matt7475 5 Posted December 9, 2018 Share Posted December 9, 2018 Hi there, Unfortunately I have long been unable to justify a decent machine to run FSX along with my much loved Airbus. My trusty core 2 quad 2.8ghz, 4GB, Vista machine that has served me so well by just about allowing me to run and learn Aerosoft's marvel has finally given up. I am still in the same position whereas I can only afford a budget system as a replacement but hopefully a very, very small upgrade for me anyway might be a slight improvement on what I've had, I'm not expecting to get blown away. So a HP Z210 workstation core i7-2600@3.4GHZ, 8Gb Ram is on my list for £130.00 which is my absolute limit along with it's maximum recommended video card! What do you think? Do these things make a reasonable cheap option? I am all to aware of the recommended PC specifications for our hobby but it's not going to happen any time soon for me so I'm happy to carry on learning with bottom line equipment. Any advice or suggestions would be very much appreciated. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mace_RB 41 Posted December 9, 2018 Share Posted December 9, 2018 All of that for 130 pound sterling? I know that is more in U.S. Dollars, but that still seems like a pretty good deal for an FSX machine. Is your present video card still working? Assuming it is PCI-E you could consider re-using it in the new machine, although certainly a newer card like a 1050 or 1060 would be better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt7475 5 Posted December 9, 2018 Author Share Posted December 9, 2018 My old Dell machine sported the maximum recommended Radeon HD 4670 which still works fine. The HP Workstation recommends a NVIDIA Quadro 600! The very slightest of performance improvement when compared with the Radeon but not enough to notice any difference anywhere I'd conclude, surely with an i7 It can't be any worse. Am I going down the right road here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aerosoft Aerosoft Team [Inactive Account] 51558 Posted December 10, 2018 Aerosoft Share Posted December 10, 2018 I would not throw money at that. Your gain will be very limited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt7475 5 Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 Thank you for taking time out to respond to my post Mathijs, it's very much appreciated. I do understand and I too am reluctant to take on this machine, I am fully aware of it's limitations, however this is my only option otherwise if my wife finds out she will send me shopping for some running shoes instead! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatrickZ 300 Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 If you're interested, I still got my old motherboard, CPU and memory laying around. It has served me well for years and it's more than capable of handling FSX. Should even be able to run P3D. For a fellow simmer you can have it for a very friendly price. Since you mentioned Pounds before I assume you're from the UK. I'm from the Netherlands myself, so shipment isn't extremely expensive. Of course you should still add the rest of the components yourself, maybe you can see if those from your old system still work. What I have for you is: ASUS P8H61 Pro, socket 1155 Intel® Core i7-2600, 3,4 GHz socket 1155 Default CPU cooler (came with the CPU) 8 GB DDR3 ram (Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz 2x 4GB) If you want, you can have it for € 50 / £ 44.67 including shipment to the UK. I think that's a great deal. I still got the original motherboard manual and driver cd with it, those are of course included. This hardware did run FSX in the past, so you know it'll be good for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt7475 5 Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 Hi there, Many thanks for your post and kind offer. It is indeed a good deal of which I will give some serious thought. Apart from the occasional hard drive swap, RAM and DVD install I'm ashamed to say I've never gone down the self build road before hence the choice of the Workstation. My old machine is a Dell Optiplex 960 tower with a 255W power supply, I maybe wrong but I'm doubting this would be reusable for a start. Anyway I will certainly do a bit of research and see if I can obtain some guidance with the rest of things like hard drive, operating system and licence, it'll be new territory for me. I appreciate your help. Should we PM each other from here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mace_RB 41 Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 I would say that's a good offer -- and you know it's good equipment for FSX since PatrickZ used it for that purpose. I will add some advice, since I have some experience rebuilding Dell workstations. On the Dell tower -- sometimes (depending on the Optiplex model and vintage) those towers are more difficult to open up than a standard case, but it can be done, just takes some patience seeing how Dell put it together. Having said that it should be an ATX case and should be able to handle the new-to-you motherboard, once you get the old board out of it. Your existing 255 watt power supply may be marginal. But my thought was that power supplies are relatively cheap. For example I recently bought an 800 watt eVGA psu for $53 (it was on sale, but you get my point). And you do not need a power supply of that wattage, either, so you should be able to pick up a new, more powerful psu for less than that. If your gfx card doesn't require the extra power hookup, then your 255 may suffice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt7475 5 Posted December 15, 2018 Author Share Posted December 15, 2018 Very many thanks to those of you who contributed to my predicament in a constructive way. Going back to my original post and digesting the much appreciated advice I decided a self build with such a small budget was too big a risk for me, I obtained the workstation for €105, my income and circumstances allow me to go no further. Even I myself scoffed at this machine but it was my only option to keep flying, having put up with my previous machine for so long I have learnt so much by having so little to work with if you get my drift, It's never looked pretty with all the sliders on low and no weather, however I've have had the opportunity to get to know the Bus very well, just, and for that I am grateful, maybe in the future I'll be ready for some decent visuals, the HPZ10 is just a cheap replacement to keep me on radar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aerosoft Aerosoft Team [Inactive Account] 51558 Posted December 17, 2018 Aerosoft Share Posted December 17, 2018 Matt, Graphics are overrated, the fun of simming is not in the best possible graphics but in mastering the aircraft and conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt7475 5 Posted December 18, 2018 Author Share Posted December 18, 2018 I totally agree, I am not interested in what goes on out of the window but how to master what’s going on inside the flight deck, believe me I have spent many hours parked at a gate pouring over systems and procedures with manuals in hand in an attempt to understand and master this amazing software. Anyway PC up and running and flying again! The Bus moving is along just a bit smoother to what I am used to, a little bit of a bonus. Much appreciation and gratitude Mathijs to you and your team for allowing us to experience the Airbus in our living room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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