My 'Budget' build

[johnnycrockett 43]

Hi all,

 

Thought I would throw this up as a bit of info for anyone wanting to hear how a custom self built on a budget would go. I only had around $1000US to build a machine that would run FSX/P3D but be upgradable in the future. So with that in mind I tried to get parts I could upgrade without too much hassle.

 

The build'

Intel i7-7700k

CoolerMaster TX3 Evo cooler

Gigabyte Z270 Gaming K3 MB

Kingston Valueram 8gb 2400mhz

WD 1TB HDD

Thermaltake N23 case with built in 600w PSU.

 

I used an old keyboard, speakers and retired TV to save buying again.

 

I ordered all the parts and built it myself to save money. Haven't built one before but have played around with PC's and there are heaps of guides/videos etc. The hardest bit was mounting the thermal paste and cooler.

 

How did it go?

Well there is no graphics card yet, I plan to get one but the budget didn't allow at the moment. Surprisingly, I can run FSX without any trouble with high settings and comfortably get 25-30 FPS in PMDG/FSL aircraft at payware airports. Whilst we all hope for 30fps, I came from a 2.4ghz laptop which struggled in the teens on a good day so I'm happy with 25-30 as a base. The interesting thing with the 7700k is that it quite happily runs at 4.5ghz in turbo so I probably won't need to overclock it for the moment. P3D without addons struggles a bit around the 20fps but I'm assuming a graphics card will fix that rather than using the onboard one.

 

The only downside I've noticed is that I don't have AA because I don't have a dedicated graphics card. Intel HD does have AA but it doesn't do much. So I'm thinking I might get a basic 2gb GT710 for the short term so I have AA and then in a few months get a 1060/1070.

 

Hope this helps a few people, I've certainly been surprised with the result, more than happy.

[ryanbatc 12,770]

Wow I'm surprised onboard can do that well...

[johnnycrockett 43]

Yeah so am I! I wasn't really expecting much from it.

 

Not sure which GPU to get though. Can you get away with a 4gb 1050 or better a 6gb 1060?

[ryanbatc 12,770]

For FSX P3D at 1080P - no problem!

 

4K.... go to the GTX 1070.