PC Build for P3D v4

[ozflyer 2]

Hi All, I am embarking on a new PC build on and switching to P3D v4. I have been loyal to FSX all this time, my current specs are in my signature.

My build will be i7-7700k, OC to as close to 5GHz as possible on AIO water. Will be reusing my Kraken X61. MB ASUS ROG Maximus Hero IX.

Memory 16 GB G Skill 3600, 2x8GB.

Should I use my existing Sata3 SSD' s 60 GB each or go for NVMe M.2 Samsung Evo 960? Maybe 120GB.

Do I need to keep OS and P3D on separate drives or can they be on the same drive ?.Which is better performance wise?.

I will be using Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit.

As for capacity, I will only have PMDG 747 and 777, with GSX, multi crew experience and some sceneries, freeware mostly. Only have flytampa YSSY as payware, what capacity would I need ?. Don't want to buy more than I will ever use. My current 60GB, FSX drive, about 20 GB is free.

Thanks for any input/advice. Will be buying the stuff end of next week.

 

[OzWhitey 3,353]

60 GB is a tiny drive, go bigger. Even if you're not using it now, if you're going to invest in a great flightsim rig you don't want to be worrying about space all the time in the future.

My Orbx folder alone is 82 GB! Whilst you may not want to go Orbx-crazy like that, I think that'll you'll find 60Gb to be too limiting.

 

[ozflyer 2]

3 minutes ago, OzWhitey said:

60 GB is a tiny drive, go bigger. Even if you're not using it now, if you're going to invest in a great flightsim rig you don't want to be worrying about space all the time in the future.

My Orbx folder alone is 82 GB! Whilst you may not want to go Orbx-crazy like that, I think that'll you'll find 60Gb to be too limiting.

 

Thanks mate

With improvements in speed etc, do I still need two drives or have P3D and OS in one big 250GB or 500GB singledrive?

Do two drives provide better performance?.

 

[OzWhitey 3,353]

G'day cobber,

I don't think it makes much difference, however just in case when I built my sim computer I put the OS on a 250GB SSD, and the sim on its own 1TB SSD, and then use WD Black HDD for holding extra scenery.

[Orbitandy 17]

I have a similar setup with ozwhitey and would recommend using the M2 interface for both OS and P3D platforms if possible. HDD for data is good enough.

also recommend 32GB from the get go - I wanna chuck another set of 16GB on my system but can't find the exact DDR specs anymore.

..another thing, I've been a long time W7 user but found some issues creeping up as all associated programs for P3Dv4 evolve. Good experience with W10pro so far and generally snappier and smoother than W7 regarding file transfers and compatibilities. Still getting used to the interface though..

cheers

[swiesma 625]

I would go for 32 GB Ram and at LEAST 500 GB SSD...

[ozflyer 2]

11 hours ago, OzWhitey said:

G'day cobber,

I don't think it makes much difference, however just in case when I built my sim computer I put the OS on a 250GB SSD, and the sim on its own 1TB SSD, and then use WD Black HDD for holding extra scenery.

 Cool, it will be two separate drives then...

Cheers

[Wise87 1,281]

You need to up the memory to 32 and don't go cheap on the SSD storage. Also hope you don't plan on reusing Asus Strix GTX 970 4GB card on the new build. Your GPU will be your weak spot. Win7 is a bit dated also. Get a min of a 1060/70/80 for video. If you cheap out than there is no reason to do a new build. I just priced a new 7700K rig from scratch and I'm looking at just under $1200 and I already have 2 x 1TB Samsung 850 SSD and a EVGA 1080 FTW which is not included in the price listed above. 

[himmelhorse 1,276]

OZ Flyer,

Win7

One reason that I think you need to consider if you wish to retain Win7 is that I do not believe that it supports DirectX 10 or above whereas Win10 does.  I further believe that DX11 is default  V4 selection and gives slightly better performance I think.  I do not really know much about this aspect and somebody may be able to offer an expert opinion on it,  The end result is that Win10 may well be the better OS for a V4 dedicated Sim.

If I had the fiscal resources, I definitely would opt for the i7 7700K, 32GB (fast) ram, and a 1080ti (11GBDDR5) with appropriate cooling.  However, with (untested at this time)  AMD GPUs with 16gb HBM2 memory apparently being released  by the end of this month, it may well pay to wait just a little longer in order to maximize selection criteria. 

Good luck anyway matey

Regards to al as usual

Tony Chilcott

[Lenny777 299]

Nice MOBO. I have the same processor but I don't OC so I'm using Deep Cool for air cooling. I would get an m.2 ssd for windows pro 10 for some of the reasons noted above regarding dx 11 - make it 250 gb. Cheap enough.  No need for 32 gb now. I have 16 and it is great. No problem, though those two open slots keep staring me in the face, lol.I bought a dedicated conventional  HD for two of my favourite 64 bit flightsims - XP11 and PDv4. 3TB  WD Blue (127.00). The other drive I brought over from my previous computer (2 TB). I think you might be looking at upping the ante on your video card though.

 

 

i7-7700K 4.2 GHz,  ASRock H270 Pro4 LGA 1151, Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM, Zotac 1080Amp Extreme 8GB.

[W2DR 1,860]

14 hours ago, ozflyer said:

Thanks mate

With improvements in speed etc, do I still need two drives or have P3D and OS in one big 250GB or 500GB singledrive?

Do two drives provide better performance?.

 

With SSD's it makes no difference whether you have one drive or two. The performance will be exactly the same.....Doug

[ozflyer 2]

Thanks all for the feedback.

 

So to summarise...

RAM 16 GB OK, 32 GB better.

Definitely Win 10 as Win 7 does not support DX11 and I don't plan on going back to FSX.

GTX 1070 or 1080 depending on budget.

Single SSD M.2 NVMe 250GB.

Is that a go ?.

 

[Glynn 405]

4 minutes ago, ozflyer said:

Definitely Win 10 as Win 7 does not support DX11 and I don't plan on going back to FSX.

How did you arrive at that conclusion ?

Windows 7 supports DX11 how else are so many folks including myself running P3D on W7

[ozflyer 2]

24 minutes ago, Glynn said:

How did you arrive at that conclusion ?

Windows 7 supports DX11 how else are so many folks including myself running P3D on W7

Glynn - I saw on one of the posts Win 10 recommended for DX 11.

Also I though it will future proof if P3D goes DX12???.

Are you happy with DX11 performance in Win 7 64 bit ?.

[ozflyer 2]

Has anyone run P3D v4 on new AMD Ryzen 7 -  8 core ?.

I know FSX did not perform well on AMD CPU's, have not heard any reports on P3D.