Building your own computer - Cheaper?

[MarkW 1,492]

I was under the impression from another thread on these forums that anything above 1333 on the ram was of no use in FSX.

[AWACS 12]

Built mine from Microcenter, got my parts cheaper than newegg. I had to fly there though, because they don't have them everywhere, it was raining and I was in the clouds the whole way, but an older guy at the airport I landed at gave me a ride to the store, and I took a cab back, filled the warrior with my stuff and flew back to Muskegon, not a bad trip though and i definitely saved time and money going to Microcenter.

[ZachLW 37]

Basically, I'd skip on the SSD and get a higher capacity Caviar Black instead. I got my monitor on sale at BestBuy.com for around $200. 4GB RAM should be a minimum. Get yourself a nice 8GB kit with high frequencies (1600+).

not a bad trip though and i definitely saved time and money going to Microcenter.

You saved money flying there? One of the great lies in aviation us pilots like to tell! :Big Grin: "I can get you there cheaper. Err, faster. And Cheaper."

[AWACS 12]

Basically, I'd skip on the SSD and get a higher capacity Caviar Black instead. I got my monitor on sale at BestBuy.com for around $200. 4GB RAM should be a minimum. Get yourself a nice 8GB kit with high frequencies (1600+).You saved money flying there? One of the great lies in aviation us pilots like to tell! :Big Grin: "I can get you there cheaper. Err, faster. And Cheaper."

Lol, yeah luckily it was student loan money for flying lessons anyway, got 3.4 hours out of the deal and a trip to microcenter so it was a win win.

[MarkW 1,492]

What city do you live in? I use Memory Express for all my parts. They're the cheapest I've found in Canada, and there's three of their stores in my city to boot!

I am in north Toronto, looks like Mem Express is a Western thing.Mark.

[MarkW 1,492]

OK, so here is a build based on your recommendations. (btw if you guys have a good keyboard, mouse recommendation, please let me know). Prices listed are after discounts. I have three questions in addition:1) How do you know what the correct timings are on the memory you buy? Can this be changed later ?2) How do you know if the power supply is sufficient ?3) Any other cables, etc required, or do they all come supplied with the parts. Does the Corsair case come with case fans ??I have done a lot of parts swapping over the years with my current computers (video cards, hard drives, sound cards, DVD read/write, fans) so the build parts is not really bothering me it is mostly getting the right equipment and the overclocking part.thanks,Mark.Newegg.caCart Item List:Qty. Product Description Savings Total Price2 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit English 1-PackMicrosoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit English 1-Pack (2nd copy for my current FS computer)$199.98 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRLG.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory $90.49 Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K $219.99Prolimatech Supermega Intel Socket 1156, 1366 and 775, 6 Dual Heatpipes, Twin Tower CPU Cooler Super Mega CPU Cooler $84.Corsair 750W Power supply. $109ASUS P8P67 PRO (REV 3.0) ATX Intel Motherboard$174.99Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $87.99MSI GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) N570GTX Twin Frozr III PE/OC Video Card $369.99Corsair Obsidian Series 650D (CC650DW-1) Black Computer Case With Side Panel Window $209.99ASUS Dvd Drive $20Grand Total: $1,566.39

[ryanbatc 12,856]

Prolimatech Supermega Intel Socket 1156, 1366 and 775, 6 Dual Heatpipes, Twin Tower CPU Cooler Super Mega CPU Cooler $84.

I'm not familiar with that cooler, but make sure it's compatible with socket 1155, which is the mobo you have.Otherwise it looks fine. For a single video card, a brand name (ie high quality) power supply will do, 620w/750w will be fine. Look for something with a solid 12v rail... My seasonic x750 has 62A which is overkill for my system but gold plus rated. Yeah that Corsair unit is fine.Your proposed RAM is good. Might want to think about the size of the heatsink and if those ram heat spreaders will cause any problems. I went with the Corsair H60 cooler instead due to its low profile.

[MarkW 1,492]

Thanks for the feedback. I will check out other CPU coolers as well. This was a first pass.Mark.

[cmeeks 8]

I would just go with the regular Megahalems as it's $20 cheaper than the supermega. H60 is also an excellent recommendation and I would consider it equally as much as the Megahalems! It's just a matter of deciding which look you prefer. I highly recommend a sturdy backplate for the Corsair kits. All they come with is a flimsy plastic one that eventually strips out. The Xigmatek Crossbow (ACK-i5361) is perfect! Here it is installed on my motherboard. In addition to something to mount the cooling system to, a backplate should keep the motherboard from flexing as you tighten the screws. This thing is freaking sturdy!For the HDD, I would recommend the Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB. From my understanding, it's just as fast as the WD Caviar Black and a lot of people claim it's quieter. That will save you $13What do you do with the $33 in savings??? You could get faster memory or get a really nice PSU! Neither will affect much of anything performance-wise, but I would opt for the PSU. It's more efficient, it's modular, and when you're troubleshooting a problem in the future, you can be more confident that it's not the power supply giving you trouble. Don't underestimate the convenience of a modular PSU.

[basic ils 0]

One thing I would recommend is reading the publics feedback on the parts you're buying on Newegg. Some are useless but a lot of times you'll pick up some very useful information or suggestions especially with the PSU and Case.

[MarkW 1,492]

Wow, just watched a couple of build videos from Corsair using the 650D case. I think the case is incredible, makes me feel much more confident about building a system. The H60 is also something I will consider. I had a different system on my current computer and it suffered a pump failure and leaked killing my MB but it was not all in one and used PVC tubes that need to be tied together. This all in one seems much more secure and if the pump fails you just buy a completely new H60.Mark.

[MarkW 1,492]

OK swapped out a few components to add the latest suggestions from cmeeks also reduced size of HDD and added in SSD for OS. Build is now $2000 including tax. I know this is a great computer but now the cost has really taken off. Anyway, time to sit back and reflect.Mark.

[MarkW 1,492]

One last thing....I have been doing some additional reading and it looks like the way to go is with two hard drives, one for OS + other software and a second for FSX. Is the current thinking that the newer 7200rpm drives are sufficient or do you need to go to a vraptor for both (or perhaps just one) of these drives. thanks,Mark.

[cmeeks 8]

Some guys claim a vraptor improves FSX. Dazz and I recently tested SSDs and didn't see any performance increase over our 7200rpm drives, so I can't imagine a vraptor is going to do anything either. I think you will find most people, if they have an SSD, install their OS and programs on the SSD and run FSX off of a 7200rpm drive. I even partitioned my 7200rpm drive and relocated my libraries (my music, my pictures... etc) to the inner partition so I'm only using about 50GB of my SSD. You want FSX on the very outer portion of the hard drive where it reads data the fastest. The first partition of a hard drive is the outermost.SSD ( C): OS and Program Files7200 (D): FSX7200 (E): Libraries

[ryanbatc 12,856]

I think you will find most people, if they have an SSD, install their OS and programs on the SSD and run FSX off of a 7200rpm drive.

I put FSX on the SSD to decrease loading times, it's great especially for LOD 8.5 :)But I admit it's basically a premium toy. Still I plan on buying another one at some point, probably when they're cheaper.