rec.autos.simulators

Hey guys I read RAS religiously but I rarely post. I have worked my
rear end off this summer doing some construction work and paid off a
few bills but now I'm looking at upgrading my computer. I need help. I
don't want to get screwed over by the local computer store in my town
so can anybody help me with a roundabout price for what I'm wanting. I
know I can look at this stuff on pricewatch and other websites but
sometimes too much info is overwhelming. Here is what I want for the
upgrade:

P4 2.0 GHZ Northwood OR AMD 2200+ Processor
Motherboard to support processor
512 MB PC2100 RAM

I was halfway quoted that this would cost me around $500-$600. I have
tried to look around and can't figure out if it should be cheaper or
not. I checked out a few websites and custom built a combo and most of
the time I got around $425-$475 depending on motherboards and CPU
choices. Can anybody make suggestions on which CPU I would be better
off with, sometimes I got about the same prices for the AMD and P4
cards and the AMD is slightly slower so does it have more things the
P4 don't have to warrant the same price?

Also, I'm getting a vid card with the system. I'm going to go out and
buy this on my own and have been leaning towards a ATI Radeon 8500
128MB card. I think I have seen the card listed for around $150, is
that about right?

Anybody with a similar system I've listed I would also be much
appreciative if you could tell me what kinds of framerates a similar
system would get on N2002. I currently have an 800mhz Athlon w/256 MB
RAM and a Voodoo 5 5500 video card and struggle to get 20-25fps at
Daytona.

ANY and all help would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to throw
my money down the drain. I have read websites and read and read enough
to make my head numb. There is so much info its hard to weed through
it all. I'd appreciate advice from you fine folks at RAS.

Thanks in advance,
Ricky Whittenburg (DownNDirty)

www.pricewatch.com

--
Mike Grandy
www.precision-racing.com

Ricky,

I'd say about $400 for either the P4 Northwood or AMD upgrade if you did it
yourself so $500 should be about right to have a cpu shop do it for you.  Or
course that doesn't include a new hard drive which would cost another $100
if you need that.

If I were you, I'd go for something along the lines of a AMD 2000+ XP just
because the latest and greatest processor comes at a price premium.  You
could save about $100 by going down just a couple speed points and another
$100 if you did it yourself.

For the video card, I'd go for either a GF4 Ti4200 or the new Radeon 9000
which will be faster than the Radeon 8500 that is being phased out now and
should be selling for about $150.

Good luck!

-Tim

I just built a new computer. I bought all the parts from Newegg.com.

New computer:
$85        Soltek SL-75DRV5
$133      AMD XP 1900 (retail)
$75        Samsung DDR333 PC-2700 256MB
$89        Maxtor 60gb ATA 133 7200RPM
$50        Lite-On DVD 16X48
$15        Linksys EtherFast 10/100 LAN Card
$75        Silver Chieftec Server tower DX-01SLD W/ 2 x 80mm sleeve cooling
fan (rear blowing out)  w/420w power supply
$7          Thermaltake 80X80X25mm
$12        Panasonic FD 1.44mb

$541 total

Shipping was about $40.

I already had a monitor, speakers, sound card, video card, mouse and
keyboard.

System runs great just need to get a new video card. AMD XP 1900 will OC to
a 2100. Haven't done it yet need to get a better CPU cooler.

I'm running 98se.

Hope this helps,

Chris G.