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

With the Sandy Bridge processors just around the corner (Jan 9 or so) and the 2600K model apparently being overclock up to 5GHz, I was wondering why so many people are still buying into the 950's? Here in Australia the 950s are still going for $600+, yet the i7 2600K is looking to be around the $350I would have thought that given FSX is so hungry for CPU speed, the 2600K would be ideal for FSX dedicated machines...Where am I going wrong? Thoughts?

I really want to buy a mid price (up to 1500) built computer with a warranty: Please let me know if I should change any of these components on a cyberpowerpc.com "Holiday Special 14)coolermaster HAF 912 casedefault fans1-7 950 I didn't select overclocking (should I, and if so, what other components to I want?)xtreme liquid cooling 120 mm fan(2-Way SLI Support) Asus Sabertooth Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Mainboard Triple-Channel DDR3 FCLGA1366 ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, SATA-III, SATA-II RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, 1 PCIe X1 & 1 PCI (All Venom OC Certified) [+0]6 gb DDR3 1600 mhz ramGTX 470 1.2 mb800W Xtreme gear power supply64 GB Corsair Nova SSD 1…

Hey guys!Merry Christmas!!As im sure yous all got spoiled and perhalps upgraded yourself to some sweet computer systems, today i got my first ever gaming computer and i must say, i am very impressed by it!Sadly though only 3.2gb or something like that out of 8gb of my ram is used windows told me. my CPU is the AMD 1090t x6 Black edition and i would like to clock it from 3.2ghz to 3.8. When i went into my new comp, a few programs came with clocking settings etc to control the core frequencies etc?Could someone please talk me through the easiest way to clock to 3.8?One other question, and i appologise for having it in the wrong thread, i didnt want to flood the forum with…

Hello all!I'm having some problems getting AA to work in fs2004. It works fine in full screen, but windowed mode is a mess! Specs below:Windows 7Core 2 duo @ 2.2ghzATI Radeon HD 4330Drivers: Driver Packaging Version 8.753.5-100730a-103191E-ATI Catalyst™ Version: 10.7 . 2D Driver Version: 8.01.01.1047 Direct3D Version: 8.14.10.0768 OpenGL Version: 6.14.10.10061 Catalyst™ Control Center Version: 2010.0730.1014.16473 I created a profile for it in CCC with the disired settings ('Use application settings' isn't ticked). If more info is needed, please ask! Merry Christmas,

I'm looking for advice on choosing a decent laptop that can allow me to run fs2004 without issues. I had planned on upgrading my desktop to a better desktop so I could finally run that copy of FSX that's been collecting dust on my shelf, but I'm heading back to school and I'm going to have to compromise for now. So a laptop is essential. My question is what kinds of things should I be looking for in a laptop that can give me the best performance for my buck (fs2004 or FSX). Let's say something that I could walk out of Best Buy with tomorrow. Regards

Hello, I have my FSX installed on my laptop it runs quite smooth but I thought well its a bit weird when I like move around the aircraft in Locked Spot. Then I found out that I only get 4fps and a max of 7 fps.. Is this correct for a laptop which was manufactured in 2009 and I got in December 2009. It has built in win 7 premium , I am using trend micro internet secuirty antivirus software , gamebooster. Its cpu is a pentinum Dual Core @ 2.1ghz. 3gb ddr2 Ram and a Intergrated video card which is also intel, I think the graphics card is the problem but I cannot replace it. I can run aero so it isn't an awfully awful GPU. Can anyone tell me what is wrong?(I heard someone get…

Mainly i upgraded to i7 because of FSX...That was the reason of going directly into Overclocking as soon as i got it. FSX needs infinite GHZ...the higher the better they say..And it is true.Since i see many people here that are or will be on this path i am just putting down what I did in order to learn how to overclock. I thought sharing this info may help others.First of all i want to say that there are dozens of other options out there to do it. This is just what worked for me. Dont shoot me :)))I am reading/searching the following forums (order of preference):1. http://www.overclock.net/2. http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/3. http://www.overclockers.com/AND also m…

Hi All!For the guys that operate an i7 950 to 4.0 Ghz ..A questionMy specs are in the sig, so do you find noticable differnece if you use 23x174 instead of 21x191 (bclk x Mult)?I would like to drop to 23x174 and keep some peripheral temperatures lower (qpi e.t.c)

For you all who have not yet decided on the ultimate "extra" personalChristmas purchase - consider a dedicated Flightsim SSD.Prices are coming down (now under $100 for 64GB), and they work remarkably well for FSX.Check the Hardware forum for SSD topics..

I'm planning my new build for the beginning of next year (after SandyBridge and Bulldozer launch hopefully), and assuming the early low end chips aren't anything special (until the big boys later in the year), I'm probably going to pick up a cheap current chip and build off of that. Essentially, I'm torn between going for a 1090T or an i5, and then overclock the nuts off either one. The i5 (or i7 if I get some money for xmas) is clearly the faster chip clock for clock, but would the extra cores be worth more in FSX? My main issue is loading scenery textures fast enough, which my current E8400 @ 4.25GHz can't quite do (although my SSD can), and I'd like to be able to get s…

Hello. I currently have a Phenom II 925 clocked at 3.5. I am searching for a Phenom II which has the best overclocking potential. ie. 4.0- 4.3 GHz range. I was looking at a review which compares the overclocking abilities of the AMD Phenom II X6 1075T & X4 970 BE & X2 560 BE Processors. : http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/reviews/processors/AMD_Phenom_II_X6_1075T_13.htmlIt seems the clear winner is the 1075T in terms of overclocking being stable at 4.2. Do the experts here think that buying an x6 cpu would be wise for FSX or should I go with the 970 BE x4?Fulls specs:AMD Phenom II 925 3.5 GHzASUS M4A87TD MotherboardHyperX 4Gb DDR3 1600GeForce 275 GTX 1796 MBAntec…

Hi all, about 3 months ago I swapped my HIS 5870 out for an EVGA GTX480, and I dropped my overclock to 4.0Ghz. I didn't save my settings as I had to do a fresh W7 install. Does anyone have any really stable 4.2-4.5 overclock settings that I can use? I have looked around but wanted to gather most of the resources in one place for future reference. Thanks in advance. Check my signature for hardware questions.

Hi everyone,Just cooked-up myself a nice little Mini-ITX machine with the following ingredients :Silverstone SG-06 case with 450w PSUASUS M4A88T-I moboAMD Phenom II x4 945 3GHz running @ 3.6GHzBig Shuriken coolerOnboard Radeon 4250 GFX500GB 7200rpm 2.5" SATA HDDCost = 35,000 yen ($420 , 320 euros)Its early days (day 2 in fact) and just been running stock FSX with Acceleration. With detail quite high (not enabled DX10 or bloom though) It can handle this default FSX very well. In Tokyo getting 20fps in an around Haneda. Out in the clouds 50fps is the norm. I set clouds to the max but draw distance is 60 miles. Autogen = dense. Scenery Complex = v.dense. Using skAI traffic.N…

Hey guys,I have an Asus P5E X38 chipset board and a EVGA GTX 8800 768mb card, along with a Core 2 E6850. Ancient stuff, I know, but fast enough for my FS9 setup.For no apparent reason, the system won't POST now. On power-up, the fans spin, I hear power from all the drives... but no beeps at all and my monitor stays in standby mode. The P5E manual says that a certain sequence of beeps will be heard if VGA is not detected. However, I'm not hearing anything when the card is seated or removed. I only hear beeps when I remove the memory. I haven't tried removing the CPU.Do you suspect the board or the card? It's all powered by PC Power&Cooling 750w.Is there anyway t…

I am in the process of buying a new laptop and I would also like it to be able to play flight simulator 2004 with high settings. Since I heard FS9 is only single-threaded, will there be a significant difference in fps between an i5 580m (clocked at 2.66ghz with turbo boost up to 3.33ghz) and an i7 720qm (clocked at 1.6ghz with turbo boost up to 2.8 ghz). Will FS9 even take advantage of turbo-boost?

Hi, I am not sure what it is called but there is a way to assign 1 of the 4 cores of the cpu to FSX and assign a different core to say, REX.

A colleague of mine has been talking lately about getting a 64GB SSD drive for his system. Now I'm thinking.... since stuttering has always been an issue (loading textures, other crap) It would seem logical that an SSD drive might be the holy grail to solving the stuttering/performance problems typically seen in FS since disk reads are the culprit to the stuttering issues... and if SSDs perform magnitudes faster.... :Thinking: Is anyone using an SSD device for simming yet?

I spent good time reading all about SSD here and elsewhere. My FS PC runs XP Pro and it has a dedicated HDD for FS. The idea is to replace my FS HDD with SSD to get (much) better read performance. I plan to copy everything onto the SSD and pop it in. No hassle of reinstalling anything. Although so far I don't see how it will cause any problem, I'd like to hear from more experienced users here if you have any thought on the DOs & DON'Ts. Much appreciated.

Hello everyone, I need your expert opinion =)I just bought a new computer and it came with a FREE "30GB Kingston SATA Gaming MLC SSD" My question is, what should I use it for? I'm afraid that it may be too small to install FSX plus a few addons and sceneries in it. If I do infact do use it for FSX, can Windows 7 be on the 1TB HDD or does it also have to be installed on the same SSD drive for FSX to work on the SSD? In other words will the application (FSX) work if it's installed on an SSD by itself and the OS is on a different drive?Here's what I'm working with:i7-950 (OC'd to about 3.5)1TB SATA-III 7200 HDDEVGA GTX 460 1GB SUPERCLOCKWindows 7 (64bit)6GB Kingston Hyper…

Guys some thoughts before i blow up our family budget..I recently replaced my GTX295 to GTX580. My current config is in my signature...BUT i have an option to go for:Intel Core I7-950 (s1366, 3.06GHz, 8MB, Box)Corsair XMS3 6GB DDR3-1600 Ram Kit (PC3-12800, 7-8-7-20, CMX6GX3M3C1600C7)Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R (s1366, DDR3, X58)+ a proper cooling replacement....As RAM option i can also get on the same money:Corsair XMS3 6GB DDR3-2000 Kit (3x2GB, PC3-16000, 9-9-9-24, CMX6GX3M3A2000C9) my question goes for the ram:is it ok?should i opt for 8GB (2x4GB) or stay with the triple config?My pc will run everything related to FS (ActiveSky, Jeppview etc)any comments please?

Hello,I posted about this little problem over on "simforums", but the site doesn't seem to be all that active at the moment so I thought I'd go ahead and shamelessly copy+paste my problem description here. I recently purchased a new HDD, and as a result I've been spending some time reloading all of my software. My current configuration looks like this: My intention was to keep my OS and various non-gaming applications on Disk 0 (drive C: partition), an SSD, and all my games on Disk 1 (partition D:). The idea was that I could have all sorts of background processes running from Disk 0, and by having my games on a dedicated HDD then there would be nothing to slow down the…

I was wondering if it is ok to buy a AMD965 Chip to put into my computer and if it will work. I currently have a gateway DX4200 with 4 gb of ram and an amd phenome x4 at 1.8 ghz, I just don't want to buy this new chip and not have it work. Thank you in advance,AnthonyP.S. The reason I ask is I read something about having to have the correct bios or something like that!!

Hi just wondering where you guys sit with sound cards. Do you use them or stick with onboard sound. I know that a lot of modern motherboards produce good sound but when your trying to extract every cpu cycle for graphics a card helps. I have aCreative SB Audigy 2 ZS. I would be interested to read your thoughts. Brett Nicholls

Gents,Looking at a new system for home as my 7+ year old rig just isn't cutting it anymore. Here's what I have put together at N***gg but question if the CPU and/or Graphics card will be good enough. I am running FS9 with REX2, 80% AI Traffic, and use several pretty intensive payware flight models.Here are the specs:OS: Win7x64Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3,LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s,USB3.0 ATXCPU: Intel Core i5-760 Lynnfield 2.8Hhz 95W Quad-CoreRAM: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8Gb (4x2Gb),240-pin DDR3 SDRAM 1600 (PC3 12800)GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX470(Fermi)1280MB,32o-bit,GDDR5 PCI-E 2.0x16,HDCP Ready,SLI Support HD: WD Caviar Black 1TB,7200RPM,SATA,6Gb/sPS: Corsair CMPSU-750TX,7…

I just had my computer hard shut down on me twice. The ambient room temp was really warm ( I lock myself in office while rest of downstairs is like 60F... cold haha).Anyway I was playing Red Alert 3 for a long time and the room temp had to be at least 80F. The PC shutdown. I turned it back on as soon as it shut down. Then it shutdown again before Windows could load. So I've waited about 10 minutes, opened the door so the room temp is back to around 70F.I figured it was my PSU shutting down everything. I checked my bios temp monitors and cpu/mobo/chipset were all normal temps.So I'm wondering if it is possible to monitor PSU temperatures? Is there a utility somewher…