Building New Fsx PC

[karlow17 15]

I am thinking of building a new fsx pc. I am wondering if I will get smooth performance and 25+ fps with this setup?

 

CPU: Intel core I5 3570 3.4ghz quad core

CPU cooler: Cooler master hyper 212 plus

Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155

Memory: Patriot viper 3 8GB (8x1) DDR3-1600

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5 " 7200RPM

Video Card: EVGA Geforce GTX 650 1GB

Powersupply EVGA 500W ATx12V

Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB

 

Oh and I am on a 700 dollar Budget and will be running ifly 737ng and FTX

 

Thanks

[Robert McDonald 167]

Your choice of video card is too low IMHO.  Should consider a GTX 770 if budget allows.  If all you will ever play is FSX, then a 1 or 2GB v-ram on your video card may prove enough.  If you envision a possible x-Plane 10 in 64-bits, 3GB or 4GB on the Video card is the recommended call, with 4 being substantially better than 3!

 

Recommended brands:

 

msi  (superior cooling design)

EVGA (united states based - 24 hr. real-english support - long time reputation)

 

On the hard disk, may I strongly suggest one of the new Seagate "Hybrid" hard disks?  These fine drives have a 64GB SSD (solid-state Nand) storage area combined with a spinning hard disk area, typically 1 or 2 Terrabytes.  For about $130 street, you can buy the 2TB Seagate Hybrid.  It will immediately yield an improvement in boot times, as it is designed to move the files you access most often to the SSD (solid-state) area of the drive.  

 

Power Supply is weak, I would suggest 650 Watt as minimum, 750 watt is better. Corsair makes a modular design which uses less area inside your case for about $80 (street) for the 750 watt model (CX750-M)  A bonus to the CX750-M is that it physically is small enough to replace the low-powered STANDARD power supplies from major companies like HP or DELL.  The big-dog power supplies typically won't 'fit' into the smaller mini-tower cases.  Similarly, the GTX 770 video card (available in 2GB -or- 4GB Vram configurations) is longer than stock video cards, but short enough to sneak into the typical happy-meal PC from the big vendors I mentioned. Of course if you're using a monster tower case, this is LESS of an issue!

 

Important:  VRAM on the video card cannot be added on or upgraded later... nowadays, what you buy to begin with, you're 'stuck with'.  So it's better to over-buy excess VRAM capacity, particularly if you want to maximize your video card's life cycle.  X-plane can use ALL the Vram you can afford, so if money is no object, go ahead with the GTX Titan which has a whopping 6 GB of Vram on the VIDEO CARD!

 

I strongly suggest you consider running X-Plane 10 over FSX.  X-Plane 10 is 64-bit (unlike P3D or FSX), and will fly in your new system, frames-wise.

 

If you are an avid FSX fan, I would recommend installing BOTH FSX and X-Plane 10 and ping-ponging back and forth as your whim dictates.  If you give X-Plane a chance, I believe you will get hooked.

 

Must adds for X-Plane

 

Skymaxx (weather)

HD Textures (free)

a wide array of very nice freeware airports available on x-plane.org

 

24GB of system ram is a ton.  If price is a concern, consider 16GB in lieu of 24.  Most of us 'assume' the path to better performance is system ram.

 

In X-Plane, its the ram on the VIDEO CARD not the mother board that really takes your performance and appearance (rendering) into the stratosphere.

Check my videos (see signature bar) to compare FSX versus X-Plane.  

 

Sadly, FSX can only address 4GB of system ram (because it is a 32-bit program that runs only on Windows).

 

Xplane can run on Windows, Linux, and Mac.  X-plane is more easily scalable, you can network x-Plane easily and run 3 or more PCs all powering a separate external aircraft view.  (see my triple-monitor videos for a demo).  The 180-degree Field of Vision available in X-Plane 10 is truly amazing.  With X-Plane you can start out with one monitor, and add more pieces over time.  That's why the video card vram choice is very important, as you add more monitors, your vram will be the limiting factor as you will need ALL of your monitors able to render at the same settings so your overall view on all monitors looks correct.  You can't run one "razor sharp high-resolution" monitor with 2 fuzzy wing monitors... (well, you CAN, but you won't love life).

 

So plan ahead NOW - BEFORE you buy.  Most vendors are VERY reluctant to take a mis-ordered video card back for refund (once you've opened the box).  Some absolutely won't issue a refund, but will only EXCHANGE for the same model.

 

Customer service wise, EVGA is king if you're in the usa (they are too).  EVGA sells extended warranty you might consider that if you're buying the high-end cards.  Overclocking your video card is risky business, msi models feature a very efficient "FROZR" design with cooling tubes and twin fans that in my mind is unbeatable.

 

GTX Titan of course is a reference design, and does not benefit from the individual cooling efforts of company A versus company B or C.  All Titans look the same, they all have the same cooling design.  So much of an issue, the GTX 690 card appears to have disappeared from the marketplace (my suspicion is because of overheating concerns).  The 690 had dual Keppler GPU chips with an on-card SLI-chip.  Never saw any real benefit with the 690 in FSX (most posters seem to concur).   The Titan, though, in X-Plane, has taken EVERYTHING you want to throw at it.  With 6GB of Vram, those with unlimited budgets, the call is triple Titans.  Again, that would be for X-Plane 10, -not- for FSX.

 

Best of luck on your upcoming build.

[turnandbank 243]

 

 

I am thinking of building a new fsx pc. I am wondering if I will get smooth performance and 25+ fps with this setup?

 

Depends on your sliders, AA settings and where you are flying.  In some situations and with reasonable settings I would say yes, but not everywhere and not with all settings.

[karlow17 15]

Ok. I am going to stay with fsx as I have a ton of addons for it and fly for a virtual airline that requires fsx. What do you recommend as the best fsx setup with a 700$-750$ budget. Would the setup posted give me 25+ fps with sliders medium to max?

[karlow17 15]

Would the AMD FX8350 be good for fsx as its stock clock speed is 4.2ghz?

[outofphaze 4]

I would not go the AMD route for FSX. 

 

The 3570 is a nice chip, but not a nice over clocker as it heats up quite fast. However, I did overlock one the other day with the same cooler you have on one of my friends systems and got it to 4.3, just to give u an idea of what to expect.

 

For the mono, I would personally go with an ASUS P8Z77-LE which is pretty much the same price as the one u selected. 

 

Instead of a GTX 650, presuming that is your budget, I would try to get a used GTX 570 on ebay or something. It will be much better.

 

I would personally but a PSU with higher power, it will be $30 more, but will be worth the trouble you safe in the future, because any graphics card better than a 650 will require more power, so unless you put in a nice psu now, you will have to do it when u replace your video card in the future. I would personally try to find a 725 of 750W PSU for a nice price somewhere. 

 

Storage is fine for now, just make sure to install FSX on a separate partition so you can easily transfer it to a SSD in the future if you buy one. 

 

Overall it would be an ok system, just don't expect too much out of it as it won't max anything out. 

 

One last thought (A personal one): Instead of a new 3570, but a 2600K chip, or a 2500K chip if you can't find or afford a 2600K on ebay. These will over clock much better than a 3570 IMO, and u might find a good deal on a used one somewhere. 

[karlow17 15]

Ok thanks everybody for there help. I think i will go with a intel I5 4670 and look for a better video card an psu.

[karlow17 15]

would a i5 4570 3.2ghz be any good? and I am not planning to overclock

[snowingairlines 20]

This is as close to your budget as I could get.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

 

CPU:  Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($189.99 @ Micro Center) 

CPU Cooler:  Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($29.99 @ NCIX US) 

Motherboard:  Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($152.99 @ NCIX US) 

Memory:  G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($64.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage:  Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.24 @ Amazon) 

Video Card:  EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card  ($239.99 @ NCIX US) 

Case:  Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($49.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply:  Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($64.99 @ Micro Center) 

Optical Drive:  LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer  ($14.99 @ Newegg) 

Operating System:  Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)  ($84.99 @ NCIX US) 

Total: $952.15

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-20 22:04 EDT-0400)

 

I know that it is to high, but I would wait and save up. Buying now and regretting doing so is going to be worse then spending more time waiting for you pc.