bundling new FS rig, what do you think of specs?

[pilottj]

Hey folks,
my old Athlon 64 4000 runs FSX ok in rual areas but after getting Mikes beautiful L-39 I really want to be able to fly smooth. I'm ready to up my computer. Here is what im looking at for a good deal on tigerdirect.

Asus M4N78 PRO mobo with onbord Nvidia 8300 GPU...at a later time will be able to add a another Nvidia GPU for a boost
AMD Phenom II x4 955 3.2ghz quad CPU + 4gig DDR2 ram bundle
IDE PCI controller...mobo only has one IDE slot
all about 370USD with rebates+shipping.

Anyone have a similar rig and how is it running FSX for you?

Cheers
TJ

[Bone]

More ram. You'll be able to tweek your fsx.cfg for a higher LOD without getting the "out of available memory" window sometime during flight. If you plan on overclocking the CPU, tweeking the fsx.cfg, flying with numerous FSrecordings, and in general thrashing your machine with FSX, you will need more memory.

[pilottj]

yeah looks like Ram will be needed, but that is expandable, 4 gigs should get by for now until 4096 sticks become affordable :), then i can load it up to 16,that and im fond of my trusty WinXP pro that some of my older devices have drivers for, been hesitant to go vista/64 but we'll see. maybe will skip vista all together and go to windows 7 and bump the ram then.
thanks for the advice
TJ

[CG_1976]

Im a AMD Phenom user with 4 gigs ram, Give Windows 7 64 a try. It really helps with frames and fluid movement in the urban areas of the sim. Ive never ran outa memory using w7 64 bit.

[pilottj]

will definately shoot for win seven. in my IT class (working on CompTia certs) I can get the student rate...free 'student license' :D through the MSDN academic alliance but they dont have windows 7 yet, but when they do i'll jump on it :)

Cheers
TJ

[harleyman]

What was the price on that ?

[pilottj]

would be paying about 370 bucks with rebates/shipping on tigerdirect for the mobo, cpu/fan, ram, ide pci card
mobo with gpu = $100
cpu+ram bundle=$255 after $10 rebate
pci ide card = $20

shipping = $2
ordering through google checkout = - $5

$372 :)

I did a comparison with newegg and other places with comparible rates, and ive had good experiences with tigerdirect before

[harleyman]

Oh...I see...You are upgrading....My mistake..

You got some good prices then.....:wavey:


Whats a pci ide card ?

[pilottj]

lol yeah tigerdirect is a good place to ballpark prices.

this motherboard only has one IDE connector for the DVD drives and HDs as it makes it up with more SATA connectors. So the IDE pci card will allow me to plug in my older HDs and my DVD drives that dont have SATA capability.

Cheers
TJ

[gera]

Remember to add some hot peppers to whatever you come out with!!!!FSX needs them.:icon_lol:

[ryanbatc]

Maybe I just want great performance, but you'll need specs much better than that to run high settings with 30+ fps

If you're on a budget and you want great performance, you'll want:

P45 motherboard
E8500 overclocked to 4.0Ghz
4GB RAM
9800GT at a minimum, GTX260 better choice
a 64 bit OS, whether it be XP, Vista or Win 7

And to OC you'll need a nice cooler such as:
http://www.crazypc.com/products/utlra-120-extreme-775-50983L775.html

If you can't afford that stuff at a bare minimum DO NOT use that onboard 8300 video card, get a 9800GT or similar.

That Phenom II should be pretty good, but you'll still want to OC even that.

Remember, with 4GB of RAM running a x64 bit OS is a good idea....

[mjrhealth]

The AMD 965 will do 4 gig on air, its just a little power hungry, but me going to a 945 has made it ever so smooth, running 4 gig ram with xp32, it has hit 2 gig of usage but hasnt gone over yet. The 965 runs stcok 3.4 gig, going to wait for price to drop, couole of pays maybe. You also have to remeber taht a lot of the FPS drop in major airpors is simple because there is so much ai around, they do make a bit of a FPS hit, turn them off and she will be beautifull, but I love my AI.

[pilottj]

yeah, the 955 seems like it will do ok, i'll look into getting a 9800 that supports the hybrid SLI, altho nvidia says only vista will support Hybrid SLI, ive read reports that windows 7 will.

Cheers
TJ

[Cobra8472]

That 8300 will indeed definately not cut it.

I recommend an ATi HD4890.

[pilottj]

yeah i added a 9800GTX+ it will give good performance for now and then when i up to win 7 can add the hybrid sli capability

thanks for all your suggestions

cheers
TJ

[harleyman]

Look into that..

typically Hybrid SLI or Hybrid CrossfireX is usually only found on very low end video cards... Probably not the 9800..Maybe the 5200.....


Deal is you have to match the onboard with the PCI card for that feature..

Better off just disabeling that onboard in the bios with your new card...

[pilottj]

yeah i did some researching on the hybrid SLI...i wont really be able to boost the power but i can use the hybrid to cut power when i dont need it....would have to use another 8000 card for boost and it wouldnt give me that much more performance than the 9800 by itself would.

found this posted on an SLI forum
================================================== ========
QUOTE (rhassallnoob @ Oct 9 2008, 12:57 AM) http://forums.slizone.com/style_images/slizone_da/post_snapback.gif (http://forums.slizone.com/index.php?act=findpost&pid=227419)
<!--quotec-->
<!--QuoteEnd-->
<!--QuoteEEnd-->
If you want to use Geforce Boost you have to use the following cards only
Geforce 8400GS
Geforce 8500GT

For Hybrid Power
Geforce 9800GT (not all support Hybrid Power)
Geforce 9800GTX
Geforce 9800GTX+
Geforce 9800GX2
Geforce GTX260
Geforce GTX260 core216
Geforce GTX280

thats the list of the supported cards at the moment.

you cant use both Geforce Boost and Hybrid Power at the same time.
because the higher end cards draw more power, they use Hybrid Power to turn off when not gaming or using graphics intensive applications.
geforce boost combines the power of the on board geforce 8200/8300 with the geforce 8400GS/8500GT to boost performance.
================================================== =======

[ryanbatc]

SLI won't really do much for FSX, unless you have a huge huge monitor.... So I'd skip the sli

[Kiwikat]

I'd say forget upgrading and just get a mac.

:173go1:

[pilottj]

hahah yeah, lol i could dedicate the 9800 for FS and have some fun multi monitor setups :) but as much as i do FS i have a few other graphics programs that might like it :)

I found a good deal on an XFX 9800GTX+. Ive had really good luck with XFX cards, the one EVGA i had the heatsink fan failed shortly after I got it, replaced it with an XFX that has lasted ever since

the one positive thing about FS11 being a looooooong ways off, if its ever developed, this current rig will be good for 3 years or so and then the everything that is out of reach cost wise now will be easily affordable, i usually had the habit of getting a good computer for an FS version toward the end of its run and then being underpowered for the next version.

[harleyman]

FS11 is DEAD...Aces has been broken up.......


This is the Sim as it will always be....

[txnetcop]

I'd say forget upgrading and just get a mac.

:173go1:

Oh dear Lord not another that drank the cool-aid! You must kidding. I service Macs and haven't found one yet at the same price level as a PC that will run FSX as well as the PC will.
Ted

[pilottj]

FS11 is DEAD...Aces has been broken up.......


This is the Sim as it will always be....

:D that makes things perfect, that means everyone will have an oppertunity to eventually catch up with FSX, and in 3-4 years, think of all the good addons from A2A, Lotus, RealAir...etc that we will be flying :)

thanks all for your help
cheers
TJ

[harleyman]

:D that makes things perfect, that means everyone will have an oppertunity to eventually catch up with FSX, and in 3-4 years, think of all the good addons from A2A, Lotus, RealAir...etc that we will be flying :)

thanks all for your help
cheers
TJ




That is correct...The developers can now move ahead with all their projects..FSX will and is getting some great addons... Future technoligy will not help FSX out though.....





Worst thing to me about ACES going down was loosing train Sim just to be released...Man...That hurt

[spotlope]

I'm still waiting for the downside of the Aces being dismissed. So far, all I can see is CAVOK all the way to the horizon.

[harleyman]

I'm still waiting for the downside of the Aces being dismissed. So far, all I can see is CAVOK all the way to the horizon.


Loosing Train Sim was the worst of it for me ! :gameoff:

[IanHenry]

Has anyone seen this: http://www.alpinesystems.co.uk/ (http://www.alpinesystems.co.uk/)<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
I have spoken to Paul at Alpine Computers and the only problem is the prohibitive price (about £1400 on of the price of a good computer). But as he said those prices are bound to come down in the future, and the solid state drives will get larger. This looks like the future of flight sim to me, it's just a question of when? <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
Regards,<o:p></o:p>
Ian.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>

[Kiwikat]

Oh dear Lord not another that drank the cool-aid! You must kidding. I service Macs and haven't found one yet at the same price level as a PC that will run FSX as well as the PC will.
Ted

Come on Ted, you know me by now lol. :icon_lol:

I wouldn't be caught dead with a m*c or a***e.

[harleyman]

Come on Ted, you know me by now lol. :icon_lol:

I wouldn't be caught dead with a m*c or a***e.






LOL :bump:

[txnetcop]

Come on Ted, you know me by now lol. :icon_lol:

I wouldn't be caught dead with a m*c or a***e.

OK apologies in order. I couldn't believe a bright engineering student could swallow that cool-aid.

Back when MAC had their own processor instead the current Core 2 architecture, I saw them as unique. That is when I enjoyed being a MAC repair contractor. Now they use the same equipment we use at ridiculously higher prices, and make their units proprietary. I have liked the operating system since OS X in some circumstances. I can run it on my PC without paying their ridiculous prices on a VM.

It's not that MACS are not a high quality computer...they are, and wildly over-priced for what you get. However they are no higher quality than a cheaper well-built PC in hands of people who pick their hardware and software combination correctly. I have the new MAC OS final beta, Snow Leopard, and I still prefer Windows 7 over it.

Also having known Steve Jobs since the HOMEBREW Club days, I have never been impressed...the WOZ is different story. He is a true genius. I got to know him and some great Apple techs when I was with Automatic Data Processing as a hardware developer for the insurance services division.
Ted