FSX - New PC Advice

[Bjoern]

Say what....I just bought 4 gigs of OCZ @1066 for $119.00.......

Q.e.d.

[harleyman]

Q.e.d.

:costumes: Ok...I'm lost Bjoern...I have no clue what that means...but I'm :costumes::costumes: like crazy for some reason......LOL

[Bjoern]

:costumes: Ok...I'm lost Bjoern...I have no clue what that means...but I'm :costumes::costumes: like crazy for some reason......LOL

Quod erat demonstrandum = "Which was needing to be proved"

[harleyman]

Ahhhhhhhh So you think I was fibbing...I see....

Well i was....because it was 112 bucks not 119



<TABLE class=cartSum cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD><DL class=prodDesc><DD>OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2RPR10664GK - Retail <DD>Item #: N82E16820227289 </DD></DL><DD><DD></DD></TD><TD><DL><DD>$112.99 </DD></DL></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


That is off my online receipt .....

[kilo delta]

The price of memory has dropped drastically in the last 12-18 months.....even DDR3 is coming down to more reasonable levels (eg I paid over €800 for the 8GB of memory for my main PC earlier this year!)

[harleyman]

The price of memory has dropped drastically in the last 12-18 months.....even DDR3 is coming down to more reasonable levels (eg I paid over €800 for the 8GB of memory for my main PC earlier this year!)

OUCH...............

[baileych]

Ok, I'm no expert, but this is what I have found and it works great. I just got the Gateway FX-6710 for $945 from Best Buy. It has the
Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor1 Q9400 (2.66GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 2 x 3MB L2 cache), with 6 gig of RAM and running 64 bit Vist. As you may know FSX SP1 & 2 enables multithreading to make sure you get all ponies running from that Quad unit. I have the stock Nvidia 9800 GT running 512 (I'm an ATI fan but FSX runs better on Nvidia, check Tom's Hardware Graphics results). I have all sliders maxed and I'm running 4x antriscopic. On my 22" Gateway HD monitor at 1680 x 1050 I average 25.6 FPS. Since movies run at 16 FPS I would say not a bad set up for under $1,300 total.

[baileych]

Before somebody slaps me, 35 mm movies run at 24 fps. I was thinking of 16mm.

[kilo delta]

I'm an ATI fan but FSX runs better on Nvidia, check Tom's Hardware Graphics results

Sorry......but Tom's Hardware got it wrong.........very wrong. Best gfx card on the market is the ATi HD4870X2. Nvidia's best is the GTX280...but even that is closely matched by the much cheaper ATi HD4870.
I'd recommend overclocking your processor (assuming your mobo allows this) and maybe fitting an aftermarket cpu cooler.

[DennyA]

For what it's worth, I own both a 4870X2 and a GTX280. The GTX280 is faster in FSX, because the 4870X2's second GPU never kicks in with FSX. If you're going ATI, just save the money and get a single-GPU 4870.

The 4870X2 is the fastest single card only in apps which take advantage of SLI/CrossFire. Which FSX does not. But frankly, they're both fast enough that, unless you're running at crazy high resolutions with AA/AF on, you're going to be more limited by CPU speed than graphics power anyway with either card.

BTW, folks, if you're buying a PC for FSX, hold out till later in November/December when the Core i7 CPUs ship. The $300 Core i7-920 base model is faster than a QX9770. The more expensive versions are way faster than a QX9770. I've tested the Core i7, and I've now seen Seattle at 20 fps with a combo of maxed and 3/4 right sliders. My QX9770 can't do that. The jump of 8 to 10 fps that TxNetCop doesn't sound impressed by is actually pretty impressive when you're starting at at 12 to 17 fps in some areas. FSX is actually one of the games that's most affected by Core i7's performance, since it's CPU-limited. Most games are GPU-limited.

[kilo delta]

I'm suprised that you've had performance issues with the QX9770. Have you overclocked your chip? I'm running mine @4GHZ (it'll go much higher with a good liquid cooling setup, but I don't want to go down that route again). I'm getting ~30 fps (locked at 30) everywhere running at a resolution of 2560x1600 and AA/AF at 8x.
Only city that really taxes this system is Aerosoft's London X.
I've yet to test out the ATi HD4870X2 and GTX280 cards personally (as I've been out of work for the last few months due to health issues), but my colleagues swear by the 4870X2.

[DennyA]

I don't have performance issues with the 9770 (at 3.6GHz). But turn up the settings and traffic at Boeing Field and fly low towards Seattle. You get 30 fps consistently?

In 98% of the rest of the world, the 9770 manages 30 fps. But not Seattle and a couple of the other crazily detailed cities.

[Bradburger]

Firstly, thanks to all for their input and advice.

I've been taking stock of what's been said here and on the the various hardware forums on the web, and as with everything in life, the advice is always conflicting and my head is still spinning!

As far a the new i7 cpu's/chip/DDR3 RAM, it seems the general feeling is that at the moment there is little in performance gain as far as gaming goes, and the extra cost is not really justified. However, it seems that if you don't plan on upgrading for another 2-3 years or more (and with the way the economy is at present who knows if some people will be able to afford upgrades in a few months time or so) and you want to be as future proof as possible, then the i7 is the way to go for sure.

As for GFX cards, I've taken notes of Ted's comments about how the HD4870X2 outperforms the GTX280, although DennyA seems to suggest otherwise in FSX, so I'm still not sure which to go for! If I was to go ATI, it seems there is no need to go to the extra expense of the X2, because as DennyA points out, FSX doesn't use it's second GPU, but as an alternative, go for the HD4870OC instead as Ted suggests.

Having said that, I see that ATI are planning to release the RV790 chip soon, which has a higher core clock amongst other things, and should give a significant boost to FSX performance should it not?.

A bit more about it here: -

http://www.techpowerup.com/75685/AMD...ck_Planned.htm

With this in mind, do I hold on till it's released, and at the same time take the plunge and be as futureproof as possible (if there is such a thing!) and go i7?

Cheers

Paul

[kilo delta]

There's never a right time to build/buy a computer as there is always something new on the horizon. Go with the HD4870 card....it's much cheaper than the GTX280/HD4870X2 and should provide sufficient pleasure for any game that you choose to run I'd recommend that you hold off on the i7 rig for the foreseeable future....at least until i7 chip's and DDR3 memory stabilise in price, and for any bugs with the X58 boards to be sorted out.

[txnetcop]

Hey Paul, if you have the patience to wait I think the Gigabyte and ASUS X-58 boards are very good. Denny has a good point about getting the most you can to run FSX over cities like Seattle, New York, and Tokyo.

I honestly don't have a problem running in the 30s just about everywhere with my E8400 X-48 rig and all sliders right but I OC'd mind to 3.8GHz and run an HIS HD4870OC (that by the way is faster than the standard 280GTX in almost everything I run-I know because I have tested against the 280GTX) and the guys at TechCorp and I believe it has better graphics appeal.

I also highly recommend the ATI HIS HD4850 ICE-Q4-it has the same engine as the 4870 and runs clocked a little higher than the standard 4870...the great part is that it is $100 cheaper and runs FARCRY, COD4, BIOSHOCK at higher speeds that the Nividia GTX260 and standard 4870.

In all the tests we ran with 17Core vs Core2Duo and Core2Quad the margin of victory was not that much at this time, but later i7Cores are gonna be killers so gear up for it and get a good X58 motherboard and buy the cheapest i7 availabile in anticipation of the better releases later. DDR3 memory is now very cheap.

For all of us who run X38s, X48s, P35, and P45s they are still excellent gamers and will be around for a long time to come thanks to fast, very overclockable E8600s, Q9550-9650s and the QX cores.
Ted