Specs for new 'budget' FSX PC, suggestions for improvements?

[mikejr 0]

Hi all,

 

I am thinking of taking the plunge and upgrading massively to a proper gaming machine, let alone an FSX dedicated system; anything is a step up from my four-year old Dell 1545 Inspiron with Intel GMA Graphics and Pentium T4500 @ 2.3GHz!  :rolleyes:

 

Basically, whether or not it's a 'budget' system is up to you, but what I've come up with so far is about £650+ ($1020), minus the monitor and peripherals. 

 

It's based on: 

• i7 4GHz 4790K CPU
• 2GB Asus Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti GPU (bang for buck) 
• Corsair 8GB Vengeance DDR3 RAM
• The OS will be Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit installed on a dedicated 60GB SSD (Win 7 found for 30 odd quid!  )

 

Please check out my full specs/list of items, here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/registry/wishlist/29YX0GGP7YAON .

 

Bottom line: I'm looking for a system that consistently, efficiently and reliably runs FSX on high to max settings with a combination of complex addons (think PMDG, Captain Sim, UK2000/Aerosoft scenery, REX, GEX, UTX, WOAI/UT2 AI, etc. etc.) - to put a number on that - anything at or above 15FPS as a minimum will be silky smooth compared to what I've had to put up with to this point. The other bottom line is this really is at the limits of my budget, originally I was (and still am) dreaming about figures around £500 ($785), but really it should be no more than £650-ish ('ish' being conservative) otherwise it will frighten my wallet!

 

So far I've been told this should be more than adequate for many modern games, but what about the FSX experts? Is it worth making a bit more of a compromise or is this value for money bearing in mind universality, longevity and ultimately improvements of subsequent iterations of relatives of the original FSX?  

 

Any pointers in the right direction would be helpful - I'm hoping the wishlist won't require too much modification now - it's been around long enough!  ^_^ 

 

All and any help is much appreciated, guys. 

 

Thanks in advance!  :smile: 

[z06z33 763]

Hi all,

 

I am thinking of taking the plunge and upgrading massively to a proper gaming machine, let alone an FSX dedicated system; anything is a step up from my four-year old Dell 1545 Inspiron with Intel GMA Graphics and Pentium T4500 @ 2.3GHz!  :rolleyes:

 

Basically, whether or not it's a 'budget' system is up to you, but what I've come up with so far is about £650+ ($1020), minus the monitor and peripherals. 

 

It's based on: 

• i7 4GHz 4790K CPU
• 2GB Asus Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti GPU (bang for buck) 
• Corsair 8GB Vengeance DDR3 RAM
• The OS will be Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit installed on a dedicated 60GB SSD (Win 7 found for 30 odd quid!  )

 

Please check out my full specs/list of items, here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/registry/wishlist/29YX0GGP7YAON .

 

Bottom line: I'm looking for a system that consistently, efficiently and reliably runs FSX on high to max settings with a combination of complex addons (think PMDG, Captain Sim, UK2000/Aerosoft scenery, REX, GEX, UTX, WOAI/UT2 AI, etc. etc.) - to put a number on that - anything at or above 15FPS as a minimum will be silky smooth compared to what I've had to put up with to this point. The other bottom line is this really is at the limits of my budget, originally I was (and still am) dreaming about figures around £500 ($785), but really it should be no more than £650-ish ('ish' being conservative) otherwise it will frighten my wallet!

 

So far I've been told this should be more than adequate for many modern games, but what about the FSX experts? Is it worth making a bit more of a compromise or is this value for money bearing in mind universality, longevity and ultimately improvements of subsequent iterations of relatives of the original FSX?  

 

Any pointers in the right direction would be helpful - I'm hoping the wishlist won't require too much modification now - it's been around long enough!  ^_^ 

 

All and any help is much appreciated, guys. 

 

Thanks in advance!  :smile: 

If you can swing it get the GTX970 it's a lot better than the 750TI.  The I7-4790k is a great CPU but make sure you get a better cooler than the stock one as it will come close to overheating with the intel cooler!

As for FPS with the 4790k I get 30-40 FPS on the ground at payware airports(Flytampa flightbeam ect) In the PMDG 777's VC and once I'm in the air it goes above 60 in the VC and this is with most of the settings maxed out!

 

Just wondering what motherboard are you getting?

[Charlatan 68]

Ditto what above said.

 

Deffo pay the extra for a cheap 780 (if you can find one), or a 970, even if it means dropping the 4790k for an i5 4690k.  A 4790k with a 750 would be completely unbalanced.

[mikejr 0]

Thanks for the quick replies guys,

 

The GTX 780 is nowhere close to my budget, unless I just want to display it on the mantelpiece!  The 970 would really be just about manageable so long as I compromised on the CPU - but with all the debate over i5 and i7s, bearing P3D in mind, is it not plausible to stick with an i7 and compromise on the GPU with something just a little higher spec than the 750Ti, considering with FS the CPU is the killer? Of course, I know that the difference between some i5s and i7s is negligible and not even noticeable on a day-to-day basis...

 

Of course, it is important to consider that hopefully that setup would be adequate for COD 4, Counter Strike, etc. too?  :mellow:

 

At the end of the day this really is a (admittedly bronze-plated) budget system and anything is better than what I have and an upgrade in a year or two would improve things once I get used to and bored with whatever I have to begin with. 

 

Is there anything you'd recommend with an i7 between the 750Ti and 970, or would a compromise on the i7 for the i5 4690K see me still getting the performance we can all normally be happy with, and for at least another two years with other games?

 

Just wondering what motherboard are you getting?

 

The motherboard is a Gigabyte B85M-HD3 Motherboard mATX - I need to bear space in mind here too. Check out my wishlist: http://www.amazon.co.uk/registry/wishlist/29YX0GGP7YAON for full specs.

[z06z33 763]

Thanks for the quick replies guys,

 

The GTX 780 is nowhere close to my budget, unless I just want to display it on the mantelpiece!  The 970 would really be just about manageable so long as I compromised on the CPU - but with all the debate over i5 and i7s, bearing P3D in mind, is it not plausible to stick with an i7 and compromise on the GPU with something just a little higher spec than the 750Ti, considering with FS the CPU is the killer? Of course, I know that the difference between some i5s and i7s is negligible and not even noticeable on a day-to-day basis...

 

Of course, it is important to consider that hopefully that setup would be adequate for COD 4, Counter Strike, etc. too?  :mellow:

 

At the end of the day this really is a (admittedly bronze-plated) budget system and anything is better than what I have and an upgrade in a year or two would improve things once I get used to and bored with whatever I have to begin with. 

 

Is there anything you'd recommend with an i7 between the 750Ti and 970, or would a compromise on the i7 for the i5 4690K see me still getting the performance we can all normally be happy with, and for at least another two years with other games?

 

 

The motherboard is a Gigabyte B85M-HD3 Motherboard mATX - I need to bear space in mind here too. Check out my wishlist: http://www.amazon.co.uk/registry/wishlist/29YX0GGP7YAON for full specs.

That ram you have is pretty expensive for 1600mhz I paid $70USD about  ($44 pounds) for 1866mhz. Look into Gskill ram its good quality and is cheaper than corsair. 

Also I think the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO cooler is better I have one and it keeps my AMD rig nice and cool. If you notice the heat transfer plate on the Hyper TX3 isn't smooth and not all copper which may cause heat issues. As for prices Amazon is kinda high see if you can find a store like Newegg.com in the UK as they have sales and such I built my entire i7-4790k for under $1400 usd ($900 pounds) and that includes the cost of the GTX980 and liquid cooler for the CPU

[Anderscn 0]

I would rather get the i5 4690k, then use the difference up to the 4790k on a 780 or 970, and definately a z97 MB. I agree that a 4790k with a 750 is totally unbalanced. Why not save up a little more? Remember, in the long run it is expensive to save money in the first place.

BR

Anders

[gizmosellsbunnys 106]

Rather have i7 4790k as fsx is 75% CPU and 25% GPU. The fact of I7 4790k 4.0 at factory stock is 10% more than 3.6 i5 4690k. If it turbo at 4.2 and 4.4 in fsx it means really don't need to over-clock it. A 970 or 760 would work fine without doing nothing.

[mikejr 0]

Thanks for the tips guys.

 

Following on, and particularly with gizmosellsbunnys suggestions I've used UK pcpartpicker and come up with this: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/mikejr/saved/TZWKHx

 

This is well over budget (and with the monitor and OS to come I'm estimating another £100+) but I've accepted I'm probably not going to get what I want for the money and it's probably a worth-while investment, so long as I spend and save wisely! Think my credit card may have to take some of the hit...  -_-

 

What do you think? Will I be flying around Heathrow in fog and rain with busy Christmas traffic in a silky smooth Aerosoft A320 cockpit? Considering improvements with P3D and other potential FSX successors, could it do that (and compete with some of the newest games too) for at least two to three years?  :Praying:

 

 

[Charlatan 68]

Looks mostly ok, however I'd swap the RAM for http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-055-TG&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1387

 

I would also swap the motherboard for http://www.ebuyer.com/642653-gigabyte-ga-z97p-d3-socket-1150-hdmi-8-channel-audio-atx-motherboard-ga-z97p-d3 but that is simply down to personal preference, as I prefer Gigabyte boards to any other

[mikejr 0]

Looks mostly ok, however I'd swap the RAM for http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-055-TG&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1387

 

I would also swap the motherboard for http://www.ebuyer.com/642653-gigabyte-ga-z97p-d3-socket-1150-hdmi-8-channel-audio-atx-motherboard-ga-z97p-d3 but that is simply down to personal preference, as I prefer Gigabyte boards to any other

 

Hi Charlatan,

 

Thanks for the advice. If I change the RAM to your preferred choice pcpartpicker mentions something about incompatibility with regard to the 2666MHz RAM speed being restricted by the motherboard, would this be removed with the Gigabyte board?

[Charlatan 68]

Don't know about any issues on the Gigabyte, am using Team 2666 RAM here on my Gigabyte D3HP, so wouldn't think there would be any issue with that Gigabyte board

[mikejr 0]

Okay! I'll do a little more tweaking! 

 

Anyone know where I can grab a monitor for cheap, would like to avoid spending nearly 100 quid on it! Might have to resort to old eBay...  :unsure:

[Anderscn 0]

I would still not consider anything less than a gtx770 with that CPU. Especially in EGLL heavily clouded! What size monitor do you have in mind?But never mind, we all have different requirements in terms of image quality.

Another thing is the PSU - 430 watt. Appears a little weak..

BR

Anders

[mikejr 0]

I would still not consider anything less than a gtx770 with that CPU. Especially in EGLL heavily clouded! What size monitor do you have in mind?But never mind, we all have different requirements in terms of image quality.

Another thing is the PSU - 430 watt. Appears a little weak..

BR

Anders

 

Ok... I took the plunge! 

 

This morning the i7 4790k was on offer from Aria and I couldn't resist that £25-odd saving...

 

I've also gone for the Z97M mATX mobo and yes, after some deliberation, I will be buying the GTX770 in the near future.  ^_^

 

Check out my updated specs: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/mikejr/saved/TZWKHx

 

I decided it really is worth investing in a decent machine, especially if I want longevity... even if it is nearly £300+ over budget!  :blink:

 

Coming soon to a busy, wet and foggy but silky and smooth FSX sky near you!  :Praying:

[mikejr 0]

EDIT: I've gone for the GTX 970, as it seems to be at a really great price here: http://www.ebuyer.com/663452-zotac-gtx-970-4gb-gddr5-dual-dvi-hdmi-displayport-pci-e-graphics-card-zt-90101-10p (pcpartpicker specs updated also). 

 

PS: i7 CPU arrived today! Without everything else its a very shiny, very small and very expensive slab of metal at the moment!  :rolleyes: