FSX pc upgrade - will this work?

[captain2255 0]

Hi all

 

First of all, I have absolutely no knowledge of any PC Hardware technology. I want to upgrade my current pc to a high end FSX/P3D PC where I can run for example a PMDG 737 from FSDT KLAX to Flightbeam KSFO with AI Traffic and REX clouds and still have a performance of way over 20 fps. Will that even be realisitc? Well, I'll just post my plans first:

 

Current pc specs

CPU:              Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q9550 @ 2,83 GHZ (OC to 3,2)

Motherboard: No idea

RAM:             4GB

Graphics:      ATI Radeon HD 4770

HD:               1TB

PC itself:       I have air intakes at the front, one fan at the top and a fan at the back. both fans can be adjusted with a lever.

 

planned upgrade:

CPU:             Intel COre i7 4770K Box(LGA 1150, 3,5 GHZ Unlocked

Mainboard:    ASUS Z87-A ( LGA1150,Intel Z87,ATX) (is this the sockel for the processor?)

RAM:             Crucial ballistic Sport 2x 8gb,DDR3 ( I am aware of the 4gb limit)

power adapt: 600W Corsair Builder Series CX600 V3

SSD:              Samsung 840 Evo Basix(250gb)

 

So now I have so many Questions:

Is this enough for a top FSX pc?

Is there maybe something unesessary(because I maxed out my budget)?

Are these all components I need to update?

Do these components work together for FSX and P3d?

Do I need anything else in order to place them into my current PC shell?

Do I have to fear any physical space limitations of a pc shell?

 

Many thanks in advance for all recommendations and comments. I am really starting from zero knowledge here. 

 

Best Regards

 

Kevin

[captain2255 0]

I forgot the planned Graphics Card: Gainward GTX 760

[outofphaze 4]

Most of it looks fine. 

 

Personally, I woud go with a PSU that is a minimum of 700W, maybe a 750W. 

 

There are many nice 725 or 750 PSU's around for about 70ish bux. 

 

Your mobo will do just fine.

 

Do you know the specs of that RAM? Just make sure its 1600MHZ or better RAM, with CL9 timings.

 

Graphics card is ok, I had it for a couple of months. 

 

I did upgrade to a 770 after a while though, and see better performance, especially in P3D. 

 

I would advice to try and get a 4GB 770 if you have the budget, and if not, there are some nice 4gb 760s around as well.

 

You might want to get a 3rd party cooler to over clock a bit. Even a 30 dollar cooler master 212 evo will get you a decent over clock to start with!

[captain2255 0]

Many thanks for the advices.

 

Ok , I will look for a better PSU. Whats the impact if I have a to weak one?

 

In terms of graphics card: My budget would only allow a better one if I waive the SSD. I think an SSD is nice to have but not really necessary.

 

RAM: It says CAS Latency: 9, Chip: DDR3-1600. So I guess that would be what you said.

 

I fear that my knowledge to overclock to far is not good enough, I would destroy my pc and the entire neighbourhood. However, IF I decide to overclock, I could just insert the extra fan and thats all? Or does than fan replace another one?    

[outofphaze 4]

The impact of a better psu is to have more power.

 

This is essential when running high end graphics cards and overclocking.

 

Ram is fine.

 

You might be able to get a better video card and an ssd.

 

The nice thing about z87 boards is that it can accelerate your mechenical hdd with a ssd up to 64gb.

 

It's a bit the same as an apple fusion drive.

 

You can basically get a 60gb ssd for 50 dollars and accelerate your larger hd and get very nice perfermoce.

 

Just make sure to make at least 2 partitions on your hard disk and dedicate one just to fsx. This way, when you buy an ssd in the future, it will be very easy to transfer your fsx to the ssd.

 

Also, if you go with the acceleration option, make sure before you install windows to update your bios to the newest version, and then set your sata controller in the bios to RAID, so not dhci!

 

As for the fan, you would have to take out the fan that came with the CPU if it is already installed, and the new cooler would replace that one.

[captain2255 0]

Wow, many thanks for all this help!

Ok, So I think I am going to drop the SSD and buy the better Video Card instead. Also I would love to try to overclock. Is that possible with a software or is that just something for users who know what they are doing?

 

to Summarize:

 

RAM good

CPU good

Motherboard good

SSD - i will drop that (financial reasons)

Video Card: definitely a 4gb Card

Power supply: at least 700 W ( and build a nuclear plant next to my house haha)

Additional: the Evo Cooler Master in order to overclock.

 

2 Questions:

- How much heat does such a system generate, Last summer I remember having difficulties staying in my room when I did a flight.( we have no A/c s in our country. :unsure:)

- Is there a processor which is a little cheaper but has similiar performance? I think I chose one of the best here?

[outofphaze 4]

For your CPU: you could get a 4670K for about $100 less and you probably won't even onto the difference in performance. Especially if you overclock a little bit.

 

If you have some time and can wait, I would suggest to wait a couple of months. Intel has just announced a refresh for their haswell processors which should come out in the coming months. In that case you could get a 4690K for the same price, but it will be a little better on standard clock, and a lot better to overclock as they have addressed some heat problems with the current chips.

 

If you have a nice airflow in your case and a good CPU cooler, heat won't be a huge issue. But on warm days it will abviously still generate quite a bit of heat, as most computers will.

 

Overclocking is something that is best done in the bios and has become quite easy with the new uefi bios. You should however understand what you are doing and there is a lot of reading to do on it on the internet. At the very least you need to know about max voltage, which voltage to change, and what your temperature limits are.

 

It's not super hard, you just need to commit some time to it to understand it, and never just do something to see what happends, as you can wreck your mobo and CPU if you do it wrong.

 

There are some programs that will come with your asus board to overclock automatically, but results vary and in my experience it will always put the voltage higher than needed and not do a good test for stability.