So here's my PC build - it's pretty expensive but I last bought a PC in 2005 and because of its limitations I'm still flying with FS9, so it's time for a change. This is to get the best performance money can (within reason!) buy for FSX and keep me going for the next 8 years! 

 

Case
COOLERMASTER SILEO 500 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Six Core i7-3970X (3.5GHz @ max 4.8GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® P9X79 LE: INTEL® SOCKET LG2011 
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX BEAST QUAD-DDR3 2400MHz X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX TITAN - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1^st Hard Disk
480GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2^nd Hard Disk
2TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 64MB CACHE
1^st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H60 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£59)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy™ SE (£22)
Network Facilities
DUAL-BAND WIRELESS 802.11N 450Mbps PCI-E CARD (£35)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-virus
NO ANTI-virus SOFTWARE
Monitor
IIYAMA XB2776QS 27" LED IPS Widescreen - HDMI, DP, DVI, VGA (£449)
Speakers
Creative Inspire T3300 2.1 Speaker System (£46)
Headsets
SENNHEISER PC 310 GAMING HEADSET (£39)

 

Any thoughts? 

 

That's one machine you are planning there! It will probably take off itself! I would be surprised if oyu had any issues with those specs. Just wonder about having a smaller SSD just for operating system and a separate SSD for Flightsims. That is what I am doing with my machine that is being built at the moment by Chillblast.

 

Yorkshire

Hi John, that's a thought. I wanted a big enough SSD for everything really (FSX, Win7) and then the HDD is just for downloads etc. I'm a Mac man for personal use, so this is a totally dedicated FSX machine. I've read that you need a K series processor to OC, and this one's an X. Would this one be able to OC further? 

Just me, but if I was spending that money I wouldn't cheap-out on the PSU. Bronze rated? OK, but I'd go Gold or Platinum. Plus, any build I do is at 750w minimum. Just me and my belief that it doesn't hurt to over-buy on power.

 

I'd also see about a better water cooler, maybe a Corsair H80i?

 

 

Always glad to help spend other people's money! :lol:

Nice specs, but I do agree with John in the aspect of smaller SSDs. I would suggest maybe a 120GB for the OS, and a 250GB(or 256) for FSX. 

The SSD thing is confusing me. Is 250GB (for the FSX side of things) big enough for all the stuff FSX needs, REX, ORBX, etc?

It should be enough. You also might want a bigger psu.

Hi again

 

Agree with Meshman and those who suggest bigger power unit. My Chillblast Fusion Hornet will have 750w and silver, not bronze. 250Gig will be ample for FSX including ORBX and other addons. Some addons can actually go on standard HD if necessary, SSD do not in themselves give higher framerates. Just checked my FSX folder and is running at less than 70Gig. so plenty of room for expansion.

 

Yorkshire (John)

I agree with what others have said about the PSU, SSD's etc but I'd also have a think about that sound card.

 

That is a very budget basic sound card and probably wouldn't really be any better than the onboard sound the motherboard has.

 

In my opinion you would want to go with something at least like an Asus Xonar DX or something comparable in the Creative Range. I prefer Asus myself.

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Six Core i7-3970X (3.5GHz @ max 4.8GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® P9X79 LE: INTEL® SOCKET LG2011 
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX BEAST QUAD-DDR3 2400MHz X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX TITAN - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1^st Hard Disk
180GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2^nd Hard Disk
240GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
1^st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W PRO SERIES™ HX850-80 PLUS® GOLD MODULAR (£139)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100i Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£89)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Asus Xonar DGX 5.1-Channel Gaming Audio Card (£25)
Network Facilities
DUAL-BAND WIRELESS 802.11N 450Mbps PCI-E CARD (£35)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-virus
NO ANTI-virus SOFTWARE
Monitor
IIYAMA XB2776QS 27" LED IPS Widescreen - HDMI, DP, DVI, VGA (£449)
2^nd Monitor
IIYAMA E2273HS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£134)

 

Here you go chaps, think this is the one! 

Looking at the parts and prices, I'm guessing this will be from Overclockers?

 

I'm just going through the same process, but with PCSpecialist.......worth a look if you've not already.

 

PCS Maelstrom T900 case

i5-3570 3.4 o/c to 4.6

Asus P8Z77-V

8GB Kingston HyperX Beast DDR3 2400

GTX670

2 x WD Caviar Black 500GB (1 for FSX)

Corsair 650W Enthusiast Series

Corsair H80i

Arctic MX-4 Extreme compound

Onboard sound

 

I'll use my existing screen, bits and pieces and win 7 etc.

 

That comes to under £1,100 delivered....which seemed good, except I'm now wondering if the power should be upped? I toyed with the SSD but for some reason I can't see the extra benefit is worth the expense.

Hi John, that's a thought. I wanted a big enough SSD for everything really (FSX, Win7) and then the HDD is just for downloads etc. I'm a Mac man for personal use, so this is a totally dedicated FSX machine. I've read that you need a K series processor to OC, and this one's an X. Would this one be able to OC further? 

 

You're going to want the FSX installation to be on a separate drive from the Windows operating system.  As was suggested by John, I'd go with an SSD for Windows, an SSD for FSX, and if you plan on having a lot of downloads/data some kind of 3.5" hard drive.

 

I too am a Mac guy. I have one Windows PC and I only use it for FSX.  My current Windows computer I just built a few months back and I went with a 128GB SSD for the Windows installation and a 250GB SSD for the FSX installation.  For my downloads, I have a Drobo NAS and I store all my files there.

Those are specs look good. Don't overlook the importance of a proper instal and setup of the sim. Word Not Allowed's  setup and hardware guide is a good read. 750W is plenty for a single GPU setup. Fsx should be installed on its own dedicated hard drive in a folder created by yourself, not the default program/files/x86 one. Too many people spend a lot of $$$ on a high end system only to be thwarted by an incorrectly installed/tweaked sim.

That last specs look perfect!! but if you are going to use that PC only for FSX, you can get the same, may be better performance, using this config: (and also about 1200£ cheaper comparing to yours):

 

I7 3770K OC to 4,8 GHz

MoBo Asus P8Z77-V-Pro

GTX680 classified 4GB

you can keep the other items

 

If you are going to use it also in other ultimate games, yours is better, FSX uses only 1 core of the processor and a 6 core processor it is hard to OC greater than 4,8 (if lucky), 4 cores its much easier.

Think about it

Case

COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE

 

Processor Cooling

Corsair H100i Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£89)

 

Here you go chaps, think this is the one! 

 

The H100i is a big cooler. Just make sure that it's going to work in that mid-tower and that it's installed where you think it's going to be installed, top? Otherwise, the H80i might be an alternative?