OS/Hardware Preferences for FS

[TARPSBird]

My son is in the process of building me an upgraded computer with more kick-butt for running flight sims than what my old pooter has. He plans to use the Nvidia GeForce 9400 GT video card and some kind of dual-core processor which he didn't give me the name of and I don't know a dual core from an apple core so the terminology is lost on me. :icon_lol: He asked about my prefs for an operating system and off the top of my head I said XP based on what I have read here at SOH. Anyway I would like some comments on your flight sim experiences with XP vs. Vista. Also, if you'd care to comment on video cards or processors I'd like to hear your thoughts. Maybe other folks besides me could benefit.

[Z-PurpleBubble]

I would go for XP. It will allow you to make use of the hardware resources, rather than giving it up to the demands of a resource hog like Vista.

In other words more power of the machine will be devoted to the sim, rather than it being wasted on the OS (windows).

And for the graphics card: I have the Nvidia 8800GT and am very happy with it! Good card. Also go for at least 2 Gb RAM, and the quicker is the better. Ask your son, he'll know what I'm talking about. Processor wise, I would go for Intel, rather than AMD. AMD seem to have issues lately.

If your budget permits it, go for western digital velociraptor harddisks, they're unbeatable!

Good luck with the new machine and wellcome to the 21st century! ;)

PB

[harleyman]

This is my pooter I built for flight sims...And its strong and capaible too...


Case: Thermaltake VH8000BWS BK
Power: Corsair 850W SLI Edition
MoBo: GIGABYTE GA-X48-DQ6 775 X48
CPU: INTEL|C2D E8600 3.33G 775 6M OCed 3.6
CPU Cooler: Artic Pro 7
GPU: VISIONTEK Radion 900250 HD4870X2 2G
Mem: OCZ 2X2 @ 1066
HD1: 150 Gig Raptor @ 10,000
HD2: 300G VelociRaptor @ 10,000
OS: XP Pro SP 3

[stansdds]

My computer (see my signature) pretty well smokes FS9.

[txnetcop]

My son is in the process of building me an upgraded computer with more kick-butt for running flight sims than what my old pooter has. He plans to use the Nvidia GeForce 9400 GT video card and some kind of dual-core processor which he didn't give me the name of and I don't know a dual core from an apple core so the terminology is lost on me. :icon_lol: He asked about my prefs for an operating system and off the top of my head I said XP based on what I have read here at SOH. Anyway I would like some comments on your flight sim experiences with XP vs. Vista. Also, if you'd care to comment on video cards or processors I'd like to hear your thoughts. Maybe other folks besides me could benefit.

You will be disappointed with the 9400GT I think. I would go with no less than the 8800GT which is aging now as we speak, but at least it is a 256 bit interface. The GTX260 is really sweet for a mid range video card and not that expensive. Don't know if you ever plan to fly FSX, but you won't do it with the 9400GT very well.
Ted

[TARPSBird]

Ted,
I'm not planning on moving up to FSX any time soon. Right now I just want a computer that can run FS9 decently, i.e. better than 10-12 FPS which is about all my old Compaq Presario can do. :redface: But maybe you could explain 256-bit vs. 128-bit interface on the vid cards?

[idancesafetydance]

I would go for XP. It will allow you to make use of the hardware resources, rather than giving it up to the demands of a resource hog like Vista.

In other words more power of the machine will be devoted to the sim, rather than it being wasted on the OS (windows).

And for the graphics card: I have the Nvidia 8800GT and am very happy with it! Good card. Also go for at least 2 Gb RAM, and the quicker is the better. Ask your son, he'll know what I'm talking about. Processor wise, I would go for Intel, rather than AMD. AMD seem to have issues lately.

If your budget permits it, go for western digital velociraptor harddisks, they're unbeatable!

Good luck with the new machine and wellcome to the 21st century! ;)

PB
I'm perfectly OK with AMD, I just bought the 3.2 Ghz phenom (dun remember the model #) and oc'd it to 3.6 Ghz, runs waaaay cooler than most intels, but yet, i've heard of these problems, ah, your choice.

[Z-PurpleBubble]

I'm perfectly OK with AMD, I just bought the 3.2 Ghz phenom (dun remember the model #) and oc'd it to 3.6 Ghz, runs waaaay cooler than most intels, but yet, i've heard of these problems, ah, your choice.

There was no pun intended here, I was just speaking out of experience. I'm a technician for the Belgian federal goverment and involved in a new roll out project. The AMD machines constantly get shipped back to the manufacturer because of CPU problems, no problems with the intel machines.

I'll admit that it is strange, but I have no explanation for it. Maybe Txnetcop can shed some light on it!

Cheers,

PB

[Odie]

I'm running Vista 64 with no issues. I've got my i7 940 2.9 gently o/c'ed to 3.3 and it runs FS9 and FSX nicely.

No issues with Vista, although I keep some services shutdown as they are not needed.

[CG_1976]

Heck im smoken Fs9 with my setup and AMD chip and its a quad core. My signature has my stats.

[Terry]

I'm running Vista 64 with no issues. I've got my i7 940 2.9 gently o/c'ed to 3.3 and it runs FS9 and FSX nicely.

No issues with Vista, although I keep some services shutdown as they are not needed.

I have one small issue with 64 that was not present in 32. I cannot hit the alt key in full screen to get to the menu (picture will freeze but program is still running). I have to switch to window view first to use the menu.

Do you have this problem?

[Z-PurpleBubble]

Heck im smoken Fs9 with my setup and AMD chip and its a quad core. My signature has my stats.


With this kind of rig "AMD Phenom II X4 920-- Liquid nitrogen Cooled/No OC
4G Ram DDR3 GeForce GTX 295 1gig 4T WD HD PSU 1000W" you don't have any problems. Of course not, you built it yourself and did all that is necessary to make it smoke!! But you'll have to admit that there were serious issues with earlier model AMD quadcores!

But that is one hell of a nice rig you have there! What case did you build it in?

Cheers,

PB