New System Build

[simonlongstaff]

Hello All

Finally time to upgrade system to something that I am hoping will cope with FSX + FTX maxed (inc. YMML).

So, I am wondering if this will do the job?

CPU: Intel Core i7 960 3.2Ghz, 8MB Cache, 1066Mhz FSB, Quad Core

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 MB, Intel X58+ICH10R, QPI 6.4GT/s, DDR3 2200, PCI-Ex16, SATA3, USB 3.0, RAID, IDE, 2xGbE LAN, 8ch audio, 2oc PCB, Heatpipe.

Memory: G.Skill 6GB Kit (3x2GB), PC-16000 (2000MHz) DDR3, Trident, 9-9-9-24, Triple Channel Kit

Video Card: eVGA GeForce GTX480 FTW HC (750MHz), 1536MB DDR5 (3800MHz) 384Bit, PCI-E 2.0, 2x Dual Link DVI, HDMI, DirectX 11

Hard Disk: Western Digital 600GB, VelociRaptor, SATA-III, 10000RPM, 32MB Cache, 2.5" with Frame, Hot Swap Compatible

Optical Drive: LG CH08LS10 Blu Ray Combo Drive (Blu Ray Reader, DVD Burner), 8X BD-R,16x DVDRW, BD-R/RE SL/25GB and DL/50GB Light Scribe

Network Card: Dlink DWA-556 Xtreme N (802.11n Draft) PCI Express Adapter

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium PCIe Fatal1ty Champ Series, Gaming X-Fi I/O drive included

Case: Antec P183 Performance One, Black, ATX, No PSU.2 x USB2.0, 1 x eSATA

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit DVD OEM

Power Supply: Antec EA-750 750W EarthWatts ATX Power Supply, 80 PLUS certified , 135mm low noise cooling fan, 4x +12V outputs, 4 x PCI-Express, 9 x SATA

Office Suite: Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010 Retail Pack

As to price for such a system (assembled) ... would anything around the $4,000 mark be reasonable (including software) ... or should I be shopping around some more?

Thanks for your advice about this.

[Blitzer]

Finally time to upgrade system to something that I am hoping will cope with FSX + FTX maxed (inc. YMML).

So, I am wondering if this will do the job?

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 MB, Intel X58+ICH10R, QPI 6.4GT/s, DDR3 2200, PCI-Ex16, SATA3, USB 3.0, RAID, IDE, 2xGbE LAN, 8ch audio, 2oc PCB, Heatpipe.

Hard Disk: Western Digital 600GB, VelociRaptor, SATA-III, 10000RPM, 32MB Cache, 2.5" with Frame, Hot Swap Compatible

Network Card: Dlink DWA-556 Xtreme N (802.11n Draft) PCI Express Adapter

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium PCIe Fatal1ty Champ Series, Gaming X-Fi I/O drive included

Case: Antec P183 Performance One, Black, ATX, No PSU.2 x USB2.0, 1 x eSATA

Power Supply: Antec EA-750 750W EarthWatts ATX Power Supply, 80 PLUS certified , 135mm low noise cooling fan, 4x +12V outputs, 4 x PCI-Express, 9 x SATA

Personally I'm not convinced even after 5 or so years of FSX being around, that there is hardware available that will truely enable it too be run totally maxed out whilst using highly detailed scenery (read airports), with system rich payware aircraft (read tube-liners with lot of accurate/detailed systems). That aside I think you would have a ball with a system like that and be able to get a rather nice "sweet-spot" with settings.

I'm not going to go into any great detail here about the hardware you have choosen, just speaking from some (limited) experience...

• Motherboard: I had a bad experience with a computer build using a Gigabyte motherboard, as a result I would never touch one again. Had always used Asus boards since and found them very good.
• Hard Disk: If your pockets are deep I would be inclined to go for SSD for their superior performance. One for the OS (low capacity), another dedicated to FSX (160Gig min IMO to allow for scenery etc.), and finally a larger capacity (1TB?) 7,200 rpm drive for backup/storage.
• Network Card: Do you need this at all - the motherboard has Lan built in?
• Sound Card: I would avoid Creative cards under Win7 the drivers are very poor even now. I experienced BSOD when using the A2A P-47 with accusim and other sound issues until I ditched my X-Fi card in favour of a Asus Xonar D2X.
• Case: Just make sure it is plenty big enough for that graphics card and has plenty of cooling capabilities. Have a Antec 1200 case myself, it's big but seems to be pretty good all round.
• Power supply: I have had two Antec  PSU's fail on me, the second appears to have killed the motherboard in the process this time. Naturally I won't use them anymore. I used a Cosair 1000W jobbie (in another build) and that seems to be good.

Hope this helps. 

[GrahamP]

If your pocket won't stretch to SSDs, two Velociraptors for the OS and FSX would be better than one.

9-9-9-24 RAM will be slower than what you could get.  I would suggest you go for at least 7-7-7 (or even 6-6-6 if you can get it).

A 750kW PSU should be plenty IMO.

If you intend to overclock (which I would recommend to get the best from that CPU), make sure you get a good cooler.  My Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme keeps my 920 @ 4.2GHz comfortably under 80deg C on a full load test but there may be better coolers out there now.

[clarky]

That system is fairly similar to the one I brought home yesterday and when overclocked with a few tweaks should get you a comfortable 20-25+ fps at YBBN with all sliders nearly maxed.  $4000 sounds about right as you are getting a little more than I did and I paid $3600.

I also went for a velociraptor since my wallet wasn't stretching to SSD just yet and must say I am getting significantly increased loading times so there is an advantage but SSD would be so much better and you wouldn't need to defrag either.  I am using a SATA 160GB hard drive for the OS and the velociraptor is dedicated to FSX only.  All in all, your experience will be much better with a rig like that.

[GrahamP]

9-9-9-24 RAM will be slower than what you could get.  I would suggest you go for at least 7-7-7 (or even 6-6-6 if you can get it).

Hi Simon,

From a quick look on the web I couldn't find any 2000MHz DDR3 at 7-7-7.  It is available at 8-8-8-24 though.

Even 1600MHz DDR3 at 7-7-7-20 is a little faster than 2000MHz DDR3 at 9-9-9-24.  That's because because the actual speed of the operations is the timing divided by the I/O clock speed.

Graham

[simonlongstaff]

Thanks to all for comments and suggestions. Based on what has been said, I have amended specs to be:

CPU: Intel Core i7 960 3.2Ghz, 8MB Cache, 1066Mhz FSB, Quad Core

Motherboard: Asus RAMPAGE-II-EXTREME, X58/ICH10R Chipset, 6x DDR3 2000, 3x PCI-E x16, GB LAN, SATAII, RAID 0/1/10, 8 Ch Audio, ATX

Memory: Corsair 6GB Kit (3x2GB), PC-12800 (1600MHz) DDR3, Dominator GT DHX+ Fan, 7-7-7-20, Triple Channel Kit

Video Card: eVGA GeForce GTX480 FTW HC (750MHz), 1536MB DDR5 (3800MHz) 384Bit, PCI-E 2.0, 2x Dual Link DVI, HDMI, DirectX 11

Hard Disk: Corsair 128GB SSD, 2.5", Extreme Series, SATAII, 64MB Cache, Read 240MB/s, Write 170MB/s

Hard Disk #2: Western Digital 600GB, VelociRaptor, SATA-III, 10000RPM, 32MB Cache, 2.5" with Frame, Hot Swap Compatible

Optical Drive: LG CH08LS10 Blu Ray Combo Drive (Blu Ray Reader, DVD Burner), 8X BD-R,16x DVDRW, BD-R/RE SL/25GB and DL/50GB Light Scribe

Network Card: Dlink DWA-556 Xtreme N (802.11n Draft) PCI Express Adapter

Sound Card: Asus Xonar D2X Ultra Fidelity 7.1 PCI Express Sound Card

Case: Antec P183 Performance One, Black, ATX, No PSU.2 x USB2.0, 1 x eSATA

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit DVD OEM

Power Supply: Antec EA-750 750W EarthWatts ATX Power Supply, 80 PLUS certified , 135mm low noise cooling fan, 4x +12V outputs, 4 x PCI-Express, 9 x SATA

Office Suite: Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010 Retail Pack

With software and build, this is estimated to cost around $5,000.

1. Does this seem to be a reasonable price?

2. Any recommendations for good system builders in Sydney vicinity?

Thanks

[Dwho]

Did some number crunching using http://staticice.com.au

$ 669 i7 960 (IT Estate, NSW)

$ 399 ASUS Rampage II Extreme (PC Case Gear, VIC)

$ 336.59 Corsair TR3X6G1600C7D (EYO Technologies, NSW)

$ 965  eVGA GeForce GTX480 FTW HC (Scorpion Tehnology Computers, VIC)

$ 525 Corsair Extreme X128 128GB SSD (Megaware Computers, NSW)

$ 368.98 Western Digital 600GB VelociRaptor SATA 3 (AnyPC, NSW)

$ 149 LG CH08LS10 (Computer Alliance, QLD)

$ 105 Dlink DWA 556 Xtreme N (Umart Online, VIC/QLD)

$ 199 Asus Xonar D2X Ultra Fidelity (PC GoGO, QLD)

$ 158 Antec P183 Performance One (Centre Com, VIC)

$ 198 Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit DVD OEM (AnyPC, VIC)

$ 141 Antec EA-750 750W (IJK Enfield, NSW)

$ 232 Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010 Retail Pack (Megaware Computers, NSW)

TOTAL: $4,445.57

[GrahamP]

Motherboard: Asus RAMPAGE-II-EXTREME, X58/ICH10R Chipset, 6x DDR3 2000, 3x PCI-E x16, GB LAN, SATAII, RAID 0/1/10, 8 Ch Audio, ATX

There's 8 channel audio on the motherboard, so do you need a sound card?  It won't give you anything extra for FSX.

As said Simon previously, do you need a network card?  This motherboard has LAN built in as well.

[Condor]

You might also like to include an extra fan or 2 in that P183. I have an Antec P180 and it certainly makes things just that extra bit cooler esp. with a GTX480.

Cheers,

Paul

[Blitzer]

There's 8 channel audio on the motherboard, so do you need a sound card?  It won't give you anything extra for FSX.

As said Simon previously, do you need a network card?  This motherboard has LAN built in as well.

On-board sound is pretty good these days and certainly seems to have the in/out put of standalone cards and with good qualty sound. Stand alone cards still tend to offer a performance increase in my experience as a good sound card with have it's own processor and not be using the CPU to process sound. 

Paul said about the network card, not Simon.  But I agree I can't really see the need for an additional network card?  \

[simonlongstaff]

Thanks again for very helpful comments

I am thinking to include a PCI-E wireless network card so that I can connect wirelessly to my broadband router via airport extreme. I currently use a USB 2.0 wireless adapter to do this and thought that a card would be a better solution.

Re: Soundcard - really just wanting decent sound via front ports for (headphone and mic when online) ... but probably cheaper to use usb headphones.