Upgrading my pc.

[RODDERS]

Dear All,
Hi, this is the first time i have posted here. I don't want to waste anyones time but can anyone help.
I am new to pc gaming only having various sega systems and now a ps2. A friend has given me a P3 600mhz Dell xpst600 440bx to which i have installed an nvidia direct 9 graphics card. I am playing il2 perfectly and i asked the dell helpline if i could install and play Forgotten Battles. They said it should work.
I know it calls for 800mhz and it does install ok but it is obviously slow and i would like to ask if anyone knows how to upgrade my machine. I know its old but i really can't afford a new machine. I can only update.
Thanks for your time
Rodders.

[MaXMhZ]

Welcom to Airwarfare! Feel free to ask anything (preferably concerning flightsims and anything related), and be assured you don't waste anyone's time. We're quite an easy going bunch and we're allways glad if we can help someone.About upgrading your machine; I would not do that. Although FB can be tuned down quite a bit that it will run on allmost every machine, a P3 is realy low-level these days. Dell does make good computers, but they are not realy designed to upgrade yourself with 3rd party components, and BoB is coming also within a few years requiring allmost certainly a top of the line computer and graphics card when it arrives. Don't discard the Dell either though. IL-2 series has dedicated versions of the game out (free downloads, just like the free patches). The dedicated server version is designed to run the game without the graphics lowering resource demands considerably. Provided your Dell has a network connection and enough RAM it could very well be capable enough to run a dedicated server on which you then could join using a new computer. There are also user-made utilities like UDPSpeed using a 2nd computer on the network to display the player's game cockpit instruments
RAM is a requirement for a good working dedicated game though 1GByte generally being concidered an etry-level and 2 GByte being a good amount

[RODDERS]

Thanks for you kind reply. I take your point a p3 is low level, and i don't want to put anyone on the spot but if i turned the graphics down to very low would there be a good chance i could play the game. I am not on line at home, work allow me to use my pc during break times. I only have 256mb of memory and the machine will only take 768. Sounds like i will have to save my pennies for a new machine, but if i can find a way to tweak things a little while i am saving up that would be good, so i could play FB.
Sorry for my waffling.
Rodders.

[MaXMhZ]

You could switch the graphics way down and then take them up again a step at a time untill you find the gameplay becomes too bad. The 256MB together with the P3 will limit you severely in number of objects on the map and planes in the air though I'm running FB 4.05m on a low-level machine myself. I've got a P4 1.7GHz with 1GB DDR pc2100 RAM and a Radeon 9600 AGP 4X which does run the game OK (not great) if not too much is happening at 20-40fps on 1024x768 with perfect landscape settings. Maybe a second hand machine would be an option to get FB up and running. I've decided to only replace parts that die on my current machine and save for a new one untill BoB arrives. At that time I'll probably turn it into a dedicated server or into a media player/printer server.

[RODDERS]

Thanks for replying so quickly. I will try what you suggested.
Most gratefull,
Rodders.