My PC died, so I have to build a new one...

***Sundog*** · April 28th, 2009, 22:13

...but the old one served me well. But I need help. I wasn't able to run FSX on my old PC, but this is what I'm thinking of using for my new PC to make sure I can run FSX well;

CPU: Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition 965 Nehalem 3.2GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor

Option 1 CPU: Intel Core i7 940 Processor BX80601940 - 2.93GHz, 8MB L3 Cache, 4.8GT/s QPI, HyperThreading, Quad Core, Bloomfield, LGA 1366

Option 2 CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 Processor BX80569Q9650 - 3.0GHz, 12MB Cache, 1333MHz FSB, Yorkfield, Quad-Core, Retail Socket775 Processor with Fan

Or an equivalent AMD.

Vid Card: EVGA 896-P3-1173-AR GeForce GTX 275 FTW Edition 896MB 448-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Supported Video Card

Case: Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan

OS: I'm thinking of VISTA Ultimate.

I need to know if all of that will work well together, if not, what would you guys recommend and what PSU, MoBo, and sound card would you guys recommend?

Also, will I still be able to run FS9 with it? I have alot of money invested in FS9 and would like to still be able to run it for a year or two while I build up FSX. I also have a lot of external HD's, USB, and would like to be able to hook them up to the new system as well.

Thanks! I'm bummed about having to spend the money now, but excited about finally getting a rig that can run FSX.

**Alexraptor** · April 29th, 2009, 01:17

Well either choice will be fine with FS9... hey i can run FS9 maxed out with just a Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66ghz, so....

harleyman · April 29th, 2009, 01:58

I say a Gigabyte Mobo for sure..

Drop the sound card..Not needed

If you go i7 get the 920..Its way cheaper and OC brillianty

Great case..Make sure its the model with the big side fan

The socket 775 Q9650 is just a capaible for FSX as the Nehleham series IMO

Vista Ultimate offers not much over a Regular Vista 64 bit OS..

Power and Cooling is good..I use Corsair 850 with 70 amps to the 12+ rail

I think thats a very good vid card..I use ATI ..

The i7 or 775 will smoke FS9 too

Ram ..I like OCZ..

**stansdds** · April 29th, 2009, 02:02

My computer smokes FS9 and runs FSX at 24 fps and smooth. What you are proposing should have no problem with running either FS. I'd stick with Intel for the CPU, AMD is still lagging behind in performance.

harleyman · April 29th, 2009, 02:04

I hear the new Phoenom is doing well for FSX if you want AMD...

**Alexraptor** · April 29th, 2009, 02:53

Actually i say definatley go with a soundcard.
Integrated sound puts an increased load on the CPU something you DO NOT want with FSX.
So a proper soundcard would take the load off the CPU and give more resources to FSX.
However, not all soundcards do this, so one which i would highly recommend is the X-FI XtremeGamer or XtremeMusic.
There are better X-FI cards, but either is a great cheap choice that gets the job done.

**kilo delta** · April 29th, 2009, 08:09

Nope...there's no necessity for a soundcard in a modern build. The amount of system resouces released by using one is minimal and it's won't have any adverse affect on FSX gaming.....especially so with today's modern cpus. In fact it's been well documented that some Creative sound cards can conflict with some FS addons. I dropped using soundcard's on my systems,particularly those with multiple graphics cards, in order to improve airflow to the card's fans and to aid in the prevention of heat buildup. Modern on-board sound has improved remarkably.
If I were building a pc to run FSX in the morning, i'd go with either the i7 720 or i7 740 (if you have the cash to throw away on the i7 965 then ,by all means you could get that

).

harleyman · April 29th, 2009, 13:08

I think Kilo meant the 920 and 940 CPUs

**kilo delta** · April 29th, 2009, 14:43

Originally Posted by harleyman

I think Kilo meant the 920 and 940 CPUs

Ooops

Yep 920 and 940, thanks Harley!:ernae:

***Sundog*** · April 29th, 2009, 20:10

O.K., based on your suggestions This is what I've come up with as the latest list. I'm not sure which HD's to go with, so any recommendations I'm open to and if you see anything that wouldn't go well together, let me know. Thanks for all of the responses. :ernae:

CPU Choice1 Intel Core i7 940 Processor BX80601940 - 2.93GHz, 8MB L3 Cache, 4.8GT/s QPI, HyperThreading, Quad Core, Bloomfield, LGA 1366

CPU Choice2 Intel Core i7 920 Processor BX80601920 - 2.66GHz, LGA 1366, 4.8GT/s QPI, 8MB L3 Cache, Quad-Core, HyperThreading, Bloomfield

MoBo Asus P6T Motherboard - LGA 1366, Intel X58, SATA, SLI Ready, CrossFireX Ready, Triple Channel DDR3 support, RAID, Hyperthreading support

RAM OCZ Gold Tri Channel 6GB PC12800 DDR3 Memory - 1600MHz, 6144MB (3 x 2048)

(Optional Combo)
CPU/MoBo/Ram Combo Asus P6T Intel Core i7 Upgrade Bundle - Intel X58 Motherboard, Intel Core i7 920, 12GB Triple Channel DDR3-1333 Corsair Memory

Vid-Card EVGA 896-P3-1173-AR GeForce GTX 275 FTW Edition 896MB 448-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Supported Video Card

HD's ? I'm not sure what to go with here. Any suggestions?

Case Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan

CD/DVD drive LG Super Multi Blu-Ray/HD DVD-Rom Drive - 6x BD-ROM, 6xBD-R, BD-RE 2x, 3x HD DVD ROM,16 x DVD-ROM, 12x DVD-R, SATA

PSU Corsair TX750W 750-Watt Power Supply - ATX, 140mm Fan, SLI-Ready, SATA-Ready, 80Plus

harleyman · April 30th, 2009, 01:59

If you know how to OC the 920 is the better choice by far..It OCs better and costs less

Gigabyte MoBos also OC better than the P6T....

Western Digital V-Raptors are great...300 GB ..FSX /Acceleration like their own drive too...

I perfer this PSU for its better rating on the 12V Rail...(70amps over 30 - 40) most offer.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139009

Other than that it looks great... Are you really going to use that Blu-Ray DVD....They cost....

Don't forget Vista 64 to use that ram...

**kilo delta** · April 30th, 2009, 03:01

Originally Posted by harleyman

Are you really going to use that Blu-Ray DVD....They cost....

They're not that expensive,Harley...~€100 and they'll play BluRay and HD-DVD. I have them in a couple of my builds, hooked up to big screen 1920x1080 tv's. Planet Earth in high def has to be seen to be believed!

harleyman · April 30th, 2009, 03:19

I see.. I thought they were pricey.....Thanks for that..:ernae:

I never look as my monitor is only 24" and never connected to a big screen TV...

**kilo delta** · April 30th, 2009, 03:37

It was the BluRay burners that were extremely expensive (at least the first gen ones).....mine cost me ~1k when I bought it.

***Sundog*** · April 30th, 2009, 05:21

If you know how to OC the 920 is the better choice by far..It OCs better and costs less

Gigabyte MoBos also OC better than the P6T....

Western Digital V-Raptors are great...300 GB ..FSX /Acceleration like their own drive too...

I perfer this PSU for its better rating on the 12V Rail...(70amps over 30 - 40) most offer.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139009

I don't know how to OC, but I figured you guys would teach me.

Of course, I was originally considering the 3.2 GHz i7 at first, so I wouldn't have to OC, but it's pricey.

I'm not sure what you mean by a Gigabyte MoBo, I haven't built a PC in over ten years, my last one was purchased.

My FS9 has it's own drive, but I may need something bigger than 300GB, as my FS9 install is around 200GB and still growing, and I would assume FSX files tend to be larger than FS9 files, but I could be wrong there, I haven't really looked.

As for the burner, I was looking for a burner that could burn everything. It's burning DVD's and CD's that are important for me, but, this system will be networked in my home addition and connected to the flat screen TV, so that's kind of why I was leaning towards the HD-DVD. Of course, I could always put this one in and a standard DVD/CD-Rom burner, I suppose.

I'll correct/update my list during lunch, since I'm doing most of my posting from work, since my "old server" at home is a slow machine to surf from.

harleyman · April 30th, 2009, 07:18

Gigabyte Mobo...http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128362

You can get a 250Gig on up HDD (make sure its got 32MB cache) for FS9 and your OS and all applications and programs

They FSX on its own V-Raptor HDD ..Very fast like that..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136322

A nice HDD with 32 MB cache http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136319 For your OS and FS9 and all the rest

Leave FSX all alone then

Understand about the Burner .....

**kilo delta** · April 30th, 2009, 07:57

Originally Posted by Sundog

As for the burner, I was looking for a burner that could burn everything.

If it's the same model that are in my htpc systems it won't burn BluRay or HD-DVD.....it's read only. It'll happily burn CD/DVD though.

***Sundog*** · April 30th, 2009, 10:19

OK, based on the excellent advice I've received from you guys, below is what the system will look like, for now. I have just a few more questions;

1) Will I also be able to run IL-2 on this system, or have any problems running my Photoshop/3D-Studio Max/ AutoCAD?

2) If I OC this, can I un-OC it? Or is that just done to the CPU? I'm thinking of upgrading the CPU once prices drop on the faster i7's.

Anyway, here's what it looks like based on your guys input

Updated per Kilo Delta's and harleyman's recommendations below.

CPU Intel Core i7 920 Processor BX80601920 - 2.66GHz, LGA 1366, 4.8GT/s QPI, 8MB L3 Cache, Quad-Core, HyperThreading, Bloomfield

MoBo GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard

RAM OCZ Gold Tri Channel 6GB PC12800 DDR3 Memory - 1600MHz, 6144MB (3 x 2048)

Vid-Card EVGA 896-P3-1173-AR GeForce GTX 275 FTW Edition 896MB 448-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Supported Video Card

HD (OS) Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive

HD (FSX) Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive

Case Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan

CD/DVD drive LG Super Multi Blu-Ray/HD DVD-Rom Drive - 6x BD-ROM, 6xBD-R, BD-RE 2x, 3x HD DVD ROM,16 x DVD-ROM, 12x DVD-R, SATA

PSU CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply

Cooler COOLER MASTER V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler

Thermal Compound Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM

Thermal Compound Cleaner Arctic Silver ACN-60ML (2-PC-SET) Thermal material Remover & Surface Purifier

Anti-Static Strap Rosewill RTK-002 Anti-Static Wrist Strap

**kilo delta** · April 30th, 2009, 11:33

Factor in a good aftermarket cpu cooler too, as you'll be overclocking...this would be perfect http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103055
The 12GB memory kit is not really necessary...6GB will be plenty

That system will run Photoshop/3DMax and Autocad without breaking a sweat. Gaming will be a breeze too...especially if you overclock...4ghz+ seems easily attainable with the i7 920.

harleyman · April 30th, 2009, 11:48

Yup...The V-8 cooler is killer... cooler section)...http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835702007

get some Artic Silver thermal paste and cleaner - prep too....A wrist strap helps too....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100007

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100010

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16899261005

harleyman · April 30th, 2009, 12:43

I had picked the wrong artic Silver Compound ..its been corrected now though...

A big thanks to txnetcop for the great eye on that....:ernae: master

fcfcfc · May 1st, 2009, 03:11

Just wondering if an ATI like a HIS HD4870 1GB ICEQ4+ would do as well? I also saw a 4890 1GB recently - is this better than the 4870?

harleyman · May 1st, 2009, 03:48

Thats a smokin card.......

FSX loves it too..

I just used it in an new i7 build and he loves it....

But it did die...A fluke..but HIS will replace it quickly ... NewEgg if within 30 days and the UPC is intact and not used for a rebate...

fcfcfc · May 1st, 2009, 04:43

Thanks Harleyman - you are referring to the 4890? Is there a need to replace the stock fan with something better?

Also, I am about to use WideView. Do you think if I just have 3GB instead of 6GB and 5 PCs driving 5 displays, would there be a noticeable performance degradation?

I have been watching this thread with great interest. Really appreciate everyone's knowledge and helpfulness here. Planning this new cockpit (first time) has taken forever with a few false starts; the hardware (instruments and control esp) part has been particularly painful. Sorry for some of the dumb questions I ask from time to time.

harleyman · May 1st, 2009, 10:28

No need to touch the vid card fans..ATI and nvidia have tools to manually run the fans at any speed you want for good cooling....

^ gig would be better...i have heard that there is a price to pay running manymonitors..But with extra PCs..i don't really know about that ...