Trans_27 Pilot Chase

I'm happy to have been of assistance.

Greg, I'll say this much.. Going from the 3820 to the 6700k was a jaw dropping experience for me. If you have any reservations as to whether or not it is worth the money, I can personally tell you that it is. P3D runs as smooth as silk for me. I typically see 60+ Frames Per Second on average and 40-50 while on the ground. 6700k @ 4.5 Gigabyte Z170 Gaming 7 16GB DDR4 2800 2x 250GB Samsung 850 Evo's. (one for W10 and one for P3D) 1TB WD Blue Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 850w Evga Platinum.

650 is the minimum that I would personally go for, 750 or 850 being preferred. I originally went for a rm750 when I built my new system last month. A day later, newegg ran a sale on the EVGA 850W Platinum for 115 and I snatched it up. I have a very efficient PSU that has more than enough power now and later if I decide to go to an SLI set up and it also carries a 10 year warranty. The Rm750 was a good psu for the few days that I had it and was dead silent, as is my EVGA. Both get my vote.

Get a GPU. See the post above mine written by Martin for the explanation. If you're going to build yourself a decent computer, there is no reason not to get yourself a GPU. If money is a factor, get something on the low end to hold you over for a while.

x2 I went for the Gigabyte Gaming 7. Great board, but I wish I would have gone with this Asus board. It would do everything I want it to AND would have saved me some money.

I sat on the sidelines until about 2 months ago and I haven't looked back. All I have is REX4 with soft clouds, ASN, Orbx Global and Vector, Aerosofts 320/32 and as of two nights ago, the Phenom 300. I've been a perfectly happy camper and I haven't looked back.. Welcome to the club.

Personally, I'd go with the 6600k. You'll be able to upgrade later if you choose to do so and Skylake comes with a plethora of upgrades and changes.

Paul, I'm itching to buy it. $135 is just a big pill to swallow. I bought the Aerosoft A320/321 2 months ago just to take a break from Boeing and learn something else for a change. I've spent 95% of my time flying Boeing aircraft since PMDG released the 737 for FS9. I'm as curious as you are though. I'll be picking up the 777 and 737 within the next week, I just have figure out how to accept spending over $200 on something that I already had.

I picked up everything because of the black friday sales. I already had my GTX 970 and the two SSD's. Mobo: 189.99 CPU: 359.99 RAM: 109.99 HDD: 39.99 Windows 10 USB: 119.99 Corsair H100i GTX: 109.99 Wireless Card: 19.99 Tower: 124.99 PSU: 114.99 $1189.91 Total. I decided to use my GTX 970 that I already had. It's still a very good card and I've only had it 11 or 12 months. You can pick them up now for around 300. Originally, I was planning on going with the i5-6600k due to the price increases over the last 4 or so weeks, and they've also become increasingly more difficult to find. Newegg wanted 420 and Amazon now wants 490. I found one at my local Micro Center for 360 and decided to go for it. You can build a similar system using the 6600k and GTX 970 from newegg for just under 1400. You could save a few bucks by going to a lesser expensive motherboard. I spent more than I needed on a motherboard and I'll probably never see a difference between this one and something that I could have picked up for $50 less.The Asus Z170-A, MSI Gaming 5 and Gigabyte Gaming 5 would fit the bill just fine. I forgot to mention that there is about $60 or $70 in mail in rebates that I need to send in.

I just built a new system a few days ago. i7-6600k OC'd @ 4.5 Gigabyte Z170 Gaming 7 16GB DDR4 2800 x2 Samsung 850 Evo 250GB SSD's 1TB WD Blue Gigabyte GTX 970 Gaming G1 Corsair H100i GTX Corsair RM750i PSU (changing it to an EVGA 850W Platinum as soon as UPS gets here) I wouldn't consider what I have as a super computer, but it's no slouch. I'm coming from a 3 year old Alienware Aurora R4 that had an i7-3820 OC'd at 4.2, the 970 I'm currently using and the 2 Samsungs. I've been pleasantly surprised with this system. Even though there is only an 300 MHz increase in speed, this system smokes my alienware. I believe that there is much more to a CPU than just clock speed. I'm still playing with my settings in P3D v3, but I was able to consistently pull 50-60 frames last night using the Aerosoft A321 from Atlanta to Dallas. I use ASN, REX4 w/ Soft Clouds, Orbx Global and Vector. I haven't even touched my CFG or tweaked and most settings were at max or close to it. It was a silky smooth experience with no stutters. The lowest I saw my frames last night was around 30 while on approach, but I was getting 50+ for 90-95% of the time with the lock set at 60. Still haven't set it to unlimited to see what I can do in a default aircraft.

I have a similar system that I've upgraded with (2) 250 gig Samsung 850 EVO's and I love them. My system boots in about 20 seconds and is pretty snappy, but in sim performance didn't change. I'd STRONGLY recommend a clean install. Move everything you need to backup or save to an external drive, add in the new SSD and use the old drive for storage. I've seen some migrate to an SSD with success and I've seen others who didn't have such luck. Honestly, I'd just save myself the headache and do a clean install. For what it's worth, I upgraded to a Gigabyte GTX970 last year and the card has been great. As far as ram goes, I don't think you'd see a big difference if you upgraded. 8GB is still plentiful and the chances are that even faster ram wont yield much of a difference.

Black November got the best of me.. After watching prices and deals, I finally placed my order tonight. I originally was planning the 6700k but I've watched the prices rise over $100 in the last month. I picked up a 6600k/mobo combo for 425 compared to $420 for the 6700k alone. i5-6600k Gigabyte Z170 Gaming 7 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3000 2x Samsung 850 EVO 250GB (2 months old, in my current system and will be moved to the new build) Western Digital Blue 1TB HDD Corsair Hydro H100i GTX Gigabyte Windforce GTX 970 (1 year old, in my current system) Corsair RM850x PSU Windows 10 All of these parts are going to be wrapped up in a Corsair Obisidian 750D Tower. I'm tossing around the idea of going to an SLI setup. I primarily run P3D v3 and a few games with it. This will be replacing my 3 year old Alienware Aurora with an i7-3820.

Personally, I'd go with intel. They're also the preferred chip these days. I had an AMD/ATI system about 10 years ago that ran very well, but everything I have read in the last 5 or so years leads me to believe that intel is superior. I purchased a system tonight using the i5-6600k.

I'd go with option 2 if it were me. Overclocking shouldn't be difficult assuming that it has a decent cooler.

Personally, I think the 970 is perfectly fine. I run one myself so I might be a little biased but they also overclock very well and are able to nip at the heels of the 980. Faster RAM would be an option but probably won't yield a big difference. If you're willing to upgrade the CPU, Skylake would possibly give you the increase in performance that you're looking for. Your clock speed is there but I think Martin is right, it's about efficiency as well. But the problem with this route is that you're looking at a whole new build. So me and you are in the same boat.. There's only so many things we can do to our current systems to upgrade them. I upgraded to a 970 last year and recently purchased two Samsung SSD Drives that will make their way into my new system when I decide to pull the trigger. For me, I'm planning on: i7-6700k 16GB DDR4 2x Samsung 250GB EVO 850 (currently own) Mechanical HDD for Storage Gigabyte 970 G1 (possibly a 2nd one in SLI) Gigabyte Gaming 7 Z170 Board

What these guys said.. I stuck with the 660 that shipped with my system from Alienware for two years and it served me well. I upgraded last year to the Gigabyte G1 Gaming version of the 970 and have been completely impressed. The card shines in more modern games like battlefield, but is still fantastic in the sim. It also overclocks to near 980 speeds and keeps the temps low. I'm planning a new build right now while I slowly but surely move to P3D. When I build, I'll be picking up a second card Gigabyte and running them in SLI.

I hate to be THAT guy, but have you considered building? I have always been intimidated by the idea of building my own system, but after shopping parts and watching some how-to videos, I can say that I will definitely be building my next computer. After watching enough short videos and seeing how simple it is, I'm actually excited about it. Remember that FSX is written with old code and CPU clock speed is key here. I'd be looking at the 4790k or the 6700k. Out of the box they're clocked at 4.0 and they overclock well with good cooling. I'm looking at the 6700k with intent on overclocking to 4.5 using liquid cooling. Another option is an unlocked (k series) i5. They overclock well, but they're also clocked lower out of the box. GPU wise, I think you'd be fine with a GTX 960. The system I currently have shipped with a 660 and that was several years ago. The 660 served me very well. I upgraded last year to the 970 and have no complaints. I saw a small bump in performance in the sim, but not as much as I expected. It's awesome in other games that actually can use it to it's full potential. SSD's are great. I recently installed two 850 Evo's and they're great. One holds OS and the other holds my sim. My system boots in about 25 seconds. FSX also loads pretty quick, but once you're in the sim, you wont notice a difference. Here is one of the combo's I'm considering. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YzTkNG I'll be using my two SSD drives that are currently in my system as well as my Gigabyte GTX 970. I'm tossing around the idea of running to 970's in SLI since P3D takes advantage of SLI now. My word of advice is if you go the DIY route, get one of the new Skylake processors. This will put you on the Z170 motherboards so you'd be able to upgrade your CPU for the next few years if you decided to do so. My next system will have to last me 4 or 5 years. I'm tired of buying new every 2-3 years, so I'm making sure that I can upgrade everything when the time comes until it's time for my next build.

I'll check my nvidia inspector settings. After reformatting, I've had nothing but performance issues. Where I once would lock at 30 frames while on the ground, I now only manage low to mid teens. The last couple of months has been very annoying. For what it's worth, I use the in game frame counter and run in DX9. I'm currently planning a new build. I'm stuck between the 4790k or jumping on the Skylake bandwagon but regardless of what I choose, this hopefully won't be an issue much longer.

Going from full screen to windowed mode more than doubles my frames mid flight in the virtual cockpit. Is this just one of those FSX-isms? I can't stand windowed mode, but I have been having performance issues since reformatting my computer. Does anyone knows of a tweak that will enable me to get this performance in full screen? I've tweaked my CFG per the AVSIM guide.

Sorry for the late response, Gents. A ton of things came up for work last week. I checked my startup programs and have less than 10 that boot. The ones that boot are for my sound card, video card and a MS service. Video card is also in the same slot that it has always been in. I'm tossing around the idea of moving to P3D v3 and also building a new system. This one is going on three years old. I recently updatec the BIOS Firmware and after, lost my ability to manually change my CPU Speed. I'm now limited to Stock, Overclock level 1 and level 2... Thanks Dell.

About a month ago, I reformatted my computer and installed 2 new SSDs. One for the OS and one for FSX. Ever since reformatting and installing the new drives, my frames on the ground have been horrible until I reach a higher altitude. I know this might make sense, but I have never had a performance issue with my system. I have always stayed locked at 30 unless I'm pulling through multiple layers of clouds. A clean Windows 7 install was performed without any issues. On the ground, I'm averaging in the low teens as to where I was locked at 30 before. FSX has been tweaked using the AVSIM guide and all sliders are where they were before. Anyone have a direction that they can point me in to get this issue corrected? I use the PMDG 737 and 777, A320/321, REX4 and Soft Clouds and Orbx Global with Vector. Alienware Aurora i7-3820 @ 4.2 8GB Ram 2x 250GB Samsung Evo. GTX970

Thanks to both of you. I created the USB with the W10 install this afternoon, so now all I should have to do is boot from that USB and install on the new SSD, correct?

Here's my question: I ordered two new SSD's this evening. I currently run Windows 7 and FSX from a 500GB Hybrid drive with a 1TB as my secondary drive. Last week, I installed the upgrade to Windows 10 and reverted back to W7 after having some issues with FSX. I blame all of this due to not doing a clean install. Since I activated Windows 10, has my computer already registered with MS as having an active W10 key even though I reverted back? I'm under the impression that there is a code on my motherboard that was recognized and saved by microsoft in the event that I need to reinstall on a new drive. I've been searching the web but haven't found a direct answer. My thinking is that I can create a W10 USB using the Media Creation Tool available from Microsoft. After completing this, I can replace my 500GB Primary drive with the new SSD, install my 2nd SSD and format my two drives that I currently have and move them into the 3rd and 4th bays. I'm just trying to make sure that I can install the W10 upgrade on a new drive in my current computer.

Mike, CONGRATS! I'm excited for you! Can't wait to see the finished product.

Kyle, Can you please post the link to this? I just looked, but didn't see the pinned post that you're referring to. Not sure if I'm looking in the right place or not, but I looked in the 737 forum as well as the General section of the PMDG forum. Thanks, EDIT: Disregard... It performs as designed when you ensure that there is precipitation around. :rolleyes: