rec.autos.simulators

Ok. Here goes.
I have a p-133 (overclocked to 180)    80mb ram    3 harddrives (256, 1.6g,
4.3g)
1mb Trident SVGA card      24x CD-rom      33.6 modem

I play ICR2 (i want the rendition version)   and all of the EA NHL hockey
games.
I wanna play more racing games also.

I'm goin away to college next year, and my parents agreed to buy me a new cpu
(I've had my current pcu for 5 years)  at the end of this school year. I know
technology changes everyday, but as of now, what machine/components should I
buy? and roughly how much will this be?

thanx for your help.

        As long as they are paying ask for a Cray Supercomputer.  This
should do you thru your college years and might even run GP2 at max
framerate.  Or go to your local computer builder and ask him to quote
you something that is upgradable when the technology is there.  He
should be able to use your current harddrives and cdrom.  I'd go with
an AMD 450, 64 meg ram , Thriller 8 meg as a base and 2 Voodoo 2 SLI
for Sports games.  My guess about $ 850

    There's basically 3 ways to go: UPGRADE what you have; REPLACE the basic
with Super Socket 7 (supporting AMD and Cyrix chips); REPLACE with Pentium-2
(or Celeron).
    1) UPGRADE what you have.... You need:
        a) AT Style Motherboard.  I bought an FIC KA-6100.  Supports only up
to 103MHz bus, but that'll last a while.  Even has builtin audio! Price for
the motherboard: $95.
        b) Celeron 300A CPU, boxed.  Comes with 3 year warranty and fan.
Price $125.
        c) 64MB PC-100 SDRAM DIMM. Price $115 (as of 2:22pm 12/10/98).  32MB
is $70.
        Total to upgrade to Celeron computer capable of overclocking to
450MHz, with 64MB RAM: $225.00.
    2) REPLACE most....  Useful to allow for the newer ATX style cases (MUCH
better cooling, more future-proof).
        a) Abit BH6 motherboard.  Very versatile.  There are MANY others,
Abit most available.  Price: $125.
        b) ATX mid-tower case.  Price: $65.
        c) Intel Celeron 300A w/128K cache, BOXED. $125.
        d) Rendition video card. Should be less than $125.
        e) 64MB DRAM DIMM. $115.
        f) Western Digital 6.4GB hard drive. $179.
use the rest of your parts.  Cost for NEW relatively future-proof system:
$734.
    3) REPLACE most with Super Socket 7...  For those of us who REALLY hate
Intel (or those that have faith in 3Dnow!).
        a) Motherboard should be around $80.
        b) AMD K6/2-300. $99.
        c) 64MB PC-100 DIMM.  $125.

and you may or may NOT need a new case.  Cost: $304.00.

Personally, as much as I detest Intel, I truly believe the Celeron/P-II is
the most versatile in terms of FUTURE expandability.  You can easily remove
the Celeron for a P-2 whenever you want.
Prices above are from ONE source only, and could no doubt be found for less
if you do some legwork and order over the 'net.

Don Hancock
"Gunner"
ICQ 24045680

WELL LORDY LET ME REPLY WITH SOME URGENCY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now that I've got that out of my system....

Unless your a techie (or a *** in the case of AMD) get a
Pentium-II 450. 128MB RAM.   "Thriller" video card (based on your
specs... it's a Rendition).  A Voodoo 2 video card would be a
good complement for 3dfx games/sims... nailgunning your
classmates in Quake2 can alleviate those pressures against those
who will not let you crib their notes.  Substitute profs who
insist on those silly deadlines... all of us worldly types know
that creative (i.e., untraceable)  plagerism takes time.

Get _at least_ a 17" monitor.  Forget the specs and go for the
cheap, the games/sims ain't that picky.  Pop's got a gold card,
go for a Trinitron/Diamondtron.

Until I got GPL I would have said you have my sympathy on the
ICR2 skating rink ;-)

Assuming you don't wind up behind an *.EDU firewall, introduce
dad to the car sims.  That way you'll get his hand-me-down
systems at least twice a year <vbg>.

Rgds,
Mark R.

P.S..... STICK WITH IT!!!!!

The college, not the computer, you dummy ;-)

Unsolicited advice from a dropout who's too old to go back (ah,
except for the babes).