A Pmdg computer

[13ifs40 5]

hi

 

 depends how I do at the horse track this month

 

 

but I would like to bring it in under 2,000

 

I don't sim often

 

once a week maybe

 

the main thing is I want this sucker to last at least 3-6 years or more

 

 

I also need it for work

 

 

that is why the wife says a dell or hp would be the way to go

but I also want to get great gaming on it

the only thing that I will have is   FSX, queen, new 777, and aerosoft London heathrow scenery

 

that is it

 

 

 

Ian Snow

 

[CTBlankenship 36]

 

 

That is why the wife says a dell or hp would be the way to go

 

Oh gawd no ... with all due respect to the boss (I call mine the CFO) that is the worst possible choice.

 

Each and every PC builder needs to make money.  They usually do this by playing the "lottery".  They manufacture machines using components with the lowest cost/MTTF  (Mean Time To Failure) ratio.  This means they are trying to turn a profit on the lowest cost equipment that gives the highest probability of not breaking down.  The parts that do break can be handled by a large force of technical support staff.  The problem is that the generic side of Dell and HP are not building what we consider as gaming rigs ... the ones that do charge a premium (like Alienware).  The ones like Digital Storm are unique in that they do cater to the gamer at a fairly reasonable price.  If I couldn't build my own I would have used them no questions asked.

 

The best bang for your buck is still to purchase all of the parts and either put them together yourself or hire a local technician to do it for you.  If you buy the good stuff, all of the major components come with a 3 to 7 year warranty.  

 

I have three criteria when purchasing components:

 

1. Get the best possible power supply you can afford (Seasonic and PC Power and Cooling are the only options) and then go one better.  For overclocking clean power is a MUST.

 

2. Buy the best video card you can handle ... ASUS GTX 770 is the absolute minimum and nVidia is the only show in town as per NickN).

 

3. Buy a motherboard that caters to gamers ... the ASUS MAXIMUS series (the HERO) are fabulous overclockers ... one press of the mouse in the AI Suite 3 and you are at 4.2 minimum)

 

Buy a 4th generation CPU (LGA 1150) that is unclocked (has a "k" at the end).  There is a debate between the viability of the 4670k and the 4770k.  Obviously the 4770k is "better" but if you are on a budget you can do just fine with the 4670k for flight simulation purposes.

 

As far as memory goes ... 1600 GHz is good enough ... I have DDR3 2400 but for the life of me cannot tell if it even makes a difference.  The only RAM I'll ever use is the Corsair Dominator Platinum ... personal preference ... your mileage may vary.  But, 2400 comes at a premium cost and is probably not necessary.  I'll leave that up to someone who knows the ins and outs of memory with respect to FSX performance.

 

Air cooling vs. water cooling.  The Noctua DH14 is a stellar air cooler ... and the Corsair Hydro Series H100i is a stellar, general purpose water cooler.  The differences between the two paradigms are 1) noise and 2) footprint.  The air coolers are HUGH ... and frequently have compatibility issues with RAM.  On the flip side, they are quite.  For example my H100i does have some fan noise so water cooling is considered to be a bit noisier ... on the flip side they are extraordinarily easy to install and leave a very small footprint in the case ... very few RAM compatibility issues.  I just replaced the SP120s on the H100i with four Noctua F12s ... in a push/pull arrangement.  This dropped the noise a good bit ... but with a $90 price tag ... not so sure that was a frugal move or not.

 

Going to be delidding tonight ... we'll see how that goes ... just can't leave well enough alone!

 

CT

[CTBlankenship 36]

Done with installing the four F12 fans ...

 

two of these are on the bottom of the radiator pushing air up (both are connected to CPU_FAN header) 

two more are on top of the radiator pulling air up (both of these are connected to CPU_OPT header)

two 240mm case fans at the top are connected to CHA_FAN2,

the front fan and bottom fan are on CHA_FAN1

140mm fan at the back of the case and the 240mm on the side of the case are on CHA_FAN3

 

All I had to do was to run AI Suite 3 and the computer is now in full control of the fans. 

 

Now, I can launch Dual Intelligent Processors 4, go to the Fan Xpert 2 page and choose between four fan speeds: 1) Silent, 2) Standard, 3) Turbo and 4) Full Speed ... you get corresponding fan noise as you go up from 1 to 4.  This is what I'm talking about.  Buy a motherboard that gives you assets you can use to control your computer.

 

For example, I told it I wanted a 4.4GHz overclock and AI Suite 3 did the rest ... temps are in the mid 30s in Full Speed mode and rise to around 40C in Silent Mode (in Silent mode all fans are off and the four F12s are running at 264 rpm ... cannot hear a thing ... unless you count the tinnitus in my ears ... I'm old ya see ... too much Rock and Roll in my youth.)

 

My personal favorite is Turbo ... very faint fan noise but all fans are running and temps fall to around 38C across all cores.  As a matter of fact ... my old E8400 Wolfdale 3.0 GHz computer with standard case fans makes more noise than my i4770k FSX machine.

 

I'm assuming that fans begin to ramp up as gaming is going on.

 

C. T.

 

PS:  In a previous post I quickly mistyped the name of the PSU company ... PC Power and Cooling is the correct name.  Seasonic is the next choice of mine ... followed up by Corsair, in that order, depending upon budget.  I personally went with a 760W PLATINUM from Seasonic ... like I said before, clean power is king in OC'ing a rig.

[13ifs40 5]

hi

 

  ok so I will take all this information and see what I can do

I would like to purchase the new computer by the end of the month

 

one more question

 

what in the actual computer works on the frame rates of the FSX game and makes it better or worse?

 

 

 

thanks

 

Ian Snow

 

 

[CTBlankenship 36]

CPU frequency I think would be the community consensus ... if I had to pick one thing and one thing alone.

 

SSD's work really well for performance improvement when loading the flight and quite possibly accessing scenery data.

 

Video card next ... paired with CPU frequency ... 4.0GHz and below GTX 770, 4.2GHz and above GTX 780 ... as per NickN ... nVidia of course.

 

Memory ... comes in last I believe ... simply because I'm ignorant about its true participation in the equation.

 

CT

[13ifs40 5]

hi

 

   ok thanks for all your advice.

I should be making the decision by months end with a purchase Labor day weekend

 

 

 

Ian SNow

 

[Vincent_Vega 6]

That list of parts isn't just for a PMDG computer, that's for a goddamned NASA computer.

 

Are you using 3 1080p monitors?

 

No?

 

You don't need an i7.

 

Get the i5, save $100. Maybe get the 760. If you're not OCing, which it doesn't look like you are since you questioned what it even is, get a smaller watercooler. H80i or even an H50. That'll save you a few hundred in parts you probably won't even need -- and even then -- it still is much like a NASA computer.

 

i5 3570K with a GTX 660 here. I can confirm this.

[snowingairlines 20]

 

 

That list of parts isn't just for a PMDG computer, that's for a goddamned NASA computer.

And FSX seems to tell us that it needs a computer better than NASA's, just to run FSX. 

[13ifs40 5]

good evening

 

  so now I am all confused

 

 

So are you folks telling me that I could get by ok using the following?

 

 

Specs:
- NVIDIA GTX 770 2GB
- Intel Core i5 4670K CPU
- 8GB 1600MHz Memory
- Corsair H60 Liquid Cooling
- 120GB Corsair Neutron GTX SSD
- 1TB 7200RPM HDD
- ASUS Z87 Chipset Motherboard
- 600W Corsair CX Power Supply
- DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW
- Microsoft Windows 7

 

 

please free free to chime in on this

 

thanks

Ian Snow

 

[SAAB340 28]

Memory ... comes in last I believe ... simply because I'm ignorant about its true participation in the equation.

 

CT

The CPU and the RAM work very close together. They are both important. Faster, lower latency RAM give a small improvement. Pay a little bit extra for better RAM, it's worth it. But don't pay a lot extra for a small latency or speed improvement.

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/412163-the-impact-of-different-ram-speeds-and-timings-in-fsx

[snowingairlines 20]

 

 

pecs:
- NVIDIA GTX 770 2GB
- Intel Core i5 4670K CPU
- 8GB 1600MHz Memory
- Corsair H60 Liquid Cooling
- 120GB Corsair Neutron GTX SSD
- 1TB 7200RPM HDD
- ASUS Z87 Chipset Motherboard
- 600W Corsair CX Power Supply
- DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW
- Microsoft Windows 7

That would work quite well, but you might want another 250gb SSD for FSX. It will give faster loading times.

[CTBlankenship 36]

I agree with upping the SSD to 250GB ... I've almost got all of my MSFX stuff and my MS software development stuff on it and I have 156G left ... this is enough to grow over time.  You would be limiting yourself if you keep that 120GB SSD.

 

I bought DDR3 2400 ... didn't want to overclock memory ... just fast enough running with the XMP to get the job done ... timing is 10-12-12-32 ... good enough for government work.

[13ifs40 5]

good morning

 

 

 Ok so I should add this

 

1x (240GB Solid State (By: Corsair) (Model: Neutron GTX Series) (SATA 6Gbps)

 

in place of this

 

120GB Corsair Neutron GTX SSD

 

and I should be able to do well?

 

 

thanks

 

Ian Snow

 

 

[Boomer 1,619]

Trouble with pre-built from an online place, no matter how reliable, is (a) shipping is too high and (b) returns are a major PITA.

[snowingairlines 20]

 

 

1x (240GB Solid State (By: Corsair) (Model: Neutron GTX Series) (SATA 6Gbps)
 
in place of this
 
120GB Corsair Neutron GTX SSD
 
and I should be able to do well?

That will help a lot for space, since you only want to use u 80% of an SSD's available space.