Hi fellow Sim Pilots.I am going to invest about $3,500- $4,000 for a new computer that I would like to build around my FSX addiction.I currently have several add-ons including PMDG 747 as well as several airports & Mega airports.I will also be wanting three monitor display set-up.Could one of you much more knowledgeable tech guy's please assist me with suggestions for a build by Dell which would be more than adequate for the flight sim world. I want too eliminate the "frame by frame" display which I am currently experiencing.Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.I don't absolutely have too go with a Dell but... it would be my first choice from what I have heard about there Alienware.Thank you in advance for your time.Regards.David

Hi fellow Sim Pilots.I am going to invest about $3,500- $4,000 for a new computer that I would like to build around my FSX addiction.I currently have several add-ons including PMDG 747 as well as several airports & Mega airports.I will also be wanting three monitor display set-up.Could one of you much more knowledgeable tech guy's please assist me with suggestions for a build by Dell which would be more than adequate for the flight sim world. I want too eliminate the "frame by frame" display which I am currently experiencing.Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.I don't absolutely have too go with a Dell but... it would be my first choice from what I have heard about there Alienware.Thank you in advance for your time.Regards.David

David have you considered going through FS-GS www.fs-gs.com.Michael will guide you through every step of the build including part selection, he will probably save you alot of money and you'll have a machine that is built specifically for fsx. It will run the sim very well.Give it a shot and see what you think.

If you are going to get a custom built machine it is always good to get more than one quote, just make sure that all are quoting the same configuration so it is easy to compare prices. With that said I got my machine from MaxForce PC and I highly recommend Max. Visit him at www.maxforcepc.com and have him give you a quote. I am sure that Max would charge less than Dell for a machine with the same parts.Rod

You may also investigate this route:http://www.jetlinesystems.com/home.htmlThey build PCs with nothing else but flight simulation (FSX) in mind, they 'guarantee' your FSX results.Some people from these forums had their machines built by them with fabulous results. They even loadand configure/test FSX so you get PC ready for flying the moment you unpack it. It is important to realize that a generic gaming PC (event the best money can buy) may not work well with FSX.http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtop...&hl=jetlinehttp://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtopic=280515

If you do choose to go Dell, make sure they don't lock the Over clocking options out. That's the mistake I made with the XPS720! At 3Ghz (E6850) it runs FSX well, but I really would have liked to have seen how much I could get out of this system.

If you do choose to go Dell, make sure they don't lock the Over clocking options out. That's the mistake I made with the XPS720! At 3Ghz (E6850) it runs FSX well, but I really would have liked to have seen how much I could get out of this system.

I have the XPS720 and I can overclock through the BIOS. I'm running stable at 3.7GHz and have tried higher but it becomes unstable and FSX usually crashes.Best regards,Jim

I have the XPS720 and I can overclock through the BIOS. I'm running stable at 3.7GHz and have tried higher but it becomes unstable and FSX usually crashes.Best regards,Jim

That's because you have the extreme C2D which has the multiplier unlocked. I have an E6850 which is locked, so I have to overclock by upping the FSB which Dell in their ultimate wisdom also locked out of in the BIOS. I can do it with Software like NTune, I've heard alot of people had trouble with it, and most do not recommend it.

Thank you all for your expert advice. I am now even more confused than before :( Maybe a good way is for me to approach this is to buy local here in YOW and get a custom made computer. My question now for you all is...Please build me a computer between $3,500.00- 4K so I can just print off the specs and go to my local computer shop to have it built.Thanks again everyone for your suggestions and have fun building this FSX/PMDG specific desktop.Best regards.David.

Thank you all for your expert advice. I am now even more confused than before :( Maybe a good way is for me to approach this is to buy local here in YOW and get a custom made computer. My question now for you all is...Please build me a computer between $3,500.00- 4K so I can just print off the specs and go to my local computer shop to have it built.Thanks again everyone for your suggestions and have fun building this FSX/PMDG specific desktop.Best regards.David.

For that, your best bet is to goto Jetline Systems as suggested above - http://www.jetlinesystems.com/products.html and pick the $3000 unit then customize it for a bit more speed. They have a graph that tells you exactly how well it will work with FSX.Best regards,Jim

Thank you all for your expert advice. I am now even more confused than before

I fail to see how one could get confused here. But yes, there are many, many choices how one can go about getting a new PC. Choices are good in life.

Thank you all for your expert advice. I am now even more confused than before :( Maybe a good way is for me to approach this is to buy local here in YOW and get a custom made computer. My question now for you all is...Please build me a computer between $3,500.00- 4K so I can just print off the specs and go to my local computer shop to have it built.Thanks again everyone for your suggestions and have fun building this FSX/PMDG specific desktop.Best regards.David.

I paid less than $3,500.00 US Funds including shipping for the below from MaxForce PC, that also included an OC to 3.6GHz and MS Office 2007 Pro. Original clock was 3.06GHz. This runs FSX great and I also run the PMDG MD11 with no problems and no FPS loss when running the PMDG MD11.MB - Asus P6T Deluxe v2 w/BIOS 504CPU - i7 950 Quad Core @ 4.2GHzCPU Cooler - Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme 1366RTMemory - Mushkin Enhanced Redline #998691 6GB DDR3 PC3-12,800 1,600MHz @ 6-7-6-18GPU - BFG GTX 285 OCFU w/197.13 Drivers; 712MHz Core w/1GB Memory @ 2,664 MHzOS HD - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 - 750GB; 7,200 RPM; SATA2 3.0Gb/s w/32MB CacheFSX HD - WD Velociraptor 300GB; 10,000 RPM; SATA2 3.0Gb/s w/16MB CachePS - Corsair CMPSU-850TX 850W +12V Single RailOS - Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bitCase - Cooler Master HAF-932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black SteelCD

Intel Core i7-980X $1,100 - http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetai...amp;prodlist=cjA Big CPU cooler (I use Thermalright Venomous X... works wonders to keep my 4.2GHz 920 cool) - ~$60 - http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetai...prodlist=searchASUS P6X58D Premium Mobo - $300 - http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetai...prodlist=searchA couple 80 GB SSDs (one for windows + 1 for FSX) - ~$400  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820167016If you don't have old big mechanical harddrives you can salvage from your old PC this one should do $70 - http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetai...amp;prodlist=cjAntec 1200 case... awesome I have it and its huge and heavy (sturdy!!) - $160 http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetai...;prodlist=cj6GB Mushkin Enhanced Redline DD3 Ram $260 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820226050CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W PSU $130 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817139009EVGA Superclocked GTX 480 ~$500 (when released) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130551Creative Labs Sound Blaster xfi titanium sound card (lots of complaints about this card, but I just installed it today and brings a whole new level of audio to my FSX experience over motherboard audio... works - no static, no problems, kicks arse!) $110 - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0018EFGTM/ref=as...eASIN=B0018EFGTAny other accessories you might need (fans, dvd player, etc...) allocate another 200+ dollars to.Build this and learn to overclock. It was really easy for me to get it nailed. Tom's hardware has a good thread about how-to i7 overclocking. Google it.Should be right around $3,300-$3,500 if I added up right putting it right in your budget. You can upgrade with more ram, buy some high end monitors, a second video card to display across more than 2 monitors, a bigger PSU (but 850W should be more than enough), nicer keyboard, flight yoke/stick system (CH for yoke, throttle + pedals, Logitech for stick setup, etc. Lots of room to rock there. With that 6 core processor you should be able to really tear FSX a new one and get 20+ FPS over New York with 100% AI traffic from a traffic addon. This set up should be pretty easy to overclock with the mobo, too. The new i7s look like they clock up to 4 GHz with no problem, and 5 isn't hard to hit either. I'm pretty sure I saw someone hit 6GHz, but you might waSomeone might want to step in here and correct some of my choices. I'm not a tech know it all, just a slight enthusiast getting in to the scene.

The venomous X does not come with a fan, you will need a good 120mm fan, Thermalright has a 2000mm * 25mm and a separte shroud that would work great.I think that a 80GB HD for FSX is to small, I have a 300GB Velociraptor and that is already half full and that does not include all the photo scenery that I have stored on a third drive. Even for an OS HD 80GB sounds rather small, I am not sure about SSD's right now anyway, but that is only my opinion.

The venomous X does not come with a fan, you will need a good 120mm fan, Thermalright has a 2000mm * 25mm and a separte shroud that would work great.I think that a 80GB HD for FSX is to small, I have a 300GB Velociraptor and that is already half full and that does not include all the photo scenery that I have stored on a third drive. Even for an OS HD 80GB sounds rather small, I am not sure about SSD's right now anyway, but that is only my opinion.

This "Thermalright has a 2000mm * 25mm" should have been "Thermalright has a 2000 RPM 120mm * 25mm"Sorry for any confusion caused.