PC build project. want to run flight sims smooth as possible.

[golfer_sam 0]

Hi Guys,

I live in Thailand It's time to give away my PC to my nephew. I am building a new pc now. I have not paid much attention to pc technologies in the past 4 years. Last time I know I was using GTX 280.
This PC has 3 functions for me. 1.Flight simulator  2. some 1st person shooting 3. Racing simulator.

I went to gather information as to what parts to put in and how much and came out with below list.

My goal is to build a very high performing PC without using the top CPU and GPU model.
Also I want flightX be able to run smoothly with everything turned on.



Chassis Volair SIM 700
CPU i7 4770k 353.1
Mainboard Sabertooth 319.7
HDD WD2tbx2in raid1 179.3
SSD vector512 658.7
RAM corsair 8gx4=32g 294.3
VGA GTX780x2 1593.8
DVD-RW Blu ray. 115.4
P Supply Strikes 1100w 121.8
case Corsair 133.7
CPU liquid cooler 127.6

Total 4597.50

What do you guys think of this build this?
Is my build enough to produce good result in flight X?
Look forward to hear from you.

Sam

[RWFeldman 159]

Yep

[LRBS 943]

See this one first.

 

http://www.jetlinesystems.com/

 

Regards,

Alex

[fs4fun 366]

Looks like a great system to me, but no matter what you'll probably need to overclock to get the sim to run smoothly. Also you will need yoke or joystick, pedals, throttle quad. Saitek or CH are good budget options but if price is no object there are better quality options like PFC. You may also want to get TrackIR. Keep those in mind when figuring your budget.

 

Then there's all the system and FSX tuning needed. I used NickN's guide for system tuning, and the FSX guide here on AVSIM for tuning FSX. It takes a lot more than a good PC to make FSX work well. There's also all the software addons to make the sim work well and look good. Sorry if I'm saying stuff you already know about.

 

Also, what OS? I use Win7 Ultimate 64 bit and it works great. I'm not too sure how well FSX works on Win8.

[golfer_sam 0]

 

 

See this one first.
 
http://www.jetlinesystems.com/
 
Regards,
Alex

 

Thank you Alex,

This link really helps alot.

Regards,

Sam

 

 

 

Looks like a great system to me, but no matter what you'll probably need to overclock to get the sim to run smoothly. Also you will need yoke or joystick, pedals, throttle quad. Saitek or CH are good budget options but if price is no object there are better quality options like PFC. You may also want to get TrackIR. Keep those in mind when figuring your budget.
 
Then there's all the system and FSX tuning needed. I used NickN's guide for system tuning, and the FSX guide here on AVSIM for tuning FSX. It takes a lot more than a good PC to make FSX work well. There's also all the software addons to make the sim work well and look good. Sorry if I'm saying stuff you already know about.
 
Also, what OS? I use Win7 Ultimate 64 bit and it works great. I'm not too sure how well FSX works on Win8.

 

Thanks Barry,

Really happy to read your post.

you'll be surprised that new pilots like me know almost nothing about flight simulator. Especially for ones didn't start with previous sims.

I can use software overclock like 10-12%. I am no good at using BIOS to overclock from 3.5ghz to 4.5, just don't know how. If I can get to 4.1-4.2 I am happy. This is one thing I don't understand about flight sim.  While race sim relies heavily on GPU, everywhere I read about flight sim X is that it is 75% dependant on CPU.

Definitely will look into Saitek and CH and head tracking stuff (new to me).  Looking forward to Oculus Rift but that maybe years when commercially compatible with flight sim.

 

Interesting to read that " It takes a lot more than a good PC to make FSX work well". Definitely more research, trial and test to do. once my system is up.

 

Thank you from Thailand.

 

Regards,

Sam

[gizmosellsbunnys 106]

Its good system, and just need some help overclocking correctly. Overclocking think if you follow what the more conservative overclockers do you will be fine

[bo3bber 0]

First off, let me say that your build is a fine machine, and should run FSX nicely.  

 

Second off, you can do better in most parts of your build if you like, and mostly your machine is more expensive than it needs to be.

 

 

I don't think you will need two GTX 780 cards, unless you are planning to run stereoscopic, or surround mode.  For 1st person, and racing, there is almost nothing that will spin up a dual 780 setup, unless you are doing very high resolution, surround, or stereoscopic.  

 

I'm a big fan of stereoscopic, NVidia 3D Vision is extremely impressive with the right games.  Unfortunately FSX runs only OK in stereoscopic, it has glitches with lights like runway lights and hazard lights.  I have a way to disable them altogether, which works nicely for day flying.

 

 

Especially for FSX what matters is CPU, not GPU.  And it's clock speed, not cores. FSX is not multi-threaded enough to matter.  It's old code, and it's single core for the most part.

 

Also, I wouldn't go with a Haswell chip for this setup- the Haswell is really designed with low power tablet systems in mind, and at present the older Ivy Bridge chips are going to be better suited for your needs, and will overclock better and easier.

 

See this link for a detailed look:

 

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/haswell_review_2013

 

 

You are on the right track with the SSD drive. This is a key to making it perform smoothly and load quickly.  I think you could use the Samsung 840 as it is not quite as expensive and performs at least as well.

 

 

I would also not go that high on the PSU.  1100W is waaay too much PSU for this rig, especially if you go with Haswell.  The GTX780 is much more efficient than the older 285 or 580 series.  Your power consumption here will be fairly modest, even under full load.  On the order of 600W when overclocking.

 

See this sizing site for actual consumption:

 

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

 

Just for another comparison point, here is an elite build from MaximumPC:

 

http://www.maximumpc.com/build_pc_recommended_builds_july_2013

 

 

Let me know if you have any questions, I can fill in gaps as need be.

[bo3bber 0]

 

 

What do you guys think of this build this?
Is my build enough to produce good result in flight X?
Look forward to hear from you.

Also, what resolution are you planning to run FSX at?  Surround setup or stereoscopic?  

 

The destination resolution would change my recommendation.

 

 

I have the Oculus Rift DevKit, and the resolution makes it unusable at present.  Consumer version might help, but it's a long road to getting FSX working there.

[golfer_sam 0]

I will be using triple 27" surround. No stereoscopic.

resolution is 1920x1080 per screen.

3 screens, the single card cannot handle it.

so for fps gaming I will use 1 monitor

 

 

 

 

 

Also, what resolution are you planning to run FSX at?  Surround setup or stereoscopic?  

 

The destination resolution would change my recommendation.

 

 

I have the Oculus Rift DevKit, and the resolution makes it unusable at present.  Consumer version might help, but it's a long road to getting FSX working there.