What do I need to run FSX and the MD-11 well

[Guest XM DUDE]

My dream is to run FSX& the MD-11 with the sliders open most, it not all open, but do I need a 3 to $5000 gaming machine to do this, what are the best specs to get good results without going bankrupt over a simulator.Michael Pare.

[Guest Mower]

With FSX the best CPU and 4 GB RAM are the issues.Sans scenery or weather mods you will be fine.

[michal 44]

http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...id=44236&page=4Michael J.http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/9320/apollo17vf7.jpg

[3-2-1-Now 126]

Hi,Get the fastest processor you can. Quad-core isn't very advantageous except during loads, and that isn't a problem anyway on a fast rig (it's mainly the HD that affects this).My rig is no problem for FSX and the MD-11 (under Vista 64-bit).Research your motherboard *chipsets* over the motherboard manufacturer. Go for a manufacturer that doesn't mess with the reference design (much, if at all). My board is rubbish for overclocking, but it is rock solid.ProcessorMemoryGraphics.That's the order you want to throw your money at it.My ultimate advice is don't cut corners - get the best on the market in the area you're looking (e.g. top of the range 8xxx series rather than a middle of the road 9xxx series).Best regards,Robin.

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> Quad-core isn't very advantageous except during loads, and> that isn't a problem anyway on a fast rig (it's mainly the> HD that affects this)I disagree with this statement. FSX will use up to a maximum of 256 cores, should you have this many to offer it. In a quad core the 3rd and 4th cores will primarily go to the loading of scenery and autogen etc (which happens as you go along, yes?). This issue has been clarified in all sorts of places, PTaylors Weblog amongst them. All agree to go with a quad. How can folk still recommend Dual cores? Based on what argument exactly - the extra couple of hundred MHz you can get out of each of the 2 cores??? The extra L2 cache on 45mn quads alone probably makes up for this.Get the fastest Quad Core you can afford, 4GB of ultra low latency DDR2, a 300GB Raptor HDD and a Radeon 4870. Forget SLI, forget RAID, forget DDR3. Or, wait until December and get a Corei7, X58mobo, 3x2GB triple channel DDR3, Vista64bit and the 300GB Raptor. Decide on GPU at the time.Power supply is important! PC Power & Cooling, Corsair etc - 750W max.Konrad

[Mace 1,904]

I have never heard or read anything about quads helping with autogen. Can you point to something?All I have heard and read is that quads assist with texture loading and composition. I want to know if quads help autogen, ??RhettFS box: E8500 (@ 3.80 ghz), AC Freezer 7 Pro, ASUS P5E3 Premium, BFG 8800GTX 756 (nVidia 169 WHQL), 4gb DDR3 1600 Patriot Cas7 7-7-7-20 (2T), PC Power 750, WD 150gb 10000rpm Raptor, Seagate 500gb, Silverstone TJ09 case, Vista Ultimate 64ASX Client: AMD 3700+ (@ 2.6 ghz), 7800GT

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Perhaps I should not have said Autogen specifically, scenery elements in general is what I was referring. Either way we are talking about having the OS spread the threads across as many cores as possible.Konrad

[Banks 0]

If you can't wait for the i7's, go quad core and then overclock it. Originally, there was very little gain to be had with a quad vs. dual core but that has changed with the coming of SP1/SP2.In the end, I am dissapointed with the combined performace that I am seeing with the MD-11 / FSX / VISTA and am now considering downgrading to FS9. Autogen absolutely murders my frames and as it is, I can barely have scenery complexity high enough to have terminals show up on airports I land at. Maybe the next gen Intel processors will show better results but only time will tell...honestly, I wouldn't purchase a new rig with the Core i7's launching this year. I thought my rig was good enough to get solid performance in all weather conditions with moderate scenery settings but I was wrong. I've tweaked with NvEnhancer but my frames still drop below 20 on final approach just about anywhere. It is what it is.

[3-2-1-Now 126]

>> How can folk still recommend Dual cores? Based on what argument >> exactly - the extra couple of hundred MHz you can get out of each >> of the 2 cores???Where shall I start? I'm not going to write a PhD thesis on it, that's for sure...>> forget RAIDWhy? A single Raptor won't out-perform a 2 disk RAID-0 system.>> FSX will use up to a maximum of 256 coresSNIP>> PTaylors Weblog amongst themYes, FSX might see up to 256 cores, and yes, Phils blog does say that 4 or more cores are advantageous when loading textures, but he does NOT say that 4 cores will make the sim run faster. You can test that theory for yourself by starting FSX (with the 2-core flags in the FSX.cfg file), and then telling Windows to only allow FSX access to Core-0 and Core-1.Four cores might make a slight performance difference, but again, I'm not writing a thesis on how/why this is.Remember that before any service packs, FSX was NOT coded with multi-core in mind. It was added in afterwards, which is why predominantly texture loading was moved to the other cores (if available) because it would require a fundamental re-write of FSX for it to suddenly be able to utilize (properly) the additional cores to run the simulation.Deep down, FSX is still only a single-core app.>> Or, wait until December and get SNIP>> the 300GB Raptor.Why the raptor? It's a gross waste of money! You're better off getting a WD (anything) RE3, designed for 100% duty cycle, instead of a high performance drive that is built with speed in mind, not reliability.Very few apps are coded to fully utilize the advantages of dual-core, never mind quad-core. We've got enormous PARALLEL PROCESSING capabilities in our computers, running apps that just can't use it.Best regards,Robin.

[Guest Mower]

Now I keep hearing talk around the boards that FSX is mainly CPU-intensive and does not utilize the GPU much so that upgrading the vid card will have a minimal positive effect on FPS.But...surely some things like autogen and scenery use the GPU and so a better vid card must increase the FPS...Anybody coorborate this?

[3-2-1-Now 126]

Hi,The video card will make a difference, definitely. If I take my card out of SLI mode, performance definitely drops - there is no doubt. What people really mean is that there isn't the same kind of advantage getting a faster card for FSX compared to getting a faster card for Crysis or something that relies on the GPU far more heavily.What do you have now?Best regards,Robin.

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>I have never heard or read anything about quads helping with>autogen. Can you point to something?>>All I have heard and read is that quads assist with texture>loading and composition. I want to know if quads help>autogen, ??>>RhettHi RhettComing back to the quads and autogen question I have found where I read it. Sorry, I read so much stuff that sometimes its a bit hard to track down specific things:http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=28244You will see NickN's comments about this in the 4th post down.Hopefully we can give the dual vs quad question a permanent send off now? Yes, you do need the right quad, but by the same logic you would also need the right dual core...Konrad

[Gary A 8]

>My dream is to run FSX& the MD-11 with the sliders open most,>it not all open, but do I need a 3 to $5000 gaming machine to>do this, what are the best specs to get good results without>going bankrupt over a simulator.>>>>>>Michael Pare.I usually do not respond to any type of question that asks

[virtualstuff 758]

>My dream is to run FSX& the MD-11 with the sliders open most,>it not all open, but do I need a 3 to $5000 gaming machine to>do this, what are the best specs to get good results without>going bankrupt over a simulator.>>>>>>Michael Pare.Just get the fastest (dual) CPU you can get multi core is only useful to run 3d party add-ons outside FSX on that particular core 3 and 4 to relieve 1 and 2.http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/awf1/sign.jpg

[Guest XM DUDE]

>>My dream is to run FSX& the MD-11 with the sliders open>most,>>it not all open, but do I need a 3 to $5000 gaming machine>to>>do this, what are the best specs to get good results without>>going bankrupt over a simulator.>>>>>>>>>>>>Michael Pare.>>Just get the fastest (dual) CPU you can get multi core is only>useful to run 3d party add-ons outside FSX on that particular>core 3 and 4 to relieve 1 and 2.>>http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/awf1/sign.jI was considering the Gateway FX gaming computer as I am on a budget, but I told this computer should do the trick as I really don't want to spend 2 to $3000 on a computer just to play flightsim on.Michael pare.