Hi all. I appreciate that you may be sick of giving advice for new PC builds, but please bear with me. This could well be my final complete new build, due to increasing the size of my family, so I would like to get it right. The build needs to be able to last a few years at least, and run the following sims at high or above graphics, min of 30 fps and at a res of 5670 x 1080. ( I love my multi monitors )

 

DCS series

FSX with weather and airport addons, And of course the PMDG 737NGX and PMDG 747

Rise of Flight

 

Now I've asked the same question over at DCS and it sounds like this spec will work there, but then again the pc I have now, runs that fine. It's just FSX and PMDG aircraft I cannot get to play above 10 - 15 FPS and that's what I'm trying to do here.

 

Spec

 

Intel Core I5 3570K 3.4Ghz Quad Core Ivybridge CPU Processor - BX80637I53570K - Socket 1155 O/C to 4.4 GHZ

 

Asus P8Z77-V LX Intel Z77 DDR3 ATX HDMI Motherboard - Socket 1155

 

Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 High Performance CPU Cooler

 

16GB Corsair Vengeance LP DDR3 1600MHz RAM Memory 

 

bundle pack - £414.95

 

 2 x PALIT GTX670 PCIE3.0 2GB DDR5 JETSTREAM - £687

 

Crucial Technology Crucial m4 256GB Solid State Drive SATA6Gbs CT256M4SSD2 Components SSD Solid State Drive - £164.91

 

Western Digital Caviar 3TB SATA 6 GB/s 64MB Cache 3.5 inch OEM Internal Hard Drive Green - £142.98

 

COOLER MASTER STORM TROOPER UBB 30 BLACK XLATX CASE SGC5000KKN1 Components Cooling Fans Modding - £101.98

 

Corsair CMPSU-800GUK Gaming Series GS800 High Performance 800W Power Supply - £82.98

 

Planning on using the SSD drive for op system and FSX, all other sims will go on the 3 TB hard drive.

 

This marks quite a departure for me, as for last 10 years I've been an AMD man. But after hearing good things about intel and nividia I've decided to give them a shot.

 

Anyway, if you're still with me then thanks for getting this far.

 

A. Is there anything I've missed.

B. will this system work and give me that FPS and smoothness I would like and more importantly finally allow me to have a go at flying these stunning PMDG aircraft that have been sat grounded in my hanger for way to long.

 

Budget is around £1800

 

Current build is AMD X4 965 3.4GHZ, 4GB DDR3 Ram, 3TB Hard Disk, ATI 5870 1GB Graphics, 3 x LG 23" Widescreen HD Monitors, Buttkicker 2, TM Warthog Hotas, Saitek Pedals, Track IR And a bloody awful Pilot

Cowboy10uk

I have been looking around for a new build my self and it is exactly what i'm going for. I have read in many topics from previous builders that say that an I7 is unnecessary unless you are doing video editing and so on. So I myself say that you have a good system in mind. And that its what i'm going for come Next Month

 

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

For 1800 euros, a system like this would be much more practical:

 

Intel Core i5 3570K

GTX680 (single GPU is much better and less issues with driver and less headache lol)

Asus P8Z77-V

8GB DDR3 2400

Corsair AX750 Power Supply

Full tower case...

Corsair H100 water cooling

256GB Crucial M4

1TB Western Digital Caviar Black

 

I gotta disagree with you, Ben. Cowboy is going to play games other than FSX and run three screens. Two GTX 670s will eat a 680 for breakfast.

 

However I do agree that the OP should spend a little more on the motherboard - the LX is quite low-end, and in fact only comes with one PCI-E 3 slot. The other full length slot is PCI-E 2 and runs at only 4x. It's a lot more, relatively, but the V comes with dual PCI-E 3 slots, and decent overclocking features like a bunch more phases and VRM heatsinks.

 

Looks good to me, overall though.

 

Cheers,

 

Mike

Hi guys, thanks for your replys, Ref the graphics card, I did seriously think about the 680 and had that as part of the spec initially. However when looking into it, I found that the reviews were showing 2 670's were better for multi screen than one 680. That said I've always stayed away from SLI before due to the issues people had been saying they've been having. So may look at this again.

 

Ref the motherboard, I've managed to find the same bundle but with the Asus Sabertooth Z77 board. Only �30 more, from what I've heard this is meant to be a stunning board. So is it worth changing to that.

 

I also noticed Ben, that you only put 8gb mem on your design. Does that indicate that the 16gb I have planned is overkill and it won't get used. Last time I was designing a pc many many years ago, I was told to put in as much mem as I could afford. Is that no longer the case?

 

Also replaced CPU cooler with H100.

 

Pc spec v2

 

Palit Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 Graphics Card (2GB GDDR5, Kepler Architecture, 3004MHz Memory Clock, PCI Express 3.0, NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround Ready) x 2

 

£294.99

 

Asus SABERTOOTH Z77 Motherboard (Socket 1155, 32GB DDR3 Support, Intel Z77 Express, ATX, PCI-E 3.0, USB 3.0, Quad GPU AMD CrossfireX, Supports HDMI 1.4a) 

 

£177.90

 

Intel 3rd Generation Core i5-3570K CPU (4 x 3.40GHz, Ivy Bridge, Socket 1155, 6Mb L3 Cache, Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0) 

 

£179.99

 

Corsair 16GB 1600MHz CL10 DDR3 Vengeance Memory Kit

 

£105.71

 

Crucial CT256M4SSD2 256GB M4 SSD

 

£159.99

 

Western Digital Caviar 3TB SATA 6 GB/s 64MB Cache 3.5 inch OEM Internal Hard Drive Green - Western Digital OEM

 

£137.50

 

Coolermaster Storm Trooper Case 

 

£106.86

 

Razer Naga MMO 5600DPI Gaming Mouse

 

£50.96

 

Razer Black Widow Ultimate Gaming Keyboard 

 

£99.99

 

Corsair CWCH100 Hydro Series H100 Extreme Performance CPU Cooler - Corsair

 

£81.21

 

Corsair CMPSU-800GUK Gaming Series GS800 High Performance 800W Power Supply

 

 £82.98

 

Total

 

£1773.02

 

 

 

Again thanks for the replys.

 

Cowboy10uk

Hi guys, thanks for your replys, Ref the graphics card, I did seriously think about the 680 and had that as part of the spec initially. However when looking into it, I found that the reviews were showing 2 670's were better for multi screen than one 680. That said I've always stayed away from SLI before due to the issues people had been saying they've been having. So may look at this again.

 

Ref the motherboard, I've managed to find the same bundle but with the Asus Sabertooth Z77 board. Only �30 more, from what I've heard this is meant to be a stunning board. So is it worth changing to that.

 

I also noticed Ben, that you only put 8gb mem on your design. Does that indicate that the 16gb I have planned is overkill and it won't get used. Last time I was designing a pc many many years ago, I was told to put in as much mem as I could afford. Is that no longer the case?

 

Also replaced CPU cooler with H100.

 

Pc spec v2

 

Palit Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 Graphics Card (2GB GDDR5, Kepler Architecture, 3004MHz Memory Clock, PCI Express 3.0, NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround Ready) x 2

 

£294.99

 

Asus SABERTOOTH Z77 Motherboard (Socket 1155, 32GB DDR3 Support, Intel Z77 Express, ATX, PCI-E 3.0, USB 3.0, Quad GPU AMD CrossfireX, Supports HDMI 1.4a)

 

£177.90

 

Intel 3rd Generation Core i5-3570K CPU (4 x 3.40GHz, Ivy Bridge, Socket 1155, 6Mb L3 Cache, Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0)

 

£179.99

 

Corsair 16GB 1600MHz CL10 DDR3 Vengeance Memory Kit

 

£105.71

 

Crucial CT256M4SSD2 256GB M4 SSD

 

£159.99

 

Western Digital Caviar 3TB SATA 6 GB/s 64MB Cache 3.5 inch OEM Internal Hard Drive Green - Western Digital OEM

 

£137.50

 

Coolermaster Storm Trooper Case

 

£106.86

 

Razer Naga MMO 5600DPI Gaming Mouse

 

£50.96

 

Razer Black Widow Ultimate Gaming Keyboard

 

£99.99

 

Corsair CWCH100 Hydro Series H100 Extreme Performance CPU Cooler - Corsair

 

£81.21

 

Corsair CMPSU-800GUK Gaming Series GS800 High Performance 800W Power Supply

 

£82.98

 

Total

 

£1773.02

 

 

 

Again thanks for the replys.

 

Cowboy10uk

 

Not sure about the other programs you will be running, but I'm pretty sure FSX would benefit from moving up to an i7 3770K (piece of mind for the silicon lottery) and moving down to 8GB of RAM (prices should offset +/- $30US based on what I was looking at when I bought my parts last week). The only machines I have 8GB+ of RAM are MAC's where I run virtual copies of Ubuntu and W7/W8.

 

Thanks!

Hi everyone, just joined the forum.

 

Interested in this thread as I want to update, though I am, initially, on a much tighter budget than Cowboy. I thought an i7 3770k was the way to go, but after reading other threads I'm not sure . . . i5 or i7 . . . SB or IB? I've read countless reviews, opinions, benchmarks etc over the past month and I still can't really come down one side or the other. After being quite sure I had found the answer last night, now I'm really not sure!

 

I've never overclocked anything so an overclocked bundle would seem sensible, but which one? I will only use it for FSX, no other demanding games. Getting the best frame rates I can so that I can move sliders much further to the right than I can with my current Q6600. I want everything to look as good as I can get it from the modest amount I can currently afford (my GTX 550Ti will have to do for the time being).

 

I know all of these will be a vast improvement, but, looking to the future, what would others recommend:

• i7 3770k,
  
• i5 3570k
  
• i7 2600k
  
• i5 2500k
  

all with an Asus P8Z77-P LX (has 2 PCI 3 slots) & 8GB 1600 RAM.

 

There isn't a huge difference in price so it is really down to performance and being future proofed.

 

One other question that I'm confused about: does FSX benefit from hyperthreading?

 

Any help would be great. Thanks

 

John

For 1800 euros, a system like this would be much more practical:

 

Intel Core i5 3570K

GTX680 (single GPU is much better and less issues with driver and less headache lol)

Asus P8Z77-V

8GB DDR3 2400

Corsair AX750 Power Supply

Full tower case...

Corsair H100 water cooling

256GB Crucial M4

1TB Western Digital Caviar Black

 

I agree with Ben except for this GTX 680. Go with the 670 FTW instead and save the 100 pounds difference.

 

BTW.. UK needs a political revolution. 1 Brit pound = 2 US$ (almost) and everything in the UK is over priced., Whats up with that.. You Brits are getting screvved!

 

Manny

 

Hi everyone, just joined the forum.

 

Interested in this thread as I want to update, though I am, initially, on a much tighter budget than Cowboy. I thought an i7 3770k was the way to go, but after reading other threads I'm not sure . . . i5 or i7 . . . SB or IB? I've read countless reviews, opinions, benchmarks etc over the past month and I still can't really come down one side or the other. After being quite sure I had found the answer last night, now I'm really not sure!

 

I've never overclocked anything so an overclocked bundle would seem sensible, but which one? I will only use it for FSX, no other demanding games. Getting the best frame rates I can so that I can move sliders much further to the right than I can with my current Q6600. I want everything to look as good as I can get it from the modest amount I can currently afford (my GTX 550Ti will have to do for the time being).

 

I know all of these will be a vast improvement, but, looking to the future, what would others recommend:

• i7 3770k,
  
• i5 3570k
  
• i7 2600k
  
• i5 2500k
  

all with an Asus P8Z77-P LX (has 2 PCI 3 slots) & 8GB 1600 RAM.

 

There isn't a huge difference in price so it is really down to performance and being future proofed.

 

One other question that I'm confused about: does FSX benefit from hyperthreading?

 

Any help would be great. Thanks

 

John

 

IMO, i5 3750 is as good as the 3770K (almost) ..Yes HT helps in texture loading a little..but without HT, you may be better off with OC ing a tad better which would give better returns.

for single monitor, the 550 Ti video card is pretty good with its 1GB VRAM is sufficient.

 

The only thing I would recomment that you change is go for a better memory. Ivy Bridge does good with good memory... and memory prices are so low. So go for the GSKILL Trident 2400 instead. 8GB (2 X 4GM) costs $90.

Thanks Manny. Sounds like IB then. The bundles I am looking at are OC ed to 4.4GHz. Will have with 1600 RAM for the moment; this can be easily changed in the future. I will be running a single monitor initially; good to hear current card will give decent frame rate returns.

 

Two more questions:

• PSU - I currently have a Cooler Master 600W supply that is 5+ years old. Should I change it and, if so, to what? Again I have to bear in mind my limited budget.
  
• Case: how many fans would you advise? Perhaps my choice of CPU should be the i5 3570k; it should run cooler than the i7 3770k.
  

 

Thanks

 

John

Hey Cowboy, some good stuff here, although I think you're a little too conservative with your OC intentions. I'm happy to be corrected, but you should be able to get 4.6 OC at least, with ease, probably even more with the liquid cooler.

Hey Cowboy, some good stuff here, although I think you're a little too conservative with your OC intentions. I'm happy to be corrected, but you should be able to get 4.6 OC at least, with ease, probably even more with the liquid cooler.

 

 

FSX being CPU bound by no means will use any clock speeds over 3-6 ---3.8...its just pointless IMO...

 

Its also been this builders discovery that SSD drives to house an OS and FSX is totally pointless.... I like any 32Mb Cache drive personally...seen to many just crash the OS..

 

I also say any good I7 , not any I3 or 5 for FSx..

 

Also FSX HATES SLI, Crossfire, or any dual GPU cards....period.

 

6 gigs of Ram @1600 or above is plenty...

 

Last but not least...GPU needs to have a BIT Interface of 256 or above.....

 

Lastly...FSX is not just about Hardware, its more about proper set up....

 

Just my humble opinions on this all...Money thrown at FSX will never guarentee proformance...

 

I have a simple $500.00 box built as an experiment and it runs FSX flawless locked at 30 frames...I don't however care for PMG, or whatever its called aircraft , but run REX, UTX, GEX, etc...

FSX being CPU bound by no means will use any clock speeds over 3-6 ---3.8...its just pointless IMO...

 

Its also been this builders discovery that SSD drives to house an OS and FSX is totally pointless.... I like any 32Mb Cache drive personally...seen to many just crash the OS..

 

I also say any good I7 , not any I3 or 5 for FSx..

 

Also FSX HATES SLI, Crossfire, or any dual GPU cards....period.

 

6 gigs of Ram @1600 or above is plenty...

 

Last but not least...GPU needs to have a BIT Interface of 256 or above.....

 

Lastly...FSX is not just about Hardware, its more about proper set up....

 

Just my humble opinions on this all...Money thrown at FSX will never guarentee proformance...

 

I have a simple $500.00 box built as an experiment and it runs FSX flawless locked at 30 frames...I don't however care for PMG, or whatever its called aircraft , but run REX, UTX, GEX, etc...

With respect Mason, as someone who has flown FSX on three rigs at 3.3Ghz OC to 4Ghz and now my SB system OC to 4.6Ghz, I can say quite categorically that OC a system for FSX is well worth it. Although I will admit, as with most things, there comes a degree of diminishing returns. I will add though that I don't believe people get the degree of peformance they expect when overclocking, but a performance increase you most certainly do get. Although my own opinion on OC GPUs remains the same, and that is I have never seen any benefit from OCing a GPU for FSX, but I know many have.

With respect Mason, as someone who has flown FSX on three rigs at 3.3Ghz OC to 4Ghz and now my SB system OC to 4.6Ghz, I can say quite categorically that OC a system for FSX is well worth it. Although I will admit, as with most things, there comes a degree of diminishing returns. I will add though that I don't believe people get the degree of peformance they expect when overclocking, but a performance increase you most certainly do get. Although my own opinion on OC GPUs remains the same, and that is I have never seen any benefit from OCing a GPU for FSX, but I know many have.

 

I understand that...But...I again will clarify..as a system builder, and an avid overclocker, the gains for any OC above , lets say 3.8 are next to none on any later Intel or AMD chip...

 

Its mostly about bandwidths, and the "I" series no longer has multipliers, the rest is in the other system specs, not just clock speeds.

 

recently i build for my daughter a CHEAP AMD duild...i used a three core @ 3.3 , coupled it with a good Asus mobo and unlocked the fourth core...The other components are just that, other components...its got 8 gigs RAM at 1333, and a GTX 260..

 

yuppers...it runs FSX locked at 30 flawless, with a few config tweaks and proper set up its amazing for the cost...No Overclocking needed... that went out with Intel 775 and AM series

Its mostly about bandwidths, and the "I" series no longer has multipliers, the rest is in the other system specs, not just clock speeds

 

What do you mean there are no multipliers? there's a CPU and a RAM multi. The L3 Cache and IMC are linked to the ring bus and run at the core clock, so there's no need for an uncore - system agent multi anymore.

There's absolutely no issue with "bandwidths" whatever that means, and FSX scales virtually 1:1 with clock speed in Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge just like it always has.

 

I don't think there's something regarding FSX performance that will have more people agree than OC brings massive benefits

 

Not even going to comment on the AMD part