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wde12

New Machine Suggestions

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AfternoonA little background: I'm a law student, getting ready to graduate and my family has offered to help me with a new computer for graduation. Needless to say, it couldn't come at a better time with the impending NGX release (although, with this summer being devoted completely to the bar exam prep, I don't see myself getting to fly much until August...woof).Anyways, I am relatively tech savvy, but nothing compared to the general population on this forum. Hence, I am not building my computer - I intend to purchase one that I can customize online, most likely through Dell. Now, I am open to other brands so if anyone has any ideas I am all ears, I just am comfy with Dell. I currently have a Dell XPS M1710 Laptop that I fly withh(2GB Ram, NVidia 512MB GeForce GTX Intel Core2Duo T7200 2Ghz). When I got it in 06 it was a beast, now unfortunately it's barely hanging on. I had to get a laptop for space/travel reasons and will never ever again for simming. Simply too limited. I've looked at Dell's XPS and Alienware lines. My general question is what do you all recommend for an FSX experience, where I can (gasp) actually maybe use autogen scenery, extremely dense scenery on takeoff approach instead of just on the ground, while running the NGX, M11, and other lines like LDS, CoolSky, ActiveSky, SB4, scenery purchases etc?? Basically what do I need to have fluid FPS rates - processor/ghz - ram - video card - anything else and so forth.ANY HELP would be MOST APPRECIATED. I realize that this topic comes up a lot in the forums, but it seemed from my searches that they were mostly people building their own platforms. Thanks for everything guys - hope Beta gets over as soon as possible. Very very exciting time!!WilliamWilliam EzzellKATL

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William,I'd be happy to help! Let me PM you. Cheers.

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William -If you can graduate law school, I can assure you you can build a machine! It's intimidating at first, but really not difficult once the parts are in front of you. Congrats on school and good luck on the bar!

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William,Here's a good guide for building a system - it was written for the last generation i5/i7 systems but everything is pretty much exactly the same with the current Sandy Bridge CPU systems:http://www.maximumpc...p_step?page=0,1What type of law are you going into? My sister's an attorney at a big firm here, she does class action stuff.


Ryan Maziarz
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I've just completed my first self-built computer. Took about a day, a large part of which was spent carefully studying all the manuals and bits and pieces before starting on the assembly. I made a few mistakes along the way, but nothing that did any damage. I recommend you do the same.The machine I owned before this one was a Dell XPS 420. Nice, until I wanted to upgrade to a better video card and discovered that the PSU wasn't adequate. I also had to forget any idea of overclocking as the Dell bios did not allow this. And the motherboard did not have a standard size, so I was unable to reuse the case for my new build. So if you absolutely do not want to build yourself, at least make sure that what you buy contains standard components. You will want to upgrade eventually.Dells are fine for office use (I've owned several Dell laptops), but I'd never recommend them for gaming.

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I'm a law student, getting ready to graduate
What do you study and in wich country to do live? Just interested ... :(

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I've just completed my first self-built computer. Took about a day, a large part of which was spent carefully studying all the manuals and bits and pieces before starting on the assembly. I made a few mistakes along the way, but nothing that did any damage. I recommend you do the same.The machine I owned before this one was a Dell XPS 420. Nice, until I wanted to upgrade to a better video card and discovered that the PSU wasn't adequate. I also had to forget any idea of overclocking as the Dell bios did not allow this. And the motherboard did not have a standard size, so I was unable to reuse the case for my new build. So if you absolutely do not want to build yourself, at least make sure that what you buy contains standard components. You will want to upgrade eventually.Dells are fine for office use (I've owned several Dell laptops), but I'd never recommend them for gaming.
+1, same situation applies to the Gateway brand.

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Hey there fellas - thanks a ton for the replies.I will likely be practicing here in Georgia, and certainly open to other states in the near future if the opportunity arises. When it comes to what I hope to practice, I am no surprise looking at the various litigation and transactional aspects of aviation. My dream would be to get in house at a major or work on deals or litigation for manufacturers, carriers etc. I'm really interested in securities law - the one area I know I do not want to become heavily involved in is labor & employment law. Just a no win situation for both parties and to me sounds depressing. Of course, I'm so new that I realize I know very little. I appreciate the encouragement on building, but other than the fear of destroying thousands of dollars of equipment, I just don't have that kind of time at this point (see the whole "bar thing" above). Ethan I'll definitely be in touch. With the upgrade issues, that is something I'm especially cognizant of since I learned the lesson the hard way with a laptop. I stupidly never realized how difficult laptops are to upgrade. I guess I just am looking to really lock down a reliable machine - FSX seems to be really turning a corner as of late and I want to be able to take advantage of it.Keep the suggestions coming if yall want - thanks!William

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AfternoonA little background: I'm a law student, getting ready to graduate and my family has offered to help me with a new computer for graduation. Needless to say, it couldn't come at a better time with the impending NGX release (although, with this summer being devoted completely to the bar exam prep, I don't see myself getting to fly much until August...woof).Anyways, I am relatively tech savvy, but nothing compared to the general population on this forum. Hence, I am not building my computer - I intend to purchase one that I can customize online, most likely through Dell. Now, I am open to other brands so if anyone has any ideas I am all ears, I just am comfy with Dell. I currently have a Dell XPS M1710 Laptop that I fly withh(2GB Ram, NVidia 512MB GeForce GTX Intel Core2Duo T7200 2Ghz). When I got it in 06 it was a beast, now unfortunately it's barely hanging on. I had to get a laptop for space/travel reasons and will never ever again for simming. Simply too limited. I've looked at Dell's XPS and Alienware lines. My general question is what do you all recommend for an FSX experience, where I can (gasp) actually maybe use autogen scenery, extremely dense scenery on takeoff approach instead of just on the ground, while running the NGX, M11, and other lines like LDS, CoolSky, ActiveSky, SB4, scenery purchases etc?? Basically what do I need to have fluid FPS rates - processor/ghz - ram - video card - anything else and so forth.ANY HELP would be MOST APPRECIATED. I realize that this topic comes up a lot in the forums, but it seemed from my searches that they were mostly people building their own platforms. Thanks for everything guys - hope Beta gets over as soon as possible. Very very exciting time!!WilliamWilliam EzzellKATL
William,Congrats on graduating! I hope the bar went/is going/goes well lol. I was wondering what machine you decided to purchase and how it's performing thus far? I too am in school for one more year and since I like the freedom of being portable with the tools to do my work, I got a new XPS17 at the beginning of the year. I thought I'd revive this thread since I am curious to what everyone's input may be regarding using my laptop for FSX. I've been feverishly following the NGX throughout it's development and now that it's released, I really want to get back to flying (used to have FS9 on my old laptop with the 737NG and 747). My specs are as follows:i7-720QM 1.73ghz w/ turbo boost up to 2.93ghz (can't remember the specs exactly)12GB DDR3 RamNvidia GT 555MCrucial C300 128GB SSD500GB 7200 RPM SATA HDSoundBlaster X-FIWindows 7 Ultimate x64 I really like it, it performs pretty well but I haven't messed with FSX and I thought I'd try to get some different viewpoints on the matter before I jump the gun and buy FSX/NGX. Would appreciate the help greatly!

P3D V5.4 | Windows 10 | MSI X670E Tomahawk | AMD 7800X3D | GSkill 64GB DDR5 6000 | EVGA GeForce GTX 3090 Ti FTW3 ULTRA HYBRID GAMING | ASUS PG348Q 34" Ultrawide | Lian Li O11 Dynamic Evo | EKWB 360 AIO | EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 G6

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Hey there - I'd be happy to share. Bear in mind I'm here at the beach now and on my iPad so I don't have the details readily available and am typing from memory.First, thanks for the props on the bar. I just finished it over the 26/27th, and that sucker was a BEAST. Dreading the results until they come out until October. As on the edge of my seat as I've been with the ngx release, its been a blessing that the ngx came out after the bar. I swore to myself I wouldn't buy it beforehand or else I wouldn't have had a chance at passing.I endednup getting in touch with Ethan Rayburn at his start up computer worx. See above for his handle, it's something like efusshander. It's funny at first I thought he was German but turns out he's based nearby in Alabama. His shop is outstanding. Truly, truly a great company. Only reason I haven't gotten around to a testimonial is the bar prep and that ever since I've been at the beach. The company is great and he really does know his stuff. When they say they will work with you, they literally mean exactly that. He updated me every step of the way. Being the nerd that I am, I used the opportunity to really learn about hardware, and he was kind enough and patient enough to answer ALL of my questions. I highly highly recommend them if you are looking for a desktop for fsx. My total came out to around 2k. My specs dominate those of alienware. I will follow up with an exact PDF spec sheet but in a nutshellIntel i5 Quad core 2500k over clocked to 4.7ghz. It's factory setting was 3.3 I believe, and Ethan originally promised 4.5 I think. I got a corsair liquid cooler for the CPU. I ordered an Asus motherboard, 8gb ram, a 450gb velociraptor primary hard drive, with a secondary 500gb drive. The main was partitioned by Ethan for simming, and the other for win7. Another highlight was the atx full tower with more fans than a baptist church in savannah on Sunday mornings. The cooling power complemented with the amped up power settings is reassuring. My video card is an evga super clocked 256 bit 1gb powerhouse. Customworx did all the installation, testing, I mean everything. Then when I got it Ethan logged in and installed fsx and tweaked it to it's max potential. I'm telling you - awesome. I'll follow up with the full details like I said, but for now this should do. I didn't have the time, and honestly interest, in learning to build my own machine, thus, this was a great alternative. I will never go back to Dell unless I have to say for a laptop. RegardsWilliamAnd it's rayhorn. ######ing iPad auto correct

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Hey William!Thanks a bunch for your comments. I was just getting ready to send you an email to check up on how things are going with your computer. What a coincidence! If you have any questions/problems, you can always drop me a line. Take care!-Ethan RayhornCustom Worx

Edited by Efussander

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Yes I completely agree. Ethan is a great source of info but unfortunately i live in Australia so I couldn't get him to build mine but he definitely helped me choosing all the parts. I really ought to thank him for changing the i7 2600k to the i5 2500k, saved me a heap that I put towards liquid cooling and a better PSU for overclocking.

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Yes I completely agree. Ethan is a great source of info but unfortunately i live in Australia so I couldn't get him to build mine but he definitely helped me choosing all the parts. I really ought to thank him for changing the i7 2600k to the i5 2500k, saved me a heap that I put towards liquid cooling and a better PSU for overclocking.
Hey Andrew...Welcome back!

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See my new dedicated FSX rig in my sig below - newly built a few weeks ago. All parts ordered on Amazon.com and Newegg.com. Currently running at 4.8GHz and very pleased so far.


Regards,
Al Jordan | KCAE

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