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yournamehere · 12-27-2007, 08:17 PM

I was thinking of digging out an old computer to use solely for MS Flight Simulator - I got tired of hooking up the yoke, throttle and pedals just to have to unhook them and put them away a half hour later.

My wife knew this, so this Christmas she surprised me with 3 new CH USB controls and a new 17" WS LCD monitor.

And that's where the trouble starts. First of all, the computer is an AMD Athlon 700MHZ with 160 MB RAM running Windows ME (I know . . . . I know . . .

) It's been in the garage since 2003.

Anyway, I can't change the display to get the 1440 x 900 resolution the monitor recommends. So I figure I'll get a newer video card. I think my MB has a Universal AGP slot - kinda hard to tell - the existing card is set in there pretty well, and I don't want to break it pulling it out, but the card appears to have the spacer at the 3.3V location - but I think the slot itself doesn't have the divider. When I go into the BIOS and chipset settings at startup, it says "AGP 4X Enabled" - so that reinforces my feeling that it's a universal AGP (don't ask me what kind of MB it is - I don't know for sure) and will work at 1.5V, too.

My question is - does anyone out there have a graphics card they'd recommend that will support widescreen, yet be backward compatible enough to work in my machine? Right now I'm looking at a Radeon 7500 (+/- $35)

Or - and this is the big question - considering the money we just spent on hardware, should I just spend a few hundred more and buy a newer computer?

Heck - I can get a dual core desktop for $380 at Buy.com:
http://www.buy.com/prod/hp-pavilion-...205611532.html

Does anyone think that computer is worth saving? Or should I salvage the 120GB HD and trash it?

Oh - BTW - I'd just be using MSFS 2002 - even the computer I'm on right now would probably have trouble running the new MSFS X. I have, in the past, run it on the old computer - that's why I think that if I can get the widescreen resolution problem solved, I should be home free.

Thanks for any opinions and/or help anyone can offer.

12-27-2007, 08:17 PM	#1 (permalink)
yournamehere Invisible Location: tentative, at best	Upgrade or Replace? I was thinking of digging out an old computer to use solely for MS Flight Simulator - I got tired of hooking up the yoke, throttle and pedals just to have to unhook them and put them away a half hour later. My wife knew this, so this Christmas she surprised me with 3 new CH USB controls and a new 17" WS LCD monitor. And that's where the trouble starts. First of all, the computer is an AMD Athlon 700MHZ with 160 MB RAM running Windows ME (I know . . . . I know . . . ) It's been in the garage since 2003. Anyway, I can't change the display to get the 1440 x 900 resolution the monitor recommends. So I figure I'll get a newer video card. I think my MB has a Universal AGP slot - kinda hard to tell - the existing card is set in there pretty well, and I don't want to break it pulling it out, but the card appears to have the spacer at the 3.3V location - but I think the slot itself doesn't have the divider. When I go into the BIOS and chipset settings at startup, it says "AGP 4X Enabled" - so that reinforces my feeling that it's a universal AGP (don't ask me what kind of MB it is - I don't know for sure) and will work at 1.5V, too. My question is - does anyone out there have a graphics card they'd recommend that will support widescreen, yet be backward compatible enough to work in my machine? Right now I'm looking at a Radeon 7500 (+/- $35) Or - and this is the big question - considering the money we just spent on hardware, should I just spend a few hundred more and buy a newer computer? Heck - I can get a dual core desktop for $380 at Buy.com: http://www.buy.com/prod/hp-pavilion-...205611532.html Does anyone think that computer is worth saving? Or should I salvage the 120GB HD and trash it? Oh - BTW - I'd just be using MSFS 2002 - even the computer I'm on right now would probably have trouble running the new MSFS X. I have, in the past, run it on the old computer - that's why I think that if I can get the widescreen resolution problem solved, I should be home free. Thanks for any opinions and/or help anyone can offer. __________________ If you want to avoid 95% of internet spelling errors: "If your ridiculous pants are too loose, you're definitely going to lose them. Tell your two loser friends over there that they're going to lose theirs, too." It won't hurt your fashion sense, either.