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

High everyone,About three years ago at a time when I would never have ventured into building my own computer, I invested a little over $4000 in a Dell Studio XPS 435T/9000, W7 Ultimate 64, i7 965 @ 3.20 Ghz, GeForce GTX 260, and 12.0 GB of RAM (what a waste; the computer never uses more than approximately 4.3 GB). With an 'addonless' version of FSX, this rig did an acceptable job of simulating flying. But like most simmers, I started adding 'stuff' to enhance the simulation in terms of realism and immersion to the point where flying is almost a frustrating experience which really takes the fun out of the hobby.But I kept reading about these 'rats' that run FSX rigs at jaw…

I have a 120gb SSD drive that has about 50gb left on it. I also have 600gb HDD drive. The SSD drive has my OS on it and is super fast when loading up windows. I have FSX on my HDD drive right now, and although I don't know what type of HDD drive it is, I do know that it has to be extremely slow considering that it is about 6 years old. I was thinking about putting my fsx on the SSD drive but was worried about it sucking up my SSD space. I'm sure the performance would be better on the SSD drive, but was hoping that there was some way to install FSX on the SSD, but putting other folders on the HDD, folders that are not in use much or something like that. Was curious if this…

Hi guys!I'm sorry to bother you all as I'm sure this question has been asked before. However, I couldn't find anything that fit my question after searching Avsim.Question is: I've been away from simming for a couple months, and when I booted up my computer the other day, it was running really slowly. Is it normal for this to happen to computers after periods of dormancy?Also, I was thinking... from reviewing, I have tons and tons of payware programs. There are a lot of good ones, but then there are also a lot that I don't use any more. So, I'm curious. Should I reformat my computer and start all over? Or should I go one-by-one and remove the programs I don't use? …

Hi,I have downloaded Microsoft Flight from here http://www.microsoft.com/games/flight/ and have installed without errors, but when the game is run it freezes my PC - I have to hold down the power button to re-start the machine. I did get the game to load twice but then it is back to crashing. It loads the initial splash page, then when the screen goes dark it either freezes there or when the animation starts. Before posting I have tried quite a few things - see below:My System is:Windows 7 Home Premium 32 Bit SP1Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q9400 @ 2.66Ghz - Not overclocked4GB RAMGraphics: AMD Radeon HD9600 - Not overclockedSound: Creative SB X-FiI have re-installed a number o…

I recently purchased an installed an i7 2600K CPU into a P8P67 Pro board. I also purchased a water cooling system (Corsair Hydro H100), but wanted to make sure that the system worked first before adding water cooling to the mix (which I have no prior experience with). In fact I purchased this new system because my older system had failed (no OC and stock cooling) after 18 months when I had attempted to change PC cases to introduce better air flow cooling throughout the case (I still don’t know what happened but I was about to upgrade anyway, so this provided the excuse).I also have the new case referred to above, which as I understand offers the ability to change CPU c…

Hi all. Long time FS fan but have been away from the scene for some time. Looking to get back into flying (virtually) as the real deal is just too far out of my price range at this point. I wanted to get some advice from those more experienced than me as to a) if I need to upgrade my current system to get FSX playable with reasonable settings and addons (REX, ORBX scen, additional payware planes) and if so how best can I do that keeping in a reasonable budget $500-$750. My specs are listed below. Any comments or suggestions would be most welcome.CPU: Intel i5 760 @ 2.8GHzMobo: ASUS P7P55LXMemory: DDR3 8MB DRAM 669MHzGPU: Raedon HD 6870 1MBOS: Windows 7 x64 ProfessionalTha…

Hi All,I'm just thinking of a processor upgrade. Made necessary by having very low (5-15!) FPS in the UK around London and UK2000 airports.Only realised that my CPU seems to be a bit of a bottleneck by an experiment with overclocking - Never had over clocked before and decided to give it a try tonight - I was incredibly surprised. Using UK2000 East Midlands I got between a 5 and 10 FPS increase by overclocking from 3.4GHz to 3.8GHz!!! However when setting up a little flight in the NGX an old friend who I hadn't seen in a while paid me a visit.... Mr BSOD!So I've been looking. First off. I'm an AMD man and have never been able to be persuaded otherwise - Plus my entire sys…

I'm thinking about buying Maximus IV Extreme-Z mobo and I was wondering what good memory set would be good...Thinking of getting 6GB of ram

Hi all,I have the following PC for FSX:Intel i7 930 @ standard 2.8 GHz (i.e. no overclock), 6 GB RAM, Point of View Geforce GTX 470 gfx card (1260 MB GDDR5), Windows 7 64 bit.I can get quite nice FPS even with the PMDG NGX at some of the more complex airports but occassionally I experience the dreaded stuttering. Even though my FPS are limited to 30 (tried locking externally but locking it internally seems to be better in my case), sometimes, especially in spot plane view, I get frame skipping - stuttering. Also, on occassion, FPS gets down low. Another issue is the tearing, which I can fix with the Vsync tweak (ForceFullScreenVsync) but it takes its toll on my FPS.In fac…

Hey gang,I am a computer enthusiast, in that I very much like building and overclocking my own rigs. I think I enjoy that aspect of our hobby just as much as the actual flight simming itself. I can't go too long without at least putting in some new component!I have been building and overclocking my own for quite a number of years, the very first was done with an Intel Celeron 300 mhz processor, had that puppy clocked to 450 mhz lemme tell ya!Anyway, my last build is nearing the two year mark now for me - so it is definitely getting time. Specs are in sig, running an I7 920, at 4.1 ghz. Rock solid - has been running at this speed consistantly now since I built it without a…

Ive been looking for a joystick for left handed people, and yes, im gonna fly Airbus from the captain`s side. Its not easy to find any, but if there really isnt such a thing as a left hand joystick, perhaps anyone knows about a regular joystick thats good to fly with the left hand as well?and no, im not spending a 1000 dollars on a cheaply made true too life airbus sidestick replica.....And the final question:Ive been using CH-products for years (yoke and rudder), but ive been sniffing on the Saitek versions of the same products. Anyone tried both in here?Thanks for any reasonable answer:-)

I have trouble deciding between which of the two processors is more useful in the long run as well which one will run and over clock better.The $100 difference for me isn't a problem, but I just rather not waste those $100 unnecessarily. As for video encoding and editing and whatnot I don't really find myself doing that. Does the i7 at least perform a little better than the i5?

I am running 2x 4Gb Patriot 1333Mhz DDR3 OCd @ 1600 in my build.When I push to this speed I end up with timings of 9, 9, 9, 24If I clock back down to the SPD clock speed, I can push the timing more aggressively.Now I am thinking that realistically speaking, none of this is going to have too much difference as far as FSX performance is concerned, but am I wrong?If so, what is more beneficial to FSX, higher clock or more agressive timings?Cheers

I have 2 - 500 gb hard drives on my previous FSX machine in a striped raid configuration. I want to move it to my new build machine and save the data on the drives. I am using a AMCC 3ware 9650SE SATA Raid Controller for these 2 drives to give me 1tb.The question is do I need to move the AMCC 3ware SATA Raid Controller with the drives to the new computer to maintain the integrity of the data on these drives or should I use the P8Z68 Deluxe/Gen3 MOB on board raid controller? My new computer specs are: ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe/Gen3 MOB, EVGA GTX 580, Antec High Current Pro 850w, Intel I-7 2700k, operating system drive Crucial M4 SSD 128gb, FSX drive Crucial M4 SSD 256gb, Win7…

Hi everyone,I have my money saved for a GTX660. I am seriously considering it BUT, a last minute idea came into my head.I currently own the Asus P8P67 Deluxe mobo. I am considering moving to one of the Z68/GEN3 motherboards so I will have future PCIe3 support AND Ivy Bridge support later down the road.What do you guys think the better buy is?

I've been thinking about upgrading to an i7 3820 and an X79 motherboard and selling my i7 2600k with my Intel DP67BG motherboard. If I can sell my CPU and motherboard, it might cover the cost of the i7 3820 or be very close to it. Sometimes in FSX I get micro hitching, even during taxing, even with AI aircraft traffic disabled. I don't remember having this micro hitching when I had an i7 960 on an X58 platform, but then I had a little more memory bandwidth on the x58 platform vs the P67 platform (tri-channel @ 1066MHz vs dual-channel @ 1333 MHz). Would the increased memory bandwidth of the X79 platform solve the micro hitching I'm experiencing? Lowering autogen to dis…

Buying in about a weeks time or so.i5-2500kASUS P8Z68 V-PRO GEN3 PCI-E8GB SAMSUNG DUAL DDR3 1333mhz (from what I've heard Socket 1155 don't use 1600mhz)1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560tiCORSAIR 750W ENTHUSIASTS SERIESI want to play FSX with GEX and REX (possibly UTX but not the night lighting) and payware addons like Quality Wings/CLS.

Here is one for you experienced overclockers. I have 2 Identicle PCs running Asus P5N-D mobo, E8400 CPU, nvidia GTX9800, 4 GB RAM. Extra case fans and better CPU cooling. I have one running W7 the other XP. Using the Asus AI overclocking software I can overclock the W7 machine by 15% & it runs fine. I tried it on the XP machine it will boot up and then fly in FS9 or FSX then locks up after about 30 minutes. IT won't boot on 10% overclock but runs fine on 5% overclock. In all cases the temperatures are fine. Does anyone have any bright ideas on that. I would be very interested on your thoughts.Thanks in advance

Hello everyone,I was referred over here by a gentleman in the general Flight discussion.I have a problem with running the game Microsoft Flight. I've downloaded and installed the game a few times before making it to this point. The game runs normally until i get to the point of the tutorial mission. As soon as the game play actually starts the screen goes crazy. I have lines, shapes, and shades along with everything else in between filling up my screen. It is to the point where is can't see anything except for the little menu and balloon indicator. This is obviously not flyable.I run a Intel i3 M370 2.4 GHz, with 4 GB RAM, 64 bit processor, and a ATI Radion 5650, running …

Just wanted to get some feedback before I hit the purchase button on a new FSX rig. Thanks for the advice and feedback!Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost)G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F240GBGT-BK 2.5" 240GB SATA III ASUS P8P67 DELUXE (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATXEVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5LW

Hi everyone,In preparation for a 2012 project to build my own flight simulation computer, I've been reading with much interest the exchanges of information in this forum, taking note of recommendations of actual flight simmers on various hardware, and viewing demos and reading reviews found on Newegg's and Tom's Hardware's web sites. Except for a replacement PSU for my existing rig to accommodate an upgrade to my GPU, both of which I intend to use in the new setup (Corsair AX850 and a GTX 580), the remaining parts of the new build exist only on paper as a shopping list at this point.I'm finding the learning curve quite steep but I'm determined to see this through to succe…

Dear Word Not Allowed,I was just reading different stuff here on Avsim and I thought I ask the knowledgeable guys around here. If you don't mind I'd like to ask a few questions regarding FSX performance. Many things are written here and there but it would be great to get some personal recommendations.I have a PC which isn't bad but could be much better by overclocking and stuff like that. It's an I7 930 at 2.8 GHz (no overclocking as of yet, because I only have the default Intel cooler). 6 GB RAM, Win 7 Home Premium 64, and the graphics card is Nvidia GTX470 with 1280 MB memory. This is my system, in a nuthsell.I can run basic stuff without issues, almost everything maxed…

Hi guys, this is an odd one but one I hope someone can sort it out for me fairly easily. My OC rig (pre OC from OCUK) is six months old and is an Asus P8Z68V motherboard. Ev beforeerything has been perfect until today. For some reaason, 'cos nothing has changed, the rig spends about 3 minutes on the splash screen before getting into Windows 7. Also, I am unable to get into the BIOS by entering Del at startup. Can anyone offer some advice please. Thanks as always guys...

I'd like to ask the few Sandy Bridge-E users what overclock you are getting whith or without HyperThreading enabled?