TD I am not a computer geek or Dell sales rep... but I get excellent results from a fairly new Dell XPS 400 running X-Plane. X-Plane 8.40 is more demanding of computing power than MS FlightSim and I get framerates including predominantly clear skies (high processor demand) of about 59 frames per second. The main things you want are at least 1GB memory, a strong graphics card say 250MB, and the new dual-core processor. Once again I am not a computer geek but nothing speaks like success and I am getting it with this Dell. It was $750 about 6 months ago.

 

i found this nice desktop package on bestbuy.com
its a eMachines and it seems pretty good. this old computer is emachines and id like to go with emachines again because their computers run well, last a while, and are economically friendly.

here are the specs:
250 GB hard drive
1 GB DDR2 memory
3.0 GHz proc. speed
Windows Vista

its sold out online, so im guessing its a hella deal. here's the link

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....prd67600050001

 

Speaking of Windows Vista.....I've heard that it has some drawbacks:

--uses a lot of memory, so computers without a lot of RAM may have problems

--may not run all your old programs and peripheral devices

--a "Service Pack 1" is already being worked on to fix some of this

--the main advantages of Vista are things you never see, like security improvements

Anyone have more/better information?

 

Windows Vista runs almost all the programs. Just like XP it has the ability to emulate previous operating systems. However if you are going to game you might want to stick with XP for a bit. THen look up black viper's XP tweaks. You'll improve your system speed a decent amount.

Vista has a huge install. Over 30gb just to install so there goes diskspace. Since it uses that much more space it takes that much longer for the harddrive to accesss all of it. Startup times are less. Overall performance is less(for now). Also it tries to do things a little differently. It does use up more processes. After an install of vista you can be looking at 40-50 processes and that's before you even get any programs running. Each process requires a thread. A processor can only process one thread at a time. A dual core processor can process two threads at a time. That's why some programs are "multi-threaded" so they can utilize more than one processor.

Vista offers great security and a very nice GUI(Graphical user interface). It also has a bunch of nifty things built in. For instance it comes with Outlook already on it so you don't have to purchase office. You can easily manage contacts ect on it.

Vista takes an average of around 5fps(frames per second) off normal games. I have no idea what it will do with FS X. However do a little research and see if FS X is 64bit compatible. If it's designed to be optimized on a 64bit CPU then you can get windowsXP 64bit that way you can have the improved performance of XP and utilize the 64bit performance increase.

I've been using vista for about 2 months now. My desktop runs XP but my laptop has 2gb memory and runs vista. There was a noticable speed difference when vista went on my VIAO. However since I just use it for media and business it's just fine. However XP is more refined and better for gaming.


HASSAN DO NOT GET THAT MACHINE.

The reason I say this is
*while you've had luck with emachines they have a high fail rate
*the machine comes with components you already have so you won't be maxamizing your dollar/performance
*This machine has integrated graphics card which simply will not be able to run FS X. It uses 256mb shared memory which means it will use 256mb of your 1gb memory. Meaning you then only have 768mb for the system and your games or other programs
*Since the video is integrated it doesn't have a GPU(Graphics processing unit). Basically a processor that is dedicated to running the graphics. Because it doesn't have one of these that means the CPU will have to not only process the data for the game now but process the graphics as well. This will nail performance like a mofo and eatup the bandwidth of the entire system because it's having to send the data to the cpu and back vs. just sending the data to the gfx card and letting it handle all the work internally. Even with a fast FSB(front side bus[speed at which the processor and memory talk to eachother])you have to have a graphics card so that it can process everything graphical "inhouse" and let the CPU do what it needs to do.


Here is what you need.
*****As some said 1gb memory works. If you can get two then spring for it. Make sure it's DDR II hopefully 533mhz.

****You want a minimum of a 7200rpm harddrive. If you can get SATA(serial ATA) it has faster access times.

****2gb memory if available. 1gb is fine but if you get 1gb you better stay on XP.

****64bit processor. I only say this because they usually have higher cache(memory on chip) which is a biggie. Speed of processor is important but anything Intel over 3ghz or AMD(usually cheaper) over 3400+XP is good.

****Sound card I completly go cheap on. If it's digital that's about all you need.

****Graphics card!! Make sure it has at least 256mb memory. Make sure it's PCI-E(pci express). Also make sure it is DirectX 9 compatible. They almost all are. In the future games will be dx 10 but you'll pay premium to get that now.


Find a system that has these things. Write them out and let a sales rep help you if need be. Bestbuy generally has higher prices. Try dell or gateway if you want. But KNOW what you want by looking on-line. Hell even order on-line. My job there was to upsell. I avereaged $298 service one month. That meant whoever I sold something to paid $298 out of their pocket for warranty and many times was on a $399 or less system. I did that by keeping someone on the phone, agreeing with them, then using that and pushing until they bought it. I felt so dirt I had to quit the place and vowed never to buy from them. If something is going to break it will be withing the first month or two. That would be motherboard ect. Anything else that breaks like the monitor isn't covered by warranty anyway. Any DVD burners ect that might break you can replace for 1/10th the price of the warranty after the initial year.

 

What ducky said. Emachines are glorified typewriters.

 

thanks for the advice toiletduck it helped alot.
i went to hp and looked at some good deals.

HP m7790e series

i customized it for a total of $1,200:
-AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ dual-core - 2.6GHz

-2GB DDR2-667MHz dual channel SDRAM (2x1024)

-400GB 7200 rpm SATA Hard Drive

-256MB NVIDIA GeForce 7500LE, TV-Out, DVI, VGA

***if anyone recommends anything different, customize the way you would and post... thanks

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh...=m7790e_series

 

Call them and see if you can get better graphic card. Try to see it the have any Nvidia 7600 gs or 7300 gs. They dont cost that much more but much more performance.

 

Broke down and purchased a new computer, which should be delivered in early March (UPS, don't let me down!!). It has Vista. I'll report back as to its virtues or lack thereof. Unfortunately, Microsoft is committed to this product and we'll just have to live with any of its shortcomings.

 

It is stable. They put as much money into it as the US did to put a man on the moon.

 

As promised, the UPS girl came by the house and delivered my new Dell XPS 210 with Vista. (The UPS girl sure looked a lot like dckozak's avatar! My husband stared at her until his eyes went buggy). Anyway, the Comcast guy also made an appearance and while he was stringing cable outside the house, I was frantically putting the computer together. I am going from Millennium Edition to Vista; that's like, that's like, well, like flying a biplane to flying the F-18.

The "problem" I have is that the XPS "will not release the IP address to the modem." Basically, I cannot get online. As I understand it, Vista doesn't want to release any information or data without having it pried out of its bony clutches. All I want to do is get started on my taxes!

Will report again after the repairman comes by tomorrow.