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

Hi allI'm about to buy a new i7 PC. Is there really any benefit to using graphics cards in SLi mode for FSX ...or is it all just hype ?CheersEric

Hi allCan I install the operating system on the Solid State Drive Drive and store all my data/program files/games on another disk. So the SSD will only be housing the OS....If yes, how big should the SSD be? 30GB enough?Eric

Folks,Just thought I spread a little joy which I experienced for the first time. I finally put the last piece of the puzzle in my rig last night which was an EVGA GTX480. Uninstalled NHancer per Nick N. updated 480 guide and also dropped in his NVidia profile. Created a new FSX.CFG file with only a few modifications. Set TBM=80 and added the HighMem fix are the ONLY tweaks I made. Turned on AA in game and pushed autogen to max. Granted, I am running a i7.980x @ 4.5 GHz so combining that with a 480GTX has made FSX really run great. In addition, it appears that the resolution setting of 5040x1050 issue has finally been resolved with the latest WHQL release 257.2…

Going to La this weekend, anyone residient of LA, that can recommend a place to go in LA to get good prices on computer Hardware, specifically looking to pick up a i980X processor and take advantage of the Pound to Dollar rates!Best Regards

Hi allIs a separate sound card really necessary for good sound quality, or will onboard sound provide hight quality sound?This is the motherboard i am getting with my new rig: Asus P6X58D-E (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 (with onboard 7.1 sound)I currently use a Soundblaster Audigy soundcard which renders great sound on a 7.1 surround system. Can I expect the same from onboard setups?Cheerseric

I recently bought a "Netgear ReadyNAS Duo" server. It comes with a 1TB drive, and has a hot-swap cage for a 2nd 1TB drive that -when installed- will automatically become a RAID mirror backup of the primary drive.The "manual" really sucks though, as it really doesn't explain much of anything. It took me several days to discover how to make it appear as "just another drive" on all of the computers on my LAN.It connects via my router, and I've now got it configured it to allow a selected folder-share to be accessed via an ftp connection. Pretty slick!I even found a "free" site that provides me a "domain name" that is aliased to my IP address, along with a tiny TSR utility, w…

Hi all,Once again doing some research for a mate. He's currently running the following:i5 650 @ 3.2GHz8GB DDR3 1333MHz Dual ChannelnVidia GT3202x 500GB RAIDI believe it's an Asus system, so I'm not sure what the PSU is or the mobo. Also means OCing is out of the question. What do you think is the best possible upgrade for this system? Cheers

So I just purchased this machine from ibuypower tonight:http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/espec.aspx?eid=118994What should I expect for FSX performance? What type of FPS should I reasonably expect with add-on scenery and vatsim use? Any tweaks, etc I should read up on before my new system arrives? Any advice or feedback? I've been a long time fs9 user who purchased FSX but couldn't install it because my system was too slow. Two years later I'm excited to install and give it a shot!

EDIT: mmm, flawed tests... again?

Hi All,Just returned to FS9 after a while and realsiing how slow my old PC for FS9 is, I would like to buy a top end PC in the UK for FS9 only which allows me to fly in a High Screen resolution. Just wondering if anybody can kindly help as I am at a complete loss with new PC's.Ideally i would like to stick with Nvidia and Intel Thank you every much Best Wishes, Chris

Does anyone know of a good program to test motherboards for failures (something like to Memtest86+ but for motherboards)? I keep getting blue screens, seems to be memory related but memory passed 10 hours with Memtest86+.

Hi folks,My laptop has recently packed up (power jack issue), but I haven't got the money to sort it out for a bit. I was wondering if its possible to remove the hard drive and use it in another laptop (my partners) without any issues?Thanks for any advice.

Guess it's time to slooowly start thinking about switching to win7 (especially due to the upcoming ie9) and a new system. As I don't like the whine and noise of the PC fans, even my present PC is already almost a silent system with heatpipes and slow rotating fans.After looking at a few companies the following questions remain.Due to the heatpipe cooling I think that OC the CPU and/or GPU is out of question.My old core 2 duo E6850 runs at the default 3.00GHz so switching to an i7 with 2.8GHz doesn't make much sense.Guess going for the i7-960 with 3.2GHz is best ? (as everything else is too expensive).Are 6GB RAM enough, or are 12GB significantly enhancing win7/FSX.For the…

Any recommendations for a new LGA775 motherboard for under about £100? I only need one PCIe 16X slot. I've narrowed it down to these two:Asus P5QD TurboGigabyte GA-EP45-UD3LRI've heard some murmurs about Asus being better quality / more reliable at this price range, what do you think?

Hey guys,I was looking about on the internet the other day and I came across this. Thermaltake ProWater 880i. Just wondering what you guys think of it, since I never even knew it existed until now. Just out of interest, how would it perform vs the Noctua NH-D14? Better? Worse? Im talking at max performance on an OCd i7.Cheers

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I am in the process of building a medium gaming computer , particularly, for FS9. I have searched high and low, and have only gotten more confused along the way. But I have come up with the following components: 1 Asus Striker Extreme 680i (this was given to me about 2 years ago) 2 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz 3 Nvidia 8600GTS (also given to me along with the Motherboard) 4 CORSAIR 4GB (2X2G) PC6400 DDR2 RAM TWIN2X4096-6400C5DHX 5 1-500 Gb WD Scorpion Black 7200 RPM (O/S) 6 1-300 Gb WD VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 7 Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP ATX Mid Tower 8 Windows XP Professional 32-Bit 9 Corsair Hydro Series H50 Liquid cooling system CPU 10 Corsair HX750W…

Hey everyone.I just picked up a Noctua nh-d14 cooler from a local store and I've installed it, now I'm looking at the idle temps on my i7-930 they read 35, 30, 31 ,35C I can't remember my stock temps but are these numbers too high under CoreTemp 0.99.7 I'm just wondering before I sart overclocking!ThanksLuckyman

Hi all,Times are hard for me at the moment and I'm planning on buying a $15,000 engagement ring for my girlfriend. I know yikes. I need cash and I am selling a high end system, along with a few other parts. You can buy the whole system or the parts. I'm not paying for delivery outside of Australia unfortunately, so buyer will have to consider this before buying. See the first part of my signature for the parts for sale. Don't worry guys, I'm not quitting my hobby, I'm keeping my other computer along with the 980x which is more than enough to run at max. Thanks all

So I purchased new comontents recently and when I hooked up the system everything was fine. Until a week later I boot up and it's telling me 4000MB of RAM when I have 6GB, then over the next month it was switching in between 4Gb and 6GB at each bootup (on POST)Now only 2GB is showing up!! What's going on?

Hi guys,time to get my i920 overclocked, I would like to go with water cooling. I have been looking at kits and really not sure what to get. The Coolit systems kits are looking good (and easy to install), however, I am concerned about the reviews I read on newegg.com about reliability. What would you recommend?Thank you in advanceJohn

Is it possibble to run two HD with different rpm's (10.000 & 7,200)? If not, could I install a 7,200 rpm HD in a computer that originally had a 10,000 rpm HD installed? Appreciate your replies.

Hi,I'm looking to upgrade my desktop as it doesn't seem to cut it anymore,especially when it comes to games like Empire Total War ( gotta luv it! ).It's getting kinda irritating Yes, i've checked and theres no software jamming.I've read a lot of different stuff about this machine but people inn here seems to know their stuff so...I happy with my prosessor. But i'd grateful for some pointers on graphic card: like how much more eye candy can i expect to get out of ETW and the new one ( Shogun something like that )with maxed out memory and graphics ( preferbly without installing a beefed-up PSU ).Heard the 250GTS is good but wolut it fit without a power upgrade ( not doing…

Do any of you know if SSD performance starts to tail off as the drive gets full? I'm thinking in terms of FSX + addons, nearly filling an SSD...I would not want to have I/O slowdown.

Hi AllI am thinking of upgrading my pc.My current pc is Q6600 @3.2, 4 gigs Ram and nvidia 480gtx.At medium settings in fsx and pmdg 747 I get 10fps.I only fly the 747 or level d 767.I have most scenery add ons.Any ideas please which of the above will give the best frame gains.I will appreciate all the ideas.Many thanks.Qas