Building my dream FSX machine

[G-BANX 1]

Hi All,

 

I'm trying to build my dream gaming machine to run flight simulator x and occasionally other games that aren't really intense such as sim city

 

I really want to run add ons, such as PMDG, ORBX, CARENADO, UK2000, REX TEXTURES DIRECT, ACTIVE SKY NEXT with glorious frames and smoothness

 

I've never built a system before and this is my first and probably last due to financial family commitments so I need to get it right. I've discussed this list with a friend but he doesn't play FSX so I really need some advanced input from the experts of system building and FSX

 

I have a budget of £1500. So far we've come up with this:

 

--

Intel Core i7 4790K 4GHz Socket 1150 8MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor

Intel Core i7 4790K

Intel Socket 1150

4GHz Core Frequency

Retail Boxed Processor

http://www.ebuyer.com/645546-intel-core-i7-4790k-4ghz-socket-1150-8mb-l3-cache-retail-boxed-bx80646i74790k

I really want to overclock this to 4.4ghz, is this ok/doable/safe

 

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Asrock Z97 Extreme4 Socket 1150 VGA DVI HDMI DisplayPort 7.1 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard

Intel Z97 Chipset

Intel Socket 1150

ATX Form Factor

http://www.ebuyer.com/643685-asrock-z97-extreme4-socket-1150-vga-dvi-hdmi-displayport-7-1-channel-audio-z97-extreme4

 

Is this board sufficient? My understanding of mobo's isn't great, all I know is I need 12 USB ports minimum. Can I overclook to what I want and is doing so user friendly

 

--

Arctic Cooling Freezer I11 Compact Performance Cpu Cooler

Fan Speed: 500 - 2,000 RPM (Controlled by PWM)

Airflow: 74 CFM / 125.7 m³/h

Noise Level: 0.3 Sone

Current / Voltage: 0.16 A / +12V DC

http://www.ebuyer.com/620631-arctic-cooling-freezer-i11-compact-performance-cpu-cooler-ucaco-fi11001-csa01

Wow this an important bit of kit and I have no idea if this is man enough for the job?

 

--

Corsair CX850M Semi Modular 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply

Up to 85% energy efficiency means less heat generation and lower energy bills...

0.99 Active Power Factor Correction provides clean and reliable power

Universal AC input from 90-264V

http://www.ebuyer.com/669243-corsair-cx850m-semi-modular-80-plus-bronze-power-supply-cp-9020099-uk

My friend suggested that this would be a good psu for the money, I do want semi modular

 

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Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-03 Red LED Mid-Tower Gaming Case

Cable routing and CPU cooler backplate motherboard cutouts

Seven PCIe slots with room for long graphics cards up to 426mm long

HxWxD(mm) 426 x 215 x 493

http://www.ebuyer.com/632835-corsair-carbide-series-spec-03-red-led-mid-tower-gaming-case-cc-9011052-ww

I'm not one to care how a case looks, it's all about practicality and ventilation.. His seemed to tick those boxes, if anyone can suggest better please do

 

**ALSO, extra ventilation for the case**

 

Corsair AF120 LED Red Quiet Edition High Airflow 120mm Fan Twin Pack

AF120 Quiet Edition LED

Dimensions 120mm x 25mm

Operating Voltage 7V - 12V

 

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MSI GTX 970 GAMING Twin Frozr V 4GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 GPU

MSI Twin Frozr V Edition

4GB GDDR5 Memory

PCI-Express Interface

http://www.ebuyer.com/663848-msi-gtx-970-gaming-twin-frozr-v-4gb-gddr5-dual-dvi-hdmi-gtx-970-gaming-4g

No particular reason I selected this GPU other than it seemed good for the money.. However it does only have 1xhdmi output which is annoying as I can't upgrade to dual monitor in the future. Can anyone suggest better or equal ? Also should I be looking at PCI 3?

 

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RAM, where to begin, I have selected 3 possibilities.. They may all be rubbish so input highly needed

1)

Corsair 16GB DOMINATOR Platinum Memory Kit

2x 8GB Kit

DDR3 1866MHz

(9-10-9-27) 1.5V

Limited Lifetime Manufacturer Warranty

http://www.ebuyer.com/387430-corsair-16gb-dominator-platinum-memory-kit-cmd16gx3m2a1866c9

2 - my friend has this)

Corsair 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Vengeance LP Memory

2 x 8GB Kit

CL9 (9-9-9-24)

Limited Lifetime Manufacturer Warranty

http://www.ebuyer.com/413968-corsair-16gb-ddr3-1600mhz-vengeance-lp-memory-cml16gx3m2a1600c9

3)

Corsair 16GB DDR3 2133Mhz Vengeance Pro Kit

16GB (2x8GB Module)

2133MHz

PC3-17066

Timing: 11-11-11-27

DDR3

http://www.ebuyer.com/522981-corsair-16gb-ddr3-2133mhz-vengeance-pro-kit-cmy16gx3m2a2133c11

 

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Storage, I really am unsure what to do. I would love an SSD but my fsx hard drive is 400gb. Can anyone suggest anything here

 

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Optical drives, I have two spare in a drawer at home

 

 

 

Currently this seems to be well under budget thankfulLy. I've tried to be in depth and detailed as possible, this is probably my last gaming machine so really would appreciate as much input from all angles

 

 

Thanks in advance

Mark

[OneWhoKnocks53 51]

Arctic Cooling Freezer I11 Compact Performance Cpu Cooler

Fan Speed: 500 - 2,000 RPM (Controlled by PWM)

Airflow: 74 CFM / 125.7 m³/h

Noise Level: 0.3 Sone

Current / Voltage: 0.16 A / +12V DC

http://www.ebuyer.co...o-fi11001-csa01

Wow this an important bit of kit and I have no idea if this is man enough for the job?

 

This cooler probably won't hack it. That CPU really needs a 240mm water cooler to get its full potential. At stock speeds it might be OK, but its made for over clocking.

[ryanbatc 12,820]

Looks decent.  I'd pick RAM option #3 because I've heard the haswell's prefer faster memory.  I run 1866 on my "dated" i5 2500K.

 

Don't know much about the thermal properties of the 4790K (other than it's a excellent CPU for MSFS!)  Rhys probably has a better idea than me but how bout trying a Corsair wannabe liquid cooler?  H50 120mm lots of value on a budget:

(USA link sorry I'm lazy lol)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181010

 

Or if you can find the extra cash to splurge the H105 (240mm)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181060

 

SSD's are awesome... super fast load times.  But if you can't get a 500GB version (maybe $230-260 USD) for your sim just buy a 120GB for Windows and enjoy the immediate speed increase as your PC boots way faster and keep your FSX hard drive.

[zmak 331]

Or have a look at one of these, an SSD/HD Hybrid. 2TB for around $150 and superfast loading

 

http://www.seagate.com/as/en/internal-hard-drives/solid-state-hybrid/desktop-solid-state-hybrid-drive/

[G-BANX 1]

Thanks Gents

 

All of this has been most helpful.. I'll make some amendments and repost

[PieEater 10]

Another perspective would be that you wait until August and look at building your "Dream Machine" around the new Skylake CPU and associated DDR4 based platform which would according to leaked statistics give you a 15% boost on your proposed build plus allow the opportunity to upgrade your CPU at a later date using the same platform. A Haswell (4790K) build is a dead end as far as upgrades go, as your motherboard and memory will not be compatible with newer tech.

 

I seriously can't understand the fixation with AIO water coolers on these forums, statements such as "That CPU really needs a 240mm water cooler to get its full potential" are just wrong. There are plenty of benchmarks proving that top of the range air coolers costing less that AIO coolers perform just as well at cooling overclocked CPU's, are much quieter in normal use and have significantly fewer points of failure.

[Greggy_D 935]

 

 

I seriously can't understand the fixation with AIO water coolers on these forums, statements such as "That CPU really needs a 240mm water cooler to get its full potential" are just wrong. There are plenty of benchmarks proving that top of the range air coolers costing less that AIO coolers perform just as well at cooling overclocked CPU's, are much quieter in normal use and have significantly fewer points of failure.

 

 

Agreed.  I have my i5 2500k running stable at 4.8 Ghz on a lowly air-cooled Cooler Master Hyper 212.

[dtmicro 1]

1) CPU Speed

2) Video Card

3) Hard Drive and SSD's (though really only helps for load times)

99999) Everything else doesn't matter NEAR as much

 

Either wait for the next gen CPU to come out, or go with the 5820k instead and overclock it to 4+ GHZ over the i7-4790k. I own the i7-4790k and regret it after I realize all the other crap in the background running always using some percentage of half the cores (meaning things interfering with FSX CPU availability). I really wish I had 2 more cores (6 instead of 4), and besides the 5820k can be stablily overclocked to almost the same speed per core as the 4790k. I'd rather have 6 cores running at 4.2 - 4.5GHZ than 4 cores running at 4.5GHZ to 4.6GHZ.

 

I bought the 4790k because of the stock 4GHZ speed vs. the 5820k @ 3.3ghz stock, this kind of screams at you like wow the 5820k is only 3.3ghz, not even a contender, 6 cores or not. Yah well after a little research, basically it turns out Intel was WAY WAY too quick to set the default multiplier on the 4790k as a 4GHZ, as with stock cooling it basically will melt the CPU at 100% usage in many cases (depending on room temp and all that). The 5820k is basically a 3.8GHZ to 3.9GHZ CPU at stock cooling if the 4790k is 4GHZ, because the 5820k was a server cpu they rated it way lower than they should have. Both these CPU's easily overheat, so aftermarket cooling is an absolute necessity.

 

Don't waste your money on anything but the CPU and Video card, everything else is WAY WAY down the list.

 

Furthermore, it's just a better CPU with a better dual bus architecture, so that when doing file copies your Win machine across multiple drives, it won't be as slow. The speed of your memory will have virtually no effect on FSX speed with any modern memory. Buy the cheapest memory that the motherboard and chipset supports.

[vc10man 732]

I have a i5-4670K o/c'd to 4.2GHZ on the Noctua NH-D14(which was recommended in here last year or the year before) in an Antec 900/2 case with a 240mm top fan, plus 2 front-mounted 120mm.

 

Rock steady, and quiet too.

[Raven9000 272]

Another perspective would be that you wait until August and look at building your "Dream Machine" around the new Skylake CPU and associated DDR4 based platform which would according to leaked statistics give you a 15% boost on your proposed build plus allow the opportunity to upgrade your CPU at a later date using the same platform. A Haswell (4790K) build is a dead end as far as upgrades go, as your motherboard and memory will not be compatible with newer tech.

 

I seriously can't understand the fixation with AIO water coolers on these forums, statements such as "That CPU really needs a 240mm water cooler to get its full potential" are just wrong. There are plenty of benchmarks proving that top of the range air coolers costing less that AIO coolers perform just as well at cooling overclocked CPU's, are much quieter in normal use and have significantly fewer points of failure.

Sorry, but I respectfully disagree... Before spending 70-89 dollars in a "top of the line" air cooler that will simply put a huge fugly "brick" inside my case (not to mention needing slimmer ram that fits), I would rather spend 20-30 more which is insignificant and get a Corsair AIO one...

[Richard Sennett 2,499]

Sorry, but I respectfully disagree... Before spending 70-89 dollars in a "top of the line" air cooler that will simply put a huge fugly "brick" inside my case (not to mention needing slimmer ram that fits), I would rather spend 20-30 more which is insignificant and get a Corsair AIO one...

 

Exactly well said - I dont get it much easier to install also -good luck installing that brick

[dtmicro 1]

Either solution works, just have to watch the memory height on the Noctua. The Corsair's have high failure rates and you have to replace the stock fans in order to achieve same temps as Noctua. That said, most people will not get a failure, but it can happen, on the Noctua it's almost unheard of.

[OneWhoKnocks53 51]

I seriously can't understand the fixation with AIO water coolers on these forums, statements such as "That CPU really needs a 240mm water cooler to get its full potential"

 

That is correct, I suppose I'm just biased based on my own experience. Giant air coolers can indeed be just as good, but they are huge. My Nepton keeps things under 80c at 4.8, and its compact when you mount the radiator on the top of your case. Just my two cents, at the end of the day its a personal choice and one you must make based on the room you have available.

[zmak 331]

Just watched a you tube vid on the installation of a Hydro Series H110 280mm Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler .

 

I used to fear water coolers but amazing how compact they have become.

 

The vid is 5 minutes long and he installs it in that time period.. In she goes for my next build!

 

[Richard Sennett 2,499]

Just watched a you tube vid on the installation of a Hydro Series H110 280mm Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler .

 

Corsair hydro's are a beautiful thing - never had a problem with them - not understanding the high temps stated - sim full bore barley hits 50 degrees on cpu and my gpu doesn't exceed 32 degrees - for the money cant be beat - maybe my large Phantom case has something to do with it - but I'm not going to complain - corsair link software is wonky so I just disconnected the usb link cable and uninstalled link software - now just use asus aisuite III to control them - 4.6ghz on cpu and no OC on gpu - not needed nor does it yield anything worth messing your card up for 

 

Oh and they look great - fyi corsair link does allow you to change the lighting color on the corsair insignia on the pump face - but I like white but if you want to change it to something else the usb cable and software is needed to change the color

 

Use arctic silver - dont use that factory paste - when it squashes down almost metal to metal - useless - how do I know did a fresh install on my gpu with factory paste then removed it to see what it looked like - did not look pretty