January 23, 201016 yr Here's a draft on the planned components. Prices in euros, of course :(Sorry for the odd eskimo language in the listing, third from the top is the PSU and third from the bottom is an SSD drive, but the rest should be self explanatory!The rig will be only for FSX use. I will install FS9 too plus loads of addons 5-10 addon planes, ASA, GEX, UTX Europe, FTX, Radar Contact, Squawkbox etc etcI plan to use my old case and the DVD drive.Install OS on the SDD drive and the FS stuff on the 7200rpm WD. Not really interested in Velociraptors as they are IMO noisy and pricey, and most likely next year we can get SSD drives for half the price of today. For backup I'll just use my old harddrive.I wonder if system memory is sufficient?If I use only dynamic overclocking (Turbo functions) of the Intel board, will the cooler that comes with the boxed processor be sufficient?Also, the display adapter could be better I guess. Any suggestions?I'd say I can spend maybe 400 euros within my budget.
January 23, 201016 yr Looks good except for the graphics card. A GT 240 is a mid-range part that's about the same speed as a 9600 GT or a Radeon HD 5670. You should step up to a GTX 260/275/285.
January 29, 201016 yr Author If I use only dynamic overclocking (Turbo functions) of the Intel board, will the cooler that comes with the boxed processor be sufficient?Could anyone comment on this?
January 29, 201016 yr Could anyone comment on this?Sorry, missed that question. The answer is likely yes, provided adequate system cooling. Intel does design the turbo function to work with stock cooling, after all.
January 29, 201016 yr Could anyone comment on this?A better heatsink/fan is not very expensive, and overclocking is easy with these processors, so I would recommend these steps. Art
February 3, 201016 yr Author I'm thinking about upgrading the display card of the original setup to a GTX 260. A good prospect is this http://www.jimmspc-store.fi/tuote/GAIN-0612I'll only be using a single 32" HD TV as a display, so I don't really need all that excess 2xDVI 2xHDMI stuff.The GTX285 seems a little two much, they cost 300-400 euros and on this setup I won't be playing any other games except FS, which can't really benefit from a high end display card as far as I know.Do you think the system would be better balanced with this option?
February 3, 201016 yr 160 Euros for a GTX 260? Jeez you guys have horrible prices... One of my co-workers just ordered a BFG GTX 260 for $150. Price aside, that's a good card for FSX and should handle high settings up to 1080P w/AA.
February 3, 201016 yr Author Yeah, horrible prices indeed. I've been wondering if it would be worth it to send this component list to other European retailers that take international orders, and see what the total would be.The planned list has been updated as below (roughly). I changed the card, added a case, a HQ sound card and a CPU cooler in case I want to overclock in the future.Again, the universal language of computer components should be clear :( Any other comments? I really appreciate the help.-kyle
February 3, 201016 yr Orbx recommends this:Intel i7 920 overclocked to as close to 4Ghz as possible (3.8ghz is common, on air cooling)nVidia 285GTX video card2x Western Digital Velociraptor HD's in RAID-0, off your motherboard6GB or more of triple channel 1600 DDR3 RAMAerosoft recommends this:
February 3, 201016 yr I'd say skip the sound card unless you're an audiophile and listen to music regularly.
February 3, 201016 yr When you buy an SSD make sure it's not one of the early generation SSDs with a Jmicron controller, they have a "small write" error and will run your OS horribly. To be Honest, I would consider just putting FSX and the OS on the same disc (I TB with a 32mb cache)and use a program to optimize their locations(DiskTrix for example), and the performance will be just fine.Then you could skip the SSD all together. I would also skip the sound card(unless you think you'll need it).
February 3, 201016 yr Author The sound card is there because I'm one of those that believe a bad sound chip can have a significant effect on performance. Remember the age old "turn down hardware acceleration" trick in FS9/FSX. Processing sounds is hardware intensive. I also connect the gaming machine to my stereo setup and I want a proper 5/7.1 surround experience. If it cost 300e, I'd reconsider.I do also work with sounds and sounddesign occasionally so I guess it's justified :( SSD and other drives are another thing... thanks for the input and advice.There are so many opinions as usual. Some swear by the OS installed on an SSD drive after having tried it. Some say Velociraptors are expensive, hot and noisy for the benefits and will be taken over by faster SSDs in a year or two anyway. Gurus like NickN articulately advice to steer away from RAID setups in FSX use. Paper, rock, scissors anyone?Jmicron controllers... here is the conclusion page of a review, looks good to me? http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=772&page=12Quote: Having hammered Kingston's V-Series SSD with our benchmark test suite, our results and observations indicate they have indeed fixed the stutter problem. Only in a very worst case scenario does the performance take a hit, and even then it's not problematic.
February 3, 201016 yr The sound card is there because I'm one of those that believe a bad sound chip can have a significant effect on performance. Remember the age old "turn down hardware acceleration" trick in FS9/FSX. Processing sounds is hardware intensive. I also connect the gaming machine to my stereo setup and I want a proper 5/7.1 surround experience. If it cost 300e, I'd reconsider.Audio processing is not intensive at all (anymore). The need for dedicated hardware to process audio hasn't existed for years. Especially now that EAX and the like are essentially dead, thanks to OpenAL.
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