting effect. This does not happen with an ATI card.
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DVA2253
Senior Captain, DC-8-61
COMM
Joined on April 01 2005
Everett 250 Club
Online Century Club
Eight Century Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
"I'd rather be flying!" Church Hill, TN USA
862 legs, 1,344.5 hours
108 legs,
165.2 hours online 299 legs,
485.1 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
February 02 2007 23:07 ET by George Lewis
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I've got a 7800 GT card and have zero problems with it....
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DVA1763
Senior Captain, B757-200
Joined on June 29 2004
Everett 250 Club
Online Six Century Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
Seven Century Club
Oklahoma City, OK
723 legs, 2,015.0 hours
645 legs,
1,824.0 hours online 585 legs,
1,608.7 hours ACARS 10 legs,
44.8 hours event 740 legs, 2,044.9 hours total
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Posted onPost created on
February 02 2007 23:08 ET by Steve Pickle
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George, do you have the updated NVIDIA stock drivers? If not, which ones do you use?
By the way, if I turn off AA I have zero problems.
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DVA2253
Senior Captain, DC-8-61
COMM
Joined on April 01 2005
Everett 250 Club
Online Century Club
Eight Century Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
"I'd rather be flying!" Church Hill, TN USA
862 legs, 1,344.5 hours
108 legs,
165.2 hours online 299 legs,
485.1 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
February 02 2007 23:12 ET by George Lewis
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I'm using 91.47...
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AFV011
Senior Captain, B777-300
Joined on September 19 2004
GVA 5 Year Anniversary
Online Two Fifty Club
Triple Century Club
Historic Triple Century Club
"Remember...140, 250, and REALLY FAST" Midwestern United States
394 legs, 606.7 hours
274 legs,
430.6 hours online 86 legs,
126.5 hours ACARS 8 legs,
16.0 hours event 501 legs, 763.5 hours total
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Posted onPost created on
February 02 2007 23:12 ET by Michael Carter
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The Indivia card on my list is a GS, is there a difference? Here is an example of the compatibility issues I mentioned in the first post.
BTW, the RAM is the Value Select Corsair at a slightly slower buss speed running at 1.8V. People experienced problems with the faster Corsair running at 1.9v on this motherboard. Another example of compatibility issues. It fit's the slot, but doesn't play well with 'Mother'.
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DVA2253
Senior Captain, DC-8-61
COMM
Joined on April 01 2005
Everett 250 Club
Online Century Club
Eight Century Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
"I'd rather be flying!" Church Hill, TN USA
862 legs, 1,344.5 hours
108 legs,
165.2 hours online 299 legs,
485.1 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
February 02 2007 23:14 ET by George Lewis
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Yeah, everything has to play well with Mother - you know the old saying 'if mama ain't happy, then nobody is happy' - that would be true here too
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AFV011
Senior Captain, B777-300
Joined on September 19 2004
GVA 5 Year Anniversary
Online Two Fifty Club
Triple Century Club
Historic Triple Century Club
"Remember...140, 250, and REALLY FAST" Midwestern United States
394 legs, 606.7 hours
274 legs,
430.6 hours online 86 legs,
126.5 hours ACARS 8 legs,
16.0 hours event 501 legs, 763.5 hours total
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Posted onPost created on
February 02 2007 23:17 ET by Michael Carter
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God, ain't that the truth!
This is where my doubt as a computer builder is coming into play. I guess I could build a 727 if I had to, but computers are a whole different matter.
I want to boot it the first time, past the POST, and go to Windows and see what happens from there. I'm very worried it won't even make it past POST.
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DVA2253
Senior Captain, DC-8-61
COMM
Joined on April 01 2005
Everett 250 Club
Online Century Club
Eight Century Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
"I'd rather be flying!" Church Hill, TN USA
862 legs, 1,344.5 hours
108 legs,
165.2 hours online 299 legs,
485.1 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
February 02 2007 23:23 ET by George Lewis
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You'll do fine Michael - building a PC is really easy - just watch out for static electricity and you're all set!
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DVA1933
Senior Captain, B727-200
Joined on September 19 2004
Triple Century Club
Monterrey, NL Mexico
357 legs, 860.4 hours
72 legs,
132.3 hours online 255 legs,
668.3 hours ACARS 1 legs,
1.9 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
February 02 2007 23:39 ET by David Eugenio Gomez
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As far as I know, GS stands for a lower end GPU, while GT stands for a faster GPU (clocking speeds, which give the card its speed, not the RAM).
That PC looks pretty good to me, Mike. Good luck with that.
I was as worried as you when I built this computer I'm using, I had to get some help because I didn't know much about electronics, but you know your way around so you should be fine.
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DVA043
Senior Captain, MD-11
OLP
Joined on June 10 2001
Event Half Century Club
Online Double Century Club
50 State Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
Everett 1500 Club
Bi-Millennium Club
Four Million Mile Club
"Col. Panic" Marietta, GA
2,241 legs, 8,967.3 hours
240 legs,
553.9 hours online 1,899 legs,
7,760.4 hours ACARS 75 legs,
196.3 hours event 2,277 legs, 9,102.2 hours total 91 legs dispatched, 66.4
hours
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Posted onPost created on
February 02 2007 23:45 ET by Luke Kolin
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I would *strongly* suggest you compare the Intel Core 2 Duo models against the AMD CPUs. If you are on a budget, the E6300 or E6400 should still provide you excellent performance with a decent price tag.
Cheers!
Luke KolinSenior Captain, MD-11
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AFV011
Senior Captain, B777-300
Joined on September 19 2004
GVA 5 Year Anniversary
Online Two Fifty Club
Triple Century Club
Historic Triple Century Club
"Remember...140, 250, and REALLY FAST" Midwestern United States
394 legs, 606.7 hours
274 legs,
430.6 hours online 86 legs,
126.5 hours ACARS 8 legs,
16.0 hours event 501 legs, 763.5 hours total
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Posted onPost created on
February 03 2007 00:16 ET by Michael Carter
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I'm always interested in a higher clock speed Eugenio. I'll have a look.
Luke, why do I need a dual core processor to run FS9 and WinXP Pro? Is there an advantage to a dual core using this software? The AMD MB is up-gradable to a dual core in the future if I need to go that direction.
Will I get more bang for the buck with an Intell system? Are Intell systems more forgiving of hardware issues? At this point, price is not so much as issue as performance. It factors in, but I'm willing to stretch a bit to get good video and frame rates. I'm very tired of 10FPS on the ground in Vienna and getting worse when the aircraft starts moving until out of the terminal area.
I'm sick of choppy approaches, not flying on-line, and generally just fed up with what I have. And I've only had it a little more than a year.
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