Hello everyone and happy new year!First of all, I am completely new to the Flight Sim world but having just finished commercial flight training I want to use it to keep current.I was planning to use an old machine built by a friend, my knowledge is somewhat limited but I can tell you it has an Intel Pentium ® D CPU 3.00Ghz , 2.5gb RAM and a GeForce 9800GTX+ 512mb and 1102mhz. It's currently running XP with SP2 but I do have a copy of windows 7 I can load onto it.Looking at iFly's 737 with FS2crew it says:System Requirements:Flight Simulator X w/Service Pack 2 (SP2)2.6 Mhz Quad-Core Processor2 GB of disk space4GB RAM512 MB Video CardWindows XP / Vista / Win7Looks like I'm low on RAM and the Dual Core processor might not cut it? In which case, can someone please do some online shopping for me and spec up a machine that will allow me to get things up and running asap really. Obviously I will be paying over the odds by not building it myself but in all honesty I have neither the skills set or time required.I had a quick look on overclockers uk and cyberpowersystem uk and I guess it could cost in the region of £1300 for a half decent machine?Any help, comments or advice greatly appreciated! Oh and apologies if this is lazy but I've already spent a week reading about all the different flight sim options and I'm still no closer to deciding what to buy...will probably end up buying both the iFly 737 with fs2crew and PMDG's 737NGx. I guess it's probably worth me mentioning that I'm not too bothered about the external visuals and what not, I just want a smooth running stable solution that will allow me to improve 737 systems knowledge and practice procedures.Cheers all,Mike

No reason for getting iFly version if you are getting NGX.As for hardware, pretty simple, but first we need to know your budget?

Not lazy at all. Much better than buying something and coming here to find out it was a terrible decision.

Okay so if I said I had about £900 to spend on a machine (not including the monitor or any other peripherals) would that get me something that will do the job. I literally just want to use it for Flight Sim and PMDG's 737NGX? I want it to be as hassle free as possible so literally un box it, plug it in and install FSX and play. Suppose I'll also have to look into joysticks! Cheers for the help, really appreciate it!

Can you give a link tao the store for us to find components?But in general, I would recommend:Noctua nh d14 or corsair H100, they are supposed to be one of the bestIntel 2500k, or 2700k if you really wanna get cherry picked ones that overclock really wellP8Z68 deluxe or pro, depending how much you want peripherally8gb ram 2133mhz ram, probably gonna be cl9, but get two sticksNvidia card, i like my gtx580, it kills everything fsx is laying out, but gtx 570 should be enough tooAt least a 750w psu, corsair is a good company herePatience to overclock the cpu to 4.5-4.8 ghzAnd i would put 2 hdds and an ssd in: 1x wd vrap 300gb for windows, one 1tb disk for general storage, and one ssd, samsung 830 256gb comes to mind, for fsx.Would be cool if you found a shop where you are gonna purchase the stuff so we can talk directly.

Edited January 1, 201214 yr by Kosta

Cheers Dez but Plymouths a bit far from me.Word Not Allowed, thanks for the recommendations mate...I'm thinking of buying from http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=43&catid=2040or http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk if you fancy having a play with speccing one up ;)In terms of peripherals, I've seen the TrackIR and I'm definitely considering that. Then I guess I just need a joystick and headset of somekind.

Hahaha, my config makes around 1500 pounds :Shocked:. I think I'll just quiet up for a while...

Edited January 1, 201214 yr by Kosta

Hahaha, my config makes around 1500 pounds :Shocked:. I think I'll just quiet up for a while...

Do you have pictures? I'd love to see your setup.

Do you have pictures? I'd love to see your setup.

Did some quick pics with my iPhone:

Edited January 1, 201214 yr by Kosta

Did some quick pics with my iPhone:

Very nice. What graphics card are you running?

Very nice. What graphics card are you running?

Sig?...Zotac GTX580 1536MB

My rig is quite cheap, yields FSXMark11 of 39.Parts at Tiger Direct (it is not the cheapest source) are about $1300 (900 pounds).A quality assembler (such as Ironside Computers) will build it and ship it to USA for $1500 including shipping&tax.Higher end systems will get only a tiny bit more fps in the benchmark or FSX.And cost hundred$ more.Mine is literally about the cheapest to these fps, except the H60 is $25 more than a Hyper 212 fan.Note my PSU is just barely sufficient.The fans are two 8 inch (top and front), one 6 inch rear exhaust.Using a SSD, velociraptor, soundcard, or GPU above a 560ti will get almost nothing extrain FSX fps or freedom from pauses or stutters while in flight.And the money saved can buy a good flight controller set.

Well I don't know much about computers but that looks pretty awesome in those pics.This is what I'm thinking of buying:-Asus P8Z68-V Pro/Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) Motherboard-2nd Generation Intel® Core i7 2700K 3.50GHz Socket LGA1155 - OEM-Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 SC 1280MB GDDR5-Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit-Noctua NH-D14 *2011* Dual Radiator CPU CoolerJust need suggestions on which HDD to get, im not sure whether to get a SSD or western digital velociraptor 300gb for the OS and SFX. What are the advantages of having two HDD's (one for OS and one for SFX). Would you get away with one?Cooling - any case recomendations, needs to be fit for purpose and not expensive.Thanks for any input, Mike.

Well I don't know much about computers but that looks pretty awesome in those pics.This is what I'm thinking of buying:-Asus P8Z68-V Pro/Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) Motherboard-2nd Generation Intel® Core i7 2700K 3.50GHz Socket LGA1155 - OEM-Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 SC 1280MB GDDR5-Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit-Noctua NH-D14 *2011* Dual Radiator CPU CoolerJust need suggestions on which HDD to get, im not sure whether to get a SSD or western digital velociraptor 300gb for the OS and SFX. What are the advantages of having two HDD's (one for OS and one for SFX). Would you get away with one?Cooling - any case recomendations, needs to be fit for purpose and not expensive.Thanks for any input, Mike.

2500K instead if it's just for FSX, and the 2011 version of the NH-D14 is for socket LGA2011, I think it doesn't include the LGA1155 bracketsSo get the regular version of the NH-D14

With hard drive prices where they are, I would get an SSD. The Crucial M4 and Samsung 830 are the two to beat. Just think of the noise a 10,000 rpm drive is going to make vs an SSD....is it an SSD or a SSD?

Edited January 2, 201214 yr by cmeeks