Thoughts about upgrading.

[Swe_Richard 1,175]

Hi guys. Once again I begin to feel the urge to upgrade my computer. I know that nvidia seems to be working better with fsx. But nowadays I consider xpx my primary sim, and I'm not sure that this edge exists on that platform...?

 

Any thoughts? I know this probably belongs in the hw-forum but I don't know how many of my fellow x-planers lurk in that part of avsim... :-D

 

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[CarlosF 1,243]

Are planning to upgrade to a new computer from a major brand? or Are you doing a custom upgrade?

[Swe_Richard 1,175]

Are planning to upgrade to a new computer from a major brand? or Are you doing a custom upgrade?

 

I always build from components. Never pre-built systems. It'll be a 3770k with at least 16 gb ram. But I can't make up my mind whether to go for a 680 or a 7970. It seems that in general the radeon is just as fast.

 

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[CarlosF 1,243]

I always build from components. Never pre-built systems. It'll be a 3770k with at least 16 gb ram. But I can't make up my mind whether to go for a 680 or a 7970. It seems that in general the radeon is just as fast.

 

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Both brands are good but I like nVidia better, if take into consideration "drivers" I think nVidia does a better job. If I were to upgrade from my 560 ti 448 core, I would go with the 680 for sure.

[Swe_Richard 1,175]

Both brands are good but I like nVidia better, if take into consideration "drivers" I think nVidia does a better job. If I were to upgrade from my 560 ti 448 core, I would go with the 680 for sure.

 

Yeah.. I think I'll end up with a 680 with 4gb VRAM. I've got the feeling that things seem to work just a little bit better in XPX with nVidia. However, it seems that in general the Radeon is just as good. Decisions, decisions... =)

[Swe_Richard 1,175]

Having done some research into the graphics card market nowadays it actually seems like the radeon 7970 resoundingly spanks the 680 and is cheaper to boot. All the benches I've seen it stands head and shoulders above the 680. Question is, if xpx/fsx is the only thing that benefits from nvidia.

 

What do you guys think?

 

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[Swe_Richard 1,175]

Done and done!

 

New computer built! The old one will serve me well as a dedicated Linux-machine. However my new bad boy will be the gaming/simming rig using W7. I would like some advice from you guys though. I bought a couple of 2TB disks which I'm considering doing a RAID-0 set up with. Never mind the risk of data loss as I have NAS storage for backup of files that's important. I'm solely after the possible speed gain.

 

Question is; will my simming with XPX benefit from RAID-0, or am I better off just using the 4TB as storage?

[JasonHarris 96]

I noticed that I got a considerable benefit from startup times when putting all my sims on an SSD. Obviously some of that is in part to the low seek times but in raid you should get a good improvement on throughput and I think that will help as well.

 

Primarily I only noticed this at startups though, once in the cockpit in various games I dont notice an improvement.

 

What GPU did you get in the end? On my 7970 I get good framerates at a very high resolution, 4080x2160, Either way you would have got a good card.

[Swe_Richard 1,175]

I noticed that I got a considerable benefit from startup times when putting all my sims on an SSD. Obviously some of that is in part to the low seek times but in raid you should get a good improvement on throughput and I think that will help as well.

 

Primarily I only noticed this at startups though, once in the cockpit in various games I dont notice an improvement.

 

What GPU did you get in the end? On my 7970 I get good framerates at a very high resolution, 4080x2160, Either way you would have got a good card.

 

Hello,

Well.. start-up time doesn't really bother me. I'll just make a cup of coffee while waiting.. =) Maybe that's where the most performance gains would be made?

I went for the 7970 also. I went back and forth before finally deciding. It seems like a winner with the latest drivers. This card also seem to overclock quite well. I think it'll be fine.

 

Think I'll have to sleep on this before I decide.. =)

[greggerm 312]

Question is; will my simming with XPX benefit from RAID-0, or am I better off just using the 4TB as storage?

 

Not much... there might be none-to-minor improvement in loading times under the RAID-0 if you are using a motherboard based controller setup, but not much at at all... and certainly no improvements once you're in the sim itself.

 

(*dedicated raid controller cards generally perform far better and would net you even better loading times, but again - very minimal improvements in-game)

 

SSD's are the way to go for desktop storage speed - splurge for a large enough one to put both the Operating System on AND the sim of your choice for best results... but also don't underestimate the value of having just the operating system booting off an SSD... most impressive!

 

Personally, I'd shell out a few more bucks for an SSD and use it, then use 1x 2TB drive for storage and 1x 2TB drive for systemwide backup purposes (RAID1 perhaps) with the NAS being secondary backup.

 

RAID-0 off a mobo controlled array has never been terribly compelling.

[Swe_Richard 1,175]

Not much... there might be none-to-minor improvement in loading times under the RAID-0 if you are using a motherboard based controller setup, but not much at at all... and certainly no improvements once you're in the sim itself.

 

(*dedicated raid controller cards generally perform far better and would net you even better loading times, but again - very minimal improvements in-game)

 

SSD's are the way to go for desktop storage speed - splurge for a large enough one to put both the Operating System on AND the sim of your choice for best results... but also don't underestimate the value of having just the operating system booting off an SSD... most impressive!

 

Personally, I'd shell out a few more bucks for an SSD and use it, then use 1x 2TB drive for storage and 1x 2TB drive for systemwide backup purposes (RAID1 perhaps) with the NAS being secondary backup.

 

RAID-0 off a mobo controlled array has never been terribly compelling.

 

Yes, I've got the OS on a SSD. The boot time is ridiculous. W7 is up and running in seconds. Well.. SSDs aren't as expensive as they used to be so I might just get a drive to put my XPX on. Think I might skip the RAID-plans for now..