Question A new PC...?
- Thread starter Orbinaut Pete
- Start date
At the point you have 3 or 4 GB of RAM (which you should if you're building a new computer for games), Vista has plenty of space. It only gets cramped on 1GB (and possibly 2GB) of space.
Pete, it looks like your biggest problem is a graphics card--or rather, the lack thereof. My desktop is not much better than yours except in the graphics card department, and I can run Orbiter at upwards of 100 FPS.
My suggestion would be to figure out what kind of graphics expansion slot you have available (AGP or PCIe, or only PCI) on your computer and pick up a graphics card for it. It doesn't have to be anything fancy for Orbiter--a Geforce 5200 will run it fine, and they're $50 new (the Goodwill in Austin had them for like $10-15 used). Either way, it'll cost you less than the upgrade to Win7 will in a few months if you get a brand new computer with Vista now.
Then, wait until Win7 comes out to start looking for a new computer. Both processor and GPU prices should also drop between now and then, which means you'll be able to get more bang for your buck.
I'd also recommend getting the 64-bit version of Win7, since it supports more than 4GB of RAM. As all processors built these days use 64-bit instruction sets, a lot more software is going to be coming out native 64-bit, and WOW64 can handle pretty much every 32-bit app. I use 64 bit Vista at home on my laptop for gaming and haven't had any issues, and 64 bit Win7 at work for...work. Anyway, going 64-bit now will save you the trouble of having to upgrade to 64 later on if you want more than 4GB of RAM.
HTH
Orbinaut Pete
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Again, already tried
My graphics card is unable to be upgraded due to the way it is wired. After spending a long time searching online + in the manual that came with my PC, I discovered that my graphics card doesn't use standard connection sockets, it uses a special DELL one. So if I want to upgrade, I can only use parts supplied by DELL, and DELL don't offer a better graphics card for my PC.
It's just DELL's way of making sure your money stays with them
So now I'm really considering 2 things:
Buy a new PC now, to the latest specs, and possibly upgrade as new technologies become available
or
Wait until Win7 is released, along with whatever new hardware is around at the time, and buy a PC that will see me well into the future (which I personally favour, but that just means putting up with my sloooww PC for a bit longer)...
tblaxland
O-F Administrator
Pete, I am really surprised to read the performance you are getting. I have a Dimension 3000 at work with nearly identical specs to yours, except 512MB RAM. Orbiter runs just fine on it (oops, shouldn't be running Orbiter at work...). For example, on a fairly basic install with the base "DG Mk4 in orbit" scenario, I get 50fps in external view, with the Earth visible, 1024x768 windowed mode. What really kills the performance though is high-res textures, which I believe to be a RAM issue. Are you sure all your 2GB RAM is OK?
EDIT: BTW, Dell tells me that you have only one PCI-E x1 slot and no AGP. I don't think any video cards will go in that.
EDIT: BTW, Dell tells me that you have only one PCI-E x1 slot and no AGP. I don't think any video cards will go in that.
Tommy
Well-known member
Just for reference, I'm running Orbiter on a 900Mhz Athlon, 768Mb Ram (SDR), and a 64Mb Nvidea G-force (G-force 2 I think), on XP, and I'm getting slightly better framerates than you are reporting. I'd say that your main problem isn't just hardware. Have you tried VistaBoost (available at DBeachy's webpage - where you get the XR series vessels)?
Is the graphics adapter on the motherboard, or in a slot? If it's on the board, it's probably using "shared" menory rather than dedicated video memory. There MAY be a jumper you can move to enable a dedicated graphics card. If it's a seperate card you may be SOL - Dell has been known to use slightly modified connectors for everything from graphics cards to power supplies for the purpose of vendor lock-in.
If you do go with a new PC, I recommend building it yourself, or having it built for you. The advantages are that you can cherry-pick the hardware and you'll have the ability to upgrade components later - unlike many Dell PCs. Building your own isn't all that difficult - just take your time, don't force anything, and use a grounding strap on your wrist. Also, I recommend "Arctic Silver" brand paste for the heatsink. There are many sites on the web that can give you the techniques for assembly. Just do the research and ensure you are getting parts that fit together (ie, the right socket type for the CPU, the right memory, etc.
A "build your own" approach will get you a top notch bleeding edge computer for far less than buying a pre-built PC with similar specs, and you'll have a box that will be usable for far longer than a mass market desktop.
Is the graphics adapter on the motherboard, or in a slot? If it's on the board, it's probably using "shared" menory rather than dedicated video memory. There MAY be a jumper you can move to enable a dedicated graphics card. If it's a seperate card you may be SOL - Dell has been known to use slightly modified connectors for everything from graphics cards to power supplies for the purpose of vendor lock-in.
If you do go with a new PC, I recommend building it yourself, or having it built for you. The advantages are that you can cherry-pick the hardware and you'll have the ability to upgrade components later - unlike many Dell PCs. Building your own isn't all that difficult - just take your time, don't force anything, and use a grounding strap on your wrist. Also, I recommend "Arctic Silver" brand paste for the heatsink. There are many sites on the web that can give you the techniques for assembly. Just do the research and ensure you are getting parts that fit together (ie, the right socket type for the CPU, the right memory, etc.
A "build your own" approach will get you a top notch bleeding edge computer for far less than buying a pre-built PC with similar specs, and you'll have a box that will be usable for far longer than a mass market desktop.
tblaxland
O-F Administrator
I read somewhere that Vista doesn't support Directx 7 directly. Perhaps that is Pete's problem because others have reported significantly lower frame rates in Orbiter on Vista than XP. I am also running XP on my Dimension 3000.
It is on board. See my edit above about the available slots.
I agree with this - this what I did with my home PC a few years ago. Not only is it easier to upgrade, I've found it much more stable than the Dell machines we have in the office (my guess is that is due to the quality components).
Tommy
Well-known member
I'm under the impression that font anti-aliasing also has an effect. That's what Vista Boost handles.
If there's an available PCIe slot it MAY be possible to add a graphics card. There MAY be a jumper that can be changed to enable "off-board" graphics. Finding out what jumper, and how it needs to be set, may be difficult at the least!
According to tblaxland, it's only a 1x PCI-e slot, which means no PCI-e graphics card for him.
However, there are still some plain-vanilla PCI gfx cards out there...they will far outperform the onboard card and allow him to "coast" through to the next generation of computers.
And Pete: definitely try VistaBoost.
