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

what is the difference between oem cpus and retail cpus

Wondering if it is worth upgrading to an SSD for FSX? If so how much space is needed for Windows 7 64 and FSX. How big of and SSD do I need? Also what configuration is recommended. Just Windows and Fsx on the SSD and everything else on another drive? Any insight would be appreciated.

I've just bought this laptop in Newegg (Toshiba R835-P81). Out of curiosity (I know, thou shalt not sim in a laptop), I also purchased and installed vainilla FSX Gold Edition in this laptop; the only thing I added was the Antilag frame rate limiter (set at 30 FPS, no pre-render). My sliders are in mid-low settings, and FSX very smooth (after 7 years with FS9 exclusivity). However, I started feeling a hot air exhaust. I checked with HW Monitor, the temperatures were peaking at 100°C:The screenshot was taken 10-20 minutes after closing FSX, however, the Max values correspond to FSX. According to the Intel specifications page, the max temperature for this CPU is 100°C. Shoul…

Anyone here with an Asus P9X79 Pro. I noticed that when I load FSX (after loading Windows 7), there will be squealing coming from around the CPU area of my motherboard. The second time I load FSX, the squealing does not happen unless I restart my PC and reload FSX. It sounds like mice in my PC. Also when browsing the internet, randomly there will be the very same quiet squealing for a couple of seconds coming from my PC. I sometimes will even happen when Windows 7 loads up. Happens my SSD is getting accessed as I noticed. Running the HD-Tune transfer rate test gives a high pitched squealing with my SSD and my 2nd hard drive. The squealing is not bothersome to me e…

I have the z68a-d3-b3 motherboard and a program called the gigabyte tuner to overclock to 4.53ghz. However i see most guys tuning at 4.8 and would love to bump it up to 4.8. In the bios settings for my motherboard there isnt the ability to lock the vcore so i am kind of confused on what the next step should be. I have found the links posted by Word Not Allowed reguarding overclocking but those sites use a motherboard a bit different than mine with some different settings. So if anyone has any ideas that would greatly be appreciated. Thanks!!

Hi! Earlier I built a new computer (specs bellow), and then a Friend bought a computer that was simmilar to mine, only with an i7-2600 CPU, and another GPU with 1GB ram ( AMD Radeon™ HD 6450 1GB DDR3 or Nvidia® Geforce® GT530 if I remember correctly) But still, his computer runs much better than mine. With the PMDG NGX on Aerosoft's; Oslo X, it lags a bit, but on my friends computer, it runs smoothly. What is it that gives him the "boost", is it the CPU or anything else? I am really not sure, but I think it's a Dell XPS-8300, but I am not sure.

I just upgraded my system, and I have now i7 2700K which run's a little bit above 4GHz by default, stock speed(I set max performance in BIOS and verified with z-cpu, it's stay above 4GHz on idle). Fsx run smoothly at max settings, I have some stutters only arround big payware airports. I was wondering, should i overclock my cpu and what will be the real benefits from OC to 4.8GHz for example vs my 4GHz right now? Can I eliminate stutters maybe, or get more smoothly fsx? My system: mainboard - ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 CPU - Intel Core i7-2700K CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-D14 GPU - MSI N560GTX-TI TWIN FROZR II 2GD5/OC, 2GB GDDR5, PCI-Express Memory - …

Here is a review on it... http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1918/1/

Hey all, My specs are core i5 760, 4gb DDR 3 ram and a gtx 560. I've never been able to OC my CPU because for some reason it would just crash. Even at low frequency it would act strangely so I left it stock. Yesterday I realised my ram was in slot 2 rather than slot 1, and my PC seemed to be a bit faster and responding, and FSX stopped having system crashes...I thought I'd try OCing again thinking on the off chance it might work, and it did....Hardly gave it any voltage, set ram timings and had 10 passes on intel burn test (never achieved that before). Can a ram slot cause that kind of issue? Was it simply that it was in the number 2 slot?! Just curious...

As one of the very first Sandy Bridge 2600K adopters, I have been more than happy that my gamble paid off big time. For FSX I ran the 2600K at 5.GHz for awhile but after upgrading my MB bios it would only reach 4.8GHz and remain stable with 1.45 v-core. I run other applications at 4.6 Ghz at 1.375 v-core. After reading almost every early report of the Ivy Bridge extreme overclock heat issue, I decided that I will stay with Sandy Bridge, but upgrade the 2600K to a 2700K, which I just bought when at the Micro Center in Philly. Hopefully it will run at 5.0 GHz or so at 1.4 v-core or a bit less. If it does, I will be happy. My 580 GTX is extremely good and fast which …

Hi All, I recently bought FSX with a view to preparing for some add-ons that are being developed only for FSX - most notably fo the FSL A320. I'm no computer expert and don't really get too involved in the specifics of a machine as my previous one ran FS9 just fine but knew that it was underequipped to deal with FSX to the same extent. To get an idea for how bad the situation would be I installed the iFly 737 with the FSX upgrade as well the UK2000 Heathrow scenery and did an IFR circuit in the Gray and Rainy conditions and default display settings (if you need to know these settings just say so). The only change I made was to increase the airline traffic volume t…

Hi, I just re installed FSX after an 18 month Hiatus and am doing the usual tweaking exercise. I followed Kostas advice in the pinned thread and have some good results so far, just needs the final touches I think. First question is: I have 2 GTX580's running in SLi. What are the recommended settings in Nvidia inspector to get the most from this set up? Second question is, are the tweaks listed, the ONLY tweaks that Word Not Allowed would recommend using? I was using a .cfg file generated by the Bojote tweak site, and modified that according to Word Not Allowed recommendations. However there are some line in there, for example relating to the shaders etc that Wor…

Hi. I downloaded air display today on my iPad and win 7. I got it all up and running ok and in windowed mode fired up the pmdg 747. I opened the fmc and undocked the window. I dragged it over to my iPad and managed to get it on the screen working with a touch of my finger. I was very pleased. One problem I have though, is as soon as I put the fmc in undocked window I lose 10 frames. I can't see why as there is already an fmc in the virtual cockpit and I thought it would just be a copy of this running in the background. I have read some reviews from people using this that they get no frame rate hit. Any suggestions. One thing I did notice was, if I press the f…

Hello! I was looking for a laptop, mostly for work (ie Word, Excel...) and such, however also to play FSX. With new ORBX, Aerosoft, FT and FSDT releases, old desktops just aren't cutting it. Does anyone know what would be the best laptop at around $750?(Best for that price, as I know this will not get a gaming laptop) Thank you everyone for your help, as it is really and sincerely appreciated! Sincerely, DMac10121 PS - If not a laptop, what is a good CPU, RAM, Graphics Card, etc... at at least a low end for FSX?

Really not a good start for the Ivy....phew http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1917/1/

I hope thy will fix it... http://www.legitreviews.com/news/12964/

Is 5 Ghz power CPU the ultimate solution to achieving flawless FSX with all setting max and with many add ons? :Nerd:

I have been over at the MSFSX forum here on avsim and been had a reply from Jim (firehawk) about my crashes without any error and he said that it may be because of my overclock. Now I have been running this overclock (4.7GHz @ 1.35V) for quite a while and its been as solid as a rock with everything else but it seems maybe not FSX. So I would just like to get some other hardware enthusiasts thought on this one. Thanks,

Haven't had any in a few years, and now for some reason they are back... and it's not just micro - it's mega stutters.. sometimes the entire VC pauses for about .5 sec... Things that changed since they started: 1) Cleaned out PC and rearranged all the cabling/peripheral USB devices... 2) Mouse Properties->Motion-> I bumped it up one notch faster... That's all. I tried without Track IR I tried with clear skies I tried with default C172 (they occur but not nearly as frequently as payware like T Duke or JS41) I've checked gpu and cpu temps - both are normal. I've got nothing running in system tray that wasn't before. One odd thing - I have n…

Hi, so I'm a flight simulator enthusiast and this is what I want out of the game; To run on 3 screens in SLI or Eyefinity, have at least 20-25fps , be able to install add-ons that will run seamlessly, be able to max out the graphics. So I have been looking at computer components and for the new computer this is what I am thinking; -CPU - Intel Core i7-2600K (3.4GHz, 8MB Cache) -Motherboard - Asus P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0 SAATA 6GBs, ATI CrossfireX -RAM - 16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz -GPU - 2x 1GB AMD RADEON HD6790 - Hard Drive - 500GB 3.5" SATA-3 6GB/s -Power supply - CORSAIR 650W Enthusiast Series TX650 V2-80 -CPU cooling - Standard int…

Cause I'm getting annoyed with my P67 argh! I usually get a boot loop every two months now... Do the new Z77's exhibit this behavior?

I have the z68a-d3-b3 motherboard and a program called the gigabyte tuner to overclock to 4.53ghz. However i see most guys tuning at 4.8 and would love to bump it up to 4.8. In the bios settings for my motherboard there isnt the ability to lock the vcore so i am kind of confused on what the next step should be. I have found the links posted by Word Not Allowed reguarding overclocking but those sites use a motherboard a bit different than mine with some different settings. So if anyone has any ideas that would greatly be appreciated. Thanks!!

Bummer... http://www.anandtech.com/show/5763/undervolting-and-overclocking-on-ivy-bridge

I have an external hard drive that I use to backup my purchased and freeware downloads but I would like to run a full disk image and would like to buy an internal drive for that. I think I only need about 300 - 500 GB as this is only for FSX and the OS. I am shocked at how much drives cost now vs when I build my system 6 months ago and I wonder if anyone can recommend a cheap HD that will do the job. thanks, Mark.