Sufficient cpu, ram and video card?

[Guest Arnason]

I am collecting hardware for a new pc for FX use.I seek information for sufficient hardware meaning: cpu, ram and which video card would run FX smoothly taking into consideration that I would like to put all sliders to the right, run add on mesch scenery such as the new for the Faroe islands and aircrafts such as from level D simulation.

[Guest wayupthere]

Hi Arnason,The way you ask as is, can be answered too broadly to be of any help to you. Before being able to give any advice, you need to atleast say if you want to go Intel or AMD? prefer Nvidia or ATI and as far as GPU, at what resolution do you want to run FSX?.Provide a bit more details of your wishes, that way giving advice is easier.

[Guest Arnason]

Thank you

[Guest wayupthere]

ok then I can assume you want the best out right now?Well currently looking at a future-proof perspective, one good way to go is to go Intel Core Quad (new chips are coming out soon) so buying right now might not be wisest thing to do, research the current status in your area about pricing. But yeah so go Intel and you should be ok, since no concrete details have risen from AMD yet.Pair that with a good Intel Mobo with ICHR8 onboard sound Chipset (should you want that over a stand alone AudioCard) and add 3GB or 4GB of DDR2 RAM (DDR3 has recently surfaced so do your research to find your preference between the two since DDR3 is atm more expensive and the compatible mobos)Lastly decide if you want to go with a 32bit or 64bit operating system.Go with the OS of your choice, pref. Vista should you want DX10.As to your GPU for your panel and beamer-wise, have a read through here about all the advancements made regarding DX10: http://www.anandtech.com/videoAgain this is very broadly taken, and with a bit more input/wishes from your side, one can narrow it down alot better :)

[Guest Arnason]

Thank you again for your advise. Still missing is a suggestion of video card to serve my need.I am getting a offer from a reliable hardware stockist in Iceland.Among options on the offer are the following cards.NV8400GS / NV8600GT / 8800GS / 8800 GTXWhich of them would be sufficient?Lastly, I plan to run on XP pro 32 bit. However it is limited to 3gb of ram. (my current system will only show 3gb (667) of working ram although 4 gb of DDR2 are on the mobo and this is apparantly because the 32 bit version will not support higher than 3 gb of DDR2 as I have been informed of. Would I benefit of ram higher than 3 gb and at what point will I stop benefitting for FX.Hope these question are clear:)

[Guest wayupthere]

Out of those GPU's for the average user an 8800GS version (if you can afford it dont go lower than an 8800) should in many cases suffice, a 320MB model will/should do the resolution you want just fine on a single monitor, I wouldn't opt for the 640MB version since performance-wise they are on par and you pay more for only a small increase in VRAM, might look attractive but cost vs. performance it doesn't weigh up... If you want more VRAM, incase you decide to go higher res down the line, opt for the 768MB GTX.With all of the above said though, DX10.1 is around the corner, I would hold off buying a GPU for just a little while longer, and see how things are going to turn out, since current DX10 cards will NOT fully support DX10.1Furthermore, If you decide to go with a DX10 GPU like the 8800, I would suggest you also upgrade to Vista, since it's still very unclear if XP will ever get (and i highly doubt it) the DX10 support, my best guess it wont ever,which in then turn would be a bit of a waste having a GPU which you cant fully use.RAM-wise, right now 3GB is in most cases the sweet spot regarding most games incl. FSX, and will give you a good balance performance/cost.And yes a 32Bit OS will only recognize/effectively use up to 3GB, without the OS having to resort to "extreme" memory mapping. I don't know what the correct word/term for it is in English, but again 3GB right now for gaming is fine.Ofcourse more GBs of RAM will be nicer, specially looking at it future-proof wise, but in turn you would definatly have to go with a 64Bit OS.Is more than 3GB worth it now?.. I don't know..if you do any memory intensive things like photo/video editing id say yes go with 4 or more, If you play games, I don't think you should, based and judging on current games.But again that part you have to decide for yourself, ask yourself what other things you do besides games, and base your amount on that.As to you asking, at what point you would stop benefiting from things, honestly we will have to wait and see what SP2 will bring. Better support for quad-cores is one of several things supposedly being offered, all we have to do is wait and see.Hope in turn Im also clear enough :)