LOOKING TO BUILD A NEW PC FOR FSX THEN LOOK HERE!

[kilo delta]

Lift off, we have lift off......KAA-FRIGGING-CHING! I ordered all the stuff today. I was going to do it yesterday, but I spent a huge amount of time going through all the goodies, and finalizing the choices to go along with the i7 980X chipset.

My old rig is going to be sad.

Excellent choice,Bone...enjoy!


What monitor(s) will you be running?

 

[Bone]

What monitor(s) will you be running?

I've got a Gateway 30" with 2560x1600 res, and a Samsung 52" 1080p HDTV that I switch back and forth between, depending on what type of "flying" that I'm doing.


One of the best parts to getting a new rig built, is that I can claim the cost as a tax deduction. In the US, if you're a professional pilot you can deduct flying and training expenses. Since a dedicated simulator is counted as training, I can deduct the cost of parts and all software.

 

[paulb]

Hi Ted

Thanks fo all of the info in this thread. I need to buy a new pc. Looking at what you recommend, I am seriously considering the following. BTW, I am in the UK and use my pc mainly for FSX.

This is the basic build -

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/pc/range/iforge.html

I can leave out the two 1gb HDs and have one of these instead -

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/...sata500gbto1tb/westerndigital/wd6000hlhx.html

The only other thing that I am considering is to have either this -

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/...3-triplechannel/corsair/cmx6gx3m3a1600c9.html

or this -

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/...3-triplechannel/corsair/cmp6gx3m3a1600c8.html

memory installed instead of the standard build.

I will be running W7.

Any comments and observations would be most gratefully received

Many thanks if you can find the time to look at this.

Cheers

Paul

 

[txnetcop]

Hey Paul I'll have a look w3hen I get home...still at work. I only work here part-time for now until Spring so I gotta impress the boss so he'll keep me on to play with these wonderful toys!LOL I'll check back in while
Ted

 

[kilo delta]

I've got a Gateway 30" with 2560x1600 res, and a Samsung 52" 1080p HDTV that I switch back and forth between, depending on what type of "flying" that I'm doing.


One of the best parts to getting a new rig built, is that I can claim the cost as a tax deduction. In the US, if you're a professional pilot you can deduct flying and training expenses. Since a dedicated simulator is counted as training, I can deduct the cost of parts and all software.

Perfect monitor setup.

Hmmm.........a top spec sim pc written off as a tax deduction!!!??? You lucky, lucky............:d

Wonder if I can claim my future build on my health insurance as being beneficial to my mental state?

 

[FAC257]

Ted
Well I got it pretty close and partly because of some of your earlier advice.

Here's what the final product looked like after I got it all together about Thanksgiving time.

It's got the:
Asus X-58 Sabertooth
I7 950
ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU
6GB Corsair Dominator 1600-C7 (PC12800)
ZALMAN 9900 CNPS (Nickel Plated Version)
Corsair 850AX

She's running on W7 Ultimate 64bit

View attachment 29033

View attachment 29034

Reading your earlier recommendations in different threads in here helped me fine tune what I thought I wanted.

At the time one of the items I was really up in the air about was the CPU cooler. I had it down to a few I liked and then went with the 9900 at the last minute. I was so fickle about the cooler choice I actually ordered it a couple of days after I had the rest of the parts on the way.


FAC

 

[txnetcop]

Ted
Well I got it pretty close and partly because of some of your earlier advice.

Here's what the final product looked like after I got it all together about Thanksgiving time.

It's got the:
Asus X-58 Sabertooth
I7 950
ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU
6GB Corsair Dominator 1600-C7 (PC12800)
ZALMAN 9900 CNPS (Nickel Plated Version)
Corsair 850AX

She's running on W7 Ultimate 64bit

View attachment 29033

View attachment 29034

Reading your earlier recommendations in different threads in here helped me fine tune what I thought I wanted.

At the time one of the items I was really up in the air about was the CPU cooler. I had it down to a few I liked and then went with the 9900 at the last minute. I was so fickle about the cooler choice I actually ordered it a couple of days after I had the rest of the parts on the way.


FAC

OUTSTANDING BUILD! I bet your loving it! That 950 when OC'd just a little is real kick-arse!
Glad I could help
Ted

 

[txnetcop]

Hi Ted

Thanks fo all of the info in this thread. I need to buy a new pc. Looking at what you recommend, I am seriously considering the following. BTW, I am in the UK and use my pc mainly for FSX.

This is the basic build -

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/pc/range/iforge.html

I can leave out the two 1gb HDs and have one of these instead -

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/...sata500gbto1tb/westerndigital/wd6000hlhx.html

The only other thing that I am considering is to have either this -

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/...3-triplechannel/corsair/cmx6gx3m3a1600c9.html

or this -

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/...3-triplechannel/corsair/cmp6gx3m3a1600c8.html

memory installed instead of the standard build.

I will be running W7.

Any comments and observations would be most gratefully received

Many thanks if you can find the time to look at this.

Cheers

Paul

Hey Paul looks like a decent build. Ask them if they could go with Cosair Dominator 1600mhz memory? Also what motherboard do they put in there...it matters. I'm a big fan of the Velociraptor HDs so go for it.
Ted

 

[paulb]

Hey Paul looks like a decent build. Ask them if they could go with Cosair Dominator 1600mhz memory? Also what motherboard do they put in there...it matters. I'm a big fan of the Velociraptor HDs so go for it.
Ted

Thanks for the feedback Ted

I very much appreciate your taking the time to check out my proposed build

Best regards

Paul

 

[Lewis-A2A]

Ok here it is;

OS
Windows 7 Pro 64

CPU
i7 2600

RAM
16GB DDR3 Corsair Vengence

Mobo
Asus P8P67

Graphics
Nvidia 460GTX 1GB

HDD
SATA3 650GB
SATA2 500GB
SATA2 250GB
External USB 500GB

Slowly building it past two days, basicly just got OS, FSX and emails up at the moment, Ill be hoping to complete the build this weekend, I have to get my steam list downloaded to see how it handles ARMAII and Railworks2, + of course FSX is screaming along nicely.

 

[txnetcop]

Ok here it is;

OS
Windows 7 Pro 64

CPU
i7 2600

RAM
16GB DDR3 Corsair Vengence

Mobo
Asus P8P67

Graphics
Nvidia 460GTX 1GB

HDD
SATA3 650GB
SATA2 500GB
SATA2 250GB
External USB 500GB

Slowly building it past two days, basicly just got OS, FSX and emails up at the moment, Ill be hoping to complete the build this weekend, I have to get my steam list downloaded to see how it handles ARMAII and Railworks2, + of course FSX is screaming along nicely.

I can tell you from first hand experience it should handle ARMAII effortlessly...ARMAII is one of several test engines for us at TechCorp. All of our 2600K are OC'd to 3.8Ghz however...don't know if that is going to make a huge difference. Congrats Lewis!

I assume you are not overclocking what are your settings for FSX? In my test which kept FSX at 33fps (fraps avg) were in Orbx PNW-NO GEX just REX2.0 and UT-Home field was Olympia and Renton:

Used Nvidia Inspector to set up VGA
filtering-anistropic
anti-aliasing handled by VGA Gigabyte OC'd 470GTX
full screen resolution graphics were at 1900x1080
global texture resolution-very high
Detail radius- large
mesh complexity- full 100
mesh resolution- 2m
texture resolution- 7m
water high- 2x
scenery complexity- extremely dense
autogen-very dense
special effects-high
cloud draw-80mi
thermal visualization-natural
cloud detail-max
airline traffic density 100-
general aviation 100
airport density-high
land and sea traffic 20%

 

[Lewis-A2A]

Well ted, the system is thanks to your list in this thread hehe, I was able to find a good uk retailer thanks to some bods over at A2A and just go through the list matching best I could for my budget and needs.

No overclocking, Ive had bad experiences in the past with OC'ing and just like to turn it on and away we go, only OC will be BIOS auto stuff. And on that topic these new EFI bios' are bloody brilliant!

Ill have to play with the FSX settings, Ive not really done much so far. I spent most of last night helping my housemate upgrade his pc with my old parts. Hes a Computing student and his old AMD4000+ was fine for his needs but if he has my old Core2 he can join me online in ARMA fun, and being ex-army he is rather looking forward to it.

The Ram and processor is going to be mucho fun when editing too, I cant wait to test the processing and encoding with the i7, the large amount of RAM and Cuda 3d card.

Anyway Lunch is nearly over back to work, got a shed load of laptops to build, then rush home for A2A work + finish installing/downloading stuff.

 

[paulb]

Hey Paul looks like a decent build. Ask them if they could go with Cosair Dominator 1600mhz memory? Also what motherboard do they put in there...it matters. I'm a big fan of the Velociraptor HDs so go for it.
Ted

Hi Ted

Yes, they can go with the Corsair Dominator 1600mhz memory.

The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-X58-USB3 Intel X58 (socket 1366) mobo. Is that OK?

One further question please - is it worth my buying a SSD HD as well - just for the operating system? I can get a 64GB one at an OK price. FSX would still be installed on the VelociRaptor. I know that the SSD would speed up inital W7 loading times, but I switch my pc on first thing in the morning and then switch it off when I go to bed. I don't know what impact the faster SSD drive would have during normal/FSX usage? Plus I dont want to spend more cash unless I get a worthwhile benefit!

Cheers

Paul

 

[txnetcop]

Hi Ted

Yes, they can go with the Corsair Dominator 1600mhz memory.

The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-X58-USB3 Intel X58 (socket 1366) mobo. Is that OK?

One further question please - is it worth my buying a SSD HD as well - just for the operating system? I can get a 64GB one at an OK price. FSX would still be installed on the VelociRaptor. I know that the SSD would speed up inital W7 loading times, but I switch my pc on first thing in the morning and then switch it off when I go to bed. I don't know what impact the faster SSD drive would have during normal/FSX usage? Plus I dont want to spend more cash unless I get a worthwhile benefit!

Cheers

Paul

Excellent motherboard for the price they are asking. FSX responds very well to SSDs the problem in the past has been the price. 64GB is not big enough for FSX if you use a lot of scenery and aircraft. I would go for at least a 120GB if the price is right. However with what you have ordered you don't not absolutely need the SSD to make an enjoyable experience with FSX.
Ted

 

[paulb]

Excellent motherboard for the price they are asking. FSX responds very well to SSDs the problem in the past has been the price. 64GB is not big enough for FSX if you use a lot of scenery and aircraft. I would go for at least a 120GB if the price is right. However with what you have ordered you don't not absolutely need the SSD to make an enjoyable experience with FSX.
Ted

Thanks again Ted

I think that I will go with the spec but stay with just the VelociRaptor.

Cheers

Paul

 

[txnetcop]

Thanks again Ted

I think that I will go with the spec but stay with just the VelociRaptor.

Cheers

Paul

We are not allowed to write public reviews in depth because we report only to the mfg however here is a review consistent with our findings on your motherboard. I favor the ASUS Sabretooth over the Gigabyte USB3 but most builders charge $70-$80 additional for that board which is very unfair. Anyway it is a fast board that does very well in gaming. Watch your temps because it does not have the heavy duty heatsinks that the big boys have.

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/gigabyte_ga-x58-usb3_review
Ted

 

[paulb]

We are not allowed to write public reviews in depth because we report only to the mfg however here is a review consistent with our findings on your motherboard. I favor the ASUS Sabretooth over the Gigabyte USB3 but most builders charge $70-$80 additional for that board which is very unfair. Anyway it is a fast board that does very well in gaming. Watch your temps because it does not have the heavy duty heatsinks that the big boys have.

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/gigabyte_ga-x58-usb3_review
Ted

Thanks Ted,

Yes it looks fine for what I need and the total price that I plan to pay. The case itself has a big fan at the front plus a couple of large side vents where I could also install a fan if needed.

Cheers

Paul

 

[paulb]

Hi Ted

Well, I am still going around in circles and soon I might disappear up my own ### .

The company that I plan to purchase from has just released a pc (which I can mod) with a 2600 processor (note not a 2600K) at what looks like a good price. Also I see that NVidea have dropped the GTX470 and replaced it with (almost the same but very slightly better) a GTX560.

So I have been doing the sums yet again!

In truth, I am very keen to get a SSD into my build - mainly after getting the OrbX scenery which I fly 90% of the time nowadays. It's just that the scenery takes so long to load. I am very tempted by the Intel X25-M 160GB Drive SATA-II (£338 over her in the UK plus £7 for the fitting kit).

Anyways, I will keep going around in circles and hope that I am still here on Monday!

Cheers

Paul

 

[paulb]

Hi Ted

Just an update from me. I have spent time searching many other forums and reading lots of teccy reviews. Here is my current thinking. This is my summary of everything that I have read.

Firstly, FSX is an old buggy programme, so whatever I go with, I will still need to add a few tweaks to my config and will need to think about my settings ie I will not be able to just max everything in every situation.

Processor -
The i7 2600K comes out top (just). In games (as opposed to tests) there seems little difference between an i7 2600K and an i7 950. Sometimes one is slightly faster, sometimes the other one. The 2500K is not a lot slower and is a little cheaper. No-one favours the unclocked 2600 or 2500, mainly because the price difference is fairly small compared with the K versions. However, the 2600K scores ahead of the 950 because of its overclocking ability – hence my choice. BTW, the i7 980 seems to remain top of the pile, but at a considerable price premium.

Motherboard –
Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4 (probably), although the Asus P8P67 Pro or the Asus P8P67 De Luxe are good alternatives.

Graphics Card –
NVidea GTX560i OC. Basically this is a price/performance call for me. In terms of performance starting at a GTX460 and working up, the list goes GTX460/GTX470/GTX560/GTX570/GTX580. With a bigger budget, the GTX570 and then the GTX580 will offer a performance increase. I might still go for a GTX570! I have chosen NVidea mainly because of their good driver support.

Memory –
8GB ram Corsair Dominator DDR3 1600MHz dual channel in two 4GB sticks. Although I am still considering the Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz ram which has a slightly lower voltage. Other good makes of ram may be equally good, but the Corsair always comes out well, plus the dual channel 8GB appears to make sense with an i7 2600K in W7 64 bit. Two 4GB sticks are suggested as the ‘sweet spot’. Going faster than 1600MHz does not appear to offer any advantage.

Main HD –
Intel X25-M 160GB SSD. HDs tend to be the slowest part of most systems. Loading times with complex scenery are just to long for me nowadays. Hence the choice of a fast SSD. In terms of size, 160GB is about the smallest (for me) with an install of W7, FSX (with add ons) and a few other necessary programmes. The Crucial C300 256GB is an option, but I have chosen the ‘quality’ Intel SSD after reading various reviews.

2nd HD –
Current thinking is a WD Caviar Black 640GB which will handle my needs. This may change.

Monitor –
HannG HG281D 28” 16:10 monitor which will be run at its native resolution of 1920 by 1200.

750W silent power supply
A fast DVD + RW
A good case with a couple of fans

Cheers

Paul

 

[txnetcop]

Hi Ted

Just an update from me. I have spent time searching many other forums and reading lots of teccy reviews. Here is my current thinking. This is my summary of everything that I have read.

Firstly, FSX is an old buggy programme, so whatever I go with, I will still need to add a few tweaks to my config and will need to think about my settings ie I will not be able to just max everything in every situation.

Processor -
The i7 2600K comes out top (just). In games (as opposed to tests) there seems little difference between an i7 2600K and an i7 950. Sometimes one is slightly faster, sometimes the other one. The 2500K is not a lot slower and is a little cheaper. No-one favours the unclocked 2600 or 2500, mainly because the price difference is fairly small compared with the K versions. However, the 2600K scores ahead of the 950 because of its overclocking ability – hence my choice. BTW, the i7 980 seems to remain top of the pile, but at a considerable price premium.

Motherboard –
Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4 (probably), although the Asus P8P67 Pro or the Asus P8P67 De Luxe are good alternatives.

Graphics Card –
NVidea GTX560i OC. Basically this is a price/performance call for me. In terms of performance starting at a GTX460 and working up, the list goes GTX460/GTX470/GTX560/GTX570/GTX580. With a bigger budget, the GTX570 and then the GTX580 will offer a performance increase. I might still go for a GTX570! I have chosen NVidea mainly because of their good driver support.

Memory –
8GB ram Corsair Dominator DDR3 1600MHz dual channel in two 4GB sticks. Although I am still considering the Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz ram which has a slightly lower voltage. Other good makes of ram may be equally good, but the Corsair always comes out well, plus the dual channel 8GB appears to make sense with an i7 2600K in W7 64 bit. Two 4GB sticks are suggested as the ‘sweet spot’. Going faster than 1600MHz does not appear to offer any advantage.

Main HD –
Intel X25-M 160GB SSD. HDs tend to be the slowest part of most systems. Loading times with complex scenery are just to long for me nowadays. Hence the choice of a fast SSD. In terms of size, 160GB is about the smallest (for me) with an install of W7, FSX (with add ons) and a few other necessary programmes. The Crucial C300 256GB is an option, but I have chosen the ‘quality’ Intel SSD after reading various reviews.

2nd HD –
Current thinking is a WD Caviar Black 640GB which will handle my needs. This may change.

Monitor –
HannG HG281D 28” 16:10 monitor which will be run at its native resolution of 1920 by 1200.

750W silent power supply
A fast DVD + RW
A good case with a couple of fans

Cheers

Paul

Hey Paul that looks super. By the way the 2600K is unlocked so you can really step that little rascal up if you can keep it cool! I have one running at 4.5GHz in the test lab on air but it still runs real close to the "don't go here zone" when gaming. Yes 980X is top of the heap with 1.7 Billion transistors powering it but like you said...at a premium price. Your configuration is super fine! A good case is critical.
Ted