System Hardware: PC | MOBO | RAM | CPU | HDD | SSD | PSU etc

I am in the planning stages from my next computer and am looking at the 3770k. I put together my current computer on a low budget(current specs can be found in my sig below) And now i have a chance to start over from nearly scratch. I will be buying a new motherboard and memory(16gb), But I will keep my recently purchased MSI GTX 560Ti-hawk til I can save up for a current gen pci express x16 3.0 video card(possibly a GTX 670) I am not too concerned about overclocking the cpu from the beginning, But would like to try it later on if i can get a better cpu cooler. Will I see better performance fps-wise in FSX? I wish to see a constant 30-35 fps in FSX but the…

Hi, What would be the best RAM for FSX with the config below? Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155

Hi, Recently, I've decided that it is within my best interest to make the investment to add another large disk drive in my system specifically for backups. Although I will have a backup drive, I have no backup software. What do you guys recommend for backing up my system and all of my files?

I am building a new system to replace my first generation i7 860. I currently overclock to 3.6 but can only get frame rates around 33 with the 737NGX with my sliders in FSX set to 50%. I just purchased an Asus P8Z77-V Mobo and i72700K Sandy Bridge at Microcenter. I was initially going to buy a Z68 motherboard but all the Asus boards I was interested in had already been removed from inventory and I didn't want to take a chance on Asrock which is why I got the Z77 with a Sandy Bridge CPU. For $10 more I could have purchased an i7 3770K but overclocking and heat was my concern which is why I stayed away from Ivy Bridge. I still have a few components to buy but should have ev…

Hello! Pardon me if this is in the wrong area of the forums, I don't post very much. Before I begin, I'll let you know about my processor. Detailed specs should be on my profile. The processor is an Intel i5-2430m with 2 cores, 4 threads with HT enabled @2.40ghz turbo boost to 3.00ghz, but usually only 2.90 in Fsx. (sidenote, if anyone knows how to get it to run at 3.00 all the time, that would be greatly appreciated :lol:) I seem to be having an issue fully understanding the infamous affinity mask tweak. I understand that altering the value in the fsx.cfg file sets which processor cores are used by FSX, and that higher settings deal with more cores. Bojote…

Hi, I had a major update on my PC components almost a year ago. I have an i5 2500k system that is running on 4.5 ghz and a GTX5 560Ti graphics card. My RAM is 2x4 GB DDR3. I am running PMDG NGX+UT2+ASE and especially on busy airports like Heathrow (with Aerosoft scenery) I am getting quite low FPS (12-13) with stutters. Do you think I should be switching to Ivy Bridge or update my Graphics card to solve my stuttering problem? Cheers, Murat

PU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 Quad-Core Desktop Processor MB: ASRock Z77 Extreme9 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard GPU: ASUS GTX680-DC2T-2GD5 GeForce GTX 680 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) PSU: CORSAIR Professional Series HX850 (CMPSU-850HX) 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive SSD: OCZ Vertex 4 VTX4-25SAT3-128G 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State…

Hi there, I believe my 1TB internal HD just failed yesterday. It's still accessable but I hear a weird clicking sound when booting up FSX and scenery loading has now increased from 30 sec. to 2-3 mins and the sim crashes or gets stuck frequently. I used the MS tools (defrag, disk check) and the error-check took about 6 hours (not sure if that's normal)!! Since I'm hardware challenged, I'd like to go for an external drive. My main concern is, will it diminish the gameplay (fps, fluidity, loading times)? I had FSX setup to Word Not Allowed's brilliant tweaking guide and get pretty much the same smooth results other users get as a result of it. Another question, …

Guys, what is your opinion of the watercooling system shown in the video? Looks like it is very much integrated, could be a good start in watercooling (though expensive I guess) for those who have never had it before. Please comment. Thanks, Dirk.

Okay so after my harddrive died on my 6 year old PC that was rigged for FS9 and served me o so well over the years, i have now been forced (in a way) to upgrade to FSX finally after being without a PC for about 3 months. Now i have looked into this for sometime but i hope by the end of August to have a NEW rig and expect it to look like the spec below... Case: Xigmatek Asgard Case Power Supply: Corsair CX600 600W Power Supply Processor: Intel Core i7 3370K 6MB Cache Socket 1155 CPU Cooler: Thermaltake FRIO CPU Cooler Optimisation and Tuning: Wired2Fire Cable Management, Overclocking & Tuning Graphics Card 1: Nvidia GTX 670 2048MB GDDR5 PCI Express Graphics C…

When I bought my computer I had no intention of gaming. It was a mid-to-low spec machine for Office tasks and internet browsing. One Christmas I was longing for the aviation experience I could no longer afford to do in the Real World so I plunked out $30 for FSX. Well of course now I'm hooked. I don't have the $$ for a better spec machine so that is out of the question. I am looking for advice on cost-effective upgrades to the existing machine. I have tried to implement *******' tweaks but I'm not sure I did it correctly. I can get a fairly consistent 30fps with a good payware aircraft (like BroncoX ) at 200 Kias over light-urban to suburban photoscenery at 1…

ASRock have updated the BIOS a few times since my last update from version 1.70 to 2.05. The main reason for the changes is to support IB chips but also to tweak the Virtu on chip video (which I use on my second monitor). The guys over at the ExtremeSystems forums are raving about the stability and overclocking ability of this new BIOS version (with SB chips) and I wonder what your opinion is of me updgrading. Should I leave what is working alone or upgrade to the latest and greatest ?

So I'm starting to spec my next rig upgrade; gutting the AMD CPU and MOBO and replacing it with an Intel based solution. The Phenom II X4 955 @3.8 I'm on is an excellent general gaming work-horse, but it's no match for FSX with PMDG/VRS planes and high-end city and airport scenery with lot's of AI flying around. I'm looking to build a rig that can hold a solid 15 or more FPS in the following scenario: -Flying the PMDG 737 NGX or VRS SuperBug -All FSX sliders maxed -GEX/REX environment and weather -MyTraffic X Pro installed and maxed out. Willing to concede on Ground traffic, but would still like some enabled (maybe 50% sliders?) -Running at 5760x1200 -Scenery …

Hi all, new here (but been using FS for years now) and hope this is the right place to post this. Well I'm in the market for a new FSX rig, and after spending the last month or so reading reviews, forums, etc I've come up with the following specs: CPU: Intel i5-3570k Motherboard: Asus p8z77 V-Pro Hard drive: WD Velociraptor 600GB RAM: G.skill Ripjaw 8GB 1866mzh CL9 (2x4GB) , (will going to 2133 or 2400mhz offer any reasonable improvement)? Graphics Card: Asus DCU II GTX670 Power Supply: Corsair HX850 Case: Coolermaster HAF X Cooler: Coolermaster EVO 212 or Noctua NH-D14 I plan to do a bit of overclocking down the track and I've heard…

I have been out of the technology loop for several years and am looking to replace my FSX computer with a new one. Can anyone recommend a computer that will run FSX with decent fps (say mid 20's/30's) with some of the more advanced add-on's for under $1500 USD? Would this computer be a good selection? http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3170712&CatId=1886 Any suggestions...recommendations of what to look for? I appreciate any advice. Thanks, John

Having never put together my own pc before, I'd thought I'd post here for advice on what components to get. I'm looking to spend between 1000-1300 USD, with 1500 being the max. I'm currently using FS9, and not looking to use FSX at the moment, but might in the future. With that in mind, I'd like this pc to be very "upgradable," with as much potential as possible. I want to be able to run FS9 at a solid 30 FPS under any situation, with any combination of payware aircraft, scenery, traffic intensity, and bad weather, and I'd also like to be able to run the DCS series as well. I'd prefer intel over AMD for the CPU, Nvidia over ATI for the GPU, and at least 8gb of ram. Outsid…

Hi guys, I am about to pull the trigger on a new setup for use with FSX, addons and PMDG products (747, 737, 777), but also quite a lot photo editing with Adobe Lightroom. I´m looking at this setup: ASUS P8Z77-V DELUXE, Socket-1155 ATX, Z77, DDR3, 2xG3+1xG2-PCIe-x16,SLI/CFX,HDMI,DP, Dual band-WiFi, BT,DLNA,UEFI Corsair H80 Hydro Series CPU Cooler Socket 775/1155/1156/1366/2011, AM2/AM2+/AM3, 2600 RPM, 46~92 CFM, 22~39 dBA Corsair Obsidian 650D Midi Tower Sort Vifter: 1x 200mm Front, 1x 200mm Topp, 1x Bak 120mm, ATX, mATX, 2x USB 2.0/3.0 Corsair SSD Force Series 3, 240GB 2.5" SATA 6 Gb/s (SATA3.0), 550MB/520MB/s read/write, SandForce® SF-2281, w/bracke…

Hi, I just made an FSX clean installation and ran the FSmark11 benchmark 3 times. Unfortunately, I only managed to score 40FPS. Is there something that I am doing wrong? Similar systems score much higher... Any help appreciated.

Well, I never saw this coming. My brand new 600GB WD started acting up yesterday evening - and before I did anything else, I took one of my external disks and ran the Acronis and backed ALL 250GB of data (FSX disk only) on it. Couple of minutes after the backup, I tried accessing the disk, filesystem reported was only RAW, only way I could restore it was reformat, but even after reformat, I couldn't put the data back, it would report errors the whole time, when trying to install FSX on it, after couple of seconds of installation some weird write access errors. Seems that the disk is electronically bugged. Completely. Even deleting partitions and recreating them ne…

Just wanted to share my excitement with you guys! My current FSX-ONLY PC is as follows: Coolermaster Cosmos S Full Tower DFI LP UT P35-T2R Intel C2D E8400 @ 3.6GHz 4GB OCZ Flex II PC2-9200 DDR2 @ 5-5-3-15 2T nVidia GTX280 1GB 320GB WD 7200 RPM Caviar Blue SATAII HDD 150GB WD 10K RPM Velociraptor SATAII HDD Soundblaster PCI-E X-fi Extreme Music Corsair 750W PS 3x Dell 2405FPW widescreen monitors Windows 7 x64 Ultimate My new FSX-ONLY PC will be: Coolermaster Cosmos S Full Tower ASUS P8Z77-V Intel i5-3570K 8GB Samsung 30nm 1600 DDR3 Dual Channel Kit EVGA GTX670 FTW 2GB 64GB Samsung 830 SATA III SSD for OS 128GB Samsung 830 SATA III SSD …

Folks, Would greatly appreciate some feedback on the parts I've assembled for my new FSX build. Any feedback, positive or negative is appreciated. Case: Cooler Master Cosmo II CPU: Intel Core i7 3770K Motherboard: Asus Maximus V Formula Z77 Memory: G-Skill Trident X 8GB DDR3 2400 (PC3-19200) Video: EVGA GeForce GTX670FTW 2048MB SSD: Dedicated FSX drive - Crucial 128GB M4 Cooling: XSPC Raystorm RX360 (hope it will fit in a push/pull mode) Thanks for taking the time to review. -Will

Microsoft issued this blog : Hardware accelerating everything: Windows 8 graphics http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/07/23/hardware-accelerating-everything-windows-8-graphics.aspx do you think that it will have a positive impact on FSX?, or nothing will change? Can somebody please (testing Windows8 RP) confirm this for us?, or is it something related to final release?

Can I get by with the stock fan on a Core i5 3570k if I do NOT overclock running FSX without damaging the chip? If not, what's the cheapest route to take as a stop gap measure? Old computer is giving way, but I can't afford to go all out on a new machine yet. Plan is to get a new mobo and CPU now and upgrade the rest as I am able, including a proper cooling system before overclocking.

I'm split down the middle on what processor to choose for my next build. It seems like Intel has a rep of more computing power and the i5 and i7's are superior to almost everything but I've been told that an AMD will last me a lot longer and is better at processing 3D graphics. I just want something that will let me unleash FSX to it's full potential. What do you guys have to say about this? Thanks everyone.

What I would like to have is 3x monitors 27 inch 1920x1080 for fsx accelerator on one grafic card gtx gainward 680 4000mb phanton mobo gigabyte x79 4D5 8gbDDR3 1600 Quad channel intelcore I7-3730K NoctuaNH14 cooler for processor etc the questions I have are 1-could this system run smoothly fsx with orbix and VRS F/A18 hornet aircraft and heavy weather? 2-is the intel oc to 5.0 ghz with the cooler I mentioned?