A dedicated computer FSX

[runswithscissors]

Hi there I have been a long time lurker and now I am a first time poster.

I was wondering for my post what was thought of my computer and its subsequent use for FSX.

It is as follows:

Case: A server case which I have had for a long time, 24 "
Power supply: Enermax Noisetaker 600 Wt
Mobo: Asus P5N32-E SLI
Cpu: E6850
Mem: 4 X 1 Gb 800 Mhz DDR2
Video card: EVGA 8800 GTS 640 Mb G80 96 SP
Screens: Samsung 930 B and 245 BW
OS: Vista 64 Bit
Add Ons: Van+ ; Vic+ ; FSX ; Acceleration
HDD: 2 X WD36 Sata No Raid Vista on one FSX on the other
Coolers: Asus Silent Square Pro CPU cooler
Performance info: Base Score 5.5
Proc= 5.6
Mem= 5.9
Graphics= 5.9
Bus Grap= 5.9
Prim HD= 5.5

So what I am asking is how does my computer compare and can it be improved.

And what can I read or do to it to improve it.

Thanks again and I will look forward to the responses.

runswithscissors :jump::jump:

[txnetcop]

Hi there I have been a long time lurker and now I am a first time poster.

I was wondering for my post what was thought of my computer and its subsequent use for FSX.

It is as follows:

Case: A server case which I have had for a long time, 24 "
Power supply: Enermax Noisetaker 600 Wt
Mobo: Asus P5N32-E SLI
Cpu: E6850
Mem: 4 X 1 Gb 800 Mhz DDR2
Video card: EVGA 8800 GTS 640 Mb G80 96 SP
Screens: Samsung 930 B and 245 BW
OS: Vista 64 Bit
Add Ons: Van+ ; Vic+ ; FSX ; Acceleration
HDD: 2 X WD36 Sata No Raid Vista on one FSX on the other
Coolers: Asus Silent Square Pro CPU cooler
Performance info: Base Score 5.5
Proc= 5.6
Mem= 5.9
Graphics= 5.9
Bus Grap= 5.9
Prim HD= 5.5

So what I am asking is how does my computer compare and can it be improved.

And what can I read or do to it to improve it.

Thanks again and I will look forward to the responses.

runswithscissors :jump::jump:

Actually your experience with FSX should be quite good with those specs. I did overclock my E6850 to 4GHz, but it was doing fine with FSX before I did that. I also overclocked my EVGA 8800(G80) GTS 640MB to 600 Core Clock and 900 Memory clock, shader clock is set to 1406 using RIVATuner. I do use nHancer with my Nvidia drivers. Make sure you load sp1 and sp2(I have Acceleration which has SP2 in it) for FSX. I get around 36-40 fps(locked) consistantly all sliders full right except Autogen at very dense(no other tweaks).
Ted

[runswithscissors]

Hi there and thanks for the positive thoughts about my computer and the good news about yours. I have been giving the over-clocking a good thought. Having done this to the video card already it only seems the next step. Would I notice much of a difference in FSX by upping the video card to say a 8800 GTX ultra superoverclocked.
While I am asking my poor Raptors are filling up fast. Would I be better of adding another HD (Barracuda 7200.7 80 GB) as a storage drive or swap the raptor with vista for it and use the raptor as my storage. It should be noted that I would like to use the Barracuda as I already have it.
Doug

[txnetcop]

I have FSX on a separate drive and use my other drive for storage and other business related programs. Before you begin overclocking your CPU put your video card back to default, it may become unstable after you oc your CPU if you don't default it. Then overclock your video card as needed.
Ted

[David_L6]

While I am asking my poor Raptors are filling up fast. Would I be better of adding another HD (Barracuda 7200.7 80 GB) as a storage drive or swap the raptor with vista for it and use the raptor as my storage. It should be noted that I would like to use the Barracuda as I already have it.
Doug

I'd leave it set up the way you have it (OS on one Raptor, FSX on the other) and add the Barracuda for storage. You can move all your pictures, videos, and music to the Barracuda and keep the drive with your OS relatively uncluttered.

[runswithscissors]

Thanks for the advice on the drive and storage.
Now I am still wondering about the video card question...
Doug

[Butcherbird17]

OCing the cpu will give you more of a gain as fsx is more cpu dependent then gpu (vid card), but that being said having a good vid card does help. I dont think the gts(640) will OC to gtx/ultra speeds. The one thing i dont understand is how you only got a 5.5 rating on your raptors, yet with my seagate sata2 drive i get a 5.8:isadizzy:

Joe

[runswithscissors]

The 5.5 rating has me baffled as well the only thing that I can see is the are 1st generation sata drives and this may have something to do with the rating which I got. Even if I get a better rating for the CPU I still have this to deal with. By the way as I mentioned in the original post I got a 5.6 rating with the stock CPU.
Doug

[Butcherbird17]

I think my e6750 i got a stock rating of 5.5, i now get 5.8 with it OCed to 3.4.
And thats most likely why you get 5.5 on the raptors as they are first gen sata drives. My overall rating in vista is 5.8 and is because of the cpu and sata2 drive, everything else i get 5.9's.

Joe

[runswithscissors]

I wonder how closely FSX is tied to Vista and specifically this performance report.
I would also like to know if by updating my two "old" Raptors to a new single Sata II drive would enhance my FSX experience.
Doug

[runswithscissors]

So to update my fsx would it be more desirable to have everything on one 150 GB raptor, this would include Vista. Or would it again be adviable to get a 74 GB for FSX and by doing this I would still end up with 2 hard drives.
Doug

[Butcherbird17]

If you do go with 2 drives use the smaller one for the OS and any utilities for the OS. Then Install fsx on the bigger one as you'll need a lot of room for all the addons you might add to it.:d

Joe

[runswithscissors]

Well I have just ordered a single Raptor 150 GB this should bring me up a bit from my original 36 GB x 2 raptors. Is there a way to transfer the 2 x Raptors info to my new 150 GB drive. Or should I simply reinstall everything.
It should be noted other than the drivers, Vista 64 bit on one and FSX ; acceleration on the other raptor there is not much else.
Doug

[Butcherbird17]

You could clone the drive with the OS on it to the new drive, you would need something like Norton Ghost to do this. I think the best way though is to unhook the 2 older drives, then hook up the new one and install the OS and get it upto date. Then you could hook back up the older drives (make sure to set the jumpers to slave on both) then you would have access to all your files on those drives through the new install. You can leave the OS on the older drives and if you would want to boot into the older OS, just go into BIOS and change the boot order. One thing though you will need to reinstall FSX as the older install will not work on the new install.

Joe

[warbird861]

Case: A server case which I have had for a long time, 24 "
Power supply: Enermax Noisetaker 600 Wt
Mobo: Asus P5N32-E SLI
Cpu: E6850
Mem: 4 X 1 Gb 800 Mhz DDR2
Video card: EVGA 8800 GTS 640 Mb G80 96 SP
Screens: Samsung 930 B and 245 BW
OS: Vista 64 Bit
Add Ons: Van+ ; Vic+ ; FSX ; Acceleration
HDD: 2 X WD36 Sata No Raid Vista on one FSX on the other
Coolers: Asus Silent Square Pro CPU cooler
Performance info: Base Score 5.5
Proc= 5.6
Mem= 5.9
Graphics= 5.9
Bus Grap= 5.9
Prim HD= 5.5


hah that's good. you would pass off if you heard my :censored: system specs which I'm running fsx:banghead::banghead:

[runswithscissors]

Well I just thought I would update everyone on my HD issues.
As you remember I had ordered a new style 1 X Raptor 150 GB disk.
Well it is now installed as my only disk and all the info moved courtesy of a Acronis Migrate demo. I then dragged and dropped my FSX folder onto the disk. I then removed both the old Raptor 36's from the system.
Other than Vancouver+ demanding a repair/install everything worked as it was supposed to. And my disk performance went from 5.5 to 5.9 to boot.
All in all I am very pleased with it. And now onto OC the CPU to see if I can bring those numbers up and make my smile bigger.
Doug

[Butcherbird17]

Thats good to hear.:applause: Pretty nice jump in score with the new raptor.
You can still use the old raptors for backups, as this won't effect your score. Keep us updated on the overclocking.

Joe