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  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
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windows 7 home

cookie273uk said:
Why do the keep on changing, is it what they call progress. Before that I had XP and could not see anything wrong with that either. Eric
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Do you still drive the same car you did 40 years ago?. I bet if you went back to it you would be shocked at how primitive it would seem.

The same with Windows.

While we may not always realise it there are thousands and thousands of features being added to Windows for each release.

Think of all the things we do now on a PC that we could not do before - support for USB, support for digital devices like cameras, mobile phones, ipads etc, support for wi fi, for video, for gaming and so on.

Also note we now have touch screens, and Windows 7 has support for touch screens built in.

Also support for larger memory and larger hard disks. Remember when XP came out most people probably had less than 256Mb of memory and a 20Gb hard drive. Now many people have 2 or 3 or 4 Gb of memory and 500Gb or 1Tb hard drives. Also try running Windows XP on a PC with more than about 3.5Gb of memory. It wont use anything above 3.5 because it cant cope with it. But Windows 7 (some versions) can cope with way more than 4Gb of memory.

So all this function needs to be added to Windows, written and tested. So every couple of years they re-package it all up and give it a new release name. Note also of course that each new release makes them some money so we must not forget that.

So Windows, and all other software we use, will contine to get updated and changed to keep up to date with modern hardware and modern requirements.
 
Thank you all for advice. My problem is I am not very computer wise and words like Dell, Partition, Linux etc.... are just that, words and mean nothing to me. I am happy with my present set up, a rather expensive HP tower type PC with Windows Vista OS which I now understand and like and IE8 for my Browser page (did down load IE9 but did not like it so uninstalled it) and my server is BT Openworld always has been and always will. The reason I bought an expensive PC (£999) was because I am a Flight Simulator X fanatic and at 6.2gbs on 2 DVDs it requires a powerful PC with huge memory, before that I had Flight Simulator 2004 (3.66 gbs), in fact I still have it. I have recently paid a years subscription for the Computeractive Magazine and find it speaks a language I understand (and a useful web site to boot) which other PC Mags do not, At 80 years old I like plain language, Your never to old to learn. Eric
 
Hi Eric,

I don't see any reason to change your present machine or version of Windows - it's obviously adequate for what you wish to use it.

Maurice :cool:
 
Maurice, I bought this PC on PC worlds reccomendation when I said I wanted a PC which could cope with the requirements of the Flight Sim X simulator nearly 4 years ago, but even with this PC I cannot put all the games numerous simulator settings on ultra high, if I do my frames per second drops below my preffered 25 fps and becomes jerky like an old film, so I have to compromise and reduce some settings to high or even medium. I would like a PC were I can have ALL settings on ultra high and still keep 25 frames per second minimum, apart from that I am more than happy with my present PC. If I was more PC knowlegeable I could probably put additional memory or a more powerful video card or other improvements, I suppose I could get PC World to do it rather than change my PC, certainly be cheaper ! Eric
 
Hi Eric,

Ah, I see your problem! With the motherboard being 4 years old, that could well restrict the amount of upgrading you could do both as regards the amount of additional memory it would accept and as to what suitable video card upgrades are available and compatible. Additionally, a super video card may well push the power supply to its limits.

Returning the machine to PC World will no doubt put them into "new machine mode" - they don't get much in the way of commission for add-ons and modifications! I would be inclined to see a small knowledgeable computer shop, get them to start with a new faster video card with a fair modicum of on board memory, and to demonstrate to you that Flight Simulator will perform as you wish it to do. This may do the trick without adding to your main memory, particularly if your current video card is grabbing its memory from part of the main memory as some of the cheaper and older cards do.

Without knowing what the motherboard is and what video card is installed, I can't really make other suggestions, but I would put money on it that the main problem is the video card. And as I mentioned, whoever installs the new video card needs to ascertain if the existing power supply unit is man enough for the job.

If push comes to shove, they could replace whatever components are necessary to get the machine up to scratch.

Maurice :cool:
 
Son in law just bought a new gaming PC, all singing and dancing, cost him £1500, think i'll stick with my newish laptop @£350 4mb memory and 1TB hard drive.
 
Maurice, my PC is an HP an HP Pavilion m8180uk, it has a intel(r) core (TM) Quad CPU @ 2.40 GHz processor, memory (RAM) 3 GB, graphics card NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT and Primary hard disc 458 GB, this is all double dutch to me I'm just typing from the specs. Flight Sim X minimum requirements are - 512MB, processsor 1.0 GB, hard drive 15GB. Eric
 
Hi Eric,
I am surprised that your high spec computer does not run FSX brilliantly and would not think you need any upgrades. I'm not sure the shop you mentioned are the best people to advise about upgrades to suit FSX.
I haven't run FS lately but maybe be a look at the link below to a Flight Sim forum may have some tips. I have in the past got much useful info from the various FS forums. However don't forget to set restore points before trying any changes.
https://www.fsforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=122
Phil
 
Hi Eric,

I've checked out the motherboard & graphics card specs that you have. Your onboard graphics memory is only 256 Mb which is quite small by the side of more modern graphics cards. The latest ultra high speed NVIDIA card would set you back 570 UK pounds including VAT, but there are much lower spec and cheaper NVIDIA cards, but nevertheless much faster that the 8600GT, which would probably solve your problem without going to the extent of replacing the whole machine.

Like Phil, I wouldn't choose to return to PC World, but would opt for your local computer shop/technician and ask for their recommendations and get them to demonstrate the new card in your machine before making the purchase. All the real graphics work is being done by the NVIDIA card and changing operating system and adding to main memory is unlikely to make any significant difference to graphics performance.

Maurice :cool:
 
Phi/Maurice thanks for info and advice. Phil I only have to compromise slightly on one or two settings, so perhaps I am being to fussy, it will function on all settings set ultra high but then my frames per second starts dropping below the 25fps I like and I must admit i cannot see any difference whether the setting are high or ultra high, I repeat perhaps I am to fussy, but will consider a new graphics card, I think all my other specs are more than adequate for the simulator. Of course they may eventually bring a new FS sim out that will call for higher specs still !! Eric
 
I to have a PC that is rapidly showing its 6 yrs of age but I will carry on using it until it explodes, it is clearly having problems with IE 7 lat alone the newer versions but I tend to use Firefox and this runs much more efficiently I have 512mb of RAM installed and as the graphics card is in the form of a hard wired chip I cannot run simulators or games as I did not buy the PC for that purpose.

I do have another PC for runnning my train simulators with a graphics card that allows the settings all to be run at "full bore" this PC was a cast off from a good friend who sells his cast offs on to me, he is an very enthusiastc IT technician and builds his own machines so that he can get the exact spec he wants. I wa stold there is not much to be saved by building ones own but one can at least taylor the specification to exacly what one wants.

I recently asked him a question about the spec in some high priced machines from PC world, not that i have ever used them as suppliers but was just interested in what his opinion was. He came back wit the remark that even the high spec ones dont tend to use really high end performance cards.
Interestingly he installed a train sim on on of his new machines and just like mine it hesitated ay a certain point despite his higher spec graphics card. The conclusion was that the hesitation is not the inablilty of the card but the inabllity of the data to get to the card from the HD fast enough.
Unlike a flight sim a train sim is on the ground and the detailing unlike a racing circuit is constantly changing in a forward motion.

Interstingly the hesitation was when leaving Birmigham New Street just before the linefor Aston ect passes overhead, Bletchly is another spot but as mentioned all the settings are on full, as the detailing in some of these simulators( I refuse to call them mere games) is amazingly high.
BTW I have gone of topic as Im using XP on both machines.
 
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