Hello!

 

I have been flying on q6600 quad core for a quite some time now, suffering through lags and watching my beloved PMDG NGX become un-flyable as soon as the ground came into sight. I have decided its time to upgrade and that's just what I'm doing. I have been very fortunate to have a new friend who is both tech savy and has what I would call a stockpile of computer parts for me to try out. I have a lot of options to choose from and wanted to know what you all think I should i do!

 

I would like to fly on near max setting running WOAI and will be on Vatsim most flights, I use REX, GEX, UTX, PNW, and various other airport addons. I fly mainly the NGX, a fleet of Carenado's, and the occasional Captain Sim.

 

I have ripped out almost all of my old parts and replaced them with what I'm calling setup one before I make changes.

 

I currently have in the computer a i5 2400, a msi Z77A-G46 motherboard, a 750watt corsair psu, 4 gigs of ram (not sure the speed to be honest), a msi Gefore GTX 650. I just replaced the parts and booted up on my old 1 tb hard drive on 64 bit vista. With these parts on a bogged down vista setup I got 10-30 FPS on the ground in Chicago with my NGX and at altitude was pushing 50. I was very happy with this but during approach and in a the PNW I was flyable but just not quite there yet. Without any major tweeks I noticed my FPS was decent but the textures were loading slow? ( grey cockpits for a few seconds to 30 secs when changing views) Maybe this is my HD being to slow or maybe the graphics card is not fast enough?

 

So here is where I need help! I'm going to start over with a fresh install of windows 7 64 bit. I'm torn between a sandybride i5 2500k and a ivy i5 3570k. ( if i go with the 3570k could have an entire pci 3.0 system) What would you guys recommend? Want to try these CPU's out over the 2400k because going to overclock hopefully. I'm leaning towards the 2500K for its price and overall proven capability.

 

My computer friend has ordered a GTX 470 for me try out in place of the GTX 650 I have been test driving the last few days. What would you recommend?

 

As far as a HD goes was thinking of putting a 120 GB REV SD drive to run FSX on? And thoughts on this?

 

Great thing is that my friend will let me try and combination of CPU, GPU I want.

 

I'm really open to any suggestions at this point and will be extremely grateful for any help. Thanks in advance!

 

Matt

I would start by reading this:

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/398016-avsims-official-software-and-hardware-guide-for-fsx/

A lot of your questions will be answered.

Off the top I would not go from a GTX 650 backwards to a 470. A much better move would be a GTX 660 OC or Ti version. Relatively inexpensive and works very well with the performance level of pc your thinking to build.

The guide will not only give you some hardware ideas but also some direction on setting up FSX and Windows so that you actually can move those sliders over with good results.

 

You should have FSX on an SSD, Samsung 830 or 840 PRO, if you want a Sandforce controlled SSD go with the Intel 520. But get lots of extra space, SSD needs about 25% empty space to run properly.

I'd recommend SSD for OS as well, finally a regular HDD for files and less important programs.

Overclock the i5 3750, 4.2 ghz should be possible with the stock cooler, if your case is well ventilated.

revo drives are very very expensive, aren't they?! And do they perform so much better than a new fast SSD on a fast SATA port...?

Thanks for the replies! I have indeed read the avsim and guide and it was extremely helpful. I do have access to a 660! I will give that one a try for sure. I think we were thinking a 470 just because it has more clocks I believe so thought it might be faster actually. I like the idea of 660 thought. Newer card always sounds better

 

I thought REVO drivers were a fortune too but my friend said her got a 120 gb REVO for like $150? I need to ask him but he seems to think it would be fast. Is that enough space though? I have it al, FSX, UTX, GEX, REX, ORBX, the list goes on so I'm sure how large all those files would be. Most likely huge with all those textures. Ill look into the SSD you mentioned today. I would be happy to go with those as well if the prices are decent.

 

You would say go for the 3750k? I believe thats a 3.0 card but thats the only major difference to a 2500k? Would i get a lot more power from that? Thanks again for your help