System recommendations

[captainklm 1]

Hi everybody!So as we know its nearly christmas (there goes the children, *cough* me) and Im thinking of what to get. Recently Ive started flying the NGX on vatsim. But like most things go wrong. The blurries, the CTD and the computer freezing. To overcome that Ive turned the sliders dramatically down but its jus not fun enough. Ive lost the beautiful qualities of the NGX. So I would like to have some recommendations for some systems to get in order to fix this problem. First off I need to know which system is causing the CTD, blurriness and freezing computer. Im no good with computers but my guess would be memory? Which systems (its name) would fix those problems and which ones are the best (name of the specific product). Im upgrading from windows vista to windows 7 soon but before I even do that I would like to know if there is going to be another windows OS coming out any time between this year and next. Thanks for all the help and hope to see you on vatsim very soon with a perfect computer running :)

[janpitor 2]

Windows 8 will come out sometime next year. It would be best to post your system specs so that we can see what we can do.

[MrKen 3]

Please also include your proposed budget the the new system & whether or not you'd consider building a pc yourself. It's quite easy to do & several parts of your current system could probably be reused, monitor(s), keyboard, possibly power supply etc...

[ArjenVdv 190]

My recommendations.1. I recommend not to get Windows 8 yet. Perhaps this OS is very unstable with FSX, we don't know yet.2. Do not get a prebuild PC like Dell, HP or Acer, because you'll not be able to overclock your CPU.3. Get the i5 2500K as a CPU. Cheap, and great value. Overclock it afterwards to about 4.5 GHz, as this will make a massive difference in FSX.4. Get a good Z68 motherboard. MSI and Asus are great, but I would recommend Asus! (Asus P8Z68-V Pro)5. For your memory, don't get anything more than 8GB, because more RAM will be overkill, will not make a difference at all. The Corsair 8GB DDR3 1600 CL9 is cheap and I highly recommend it!6. For a graphics card, depends on how much money you have to spend. The GTX560TI is the best bang for the buck and will perform great in FSX. If you have around 400-500$ do spend on a GPU, get the GTx 580 1.5 GB (3GB is overkill!)7. For a CPU cooler, don't get the stock from from Intel, but buy an aftermarket cooler! One tip: expensive does not always mean better! I have a 40 euros Scythe Mugen 2 REV B, and the temps are only around 2-5 degrees higher than with the Noctua D14 or Corsair H100, although those last two cost twice as much.8. Make sure you have a big enough case for you GPU, Antec Nine Hundred to is fine.9. Get at least a 700 Watts modular power supply!10. If you have the money get a seperate HDD (or even SSD if you are rich...) for FSX.All toghether this will cost you around 1000$. But don't forget that you can sell your old PC parts! I did the same and now my new system only cost me 600 euros! (upgrading GPU soon in around 1 month).

[captainklm 1]

Thanks guys, I'm not planning on buying a new computer! My budget would be around $200-300 but I like that idea of selling old parts. My specs are windows vista 64 bit Intel core 2 duo Nvidia 8800GT 2GB RAM It's an acer desktopActually make that $500

[captainklm 1]

http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?238956-FSX-on-Windows-8is windows 8 already in the beta test phase? But anyway regarding that Ive thought it through. Reasons for the computer freezing, not enough RAM, currently I have 2GB but I will move to 4, possibly 8. A new CPU, intel i5 or i7 and possibly maybe a new video card, nvidia560TI

[captainklm 1]

um no reply? Thanks guys (sarcastic)but anyway would a ram drive do any good of my issue?

[MrKen 3]

If you have a 64-bit os, increasing ram to 6gb or 8gb total would help, yes.Upgrading the CPU will almost guarantee needing a new motherboard, so if your current pc uses ddr2 I would hold off buying the memory until then as a new mb/CPU will almost definitely require ddr3. You could get a 2500k & p67/z68 mb for around $400US, so say $500-550US probably for CPU/mb/memory and a decent air cooler. If your old psu is 500w or more it'll hold out for a while. I wouldn't upgrade it until you can buy a new video card.Edit: you can get micro-atx p67/z68 boards, but a full atx would be a lot easier to deal with if it'll fit in the case. Full-ATX is also a much more common form factor so you'd have a much larger selection of boards to choose from.You'll also need a new os install disc if your current install disc was tailored to the old pc. Oem discs are available & much cheaper than what you see on the shelves. Recommend win7x64.