Flight simmer

Yes we all know it's not supersonic when we consider airspeed, that's common knowledge. I'm trying to point out the movement of the aircraft relative to the ground. If there was 0 wind, those ground speeds would be supersonic.

752 knots, that is one insane jetstream! Nearly 1400km/h, as far as groundspeed is concerned, well and truly supersonic, as fast as a bullet. Amazing. Be interesting to see how slow aircraft in the opposite direction were travelling. Both extremes would've been a unique sight from the ground. Something unusual, just now a flight from Sydney to Perth has diverted to Karlgoorlie. Fuel issues due to headwinds?

That is awesome! Lufthansa 777F 692 knots = 1281km/h, faster groundspeed than the speed of sound at sea level. Awesome. Must've been one hell of a jetstream. Wonder what GS aircraft going in the opposite direction registered? Great link, cheers!

We have a thumping jetstream here atm, and looking at flights in Flightradar24 is quite interesting. There is one NZ Boeing 787 flight PER-AKL that just flew right overhead doing over 610kts / 700mph Groundspeed at 41,000ft. She was hauling &@($* to say the least, visually looked to be going faster than aircraft inbound to Tullamarine descending through the low FL100's at 300kts or so. Faster than Mach 1 groundspeed at altitude if there was no wind affecting airspeed. I find stats like this quite fascinating. At the other end of the scale, I've seen westbound aircraft near Perth on FR24 doing less than 300kts at cruising altitude. Be interesting to see this from the ground. Share your observations and stories of overflying aircraft or being onboard one in jetstream conditions and how it affected travel times. This particular aircraft is due in Auckland some 70 mins ahead of schedule!

If only for FSX, 8GB is all you need. Infact, 8GB dual channel (2x4GB sticks) is the optimum format for FSX and CPU overclocking. If you are doing things like video editing, 3D CAD modelling and the like, then more memory is useful.

It seems that spring is yet to begin, let alone summer! With the weather in Melbourne this November, I could easily get away with the stock Intel cooler :lol: There is no reason for me to get a 1000w PSU as I am going to use only 1 card. FSX doesn't take advantage of SLI so no reason to spend another several hundred there (unless if you're using it for other gaming applications). That's a good point that I didn't consider re getting comfortable with overclocking. I'm a total n00b to overclocking but I want all the hardware there when I get versed with it. I may choose the H110 after all, but yeah I am reading reviews and comparisons, not only for that but for graphics cards, RAM, etc. BTW, if anyone knows where I can get 2400mhz CL9 memory in Australia, give me a shout! It seems to be impossible to find here. Best I can do is 2400 CL10 or 2133 CL9.

I may infact go with a Thermalright Archon SB-E x2 air cooler rather than the H110. I understand this cooler is very good and won't intrude into the RAM slots so don't have to worry about heatspreader height. It is also half the cost of the H110. Not being experienced in overclocking myself, I won't be pushing the limits so I think going for an air-cooled solution may be a good choice.

Those cost savings are significant, and I do enjoy working out things for myself and it can be a great learning experience. I intend to use NickN's guides to help me through the process. Reading through his guides has helped me select my components so far. My latest proposed setup: CPU: i7-4770k MOBO: Asus Z87 Pro GPU: Asus GTX780 Direct CUII RAM: 8GB G.Skill Ripjaws 2400mhz 10-12-12-31, 1.65v OR Ripjaws 2133mhz 9-11-10-28, 1.5v HDD: 2TB Western Digital black for storage, media, games and files HDD 2: 1TB Western Digital Velociraptor for FSX and addons only SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB for Windows 7 and its apps Power Supply: Corsair HX850 watt V2 gold Cooler: Corsair H110 Case: Coolermaster HAF X OS: Windows 7 home Unfortunately I can't find 2400 CAS9 RAM here. I will likely go for Ripjaws as the Trident Heatspreader is very high and may not fit with my cooling system. Purchasing this setup assembled from a well known PC supplier would cost $3200, but if I purchase the parts myself from the cheapest suppliers, I'd be saving over $270. That is no chicken feed..... that will buy me a big array of addons.....

I may just bite the bullet and build it myself. I listed the parts and prices from the most well known IT shops here and did a comparison.Turns out I would save anywhere from $150-250 if I sourced the parts from the stores where they are the cheapest and put it together myself.

All food for thought guys, thanks for the responses. The more I think about it, the more I am leaning towards having the OS and FSX on a seperate drive and keeping FSX on a large seperate drive at that. I want to keep the machine for a good few years, not only for performance but because of the fact that FSX seems to be the last MSFS and that the huge number of excellent scenery packages coming out for it are turning it into a near real-life experience (and this costs major gigabytes!) I know that FSX doesn't gain framerates from an SSD, and SSD's being very expensive in anything 500gb and over, I may just go for a 1TB Velociraptor as a dedicated FSX drive. I'm not too fussed about waiting an extra few seconds for loading. If there are no frames to be gained, then the 3x price premium for the same size drive is not justified. With that, I might get a 256gb SSD for the OS and a 2TB HDD for other games, files, media etc. One thing is that I've never built a PC myself and I am nervous at the thought of cutting my teeth on a very expensive gaming powerhouse so I will likely get a local PC shop to put it together.

I've read some posts suggesting that keeping Windows and FSX on seperate drive is good due to "read files" and things like that ( i have no idea what these read files and stuff are), but I've also read that with the latest SSDs there is no performance gains from seperating Windows and FSX, and that there is no framerates to be gained from having FSX on an SSD vs a normal HDD. Right now my plan is to place both the OS and FSX on a Samsung Pro 840 512gb SSD, but will there be any advantage in using seperate drives? It's got me thinking, alternatively I'm considering using a 256gb SSD for Win7 and its apps, a 500gb or 1TB Velociraptor for FSX and addons, and a 1-2TB WD Red or Green drive for files, media and storage. The cost of purchasing a 256gb SSD, 1TB Velociraptor and 2TB WD red drive is just about identical.

Interesting. So with Haswell, 1.65V is a non-issue? Just wondering because researching online and reading countless forum posts I was left with the impression that 1.5V is recommended. I'm having trouble finding 2400mhz CL9 RAM here, so I guess I'll have to settle for CL10 or 1866mhz CL9. My shortlist: G. Skill Ripjaws X 2133mhz 9-11-10-28-2N, 1.5V G. Skill Ripjaws X 1866mhz 9-10-9-28, 1.5V G. Skill Ares 1866mhz 9-10-9-2N, 1.5V G. Skill Trident X 2400mhz 10-12-12-31, 1.65V Corsair Vengeance Pro 1866mhz 9-10-9-27, 1.5V Corsair Dominator Platinum 1866mhz 9-9-9-24, 1.5V Right now I am leaning towards the 2133 Ripjaws or 2400 Tridents.

I was going to get a new rig a while back but never got around to it and since then with all the new hardware coming online I had to rethink my parts. I did some googling and reading NickN's guides and came up with the following specs for an FSX rig: CPU: i7-4770k MOBO: Asus Z87 Pro GPU: Gigabyte GTX780 OC RAM: G Skill Trident X 8GB, 2400mhz CL10 HDD: 2TB Western Digital black for storage, media, games and files SSD: 512GB Samsung 840 Pro for Windows and FSX Power Supply: Corsair HX850 watt V2 gold Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 or Corsair H110 Case: Coolermaster HAF X OS: Windows 7 home With the RAM, would a G Skill Ares 1866mhz CL9 or Corsair Vengeance 1866mhz CL9, both 1.5V vs 1.65 for the Trident be better? Or would you recommend a Ripjaws X 2133mhz CL9 1.5V? I can't seem to find 2400mhz CL9 RAM here. I plan on running the machine for a good while without worrying about upgrading and plan on installing a lot of scenery addons like FTX, Orbx, REX etc so want to start off with a fair bit of horsepower. One question regarding motherboards, is there any compelling reason to go with Asus boards vs Gigabyte vs MSI for things like utilities, audio quality, overclocking ability, stability etc? cheers

We are having some gale force winds here tonight. Essendon Airport has just recorded a 117km/h gust, St Kilda harbour 120km/h and a 143km/h gust was just observed at Fawkner Beacon, about 10km south of downtown Melbourne in Port Phillip Bay. Ofcourse, being an unusual weather event, I am looking at flights on Flight Radar. Melbourne Tullamarine Airport METAR currently is as follows: SPECI YMML 301400Z 33034G52KT 1500 -SHRA NSC 19/11 Q0999 RMK 3SC050 7SC060 FM1410 34024G42KT 9999 -RA BKN100 INTER 1400/1700 4000 SHRA BKN030 FM1400 SEV TURB BLW 5000FT Following inbound flights on Flightradar24, a cargo Boeing 737 was travelling at just 86 knots ground speed on final approach to Melbourne (159kmh), which is quite amazing IMO for a jet airliner. An Emirates 777 just did a go around, and there is a Tiger Airways A320 on downwind over 300kts / ~570km/h at 4600ft, just about to turn on base Anyone who's ever been in an aircraft strong/gale force and gusty winds on takeoff or landing, discuss what it was like....

I like to play around with Flightradar and Flightaware and and today I came across a Qantas Boeing 747 flight from Sydney to Avalon near Melbourne. There are no 747 passenger services between these two airports, this flight was likely for scheduled maintenence of the aircraft or a cargo run, and being a short distance would've been light on fuel. Flightaware is excellent in that it archives up to the minute data on all airline flights including speed, altitude, coordinates, VS, etc. This particular flight managed some pretty impressive climb/descent rates.... The flight Climb Descent - FL400 to 10,000ft in 8 minutes!

I love playing with flightradar24 and have been doing so for a while. I've noticed short haul flights in Australia tend to reach very high altitudes, often more than even long haul flights nearing the end of their sectors. FL410 is routine for BNE-SYD , MEL-SYD and MEL-ADL legs, but even MEL-HBA flights often reach FL380, even though the straight line distance is just 617km. Tonight, was again playing with Flightradar24 and noticed a Launceston-Melbourne Boeing 738 flight reaching FL400. never have I seen such a short haul flight reach such an altitude, but with a stiff northerly wind at both locations, the flight was a straight-out departure to the north from 32L at LST with a straight-in approach to RWY 34 at MEL, a total distance of just 476km (257nm). Was interesting watching the descent for this flight, after spending probably less than 5 minutes at cruise alt.... I timed it from about FL310 to FL160 at less than 4 minutes. Now, most flights tend to stick to more normal 1500-3000fpm descents and start down much earlier than this guy did! peak descent rate at 6000FPM! Is there any advantage to climbing so high for such a short leg, and is this practice common at all? Seems like a pointless waste of fuel using climb power for only a couple of minutes cruise as opposed to levelling off at a lower alt and using cruise power for a longer timespan.

I actually saw mist pouring out of the vents exactly like in the first video while boarding a Jetstar A320 in Cairns. Was surprised and didn't know what to think, certainly didn't look like something that was "supposed" to be happening inside an aircraft :biggrin: But the captain announced over the PA that it is caused by the high humidity outside. Certainly quelled my nervous flyer mum's nerves as I'm sure many other passengers!

I know but there is one shop offering it for $179 ($100 off regular price). That is in the same ballpark as the good 700-800w units so why not go for it? If I can grab one I will, otherwise I will get a 750w. I don't plan to push the envelope, maybe 4.4-4.5ghz is what I'm aiming for.

Unlikely. These QF and VOZ SYD-MEL and SYD-BNE flights often reach FL410 using 767-300ER and A330 aircraft, remember these are aircraft designed for intercontinental routes of up to 12,000km being used on flights of less than 800km. They have very little fuel onboard. I've been following them on Flightradar24 often and climb rates inexcess of 3000fpm are pretty much sustained for most of the climb to altitude. Even at over FL300, climb rates are in the range of 2000-3000fpm. If I didn't see it on live data, I would've called "bulldust" on it To put it in context, these SYD-MEL flights hit FL410 before even reaching Canberra. There is also a daily United Airlines 744 service between Sydney and Melbourne which tends to out-climb any of the 737's, E190's and A320's on the route! For descents, I've noticed a lot of flights hit well over -3000fpm, even at lower altitudes, and seeing over -4000fpm is far from rare. Don't know how it is in other parts of the world, but here it seems to be standard practice. For some reason, domestic flights here climb to very high flight levels for the route distance... FL410 is routine for Melbourne-Sydney, Sydney-Brisbane, Melbourne-Adelaide, and I've seen FL380 often for both QF/VOZ 738 and JQ A320 aircraft on Melbourne-Launceston which is only 480km straight-line distance!

Well, I've finally decided on my dream machine for FSX (and other games). I've been living without FSX for over half a year now since my laptop carked it and am having withdrawal symptoms Can't wait to finally receive my new rig CPU: i5-3570k Mobo: Asus P877Z-V pro SSD: OCZ Vertex 4 512GB HDD: WD Caviar Black 2TB GPU: Nvidia Gigabyte GTX670 OC RAM: 8GB G.skill Ripjaws Z 2400mhz CL10 PSU: Corsair HX-1050 ($179 offer at the local shop!!!) Case: Coolermaster HAF X CPU Cooler: Corsair H100 Also want to thank all you guys for helping me along the way :good:

I always thought doing climbs and descents of 3000-4000fpm in FS was probably a bit much and unrealistic, but I am surprised to find climb/descent rates of nearly +7000fpm / -5000fpm in the real world! Quite amazing stuff for a passenger airliner. I often do a bit of spotting at Melbourne Airport, and those 767s often takeoff mid-field RWY 16/34 and rotate after barely 10 seconds of roll. Those 767's would be very light on fuel. Still an insane rate of climb for sure! Alot of flights between Melbourne and Sydney reach cruising altitudes of 41,000ft, with a straight-line distance of only 705km. Even Melbourne-Adelaide flights hit FL400-410 and Melbourne-Hobart 737 services (only 620km) often climb to FL380 and I've seen a FL400 atleast once on flightradar24. Flights on the Melbourne-Launceston route, which is only 480km, also routinely hit FL360.

Hi, I'm thinking of going for the 512gb SSD as I plan to get other games like GTA, Need For Speed etc, I will also likely have programs such as GIS and Autocad on there as I get into my chosen career field, and I don't want to get caught short on space down the track. I dont want to be upgrading or replacing drives simply because I ran out of space, I'd rather spend that money on GPUs, RAM, etc. Cool. Looks like having the OS and FSX on an SSD and storage on a HDD is the way to go. That is what I'll be doing.

So it's actually better off having FSX and OS on one SSD and using a standard HDD for various programs and storage. In that case, I'll be getting a 512GB SSD and maybe a 2TB HDD,Caviar black or Seagate. For this SSD, I'm looking at the OCZ Vertex 4 as it's over $100 cheaper than Samsungs, Intel and Crucial and Techguy's post here is encouraging!

Thanks guys, I might go for either Samsung or Crucial M4 256gb. My current FSX only occupies 40GB and I have dozens of add on planes and sceneries so there's definately room to spare. The OS, programs, file storage and other games can sit on the velociraptor.

Well I've pulled the trigger on all the other parts for my FSX machine, but am still agonising over the hard drives. I'm thinking of using a 500GB velociraptor for the OS and programs and a 240-256GB SSD as an fsx-only drive. I hear Samsung and Crucial have excellent 128gb drives and am leaning in that direction, but are there any other recommendations in the 256GB capacity range? cheers