Upgrading a flight sim computer

[MG44]

Am part of my local Air training corp squadron and we are looking to upgrade our flight sim computer a bit. The computer is old but i think i can get it to manage for what we want. The external hardware we have is an Elite pilot training cockpit, which has the flight controls, rudder peddles, throttles and avionics panel all wired together. The Elite program is a bit of a joke as its rather old and we now want to try and run flight sim X via some compatibility program. However when i try launching the monitor just shuts off i think its because the GPU is just to old to handle it. screen is completely blank and nothing will make it revert to windows only way to get back is via a restart

Specs,
AMD Athlon 64 2.3Ghz
512mb DDR 133MHz
60GB HDD
NVIDIA 5600 128mb AGP
250W PSU

the moniter is connected by VGA but we are hopeing to get some funding so we can have a bigger screen something maybe up to 24" but no bigger
As we are strapped for cash a new computer is probably out of the question so that rules out the chance of getting a PCIe card for a new comp

can any one suggest away to fix the problem

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

You'd need to throw some serious money at that setup to get it to run flight sim x, CPU/Memory/Graphics and (probably) PSU would all require upgrading. If doing that, you'd be better off getting a new motherboard also...

What sort of budget could you scrape together?

 

[MG44]

well iv got some paper work to fill in for a grant from BAE a squadron in another part of our wing got £800 for projectors we already have 1, if the graphics card wont fix it we will need to look at getting a bigger budget for it. If so we'd have 2 go talk to our wing technical officer, most of our officers work for BAE so mayb we can get some string pulled

What are the minimum i need to be looking at to sort it, do we want quad core or duel core probably just go for a new build if we can
Want to get it going quickly as iv got plans to build a cockpit for it all to sit in with some bucket seat.

 

[3t3P]

you guys will need a new build with 'much' more modern tech, that's the only way I see it
Get these forum guys a useable budget if you can, informed custom building will give the best price/performance ratio
What sims do you want to run? I hear 'X' is still very demanding to this day...

Are there any fund-raisers you guys can do?

 

[MG44]

yer we can do some fund raisers lik bag packs and band displays but i think a grant is best for the project
we have gone on leave for xmas and will be back on Monday so i will talk to the CO see what we can come up with
we want to run sims like flight sim X, il2 1946, and elites pilot training version 8
i think the elite plugs in via a coms port but will need to check that.
i will check it all.

 

[Clum]

just run fs2004 or even 2002. seriously theres no chance of running fsx on that rig and if it's a training setup you've got then the emphasis probably isn't on the visuals that fsx would offer? even fs2002 with a few addons still looks pretty decent for your purpose.

 

[Marshy]

just run fs2004 or even 2002. seriously theres no chance of running fsx on that rig and if it's a training setup you've got then the emphasis probably isn't on the visuals that fsx would offer? even fs2002 with a few addons still looks pretty decent for your purpose.

As said above look at running FS2002/4 , even moderd high end systems can be bought to a crawl with FSX even on todays hardware.

 

[MG44]

right will ditch the idea of X then
yes its fro training but we are training 13 year olds on it so it needs to do the graphics eles they get board, iv done proper flight training and the software bores me as you can only see out of the cockpit a tiny amount and ever then you hav 4 colors, grey for sky, blue for water, green for land and black for anything else its sucks
do you think that our rig can get away with FS 2004 with a lil bit added to it. Am about to upgrade my computer so i can give it 2 GB of RAM

 

[neon.uk]

My brother runs FS2004 maxed out at 1280x1024 with lots of addons (which kill fps) on an Athlon X2 3800 2ghz (S939), 2Gb DDR, and my old 7600GT PCI-E. Granted the fps on the ground with lots of addon scenery and planes arent fantastic, but you dont really notice it as its only a flight sim. FPS in the air are surprisingly good.

Hope this helps on gauging a suitable system.

 

[andyp]

even moderd high end systems can be bought to a crawl with FSX even on todays hardware.

FS9 can still bring an ultra high end system to it's knees these days too.