Exact Brownian dynamics simulations of dumbbells and 20-bead chains, employing a novel semi-implicit, predictor-corrector algorithm, have been used to explore the qualitative features of the predictions of non-linear bead-spring chain models for dilute polymer solutions that incorporate the effects of excluded volume repulsions, hydrodynamics interactions and finite extensibility. It is observed that the combined influence of these three non-linear phenomena on most of the rheological properties of interest in shear and uniaxial extensional flows, can be expressed approximately as the product of independent contributions from each effect. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.