What FSX PC would you get for around $2000?

[BushAV8R]

Hi all,

I need your help on a hardware decision, because this is not my strong side when it comes to FSX setup. I am going to replace my old Core 2 Duo 6700 soon and have a budget of around $2000 for my new PC. Not only playing with it though. I will use it for modelling, animation, rendering, programming etc. as well.

I would like to get a PC, which runs FSX smoothly >25 frames at high to very high graphics settings. Usually, I am more a bush flyer using Togass Fjords X, soon Pacific Northwest, Holger Sandmann's Vancouver and so on. Also I'd like to see some traffic (75%) while I am flying and REX is a future must have for me as well. Would be great if the setup can keep up the frame rate at bigger cities like Vancouver too. Can you give me some advice for a high end PC, especially in the areas of

- CPU (would like to get a i7)
- Memory (with 4-6 GB)
- Graphics Card (>= 1024 Mb)
- Harddisc (>= 500 GB)
- Motherboard

I am planning to use Windows 7 64 Bit Home Premium. Is that OK?

Would be awesome, if you could give me an advice. I will buy it withing the next 2 or 3 months.

Thanks a lot!

-Pete

[Skittles]

Is a monitor included in the budget or do you already have one?

[BushAV8R]

Just the PC. I already have a good 22'' Samsung TFT.

[MCDesigns]

I will use it for modelling, animation, rendering, programming etc. as well.

What tools/apps do you use? I do lots of CGI type work including rendering and modeling and find, depending on the software that a 64 bit system is imperative, if nothing else for the extra memory capabilities. One of my rendering apps is Carrara and the rendering time from a 32 bit to 64 was cut in half.
My basic rig cost me about $1500 ay ibuypower.com (my second purchase from them) and I added a few things myself (extra drives, Bluray DVD, etc), but overall has been rock solid with good FSX performance stock, no tweaking, Chances are if I follow Nicks guide and switch to W7, I can get even better performance.

[BushAV8R]

What tools/apps do you use?

Michael, I am using 3ds Max 2010 and 2011 for modelling and rendering. Also Photoshop CS4. Are you using Vista 64 or Windows 7 64 bit?

Just to add to my initial post. AI of 50% would be nice as well, instead of 75%. At the moment I set AI air traffic to 0% as it slows down my FPS all the time close to an airport at higher setting.

-Pete

[txnetcop]

What state do you live in? Before I give out any more info you should know that there are two or three builders in here who have built custom units for people in the forum. For instance I service Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Harleyman ships nationwide, and I think there is another builder in here as well. The other option is build one yourself. It isn't that difficult you will really know what makes your PC tick. The help in building one is free!
Ted

[BushAV8R]

What state do you live in?

Hi Ted,

I live in Europe/Germany, so getting a rig from the guys you mentioned is not really an option for me. I am planning to build one myself. Did it already with my last PC.

However, I have not so much experience in what might be the best setup and combination of hardware, when it comes to FSX. I read already so many different things and I am a little confused now.

So help from you guys, with maybe a small feedback what kind of flying you do in FSX and what FPS you are getting would be really awesome.

Thank you all for your time.

-Pete

[txnetcop]

Hi Ted,

I live in Europe/Germany, so getting a rig from the guys you mentioned is not really an option for me. I am planning to build one myself. Did it already with my last PC.

However, I have not so much experience in what might be the best setup and combination of hardware, when it comes to FSX. I read already so many different things and I am a little confused now.

So help from you guys, with maybe a small feedback what kind of flying you do in FSX and what FPS you are getting would be really awesome.

Thank you all for your time.

-Pete

OK Pete these are the important questions:
What is your top dollar you are willing to spend for power and performance?
What games do you play or plan to play with the new unit?
What operating system are you planning on using?
Have you every overclocked a PC or are you at least willing to do so?
Ted

[BushAV8R]

OK Pete these are the important questions:
What is your top dollar you are willing to spend for power and performance?


I am willing to spend around $1800 - $2000, because I will use the PC as a working machine as well for modelling and rendering.



What games do you play or plan to play with the new unit?


I am not really a gamer. When I play, it is sports games (EA madden for example), also tried shooters, but mostly FSX.



What operating system are you planning on using?


I am planning to use Windows 7 64 bit. I thought about the Home edition, but now leaning towards the professional or even ultimate version, because I heard that the ultimate version supports 32 bit applications as well.



Have you every overclocked a PC or are you at least willing to do so?


I have never overclocked a PC so far, but with sufficient cooling I am willing to do so. Would be nice, if I could live without overclocking, but doing it, should be no obstacle.

Thanks!

-Pete

[txnetcop]

Pete there are some things you may change but do not change the memory, motherboard or CPU for best performance

coolermastrt haf 932-I like this case and it's cheap-cools very well
corsair 750 psu
asusp6x58deluxe,premium
intel core i7,960 3.2 ghz cpu
cooler master v8 cpu cooler-see below I use the Ultra but this one is fine also
2 wdcavier black 1 tb hdd Make sure it is 32mb cache or better 64mb caching is best
Nividia GTX275 graffix card
6gb of corsair dominator ram sticks

The reason I recommend the i7Core 960 is because it is rated 4th highest in benchmarks as of 03-11-10. It is a screamer without paying a premium price. It has all the latest goodies like QPI, Virtualization, and Hyper-Threading. Windows sees this a 8 cores thanks to Hyper-Threading. And the QPI is the an excellent thing to look for in new CPUs. http://www.intel.com/technology/quickpath/

Memory do not scrimp here:
Corsair core i7 Dominator 6GB memory minimum $300

Power Supply:
Corsair TX750W -use this only if you have one video card in the i7960 build-$104-119

Cases are subjective pick one that has excellent cooling capability MID or FULL Tower $150 tops

Motherboard-this one is tried and true:
ASUS P6TD Deluxe X58 LGA 1366 motherboard-easy to OC if you need it-$300
(Alpine uses the MSI board which is fast and highly overclockable but not very stable when OC'd)


Core i7 960 $589 for OEM
Core i7 930 $300 if you are willing OC 15% or more this is excellent

Cooling
Best:
Ultra ChillTEC 1366 Thermal Electric $119
Very good:
Cooler Master V8 ver2 $60.00 much better cooler now

Graphics Nvidia GTX 275 $250

Hard Drives-minimum 2 Western Digital Black 750 $119 each

You are looking at $2000 with i7 960 or save yourself almost $300 and use the i7930 but you will have to OC it a bit. I have the instruction set for OCing the CPU on this motherboard. If you can afford the i7960 it is by the far the best choice! All these parts have been tested at TechCorp multiple times and had extremely good gaming performance.
Ted

[BushAV8R]

Hi Ted,

Thank you so much for your time and your advice. I guess I will buy exactly the PC you suggested, including the i7-960. I guess I am good to go with that for the next three years or so. :)

Two additional questions:

Do you suggest two hard drives, because you would use one entire drive just for fsx and would it be wise to have like two windows 7 partitions. One windows 7 partition for my modelling and rendering and one just with fsx on it (as clean as possible), or is that not required?

Pete

[txnetcop]

I have FSX setup two ways the first is in RAID 0 array on the second computer it is set up as FSX on the second drive. I have not seen any real speed advantage in RAID 0 over a separate drive for FSX. So either way you go is fine. I prefer having FSX on my second drive. All my other games are on C:
Ted

Nick N at simviation.com has an excellent setup guide for FSX in their forum which I highly recommend.

[BushAV8R]

I will check out the guide and thanks again Ted.

Pete

[BushAV8R]

Ted, I have an additional question for you with respect to the memory sticks.

Which dominator kit do you mean. Is it:

Corsair Dominator GT 6GB PC3-16000 2000MHz DDR3
MPN: CMG6GX3M3A2000C8

or

Corsair Dominator 6GB PC3-12800 DDR3
MPN: TR3X6G1600C8D

or do you mean anohter package? Would be great if you could tell me the MPN.

Thanks!

[Skittles]

Ted, I have an additional question for you with respect to the memory sticks.

Which dominator kit do you mean. Is it:

Corsair Dominator GT 6GB PC3-16000 2000MHz DDR3
MPN: CMG6GX3M3A2000C8

or

Corsair Dominator 6GB PC3-12800 DDR3
MPN: TR3X6G1600C8D

or do you mean anohter package? Would be great if you could tell me the MPN.

Thanks!

Well the first option is better, but it does have it's own problems. The I7 CPU series has a limit that it will use only 1033Ghz of the RAM speed (or a number around that area), so I believe that if you want to run the RAM at 2000Ghz (and get what you paid for) you have to make manual adjustments to the CPU parameters.

Don't just take my word for it, wait for some more opinions before you buy anything.

[txnetcop]

I also would go with the first set but you will have to set it parameters in order to get the maximum out of it. There are plenty of instructions on this setup procedure. I can give you all that you need when you are ready to build. In all of the i7Core memory modules to get the maximum benefit of the RAM's capability those parameters must be set in BIOS. It really doesn't make all that much difference however if you do not plan to OC in the future both sets can be reset to run at higher capacity. I do not have the Corsair Dominator GT 6GB PC3-16000 2000MHz DDR3
MPN: CMG6GX3M3A2000C8 at TechCorp I wish I did!!!
Ted

By the way, thank you Skittles you are correct

[Roadburner440]

Brand new from Alienware my PC cost $2600almost 7 months or so ago, so I am sure by now you could get the componenets for under 2,000. I have not looked back though, and have had 0 issues with it. Specs are as follows

i7 950 OC'd@ 3.2ghz
ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 motherboard
6GB of DDR3 1600 RAM
Single Nvidia GeForce GTX 285 (1GB verion)
1 Seagate 7200RPM 750GB Harddisk (windows) & 1 Western Digital Raptor 10,000 RPM 150GB
850 watt power supply
Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit

I was originally going to build this computer myself, but they had a closeout sale going on last October that brought it within $200 of what it would of cost to build it myself, so I just ordered it. I do not know if you can still get the GTX 285, but I imagine if you can find it you probably could get a really good deal on it. Same with the i7 950 (discontinued for the i7 960). In all honest you could probably get away with an i7-920 processor and save even more money and overclock it to i7-950 or higher speeds. The only issue I have read with people doing that is the 920's are more sensitive to heat than the higher processers, but nothing a good cooling setup can't take care of. I carried over the WD Raptor drive from my old FSX computer (saved me some $$ there), and all the rest of it is brand new. I can fly anywhere in the world I want, using any aircraft I want. As far as the traffic slider mine is somewhere in the 30-40% neighborhood and I lock my framerates at 20. Someone willing to OC could definately squeeze a lot more out of a system like mine, but I just try to balance longevity with the performance. Hopefully it lasts for many more years to come. Good luck in your ventures, and hopefully you are able to build something that meets your expectations.

[BushAV8R]

Thank you all for writing this up. Much appreciated. I will buy my new PC within the next 2-3 months, so prices might drop a little here and there, which would be OK ;)

Are the new graphics cards from ATI 5850 and 5870 any good?
Mathiks Kok from Aerosoft said somewhere, that the latest graphics cards can make FSX even worse, because they demand more data instead less, which has an impact on FPS. Is that true?

Even if it is true though, I consider a high end graphics card as well. Maybe the one Ted suggested or the ATI. Not sure yet. Wanna have fun with other games maybe in the future as well.

Pete

[dswo]

coolermastrt haf 932-I like this case and it's cheap-cools very well

Lots of good reviews on NewEgg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160

What about noise? I looked at the April case round-up on SilentPCreview.com: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article75-page5.html. They like the Silverstone Fortress F02: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163162. But with shipping that's US$265.

I'm also looking at the Antec P183: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129061. It's about the same price as the Cooler Master.

[Major_Spittle]

Lots of good reviews on NewEgg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160

What about noise? I looked at the April case round-up on SilentPCreview.com: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article75-page5.html. They like the Silverstone Fortress F02: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163162. But with shipping that's US$265.

I'm also looking at the Antec P183: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129061. It's about the same price as the Cooler Master.

I recently got this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811517007 and I'm very happy with it. Good rolled steel with no sharp edges. Black paint inside makes it very stylish compared to others I have had. All the fans a very quiet and high quality. It's biggest down fall is that it won't have enough room for some of the larger heat sinks due to the large side fan's cowling extending about an inch inside the case.