Well Hello once again

Haven't been online racing for awhile due to final school exams anyway back on topic I finally got back into LFS this morning and downloaded the new patch etc etc but one thing that I noticed is that my fps which used to be 40 + are now anything as little as 18 at the starts ?? is it my internet or computer ..

Also other players cars appear to be jumping around, is that me causing that or do they have lag issues ??

Anything I can do to prevent these problems and increase FPS ?

My computer is a Dell Microsoft Windows XP DIMENSION DIM 4600 intel(R)
Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3. 00 GHz
2. 99 GHz, 512 MB of RAM

Hopefully I have provided enough information
Thank you

the latest patch moved some load from the cpu to the gpu so in some cases this may cause a decrease in fps.

you didn't provide any details about your gfx card so it could be something else but that's my guess.

anyway there's a "Technical Assistance" sub-forum, maybe this should be moved there

Also try maybe new drivers for videocard?

i checked myself. on the review it says it has a radeon 9800, in the specifications it says it has on board video... someone has been copypasting

if you don't want to spend a lot of money,
i would suggest spending little money (about 70 euros) and getting an AGP ATI 3650 which will play LFS very well. And other games too, if you don't need AA/AF a lot

I know nothing about computers tbh, I got all that data by going to "control panel" > "system" > "general" and gave me the data

would that be compatible for my PC ?

It's an 8xAGP slot it has, so you could do worse than an HD3850 (shader 4.0 and Dx10 compatible) (Scan says £78) or a GeForce 7300GT (about £40) if you're not fussed about running newer stuff at high detail.

I would like to be able to run Flight sim X also

So what would ye recomend ?

I'm no expert on ATI cards, I've always been an nVidia man. My 7900GS has never done me wrong (though it's a PCIe) although that 3850 out-specs mine.

A quick Google of the Flight Sim X system requirements say 32Mb Dx9, so they'll both have no trouble running it, and if your current one does it, these ones will eat it alive

Quote from Dajmin :

I'm no expert on ATI cards, I've always been an nVidia man. My 7900GS has never done me wrong (though it's a PCIe) although that 3850 out-specs mine.

A quick Google of the Flight Sim X system requirements say 32Mb Dx9, so they'll both have no trouble running it, and if your current one does it, these ones will eat it alive

Thank you mate

Was thinking of getting a new laptop or computer but don't know what I should be looking out for ?

If you want to use it for gaming, it's usually best to avoid the pre-made ones and either build it yourself (which isn't as scary as it might sound) or buy it from somewhere like Aria or Scan that can assemble a custom one for you.

Usually with standard builds you get crappy onboard graphics.

I use Scan for my parts and Crucial for memory (because of the guaranteed compatibility).
Start with a motherboard, check what it'll take and build on from there. It's like Lego, but way more expensive

What you'll get depends what games you want to run. If you have no interest in brand new games like Crysis then you'll have no use for a Dx10 card and you'll save a lot of money right away by getting a Dx9 one.
Likewise you probably won't need a quad core CPU unless you play new games. These days you can pick up Core2's fairly cheap so that could be a good choice.
Unless you're running a lot of high quality audio equipment and run a recording studio, you won't need any sound card more expensive than a SB Audigy (which I use, and I do home recording).
You probably won't need much above 2Gb RAM, but you might want to stick 4 in just for the sake of future-proofing. Price and mobo choice will dictate that one.

The actual models you can use the specs and Tom's Hardware to work out

Quote from Dajmin :

If you want to use it for gaming, it's usually best to avoid the pre-made ones and either build it yourself (which isn't as scary as it might sound) or buy it from somewhere like Aria or Scan that can assemble a custom one for you.

Usually with standard builds you get crappy onboard graphics.

I use Scan for my parts and Crucial for memory (because of the guaranteed compatibility).
Start with a motherboard, check what it'll take and build on from there. It's like Lego, but way more expensive

What you'll get depends what games you want to run. If you have no interest in brand new games like Crysis then you'll have no use for a Dx10 card and you'll save a lot of money right away by getting a Dx9 one.
Likewise you probably won't need a quad core CPU unless you play new games. These days you can pick up Core2's fairly cheap so that could be a good choice.
Unless you're running a lot of high quality audio equipment and run a recording studio, you won't need any sound card more expensive than a SB Audigy (which I use, and I do home recording).
You probably won't need much above 2Gb RAM, but you might want to stick 4 in just for the sake of future-proofing. Price and mobo choice will dictate that one.

The actual models you can use the specs and Tom's Hardware to work out

Thank you

Yep it will be mainly for gaming. I have always tought of building my own PC (well getting someone too) but I don't know what equipment is good or what I should and shouldnt buy.

I did look at pre made gaming PC's also from HP and Dell but not reall sure if they are as good as they are made out to be.

I'm a total newbi when it comes to this.

Definitely don't go with HP or Dell anyway, they are massively overpriced for what they are. Plus they use sub-standard components, where you could buy decent, reputable brands for the same price.

I recommend www.hardwareversand.de if you're going to build, I ordered my new PC (see sig) off of them. There's a PC builder wizard thingy on the site too, and it will only show you what's compatible with the motherboard you've selected. They're dirt cheap too, this one was €730 in total, but a Dell XPS 630 (which has almost the same in everything, it's a little worse actually) is €1200...Never again will I buy off of Dell

I would recommend a Intex Core 2 Duo, at least 2 gigs of ram and a 8800gt 256 or 512 video card. I do hear the 9600 gt are good performance for the money too. EVGA makes really nice mother boards and Video cards. I have both evga mother board and video card here and have had zero problems.
Get decent Power Supply too. Antecs power supplies are pretty good, though somebody here may have a better suggestion. You could use your drives from you dell to save some money. though you might need to get a SATA hard drive if your dell has a ATA drive. Those are pretty cheap though. On the CPU there is a wide range of Core 2's to fit any budget. AMD still makes good chips as well.

If you can put together a 100 piece puzzle, you can put together a PC no problem. Once you do it once you will know it for good. I am sure there are many how to guides on the net explaining what to do.

Quote from jbirdaspec :

I would recommend a Intex Core 2 Duo, at least 2 gigs of ram and a 8800gt 256 or 512 video card. I do hear the 9600 gt are good performance for the money too. EVGA makes really nice mother boards and Video cards. I have both evga mother board and video card here and have had zero problems.
Get decent Power Supply too. Antecs power supplies are pretty good, though somebody here may have a better suggestion. You could use your drives from you dell to save some money. though you might need to get a SATA hard drive if your dell has a ATA drive. Those are pretty cheap though. On the CPU there is a wide range of Core 2's to fit any budget. AMD still makes good chips as well.

If you can put together a 100 piece puzzle, you can put together a PC no problem. Once you do it once you will know it for good. I am sure there are many how to guides on the net explaining what to do.

Thank you mate

Would you have any websites were I could buy the components ? or just off Dell ?

I'm not sure the power supply on the Dimension 4600 can support any vid card more extravagant than the Radeon 9600XT (which I currently have in my Dimension 4550).

you are confusing power consumption with computing power.