Advice on new PC specs (HDD/RAM etc.) please...

[martinlest2 58]

In the end the higher spec system is going to be SO much more psychologically satisfying to use, and probably worth the extra couple of hundred pounds sterling if only for that reason! I am going to have to get a UPS as well though, which will add another £150+ for a 750W pure sinewave model! I could save that on the cheaper PC but hey, I guess in a few months I won't notice the difference to my bank balance any more!

 

Almost ready to order this:

 

CPU: Intel Core i7 4790K

CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i GT High Performance Liquid Cooler

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z97N-Wifi

RAM: 8GB Corsair 1866mhz Vengeance (2x4GB)

Hard Drives: 2 x Corsair 256GB LX SSD

Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB

Case: Cooler Master Elite 130

PSU: 600W Corsair CX

 

plus this:

 

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/products/19055-cyberpower-cp1300epfclcd-uk/

 

Look OK? :rolleyes:

 

I guess I can find a spare monitor at home!

 

This will of course replace my trusty but ageing FS9/FSX PC in the UK when I move back next Spring, so it's not just for travel...

 

M.

[Djang0 1]

 

 

Hard Drives: 2 x Corsair 256GB LX SSD

 

I think you will eat up that disk space pretty quickly with scenery, maybe consider a bigger SSD for the flightsim stuff or a 7200 drive - the WD Caviar Black would be my choice.

[martinlest2 58]

<p>Hi,</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Actually, I don't really want any HDD because of the ambient heat here in Sri Lanka. A total of c.500GBs will be fine - I back up onto an external hard drive. I need to call a halt somewhere to spending - the jump in cost from 250 to 500GB SSDs is pretty large..</p>

[Djang0 1]

 

 

Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB

 

Do you know what make the card will be?

[martinlest2 58]

No, that's all the information I have.

[martinlest2 58]

OK, this PC is on its way. (I bought a (pure sinewave) UPS to protect it too)...

 

CPU         Intel Core i7-4790k (4.0GHz) 8MB Cache

M/B          ASUS H97I-PLUS: Mini-ITX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
RAM        16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
GPU         4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 2 DVI, 1 HDMI, 1 DP
Hard Disks    2 x 500GB Samsung 850 EVO SSDs, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
Power Supply    CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET

 

FS9 should 'fly' with this. FSX should run pretty well too, I'd hope...

 

M.

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

That is great system.

 

When I got mine, the PSU was mounted with the fan facing down, which resulted in overheating

and fan noise..  After I turned it "fan up", it was totally happy :smile:

[martin-w 3,234]

That is great system.

 

When I got mine, the PSU was mounted with the fan facing down, which resulted in overheating

and fan noise..  After I turned it "fan up", it was totally happy :smile:

I've always been very dubious about this "PSU fan down" nonsense. Does depend on the enclosure vents though.

 

If someone inadvisably plants their enclosure on a carpet, worse still.

 

The worst for this is Lian Li. All you get is 45 degree canted vents plus a dust filter. Therefore minimal air passing through.

 

I always mount the PSU fan side up. From what you say Burt It's good that I do.

 

The air inside the case isn't warm enough to be any kind of an issue for the PSU, so god knows why case designers are doing this.

[DragonAsh 3]

Somewhat late to this thread, but thought I'd add my bit for future readers.

 

That's a nice system, great performance yet still good value. One option you might have considered is to just have one 500G SSD as your 'main' drive, and have the second drive be a 2TB regular hard drive for files, backups and such. Given the significantly higher cost, having an SSD as a backup drive is somewhat over-kill (unless you're accessing it in-program a ton), and 500GB really isn't all that big. Just a thought; if nothing else you can always take out of the SSDs and make it the main drive in your other PC.

 

Slightly more a concern for me is the power supply; 650W feels on the low side for the GTX 970 and that CPU. That's a great card, btw; great cost/performance ratio. It's the card I use in my main rig while I wait for the price of the Titan to come down to a level that doesn't require a second mortgage. Might want to double-check the recommended PSU for your card. Just as a quick check, based on a core i7 LGA 2011 CPU, standard desktop mobo, GTX 970, 4GB DDR3 x 2, 2 SSDs and no optical drive, newegg's power supply calculator recommends PSU wattage of at least 700W. 

 

Other than that, it's a nice system; you're going to love flying on it. Have fun!

[martin-w 3,234]

Amps on the 12 volt rail should be considered re PSU ss well.

 

I recall Corsair are single rail designs so should be okay.

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

Somewhat late to this thread, but thought I'd add my bit for future readers.

 

That's a nice system, great performance yet still good value. One option you might have considered is to just have one 500G SSD as your 'main' drive, and have the second drive be a 2TB regular hard drive for files, backups and such. Given the significantly higher cost, having an SSD as a backup drive is somewhat over-kill (unless you're accessing it in-program a ton), and 500GB really isn't all that big. Just a thought; if nothing else you can always take out of the SSDs and make it the main drive in your other PC.

 

 

Actually, the way I would run this, is to have the OS and associated stuff on the first SSD and use the second SSD for Flightsim exclusively.  That is both neat and tidy as well as providing good performance.

I would agree that adding a 2TB HDD for backups and data would be a good move.