I'm not very computer literate that's why I'm here seeking the advice from people who know. I want this computer for both Microsoft Flight Simulator Steam and PREPARED . My price range between $1,500.-$2,000. I have a ton of add-ons to make it as real as it gets. I have a WD 1tb External Hard Drive that I also use. Thanks in advance.  

Check out the Hardware forum a little further down from this one.. A lot of great guys who are happy to offer advice.

Cheers.

Edited July 7, 20187 yr by Garys

2 hours ago, Garys said:

Check out the Hardware forum a little further down from this one.. A lot of great guys who are happy to offer advice.

Cheers.

+ 2

Those guys don't tell  you to 'Search the forums; it has been posted 2,000 times."  ( Like over at a certain developer's website) 

Fun times

10 hours ago, jetsmell said:

I want this computer for both Microsoft Flight Simulator Steam and PREPARED

This would be a great system build towards the top end of your budget:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/QB3dFt

If you don't already have Windows you'd need to add that to it (less than $100).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0768M95WY/?coliid=I3ERFVHPS2HWHG&colid=1ZQ46OISOB2TJ&psc=0

I like this computer. I would like to know your opinion.

11 minutes ago, jetsmell said:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0768M95WY/?coliid=I3ERFVHPS2HWHG&colid=1ZQ46OISOB2TJ&psc=0

I like this computer. I would like to know your opinion.

I would never by a HP the motherboards are locked down so you cant overclock and you need at least 4.6 MHz  to run flight programs efficiently. That is a pass for me on this one. There is Jetline Systems but they start about $2500 but they are a real good company. Also Look at these guys they have some low price systems There $1800 one is okay. https://xforcepc.com/flight-simulation-systems 

 

Another suggestion - there is a Jetline computer for sale in the forum "Classified Ads|Want Ads|Swap Meet", that would work for you. If interested, take a look and see for yourself.

Lyn

3 hours ago, FreeBird(Josh) said:

Also Look at these guys they have some low price systems There $1800 one is okay. https://xforcepc.com/flight-

Yes, it's okay but it's nothing special. Just an i5-8600 with a single 500GB SSD and a GTX 1070 doesn't represent good value at that price.

2 hours ago, Mazo said:

there is a Jetline computer for sale in the forum "Classified Ads|Want Ads|Swap Meet", that would work for you.

If you're upgrading, why buy a CPU which is three generations old with a relatively low power GPU.

Building yourself is really not difficult and you get a much better system for your money as you're not limited to the components a manufacturer has to offer. If I was paying $2000, I wouldn't accept anything less than an i7-8700 with a GTX 1080. 

Nuthing wrong with the I5 and a 1070 combo .. .there's value to found.

Edited July 8, 20187 yr by FunknNasty

41 minutes ago, FunknNasty said:

Nuthing wrong with the I5 and a 1070 combo .. .there's value to found.

I agree with you in principle, just not for $1800 (the Xforce PC).

3 hours ago, vortex681 said:

I agree with you in principle, just not for $1800 (the Xforce PC).

Yeah .... If I read your recommendation twice before ''''quoting'''' you <-----pre edit),  I wouldn't have chimed in. Sorry man. :-)

7 hours ago, FunknNasty said:

Yeah .... If I read your recommendation twice before ''''quoting'''' you <-----pre edit),  I wouldn't have chimed in. Sorry man. 🙂

No problems!

The best rule of thumb is buy the best you can afford. If you can do it yourself you will save up to 50% on the cost over a pre maid. If option one wont work then I personally would save up a bit more money and future proof myself. Every time I have gone cheep especially on flightsim stuff I find I regret not getting what I really wanted. Flightsim is a whole different beast than most software programs and you need to give it as much juice as you can.  You must have a computer shop around your town and you can usually get them to do the build for you for a few hundred bucks.  What is nice about Jetline is they will install all your flightsim software and fine tune it for you so when your PC arrives your good to go.

On 7/8/2018 at 7:12 AM, FreeBird(Josh) said:

The best rule of thumb is buy the best you can afford. If you can do it yourself you will save up to 50% on the cost over a pre maid. If option one wont work then I personally would save up a bit more money and future proof myself. Every time I have gone cheep especially on flightsim stuff I find I regret not getting what I really wanted. Flightsim is a whole different beast than most software programs and you need to give it as much juice as you can.  You must have a computer shop around your town and you can usually get them to do the build for you for a few hundred bucks.  What is nice about Jetline is they will install all your flightsim software and fine tune it for you so when your PC arrives your good to go.

Buy nice or buy twice.  If I've learned anything as a consumer it is that.

@jetsmell you can indeed save money (and therefore get a better computer) by building it yourself.  It truly is not difficult.  Almost impossible to mess up at this point.  Watch a youtube video or two and you're good to go.  

As for what to buy, the rule of thumb for flight sim performance is that it is mostly bottlenecked by the performance of the CPU.  Therefore, there are 2 rules to follow:

1) buy the latest generation CPU (don't try to save a few dollars by getting a previous generation)

2) clock speed is king

Right now, the best choice for flight sim would be an Intel i7 8086k if you don't intend to overclock.  It's a bit more expensive than the i7 8700k but the extra price buys you higher turbo clock speeds right out of the box.  If you are comfortable overclocking, then either chip is fine.  5GHz is about average for these chips now and will give you quite the nice flight sim experience for years to come.

Beyond that, matching GPU to your display resolution is important but CPU performance is top priority.  If you intend to run a 4k display and the "TEXTURE_SIZE_EXP" tweak make sure you buy a card with at least 8GB of RAM (11-12 is ideal).  Again, go for the latest generation of hardware here.  A GTX 1080 Ti would be a good choice for this scenario.  If you're going to run the sim at a lower resolution the GPU RAM becomes almost a non-factor and then you can focus on sheer speed.  A GTX 1080/1070 Ti/1070 will be fine for resolutions lower than 4k.

Last tip: don't skimp on RAM speed.  Over the years it has become popular opinion to say that RAM speed doesn't matter and for older CPUs in many applications this was generally true.  However, newer CPUs love memory speed and it can add an extra 10% performance or more (especially to your minimum FPS).  If you can get DDR4 3200 or higher you should be good.  

Edited July 9, 20187 yr by TechguyMaxC

1 hour ago, TechguyMaxC said:

As for what to buy, the rule of thumb for flight sim performance is that it is mostly bottlenecked by the performance of the CPU.  Therefore, there are 2 rules to follow:

1) buy the latest generation CPU (don't try to save a few dollars by getting a previous generation)

2) clock speed is king

Right now, the best choice for flight sim would be an Intel i7 8086k if you don't intend to overclock.  It's a bit more expensive than the i7 8700k but the extra price buys you higher turbo clock speeds right out of the box.  If you are comfortable overclocking, then either chip is fine.  5GHz is about average for these chips now and will give you quite the nice flight sim experience for years to come.

Beyond that, matching GPU to your display resolution is important but CPU performance is top priority.  If you intend to run a 4k display and the "TEXTURE_SIZE_EXP" tweak make sure you buy a card with at least 8GB of RAM (11-12 is ideal).  Again, go for the latest generation of hardware here.  A GTX 1080 Ti would be a good choice for this scenario.  If you're going to run the sim at a lower resolution the GPU RAM becomes almost a non-factor and then you can focus on sheer speed.  A GTX 1080/1070 Ti/1070 will be fine for resolutions lower than 4k.

Last tip: don't skimp on RAM speed.  Over the years it has become popular opinion to say that RAM speed doesn't matter and for older CPUs in many applications this was generally true.  However, newer CPUs love memory speed and it can add an extra 10% performance or more (especially to your minimum FPS).  If you can get DDR4 3200 or higher you should be good.

QFT!

Edited July 9, 20187 yr by lownslo
Edit to bold the "Last tip"