question Newbie here, starting a FSX build

[bladestrike 0]

Hi to everyone,

 

Let me introduce myself, I’m a 58 year old male who as a former

U.S. Army UH-1H/V Huey helicopter pilot, flew as pilot in command for the

1st Squadron 4th Cavalry D Troop Air and 82^nd Medical Detachment both out of Ft. Riley, Kansas. Years ago I remember flying my first flight sim on my IBM Intel 8088 computer. (That was way back) Also enjoyed FS 2002 flying the 737, Lear 45 and of course helicopters. Have been out of the flight sim world for sometime and now it’s time to get back into flying. I know much has changed over the years and I’m looking forward to enjoying what the new technology can give in the flight simulator experience.

 

Would I like to have a Jetmax cockpit, sure, who wouldn’t! Just don’t want to fly only one aircraft, I enjoy flying a little of everything. Seems like you spend many thousands of dollars and fly one aircraft or “build” a generic one yourself, (lots of plywood, time, tools and space I don’t have). I would like to see Jetmax produce a touch screen generic main instrument panel using one of their setups they now have, and be able to fly any aircraft. Just a dream of mine.

 

Hear are my plans for my build. Please, anyone who reads this and has a comment or suggestion please feel free to give it, that’s why I am here to do this right the first time.

 

My mission is to have a generic setup.

           

            Phase One: Will be three out the window TV’s, one computer and of course a yoke, pedals and throttle. I do have a 24” monitor not being used now and would like to use it as the 4^th instrument’s monitor. I’m thinking my hardware will allow me to run the 4^th monitor, if not I will fly a virtual cockpit, for now.

           

            Phase Two: A second computer for one or two instrument monitors and a third monitor for different views of the aircraft on the ground or in flight for situational awareness, or approach plates, etc. etc. etc. Also will pick up a helicopter control system, such as Cadet, Komodo or MaxFlightStick. Flying helicopters with joysticks just doesn’t do it for me.

And I want to do this just once! I do not want to buy something and find out it doesn’t work with something else.

 

I will have the computer custom built by a shop and will do the installs according to Nick’s bible. This computer will be for FSX and nothing else. Remember everything on this build is subject to change, so please give me your opinions.

 

COMPUTER:

 

Case:  Corsair Obsidian Series 750D Airflow Edition. (Will increase fans and install a fan control)

 

Motherboard: ASUS Maximus VII Hero Socket LGA 1150 (need recommendations! Do not want a bottlenecked motherboard)

 

CPU:  Intel Core i7 4790K (will be overclocked)

 

CPU Cooling:  Corsair H110 Liquid Cooling

 

Video Game Card:  ASUS GeForce GTX 980 Overclocked 4 GB GDDR5

 

RAM Memory:  8GB (4GBx2) DDR3/2400MHz Dual Memory with a timing specification of 9-11-11-31 (may be hard to find)

 

Power Supply: Corsair HXI Series 850W Fully Modular ATX Platinum Certified

 

SSD: 120GB Intel 530 Series SATA 6.0GB/s 2.5” (OS only)

 

SSD: 120GB Intel 530 Series SATA 6.0GB/s 2.5” (FSX only)

 

SSD: 120GB Intel 530 Series SATA 6.0GB/s 2.5” (FSX add on files)

            May need to be larger? (256GB)?

 

Optical Disc Drive: 24x SATA Internal DVD Drive

 

Illuminated Keyboard

 

Mouse or Track Ball

 

Speakers

 

 

SOFTWARE:

 

OS:  Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)

 

Simulator: FSX something? Help! Too many versions!

 

DX9? From what I’m reading DX10 is not worth the troubles.

 

Orbx, for realism at airports and flying helicopters close to the ground.

 

I was considering 32” to 40” TV’s for out the window. Really need to know what refresh rate (60 or 120) and what resolution to go with (1920x1200)? What works best for a three TV setup?

 

Also would like to know what table’s or desks work the best for my setup, I’m not going to build anything, don’t have the space for that.

 

It’s been a long time since I’ve done any simming, so if I seem somewhat naive on the subject, it’s because so much has changed. I am open to all suggestions and comments. Want to thank everyone who helps me get this built going.

 

[Jim Young 2,356]

Hi and welcome to AVSIM.  We have a hardware section here at AVSIM that you might want to checkout if you haven't already.  I think you will got answers to most of your questions there.  We have different forums for monitors, CPU's, joysticks and other controllers.  Discussions about 32" and 40" TV's occur frequently in the monitor forum.  I would not recommend it.  I just purchased a 34" Dell Monitor which gives me a lot of immersion.  Any refresh rate above 120 Hz will give you the option to use 3D such as NVidia's 3D Vision technology.  It will not work in lower refresh rates.  FSX, FSX-SE, P3D, and X-Plane all work well in 60Hz refresh rates.  I just saw BenQ released a 35" monitor with a 144Hz refresh rate.  The reason I bought my 34" Dell Monitor last month was because no one was released a large screen monitor abov 75Hz and I didn't think the technology would be released for a year or two.  I also bought it because manufacturers always release larger monitors with higher refresh rates right after I purchase a new monitor. :smile:  

 

The higher the resolution, the more resources it takes to render textures.  I have a GTX780 and it does well but I still cannot have max settings.  That's the problem you will run into with FSX and FSX-SE.  They are both have really old engines that cannot be updated as there is no one at Microsoft updating FSX.  FSX-SE is owned by Dovetail and they can do some minor mods but the license agreement with Microsoft does not allow anything major.  Dovetail has announced they are developing a new FlightSim.  FSX will still be around for some time.  X-Plane developers have reprogrammed their application as a 64 bit application.  That allows more virtual address space.  FSX/P3D/FSX-SE are 32 bit programs and are limited to 4GB's of virtual address space.  This limit is imposed by Windows.  If they could be converted to 64 bit applications, they would run faster and smoother with more virtual address space.  At least it would eliminate running out of memory which is very common with these programs if you have your settings set high.

 

The monitor forum has a pinned topic about three monitor setups.  I have never heard of 3 TV setups but suspect it is possible.  The only good thing about TV's (IMHO) is the fact they are much cheaper than large monitors.  Many members have three 24" monitors and some others 27" monitors.  Monitors below 30 inches are relatively cheap.  Again, multiple monitors will require a lot of resources.  Maybe two 27" monitors would be better.  I am not any expert on multiple monitors (or even single monitors) but these are things I have seen in forums here.

 

For your simulator I would consider using P3D instead of FSX or FSX-SE.  Lockheed Martin has techs who are developing this program.  It still uses the FSX engine though.  Lockheed is able to change some of the fsx program code though and they are talking about a conversion to 64 bit some day.  You should pick your sim with care though.  For instance, if you buy the PMDG 777 for FSX it will not work in P3D and you will have to buy the P3D version which costs just as much as the FSX version.  But, if you go to FSX, you should also get SP1 and SP2.  There's an addon called Acceleration but FSX, Acceleration, and FSX Gold (which contains FSX, SP1 and Acceleration) is extremely difficult to find another.  FSX-SE is downloadable and contains FSX, FSX SP1, and Acceleration. 

 

DX10 Preview with Steve's DX10 Fixer is the only way to go with FSX.  P3D uses DX11 technology and it will soon be upgraded to use DX12 technology.  DX10 Preview was released early and not fully developed but Microsoft was in a big hurry to get Acceleration out the door; otherwise it would not have been as buggy as it was when first released.  One of our members, SteveP who developed the DX10 Fixer fixed most of the bugs.  It is a proven fact that you can get a 10% increase in performance over DX9 but you have to know what you are doing as not all members are able to get this boost.  Many members use old textures they had in FS2K2 and FS2K4 and try to use them with DX10 technology and they not only lose performance but there are many other anomalies.  They have to use a payware program called Addon_Converter_X which converts old textures into DX10 format on the fly (not permanently but only during a flight session).

 

Again, browse our hardware forums and maybe ask some questions there.  Some others might provide additional information to your OP here but most of us hang out in the FSX, P3D, X-Plane, or Hardware Forums (and now the Windows 10 Forum!!!).

 

Welcome! 

 

Best regards,

[bladestrike 0]

Thank you Jim for the very informative reply. I have been digging in doing a lot of reading, this is a great forum. I'm sure I'll get it all sorted out.