I have finally decided to build my own rig for FSX. After scouring websites for custom built gaming rigs, I have come to the conclusion that those rigs are always lacking something (or too much) or are overpriced. So, I painstakingly took the time to put together the components that I want for my new FSX Gamimg PC.I have never built a PC from the ground up but I have done extensive upgrades. That includes memory upgrades, graphic cards, power supplies, disk drives, etc. So I believe that I should have enough knowledge to do the job myself. What I am not sure about is whether or not I am missing some important component(s).I already have a couple of CD/DVD drives, keyboards, and mice from previous PC's. I also believe that I have a network card and possibly a media reader. Finally, I have a 22" Samsung widescreen monitor which I can use. With those on hand, I developed the following list of compnents for my rig. They are all priced from Tiger Direct. I thought that may save on shipping and keep it simple:Cooler Master Storm Scout ATX Mid-Tower Case $109.99MSI 790FX-G70 Motherboard Bundle (includes AMD CPU) $419.99AMD Phenom II X4 Black Edition Quad Core 3.2GHz (included in bundle)Corsair Dual Channel 8GB PC 12800 DDR3 RAM 1600Mhz $195.98ATI Diamond Radeon HD 4890 1GB DDR5 PCIE 2.0 x16 $234.99Corsair TX750-Watt ATX Power Supply $114.99WD VelociRaptor 300GB 10KRPM HDD $239.99 (for OS and FSX only)WD Caviar Blue 500GB 7200RPM HDD $59.99 (for all other data)Vista Home Premium 64 Bit OS $109.99The total comes to $1,485.91. I thought that was pretty good considering I feel that I have not had to compromise on any components. Its also about half of the cost of a similar custom built rig so the savings are substantial. Also leaves me room to upgrade to another graphics card with ATI CrossfireX should I wish to do so.Am I missing something (controller maybe)? Will these components work well together? It seems too easy if this is all there is to it. Any and all help is appreciated!

It looks very well thought out to me, I'm sure it will be an awesome setup for FSX. I'm impressed that you're thinking outside the box here regarding a bang-for-the-buck AMD setup rather than the usual Intel i7/Nvidia variation you see recommended on this board. Please let us know how it benches out for FSX!The only thing I would say is make sure that's a good OC board for your black edition CPU.

Thanks Clipper. I'm very curious myself to see how it works out with an all AMD setup. The AMD Phenom II CPU looks kick-butt and should work well with an AMD chipset and graphics (so is the theory).I did forget a sound card however! Found the SoundBlaster X Fi ExtremeGamer card for $59.99 so that should take care of sound.

One other thing, that memory config. looks a little strange to me, but I'm not used to AMD DDR3 boards. Make sure that memory product number and configuration is on the QPL for the motherboard (you've probably done that already). I might go for faster DDR3, but less capacity, for the same approx. price.

i am not sure about processors, but i definately know that AMD/ATI graphics card are really not good for FSX. i think you will be much better going with nvidia. but this is just a suggestion and i would love to be proved wrong as i have been considering the 4890 for a while now lol

One other thing, that memory config. looks a little strange to me, but I'm not used to AMD DDR3 boards. Make sure that memory product number and configuration is on the QPL for the motherboard (you've probably done that already). I might go for faster DDR3, but less capacity, for the same approx. price.

The memory configuration is right. The Mobo can run 1600 but overclocked (also 1800 or 2133). I suppose I could go higher but I'll want the 8GB arrangement of 4 DIMMS to keep the dual-channel. I'll have to look into that some more as I am learning while I do this. One neat feature of the Mobo is that it has a OC Dial for CPU overclocking. I thought that was pretty cool.Plodgeface, I have used ATI cards forever with FlightSim and never had a problem. I use an ATI 3870 for FSX right now and it does a fine job for me. I have nothing against Nvidia cards but I have found ATI drivers to be more stable in FSX. At least for me. Different strokes for different folks as they say!

OK, the parts have been ordered from Tiger Direct and the final cost was less than $1500 including shipping. The final list was the same as my first post except I dropped the second hard drive and added a Samsung DVD/CD combo drive. I also went for the ATI 4890 XOC which is factory overclocked and was on sale.Will let you now when the parts arrive and the building of the FSX PC begins.

OK, most parts have arrived but there have been 2 important changes. First, I decided to get the ASUS Crosshair III Formula mobo instead of the MSI 790FX-GD70. It was $20 more ($199 at Newegg) but it is specifically designed for gamers and has all kinds of neat OC possibilites, LCD Poster, and a separate sound card. Secondly, I am returning the Corsair PC-12800 RAM and have already purchased 8 gigs of Mushkin PC-12800 which I found on the QVL for my new mobo. The mobo will run all 8 gigs as dual-channel and overclock them accordingly (something the MSI board wouldn't do). The timings are far better at 7-7-7-20 than the Corsair at 9-9-9-24. No contest IMHO. And here's the real kicker, I paid the same price!!All still under my $1500 budget but barely. Boy, have I been learning ALOT about RAM and mobos - starting to get the hang of this thing. Should have the new Muskin RAM and ASUS mobo by Friday and then the real fun begins!I have learned alot about shopping online as well. I have found that Newegg seems to have more cutting edge products available than TigerDirect which seems more corporate IT oriented. I also had a bad experience with TigerDirect where they charged me for my shipment (minus the mobo on backorder) but still had a hold on my credit card for the FULL amount of the order (only $173 remained) a week later. So it's Newegg for me from now on.More to come when the build begins...

Here's the final list of parts:Cooler Master Storm Scout ATX Mid-Tower CaseASUS Crosshair III Formula MotherboardAMD Phenom II X4 Black Edition Quad Core 3.2GHzMushkin Dual Channel 8GB PC 12800 DDR3 RAM 1600Mhz (7-7-7-20)ATI Diamond Radeon HD 4890 XOC 1GB DDR5 PCIE 2.0 x16Corsair TX750-Watt ATX Power SupplyWD VelociRaptor 300GB 10K RPM HDDSamsung 22X DVDRW SATA OEM DVD/CD DriveVista Home Premium 64 Bit OSFor under $1,500.

very nice lol, cant wait to see some benchies :D. fair enough lol, if you trust ATI then go for it, Philip

very nice lol, cant wait to see some benchies :D. fair enough lol, if you trust ATI then go for it, Philip

I am insterested to see the results as well, especially since the experts like FS-GS and NickN usually recommend going with the Intel CPU's and always recommend the nVidia cards over the ATI, not to mention all the post I have read about people having trouble with ATI cards when it come to clouds.Please post again when you have it all up and running. Are you planning to use FS9, FSX, or both?

I find AMD misleading and confusing with respect to how fast their CPUs are. I also am suspicious about nVidia chipsets versus Intel.

I am insterested to see the results as well, especially since the experts like FS-GS and NickN usually recommend going with the Intel CPU's and always recommend the nVidia cards over the ATI, not to mention all the post I have read about people having trouble with ATI cards when it come to clouds.Please post again when you have it all up and running. Are you planning to use FS9, FSX, or both?

I'll be running FSX on this system (haven't used FS9 in 2 years). The Intel i7 is an awseome chip but it is also expensive compared to the AMD Phenom II X4 (like twice the price). Don't really think it's going to matter once core speeds are up to and beyond 3.6 GHz (overclocked). I've heard the AMD chip is a highly overclockable one. The idea here was to see if the system could be built for around $1500 and I don't think that would be possible with the cost of the Intel i7 chip. This new system utilizes the AMD 'Dragon Platform' using their 790FX chipset and Radeon HD 4890 graphics.As far as ATI vs. Nvidia goes, this argument gets tiresome. The new ATI 4890 cards are able to go head to head with the Nvidia GTX 285. Here's an excerpt on my new ATI card from a review I read:"Not only was the XOC able to run away from the much more expensive GTX 285 1GB on a regular basis but due to its high memory clocks, its performance sat right behind the ultra high speed Sapphire HD 4890 Atomic. That in itself is impressive but unlike the ASUS card featured here, Diamond clocked this card high enough that the difference between it and a stock clocked card is perceptible in nearly every game. The minimum framerate increases we saw were impressive to say the least." - hardwarecanucks.comWould have gotten the Sapphire Atomic 4890 but can't find it anywhere. That's the single GPU card I would recommend to anyone who can get their hands on one.Will continue to post progress...

The initial build is complete! It took about 5-6 hours to totally assemble it all. The case was easy to work with and should provide good airflow with the three large fans installed. No additional screws were necessary as all was included with the case. The mobo looks awesome and was easy to work with. I ended up adding an extra CD drive that I had from an old PC, otherwise all equipment is as I stated in my previous posts. All in all, it was a good experience and not overly frustrating considering it's the first time I've ever done this.Will move it to it's permanenent location tomorrow and begin testing and tweaking as well as installing the Vista 64-bit OS. Here are a couple of pics of the build:Will continue to post my progress tomorrow and hopefully get to FSX testing within a couple of days.

As far as ATI vs. Nvidia goes, this argument gets tiresome. The new ATI 4890 cards are able to go head to head with the Nvidia GTX 285. Here's an excerpt on my new ATI card from a review I read:

Yeah thats true about the ATI vs nVidia argument. I was thinking about something NickN had said in the quotes below about ATI cards, that's why I mentioned it."ATi cards are trash for FSX. They are shader engine cards and although they may crush nvidia in shader based games like Crysis, Nvidia will crush ATI in FSX when heavy weather and scenery are around. FSX is not a shader engine game.. its actually old triangle rendering tech. The best cards for FSX are the 8800GTX 768, Ultra 768 and the 280. With the 8800GTS 640 bringing up the rear followed by the 8800GT last"Hopefully yours will work out better than most. Good luck and let us know how it works out. :(