If you had a free 500 bucks...

[ejoiner]

Bonus time was surprisingly good to me this year. Most of which will go to savings and household improvements in the real world.

However, I have carved off a wife free 500 bucks to play with. If you had this money, what would you buy with it?

I do have a late model PC, and a good Saitek HOTAS set up, so pretty well set for hardware, though a video card might be in my future and or a replacement 2nd hard drive. My FSX is on a dedicated 1TB drive but is almost full thanks to owning a lot of FTX/Orbx stuff.

any ideas?

[Anthin]

Maybe a new video card.i currently have a GTX 670 TI.

Anthin.

[roger-wilco-66]

Depending on the GPU you already have, I'd invest in a NV 970 (980) card. That brought me the biggest bang for the buck a few months ago, on P3D though.
Also nice are the Saitek panels / throttles / combat rudder. Or a Track IR head tracking device...

Cheers,
Mark

[gman5250]

I'd have to agree that the video card may be worth a look. I'm running the GTX780 with very good performance but looking seriously at the 980.

With flight simulation tech advancing to the point where are looking at extremely high immersion and superior rendering, scenery design is going to become a significant factor. To really enjoy what is coming in the near future, a strong video card is a prudent investment. IMHO....

[Mach3DS]

$500....just one item....

occulus rift. There's been some.video displaying both sides of the eye pieces and I did the crazy thing of putting my face about 2cm from my monitor and focusing hard and viola the 3D is unreal. don't try it at home folks

[falcon409]

I'd buy the new set of tires I need for my car. lol. . .then whatever was left. . .I'd get new floormats and have the interior detailed. It has everything to do with Priorities!! lol

[ejoiner]

I'd buy the new set of tires I need for my car. lol. . .then whatever was left. . .I'd get new floormats and have the interior detailed. It has everything to do with Priorities!! lol

LOL! As I said, my bonus was much larger and 99 percent spent on practical stuff like you mention... this bit is MINE. :-)

I think video card is where I am going though the HD thing is going to be a requirement soon. My 1TB hard drive thats dedicated to FSX is very nearly full. Going to have to get a bigger one and then figure out how to transfer.

[falcon409]

. . . . .I think video card is where I am going though the HD thing is going to be a requirement soon. My 1TB hard drive thats dedicated to FSX is very nearly full. Going to have to get a bigger one and then figure out how to transfer.

Yep, those sound like good ideas, especially the video card with the way they continue to improve.

[cortomalteseit]

A new stick and throttle!

[fsxar177]

Maybe make an offer on a CT-133 Cockpit that I was viewing for R&D.. Would make a nice yard ornament!

- Joseph

[dmaloof]

repairs to my car

[roger-wilco-66]

LOL! As I said, my bonus was much larger and 99 percent spent on practical stuff like you mention... this bit is MINE. :-)

I think video card is where I am going though the HD thing is going to be a requirement soon. My 1TB hard drive thats dedicated to FSX is very nearly full. Going to have to get a bigger one and then figure out how to transfer.

Just a few notes from my own experiance:

- if you want to stay with a mechanical harddisk, get a SSHD. Your loading times will improve significantly, and the cost is unsignificantly higher (IMHO).
- if you want to keep your data and structure on the new disk as it is now, clone it with Clonezilla or other clone tool and expand the partition afterwards to the full capacity.


Cheers,
Mark

[Daube]

$500....just one item....

occulus rift. There's been some.video displaying both sides of the eye pieces and I did the crazy thing of putting my face about 2cm from my monitor and focusing hard and viola the 3D is unreal. don't try it at home folks

This. Totally.

[txnetcop]

Just a few notes from my own experiance:

- if you want to stay with a mechanical harddisk, get a SSHD. Your loading times will improve significantly, and the cost is unsignificantly higher (IMHO).
- if you want to keep your data and structure on the new disk as it is now, clone it with Clonezilla or other clone tool and expand the partition afterwards to the full capacity.


Cheers,
Mark

Total Wisdom here!!!

[Bushpounder]

I would spend half of it on my wife, and put the rest into something I could use in my hobbies - simming, models, trains.

Don

[johndetrick]

Occulus Rift, I'm trying to squeeze money from my budget to get this.

[Jafo]

I would spend half of it on my wife, and put the rest into something I could use in my hobbies - simming, models, trains.

Don

I'd spend all of it on the wife.
Eventually it'll come back as a plus...like when you spend 7K on your next machine [like I did]...where the 'slow bit' is the GTX980...

[Rimshot]

I would invest it in some real flying time

[Bjoern]

That'd be $500 off my education loans.

[dvj]

You could get 15 or 16 ORBX/FTX sceneries! Or a nice 27" IPS display. or................. a new Apple iThing.

[Marvin Carter]

A new AR 15 upper in 300 black out!!!

[Jafo]

Or the old joke....
I'd spend half of it on gambling, booze and sex....
...and the other half I'd just waste...

[Marvin Carter]

My dad used to say he would buy a new ass because his has a hole in it.LOL!!!

[heywooood]

what kind of monitor do you have...because you can get a nice one for around 500$

[Anthin]

I think I will start saving up for a new video card.It will take some
time as it is becoming very hard to live on the aged pension.

Anthin.