Checking before buying

[Sid2008]

I am in need of some quick confirmation/advice.

I am thinking of taking advantage of the Black friday sale to get me a very fast desktop so that my FSX gold can run smoothly.

Gentlemen, I just wanted a brief input from you because i am not very knowledgeable about computers. Please let me know if this machine is fast enough and will run both FS9 and FSX smoothly:

CPU Intel i7960 4*3.2 Ghz/8MB L3 Cache
RAM 12GB DDR3-1333 (2 GB *6)
Video card NVIDIA GTX 470 1.2 GB EVGA superclocked (they say this card is for DirectX 11, but it should run Direct X 9 and 10 right?)

Thank you,
Sid

[modelr]

I am in need of some quick confirmation/advice.

I am thinking of taking advantage of the Black friday sale to get me a very fast desktop so that my FSX gold can run smoothly.

Gentlemen, I just wanted a brief input from you because i am not very knowledgeable about computers. Please let me know if this machine is fast enough and will run both FS9 and FSX smoothly:

CPU Intel i7960 4*3.2 Ghz/8MB L3 Cache
RAM 12GB DDR3-1333 (2 GB *6)
Video card NVIDIA GTX 470 1.2 GB EVGA superclocked (they say this card is for DirectX 11, but it should run Direct X 9 and 10 right?)

Thank you,
Sid

Should be great. If you get Windows 7 as your OS, it will have DX11, which has been very smooth on my machine. None of the so called problems with DX10 have been noticed. Anything that can run FSX even decent will run FS9 to the max.

[Sid2008]

Thanks Don,
Sid

[Daube]

The CPU is great.
12 Gb is good as well if you plan to do video or picture editing, but if it's only for FSX then 6 Gb of RAM would be good already, 3 sticks of 2Gb to take advantage of the triple channel.
Be carefully about the quality of the motherboard you plan to take.
Finally, the GTX470 is a good card, just check the price differences with the 480, just in case.

[AndyE1976]

If you can stretch to it the Gigabyte UD9 that txnetcop posted about is worth considering as a motherboard since it will allow you to overclock and expand as much as you will ever need to.

Although technically FSX should only be able to access 3-4gb due to it being a 32bit app, the PC Pilot computer tests showed that the more RAM the better, so 12gb would be a great setup. It's what I'm getting when I upgrade my machine next year.

[kilo delta]

I am in need of some quick confirmation/advice.

I am thinking of taking advantage of the Black friday sale to get me a very fast desktop so that my FSX gold can run smoothly.

Gentlemen, I just wanted a brief input from you because i am not very knowledgeable about computers. Please let me know if this machine is fast enough and will run both FS9 and FSX smoothly:

CPU Intel i7960 4*3.2 Ghz/8MB L3 Cache
RAM 12GB DDR3-1333 (2 GB *6)
Video card NVIDIA GTX 470 1.2 GB EVGA superclocked (they say this card is for DirectX 11, but it should run Direct X 9 and 10 right?)

Thank you,
Sid

I'd advise not populating every memory slot...ie 6x2GB modules of RAM. This'll make overclocking the system harder (3x4GB modules would be better).Go with faster memory if at all possible (1600mhz or better)...no need to go with more than 6GB maximum.
Once you've a decent motherboard the rest of those system specs look perfect :).FSX and FS9 are both DirectX 9 games...FSX will operate to a certain degree under DX10. DX11 will only come into play if you are running a DX11 coded game under Windows 7 with a compatible DX11 graphics card.

[OleBoy]

I get the impression he's going to buy a prebuilt package and doesn't have any options but what they offer. I could be wrong tho

[spotlope]

That rig ought to do the job nicely. I just built an i7-950 setup w/a GTX460 vid card and 6GB of RAM, and it burns through complex aircraft and heavy scenery without batting an eye. The one you're looking at should do at least that well. Hopefully, whatever motherboard your system comes with will allow overclocking. I got my i7-950 up to 4GHz with no problems, and the 960 ought to get there or beyond.

[JIMJAM]

Be very wary of prebuilds as often you cannot upgrade anything or the bios is locked.
I bought a I7 Dell for a price that was simply unbeatable. But the first thing I had to do was install a better and stronger power supply which is needed to run todays vid cards. Also cooling is a issue. I ended up adding additional fans,a aftermarket cpu fan and even open up the side and have a small fan blowing into the case.
Buying prebuilts is initially cheaper and faster for us impulsive types. However I strongly suggest finding a reputable local computer store and having one made. Not only can you get higher quality parts, custom service but if/when the machine acts up, you can simply load it up and run it down to them for service. Otherwise its dealing with the Geek squad or talking to someone in India.
So when my computer I built was hit by lightning I ran to BB and got my current Dell I7 cheap.
But after $400 vid card,$200 power supply,addional ram,more fans and replaced the hd with a raptor.I cannot tinker with the bios and had to get rid of gigs and gigs of preinstalled bloatware.
So you see I actually should have had a computer built right once and been done with it.

[TeaSea]

Dell reins in cost through cutting on several items and one is the Power Supply. Actually, the provide just enough power, no more....which is not what most people are used to.

My Commodore Colt way back when had much more power than my current Dell Tower.

That being said, as long as you pay attention to that, should be no problem. If you need the additional power, they'll be more than happy to sell it to you.

[Wittpilot]

Just watch your graphics card overheating... I had bought what I thought was an okay system to run games on... Not great, barely good, but it did the job... for awhile... then it would suddenly stop working, or the FPS would drop from 30 to 1.... What it was, I figured after weeks of wondering, was everything was overheating.... It is a bad case my pc came with, and it overheats just browsing the web in about 5 min..... so I sit with a desk fan next to it... yeah I could add some fans, but the fans don't bother me.....

[kilo delta]

Dell reins in cost through cutting on several items and one is the Power Supply. Actually, the provide just enough power, no more....which is not what most people are used to.

My Commodore Colt way back when had much more power than my current Dell Tower.

That being said, as long as you pay attention to that, should be no problem. If you need the additional power, they'll be more than happy to sell it to you.


My experience of Dell has been the opposite...their PSU's are actually very good. For example I have an XPS420 that I'm using as a htpc. It came as standard with a 375watt psu and I'm running a power hungry Nvidia 8800 GTX/Ultra, dual optical drives and dual hard drives off it without any problems. Don't get too hung up on the quoted wattage....amperage on the 12v rails is much,much more important. :)