Spirit Flyer_old Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Hi Friends, When thinking about how we might help each other by sharing not only what we know about FSX, but also what we have to run it, we might all be able to make better decisions with our choices. A simple list of ingredients might help. There are no real rights and wrongs when it comes to equipment, just choices, some being better, and some worse than others. The range of equipment can run very low cost wise, or can exceed many thousands of dollars. It all depends... The big question is: Should I buy now, or wait until the "next" product line shows up? Until relatively recently that was a legitimate question, but it is now, in my opinion, for those who wish only to enjoy FSX to the fullest, an obsolete one. As for the current i7 and Nvidia GPU technologies, they have been tested and proven reliable, and the results are spectacular within FTX modified FSX. There are huge increases available in FPS with butter smooth motion picture like performance, with maximum settings. No need to wait another day for advancements to catch up with the software. Nothing that is supposed to be coming in the short term future is going to practically make FSX anymore enjoyable than what it already is. The machines that have conquered even the most highly advanced versions of FSX are already available and cost effective. If anyone doubts that to be true, they are duly invited over to my home for a coffee and a flight anywhere within the FTX world they want to see for themselves. This is no such thing as the perfect machine, nor would anyone ever agree completely with any other person's choices. Some will spend less, and some far more. That is what is so wonderful about this ORBX community, so many informed and helpful members that are willing to share. I hope that all you who have assembled machines that work well in FSX will share your hardware recipes for success. Here is mine: A. Motherboard Asus P6TD Deluxe $269.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131403&Tpk=asus%20p6td%20deluxe B. CPU i7-930 overclocked to 4.3 to 4.4+ $289.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115225&cm_re=i7_930-_-19-115-225-_-Product C. RAM Mushkin Enhanced Redline 1600mhz Ram with 6 cas latency $189.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226121&cm_re=mushkin_redline-_-20-226-121-_-Product D. Primary Drive WD Black Caviar 1TB 7200 RPM 64 cache hard drive (I have the 640g)- $89.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r-_-Hard+Drives-_-Western+Digital-_-22136533 E. FSX Drive G.SKILL Phoenix Pro Series 120GB Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $289.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231378 F. Storage Drive WD Green Cavair 1.5TB 64 Cache Hard Drive (Storage) - $89.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136513 G. Video Card EVGA 480 GTX 1536 MB 384 bit GDDR5 - $479.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130552&cm_re=480_gtx-_-14-130-552-_-Product H. PSU OCZ 750W ATX12V SLI Ready (I have 700W OCZ Fatal1ty) $129.99 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341041&AID=10592396&PID=3332167&nm_mc=AFC-C8junctionCA I. CPU Cooler Prolimatech Megahalems Rev. B CPU Cooler - $62.00 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835242001&Tpk=Prolimatech%20Megahalems%20Rev.B%20CPU%20Cooler J. Fans Antec 761345-75026-4 120mm Red LED Case Fan - (times 4) - $71.96 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835209013&Tpk=Antec%20761345-75026-4%20120mm%20Red%20LED%20Case%20Fan K. Computer Case Cooler Master Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP Mid Tower - $79.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119196&Tpk=COOLER%20MASTER%20Storm%20Scout%20SGC-2000-KKN1-GP%20Black%20S L. Miscellaneous Necessities Arctic Silver ACN-60ML Thermal material Remover and Purifier - $7.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100010 Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - $9.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007 EVGA 480 GTX High Air Flow Bracket - $9.99 http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=M020-00-000171&family=Accessories - Hardware&sw=4 EVGA 480 GTX Backplate - $19.99 http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=M020-00-000163&family=Accessories - Hardware&sw=4 Total Cost (not including shipping and taxes) with self assembly = $2,091.83 USD plus shipping, taxes, mistakes, changes of mind, re-dos and inbred idiot-ness that probably added a few hundred dollars here and there (ongoing). Now, how about your recipe? Kind regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackhimer Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Hi Stephen, As the newbie around here I must say your posts are always very informative and I look forward to reading them. My machine is not nearly as nice as yours although my recent upgrade to the 3.4 ghz AMD Phenon II (the best AMD has to offer but nowhere near an Intel chip) has helped quite a bit. Unfortunately I had to stick with AMD for the time being because that is what current home PC is built around and I cannot presently start over. My total cost would be about half of yours but based on your performance posts I think you run FSX at almost twice my frame rate. I will give an exact breakdown by $ if anyone cares to see it. However, my main reason reason for posting was that I was surprised to see your CPU was only $70 more than mine and yet you definitely get way more than $70 worth of performance benefit. I know FSX is way more friendly to Intel chips but that was depressing. My second reason for posting was to ask you how much "headroom" you have on your 480 GTX. In other words, if you change a setting in FSX that is more GPU dependent (for example, changing cloud resolution from 1024 to 2048) does your 480 absorb it without effort? I have heard awesome things about it (and I read your posts on 275 vs 470 vs 480) and I am curious how much "stress" a game like FSX actually puts on it? I hope my question makes sense. Keep up the great posts and I'll talk to you again soon. Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainneedle1 Posted August 25, 2010 Share Posted August 25, 2010 Yeap! FSX is funny like that, with every new hardware FSX is running a little better, I remember running FSX on my Qx6850 @ 3.8GHz with 2 GTX 8800 OC2 and 1066MHz memory, if you look in my sig I'm a little better and FSX does run better. I will show you what I'm building right now, most of you probably saw what I'm getting in my thread about leaving the 775 socket for the 1366 socket....the only thing is I can't tell you how good is FSX running since I have not put everything together yet but here we go..... Motherboard... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131614 $309.99 PCIe SSD for FSX only.... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227521 $1,069.00 CPU cooler... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018 $89.99 PSU (they don't make this one anymore) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817814011 $450.00 > $500.00 I can't remember.... Memory..... https://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=WX200UX6G7&title=Super-Talent-Speed-Series-DDR3-2000-6GB-3x2GB-CL7-Triple-Channel-Memory-Kit $304.98 GPU.... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500166 $519.99 HDD.... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136375 $239.99 HDD.... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136296 $139.99 x 3 = $419.97 Case.... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133053 $169.99 Fans ..... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103077 $13.00 x 7 = $91.00 Upcoming i7 990x or 980x.... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115223 $999.00 OS... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116718&cm_re=window_7-_-32-116-718-_-Product $289.99 Total of..... $4,954.88 > $5,004.88 + taxes + shipping .... I should have give that money as a down payment on a real plane....phew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmo32 Posted August 25, 2010 Share Posted August 25, 2010 great post and info stephen your help is greatly welcome by the Orbx community,and myself have to say thankyou to you for solving a issue i had some months back :)and to alainneedle also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a49002 Posted August 25, 2010 Share Posted August 25, 2010 Stephen, Your post is a very generous idea and much appreciated. I hope it grows and becomes a 'sticky' for the many people who could use the help in ardware decision making or simply for comparison. Personally, I am only using a low spec laptop (an Intel Core 2 Duo T6600, which is marginally better than my AMD single core desktop) but when I can, I hope to post here too. Thanks again. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumsonly2002 Posted August 25, 2010 Share Posted August 25, 2010 I really enjoy your posts Stephen. when it comes to gear you know your stuff. Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Lovell Posted August 25, 2010 Share Posted August 25, 2010 Exellent stuff Stephen.... you really inspire me to go ahead with a new build!... My Alienware (Dell ware) is just not worth investing anymore upgrades to. I was gonna replace the Motherboard, HD, PSU and reinstall everything from scratch.... but then, thinking about it, I may as well start building from scratch! I will post the ingredients of my new build as it happens Many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonyla1 Posted August 26, 2010 Share Posted August 26, 2010 Great post Stephen, As I'm about to embark on the task of building a new computer, I've been studying your posts.....very informative. I'd like to take you up on your offer of the coffee and a flight anywhere within the FTX world but alas I'm on the other side of the globe. Its comforting to know that if I get into trouble I can seek the advice of good people like yourself. Cheers Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NZ255 Posted August 26, 2010 Share Posted August 26, 2010 Wouldn't it be better to have the primary and FSX drive/s both SSD? Because the fast FSX drive has to wait for the slower OS drive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UlfB Posted August 26, 2010 Share Posted August 26, 2010 Wouldn't it be better to have the primary and FSX drive/s both SSD? Because the fast FSX drive has to wait for the slower OS drive? Why would FSX load files from the OS drive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TenBlade Posted August 26, 2010 Share Posted August 26, 2010 I like to think that I´ve driven the 775 socket as far as any reasonable spendings will allow. And simming stock FSX across three wide-screens is great, but a great product like what we get here must be enjoyed properly, and I´m just not there yet. And I´ve found that further hardware enhancements that should buy me a few extra frames and smoothness will get me a decent i7 cpu and new board. So, I won´t recommend my board and processor in the FSX community. But my lilst of recommended hardware: Corsair HX750W Antec NineHundredTwo case Scythe Mugen 2 cooler TripleHead2Go digital Samsung 2053BW x3 Mushkin Redline CAS 6 ram My wishlist for now: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5 (rev. 1.0) Core i7 I7-930 8 MB (Intel Boxed) ...for later: Palit GeForce GTX 460 Sonic Platinum (1 GB) or is 2GB better? OCZ RevoDrive PCI-Express SSD 120 GB Bjorn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoseCFII Posted August 27, 2010 Share Posted August 27, 2010 After years of trial, testing, loading and reloading, and dissatisfaction, I finally have a system that I'm proud of. Plus, FSX runs better than ever. Track Ir5 has added even more joy. It just keeps getting better. My hardware is bellow. What I would like to add to Steven's excellent thread is that tweaks, drivers, and OS are extremely important. Win 7, the latest drivers, and Jesus' BP=0 tweak guide are essential components that must also be examined carefully to esure you don't waste your money and experience total dissatisfaction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TenBlade Posted August 27, 2010 Share Posted August 27, 2010 I´m un-wishing the OCZ RevoDrive PCI-Express SSD 120 GB due to indications of rather rapid deterioration. Thanks, Alain. Bjorn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spirit Flyer_old Posted September 15, 2010 Author Share Posted September 15, 2010 This seems a good time to bring forward a couple of weeks. My list failed to include a CD-DVD player/burner and a monitor. Since most who read this already have monitors (otherwise you are not reading this ), I will leave that off the list. The unit I can recommend is ASUS 8X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive Model for $109.99 as linked here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135203&cm_re=blue_ray_dvd_drive-_-27-135-203-_-Product That brings the total up to $2,201.82 (plus taxes and shipping) Kind regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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