Hello All,

 

I have been playing FSX for 3 years and just love it.  Unfortunately my old Toshiba Laptop died, so my dad and I are building a proper gaming computer.  We were wondering if there was a FSX " expert" who could guide us through the build and installation of all the add-ons.  My dad wants to help me build the computer myself so I can learn, instead of buying one from the store.    Its taken two years to earn all these parts!  If I have written this in the wrong spot I am sorry, but thank you for your help

 

Andrew

9 years

 

Computer Build List:

i7 3770K

Asus P8z77 Pro Motherboard

GTX680 Video

3x 23" Monitors ( will it work with the video card?)

16 M  1866 RAM

Samsung 840 SSD

Corsair H80i Cooler

Corsair 850w Power Supply

 

 

My dad wants to help me build the computer myself so I can learn, instead of buying one from the store. Its taken two years to earn all these parts!

 

Your Dad must be trying to make you a computer engineer before you are 10!  :lol:  But that's good!  This is a very good list of components. Appears to be well-researched.  It is close to my dream system but then I'm upgrading to the Haswell i7 4770K when it is released next month (June).  You might look at that but then your system will run FSX very well and you won't have to wait another year to save for it.  AVSIM has a Hardware Forum with a lot of discussions on system building.  You should take a look down there and see if there are any better ideas.  The only suggestion I have to your list is to buy a 1TB or more HDD for any Photoscenery or for a place to locate your scenery add-ons.  We also have a video and monitor forum where individuals discuss 3 monitor setups.  I do not think you'll have any problems with the 3 monitors working on the GTX680.  In fact I plan on doing the same but will probably get the GTX780.  You might check there to make sure though.

 

Are you really 9 years old?  If so, you did good!  Have fun building your new computer!

 

Best regards,

Jim

Congratulations on earning those parts! I echo everything Jim mentioned in his reply. The only other thing I would add, make sure and spend some time in researching the case too. I built a very similar system to yours and I went with a full ATX case. (Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Military Green) You want something that can hold all of that hardware and give plenty of room for that massive graphics card and accommodate plenty of large cooling fans. It's also really nice to be able to get those cables out of the way not to mention having lots of room to work. Good luck and have fun with your build.

Hi Andrew and dad, welcome to the forums.

My computers component list is nearly the same as yours and it runs FSX very smoothly with most sliders near max.

 

You've come to the best place for advice and questions regarding FSX.

 

Good luck with your new computer.

 

Ray

 

73 years

Hello All,

 

I have been playing FSX for 3 years and just love it.  Unfortunately my old Toshiba Laptop died, so my dad and I are building a proper gaming computer.  We were wondering if there was a FSX " expert" who could guide us through the build and installation of all the add-ons.  My dad wants to help me build the computer myself so I can learn, instead of buying one from the store.    Its taken two years to earn all these parts!  If I have written this in the wrong spot I am sorry, but thank you for your help

 

Andrew

9 years

 

Computer Build List:

i7 3770K

Asus P8z77 Pro Motherboard

GTX680 Video

3x 23" Monitors ( will it work with the video card?)

16 M  1866 RAM

Samsung 840 SSD

Corsair H80i Cooler

Corsair 850w Power Supply

Great choices of hardware, specially the Samsung 840 SSD. Should take you a long way in your flightsimming. Is it the PRO version? I've just bought it. A great SSD.

Good luck and make sure to have fun. I am currently 15, and built my first computer at either 11 or 12, and was hooked from then on. You will want to thank your dad, later for making you do this. All of your part choices appear to be solid, and will last you a long time. 

Andrew, welcome to the FSX Forum! There are a lot of helpful people here. The only thing I would add is a good surround sound system. I would also suggest Windows 7 64 bit Operating System for full FSX Gold support.

 

Have fun

Dave

*** Reply from Andrews Dad ****

 

Hello Guys,

 

I'm Tony,  Andrews Dad.    Andrew has done a great job earning all the parts for this computer build.   I am also going to contribute the funds for a triple 23"monitor setup.   I always check/proofread his posts before he submits them.  I forgot to mention that Yes it is the Samsung 840 Pro 512 SDD and will have a 1TB WD Black HDD.  I was going to use windows 8, but ??

 

Things change so fast I don't know if it is worth waiting for the Haswell line of Intel CPU's? 

 

Thanks.

Tony and Andrew  ****

 

Is there anyone who lives in the Southern California area who we might be able to call upon for things like Program / Add-on s installation and general optimizing?  Thanks Again! 

Andrew,

Welcome.... sounds like a fun project and great system... I would also recommend browsing the System & Hardware forum with-in Avsim... There are a lot of very helpful post and people with-in that forum....

I just wanted to add that you also need a drive to store your purchased/freeware scenery, aircraft, weather programs, etc, and a backup drive to clone your boot drive and FSX installation. You're going to be putting a lot of hours initially and over the long-term installing and configuring FSX and addons. I can't stress enough the importance of regular drive cloning in case of a main drive failure, or even simply the need to restore various default FSX files if they get corrupted or overwritten by some rogue addon installer.

 

At very least you should have a large enough backup drive that allows you to regularly run Windows' backup image routine so at minimum you can fully restore your boot drive and FSX installation.

 

2TB drives are a lot cheaper (by factor of at least 10) compared to what it will cost you to recover the contents of a dead drive, if the data can even be recovered. With a clone or image of your boot drive and FSX installation you can be up and running again in minutes rather than the many many hours it would take to re-download, re-install and re-configure everything.

 

I had a great time doing my first build two years ago and it still feels good knowing that I put it all together myself.

 

A concluding thought: don't be shy about overclocking that CPU for significantly increased FSX performance. It's not as complicated as it first seems, and you have a cooling solution in the H80 that will very capably support a decent OC. As a complete noob to the PC world I was easily able to get my i7-2600K up to 4.7GHz with sensible voltage and great temps no more than 2 weeks after finishing the build. All of the information you will need to do it is already out there -- you just need to ask for help.

 

Best of luck to you and your dad with your new rig.

**UPDATE**

 

Hello,

 

There has been a lot of new chips introduced in the last two weeks..so here is our updated build list.  I'm just not sure which versions of Windows to use...7  or 8?

 

 

Build List:

Intel i7 4770K

Asus Z87 -PRO

Corsair Vengeance 16GB /2400

Samsung 840 PRO 256 SSD

WD Caviar Black 2 TB

Corsair H80i Cooler

EVGA GTX770 Superclocked 2GB

Liteon DVD Burner

Corsair HX 850 PSU

Windows 7 or 8?

 

We will order next week!  What do you think?  Thanks everyone

 

Win7 is what I would (will) choose for the new build.

 

The initial comments about the 4770k have been a little underwhelming. I anticipate sticking with the 3770k for my build. Depending upon where in SoKali you is, there is a Micro Center store down in Orange County, just off the 55 right above the 405. I want to say Mc Fadden exit? Comparing prices, which means you would have to go to Micro Center to purchase, but they have the 3770k for $250, whereas Newegg (located in City of Industry and you can do a pick up at the warehouse!) has the 4770k for $350. Might make a nice field trip for you and your son, plus it puts you under the short final path into John Wayne Airport.

 

If you go to Micro Center, pick up a 3770k for me and I'll mail the money down. It's way too long of a drive for me nowadays, where living in the IE would have meant an hour's drive. :lol:

 

 

Also would mention to make sure and get a Gold rated PSU versus a Bronze. One thing I don't like to cheap out on is the PSU.

I've very Jealous Andrew, I wish I had those components! Good luck. BTW, you need to consider Win7 64bit over Win8 from what I understand.

I'd hold off on the 4770 for now. The initial reports have not been good for FSX. Sometimes the latest and greatest isn't. After looking closely at the 4770 - I just built another system with a 3770k. I just do not see the 4770 as an improvement.

BTW - where in SoCal are you?

 

Vic

***FRom  DAD***

 

 

Thanks for the answers and replies.  We BOTH appreciate it!!

 

Ok it looks like Windows 7 -64 bit is the clear choice.

 

I told Andrew that we should go with the new Haswell chip, because of the new Socket and slightly higher speed tests..so far.  Intel Has this new chip priced at about $280( after discounts). I wanted the motherboard to be slightly future proof with the new socket and chip. 

VR Baron we live in Orange County and would be happy to drive up to Burbank, if you would be able to help with the software setup and install. I would compensate you for your time

I can't even get a new livery put on without causing Chaos!  lol.

 

I know the new chip is a bit underwelming...but lets see what some Overclockers can do.  ;-)

 

Tony..

Andrews Dad