Help Need advice on Computer stuff

[HouseHobbit]

Hey all,
My computer died last nite..A REAL Bummer..Yes she was old, A 1.4 gig pentium..Had to go out and buy a (new ) used one today..I have a Pentium 4MMX 3.06 Gig processer, now.. But I still have to get a video card and new sound card.I am going to use my old ones until I can get new ones..
Also I still have to put my old Hard drive into the new machine so I can get my CFS3 stuff off of it..What is a useable Mid price range video card and sound card, The new computer has the onboard sound and video..Which I always have disabled and put in sound and video cards..I realy can't afford a Top End video card right now or Sound card so If anyone has any advise It would be most welcome. Yes I think I can recover all my files..I am going to Slave my old Hard drive and get the files moved to the new hard drive..:isadizzy:

HouseHobbit

[hairyspin]

I'd check Tom's Hardware Guide for their periodic roundup of best video cards at various price levels. As far as I remember, nVidia shows the best results in CFS3 - ATI didn't used to show specular texture effects and I don't know if that has been fixed in their more recent gear.

They'll probably also do something similar with sound cards. Be warned that THG is populated with hard-core hardware geeks who agonise over 8x versus 16x anti-aliasing at 2230x1709 with or without full anisotropic filtering in Mega Death Annihilation Gold Edition 4.03.221c..... you get the picture. :isadizzy:

[HouseHobbit]

Thanks for the advice, I am getting CFS3 reloaded and slowly getting set up here..
HouseHobbit

[bonefish]

Once you slave the drive, and get what you need from it. Wipe it clean and use as backup drive. Sounds like you are doing that already. I had one fail, but was able to slave it, retrieve everything and its still a good storage drive.
SEAN

[HouseHobbit]

Thanks for the advice, I have slaved the old drive and are getting my fles off of it..I have CFS3, ETO, PTO, DPC, reloaded in the basic set ups..I am getting ready to put in all the add ons.It has been an experience,,First time I've had a computer crash like that, A real Bummer..But I've been Blessed in the area..I hope to all that this doesn't happen to anyone else..
And I still have to get a new video card and new sound card..Oh well it could have been worse..
HouseHobbit

[HouseHobbit]

Hey all,
Thanks for all the advice, I am done, I think now.. I have the new rig running and have the sound card and video cards in and it ROCKS..I finally can run everything at max settings..WOW..Sure changes the simming experence to run everything this way..Taking a break today,,Still have 80 gig of add-ons to set up on this machine..But I have fresh copies of ETO, PTO, MAW ,DPC, CFS3 in..I am waiting to recieve BHAH in the mail..Again Thanks to all for the advice and help in surviving my first computer DEATH..LOL..:ernae:

[Wyld45]

Congrats House! Make sure you gaurd that thing well with a trusted Anti-Virus! Right now I'm not even
on the new one (that I've only had 4 months). Got bushwhacked by that "System Security" anti-virus/virus. Starting to call my old one "Old-Faithfull". Its almost died several times because of the processor and hard drive is just worn out, but then I end up bringing it back to life!

Good Gaming with the new puter! <<S>> :applause:

[Daiwilletti]

Hey all,
My computer died last nite..A REAL Bummer..Yes she was old, A 1.4 gig pentium..Had to go out and buy a (new ) used one today..I have a Pentium 4MMX 3.06 Gig processer, now.. But I still have to get a video card and new sound card.I am going to use my old ones until I can get new ones..
Also I still have to put my old Hard drive into the new machine so I can get my CFS3 stuff off of it..What is a useable Mid price range video card and sound card, The new computer has the onboard sound and video..Which I always have disabled and put in sound and video cards..I realy can't afford a Top End video card right now or Sound card so If anyone has any advise It would be most welcome. Yes I think I can recover all my files..I am going to Slave my old Hard drive and get the files moved to the new hard drive..:isadizzy:

HouseHobbit

Hi HouseH,
A couple of system configuration tips, in case you don't know them -
- Running cfs3 on a separate hard drive from your OS (eg. Windows) is good so you could retain your old drive for this purpose. You could just backup the whole shebang to an external HDD or DVDs.
- The pagefile should be set so max and minimum are the same, and to system recommendations. Locate the pagefile on another hard drive from CFS3 install.
- Whilst on memory issues, use one of the recent preload.xml files, like the one in ETO or AvHistory to reduce stuttering.
- As you have separate sound and video cards, set sound and video acceleration to maximum - I think this can be done in DXdiag manager?
- Presumably to have the recommeded settings for your cfsconfig.exe.

All up, the experience just gets better and better! Enjoy your new rig :ernae:

[HouseHobbit]

Thanks All,
I am learning about my new rig: The Video card is a "ASUS EN8400GS Silent" and a Soundblaster soundcard LS ..My Config settings I will work with to work out the best settings..It is nice to run ETO, CFS3, PTO on the max settings and it is wonderful that it runs great..
I have antiVir and I have to say I doubt my last rig which was 6 years old had that problem it looks like the motherboard went out..
I haven't had any problem with stuttering but I have imported MANY ETO files and PTO, MAW into CFS3..Right now I plan to have two CFS3 setups on my rig..One Stock 3.1a and one full of add-ons Effects, sounds, preload and the like..I am going to work out the best config settings..Everything has changed LOL And I do have a learnig process ahead..
I do have Direct X 10 loaded and I have set everything to MAX. This 30.06 Gig processer is very fast compared to my old 1.4 gig processer..I realize many have MUCH faster rigs, But I am very pleased..And now I have two hard drives to play with..And alot better rig..Thank GOD..I am changing 11 years of flight simmimg downloads to transfer to DVD, as I reload this computer..And I had 80 gig in CFS3 before..Alot of CD's to reload..
Your advice is very well taken, all of this is abit unknown is some ways..And All your help is most welcome..I am listening with my eyes wide open LOL..

To each of you whom have shown so much support during this trouble I wish to say......THANK YOU VERY MUCH...Bravo...:ernae: :applause: :applause: :applause:

HouseHobbit
Ps.. I will be ready in a day or two to finish the PTO Divine Wind Missions.. God Willing..

[HouseHobbit]

Hey all,
I have been able to recover all the files in my old hard drive, So i am now able to reload everything to the new hard drive..
Thanks for the help..
HouseHobbit

[rouge34rtw]

Hi HouseHobbit..... a suggestion for your mid-range graphics card is my offering..... assuming you have PCI-Express graphics expansion slot(s).....I would reccomend a GeForce 9600GT, or a pair of them in SLI configuration if your motherboard supports two PCI-E GPUs. Using Ebay for a pricing guide...you can pick up a Geforce 9600GT with 512Mb of onboard video RAM for around $50 as a "buy it now" sale, or possibly $25 to $40 if you bid on an auctioned item. I used one eVGA 9600GT when I first started flying CFS3 and it looked pretty good and held frame rates around 25 to 35 FPS pretty steady with all the sliders on 5 and AA and Aniso Filtering turned up on the video card. If you can put two of them together on your board in SLI (scalable link interface) you will probably be pretty happy with the results and still come in under $100 in price. There is also a 9600GT with 1024Mb onboard VRAM...they run about $70 to $80 average. If you are an ATI Radeon fan....try the Sapphire Radeon HD3000 series (HD3650, HD3850, HD3870) again with 512Mb or 1024Mb onboard VRAM, PCI-Express connection, anywhere from $25 or $30 to $75 or $80 depending on the amount of Video RAM and the model.....about the same, if not better performance sometimes, than the GeForce 9600GT mentioned above......
Just about any of the name brands will perform the same in the mid-range cards....the difference is the product guarantee and customer support available.....

Remember to install the latest drivers from the Card manufacturer

Hope that helps...