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

Hi guys,I have been flight simming since the beginnings of FS2000. I have a 800MHz P3 w/ 512 SDRAM. Yes, I know. I couldn't do better until now.Anyway, I have been trying to narrow down what to buy. It seems I can get a pretty good I7 940 w/ GTX260 and 3G RAM for around 1800.00. The best I could do with a QX9650 system was around 1600 and Q6600 for around 13-1500.I'm trying to get a system which will last through FS11 while running FSX/FS9 well. So, I'm also assuming I need to stay with the quad cores and at least 3GHz from what I've read here in the forums.$1800.00 I7 specs:CS_FAN: Extra Case Cooling Fan [+3] (3 x Fans [+6]) CPU: Intel

Having problems deciding on a replacement for my AMD 939 3700+ processor combo since I have gone through 2 Ausus motherboards (first died slowly with a Northbridge-chip related failure and replacement failed after 2 days of normal use without a bios screen, booting or any other tell-tail signs like the normal beep codes and again is back at tech-services for replacement). I

I seem to have lost the 'Search' option from my start button menu.Any ideas how I might retrieve it?Ta!

hello dear friendsi got a ASUS Geforce 8800GTS (768MB) in my pc. Board is ASUS Striker II NSE (socket 775) , CPU is an Intel quadcore 9550, with 4 gigs of ram, and Vista ultimate 64bit installed. I am running fine on FSX, great performance, only i get fsx crashes (lockups) in between 1 and 3 hrs of flying. i read somewhere that the 8800gts with 768 mb has known problems with fsx, that

Intel has assigned the pet name

I have the opportunity to get at a very good price a desktop with the following spec's :Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 (4 x 2.33 GHz)4096 MB DDR2-667 Nvidia Geforce 9600 GT, 512 MB GDDR3-SDRAM1x WD10EACS-00D6B0; 931,0 GB Windows Vista Home Premium, 32 bitAs I am no specialist, I ask here if it will be sufficient to run FSX with acceptable performance?Thanks in advance.Guy

Hewlett Packard Pavilion Elite M9540FProcessor Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300Processor Speed 2.5 GhzRAM 8GBHard Drive 750GBOptical Drive SuperMulti DVD Burner with LightScribeGraphics NVidia GeForce 9800GT 512MBOperating System Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit SP1Shared Video Memory 2303MBSpeakers HD Audio, 8 Speaker SurroundIntegrated WiFi Wireless LAN 802.11b/g/nFireWire (IEEE 1394) 1 Front 1 BackPower Supply 460 WProcessor Cache 6MB L2 CacheSytem Bus 1333MHz Front Side BusOther 15 in 1 memory card reader 6 USB 2.0 ports 2 Firewire portsIt's only 2.5 GHz - so would it still handle some of the newer games out today that are recommending 3 GHz…

Hello,I'll be pretty clear, I know very little about computer specs. Going through the posts in this section is a little daunting for me because of my lack of computer knowledge.So, I would like to get a new system. Anything will be better than what I currently have...a 4 year old laptop. I have become used to the way it runs FS9, so, just about anything I buy will probably be an improvement.I'm desperately needing advice on how to proceed on a new system. My expectations are to run FS9 (no other gaming) and run PMDG 747, which I currently cannot do on my laptop. Of course I would love to be able to run Flytampa scenery's (Kai Tak) and other add ons.My budget is very…

Maybe a slightly different hardware discussion. I went out tonight and got replacement ink for my epson printer-with a $10 off coupon I still paid $75 for new ink carts. and they don't last all that long. I figure I could just as easily buy a new printer every time I run out of ink and it would probably cost the same.Any opinions of the "cheapest" printer to run including the cost of ink? Are the Laser printers now competitive-would one be better off getting one of these considering cost per page?I am almost tempted to pull one of my old printers out of the closet with a single black ink cartridge-the cost now is really ridiculous-maybe time to go back to a typewriter and…

Opinions, thoughts? I'm looking at these parts for an i7 build:MSI x58 motherboard $220http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813130216OCZ 6 gig ddr3 $245http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820227366EVGA GTX 260 216 stream processors $239 - times two to run four monitors (obviously non sli)http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130398Scythe SCASM-1000 cpu cooler $39http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16835185042can't forget i7 940http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115201I have this powersupply OCZ 700 watthttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817341002

Thanks for all the advice from folk a couple of weeks back regarding my new build... The final system is listed below:Thermaltake Tai-Chi Case (I didn't realise how big it would actually be!)Intel Core2Duo E8600 (Thermaltake liquid cooling)1kW Enermax PSUASUS Rampage Extreme4Gb Patriot Viper DDR3-16000EVGA GTX280 1Gb2 x 300Gb WD VelociRaptor 10kRPM (one for work and one for play :))I got it built on Saturday and installed XP x64. I've nearly got everything installed and working properly - I've been pleasently suprised that most of the software I use (incl. work stuff) works with x64 really well... a few older things wouldn't recognise it as windows XP and I'm now without …

Hi. I'm about to get my new system up and running and I have a question regarding the software setup on these drives. I have two 500G Seagate drives and I'm planning on installing the software in the following manner:1st Drive ( C) - Vista 64 system, misc. (non-FSX) simulations (including possibly FS9 and CFS 2/3), and non-sim programs and utilities (including RealTemp, CoreTemp, and CPU-Z)2nd Drive (D) - FSX and all FSX-related programs and utilitiesDoes this sound like the best way to do it?Thanks,Jeff

Greetings, I just upgraded my 8800GTS 640 to a GTX 260 216. Now when I fly over a very dense forrest area (lots of Autogen trees) my sound starts to skip and sputter. Once I fly away from the area it's fine again. Anyone have any idea what might be causing this? Or how to fix it. My PC uses an Asus P5E, Q9450 @ 3.4ghz (8X425, cpu-strap @ 333, 1.32V), Tuniq Tower, 4 gigs Adata PC8500 @ 1020 and X-fi sound card. PSU is OCZ Stealth 600 Watt. Using Vista 64. I've tried new video card drivers, changing video settings, fan settings, different aircraft. I also moved sound card to another slot..no joy! Anyone have a clue?

Hello all, - I am one of those holdover simmers still going strong with FS9. In the mean time I have a system that runs FS9 relatively well, but I do struggle with smoothness at complex airports with high end aircraft, PMDG 747 for eg. I have $500 to spend on an upgrade and would like some suggestions for how to get the most horsepower on my budget. My current specs:Op Sys: Win XP Pro 64 I TRIED TO USE A PROFANITY HERE - AREN'T I STUPID!ip: Pentium 4 3.6Ghz Sound: Soundblaster Audigy ZSVideo: Nvidia 6400 GT 256MBDirectX: 9.0cRAM: 2Ghz PC3200 400Mhz Motherboard: Abit AS8Along with FS9 I run Track IR IV, AI Blast, and thru WideFS on a separate machine I run Activ…

*This is a double post - I've never understood why there are two hardware forums here...Hey folks,I am about to buy a new PC, in bits (one week to payday - woohoo!) I've been waiting/saving to do this for a really long time so I'm really going for it ;)I already have some lovely PC3-16000 memory (Patriot Viper 2x2Gb 2000Mhz) for some overclocking fun but to run this at full pace, it seems I need an n790i chipset mobo... At least I have yet to find a review where they got DDR3 to 2000Mhz on any other chipset (I've seen 1980MHz but it was a bit ropey).I quite fancied the ASUS Rampage Extreme with which I could use an ATI HD4870 X2 card which I wanted to get but I am worried…

I want to get a battery backup for my system, well at least the tower and the monitor etcWe have occasional power flutters here and I hate when my system shuts down without warning.A few I was looking at are here:are they any good?http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16842101067http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16842102048http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16842101137

Hi, I just reinstalled Vista 64 bit after NVIDIA's Sytems Tools meesed it up bad. I downloaded he latested drivers for my EVGA 9800 GTX cards in SLI mode. I ran FSX with PMDG 747X for about 10 min and the graphics went crazy and I got this message in Windows:A problem with your video hardware caused Windows to stop working correctly.Problem signatureProblem Event Name: LiveKernelEventOS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3Locale ID: 1033Files that help describe the problemWD-20081128-1443.dmpsysdata.xmlVersion.txt View a temporary copy of these filesWarning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.Extra informa…

Ok, here is my situation/question;I have a 160 Gig SATA HDD with 2 x DVDRW SATA in my machine. I also have a 40Gig HDD IDE in my machine. 160 Gig HDD on SATA1, DVDRW SATA3 and 4 respectively. Is this correctly done? I find that access to the 40Gig is very slow. Also if I use the bottom DVDRW to install something it is much slower than the top DVDRW. Can anybody help me with this problem.ASUS motherboardAMD 5.0Gig3 Gig RAM 800X1650 512MB graphics card17 inch Samsung CRT

which better for fsx BFG PX9800GTX 512MB/256bit DDR3 PCI-e Video Card or BFG PX9800GTX+ OC 512MB/256bit DDR3 PCI-e Video Cardthe reason plzwhat is the best manifacture gainware bfg evga GIGABYTE asus SAPPHIRE i found that i first one is more expensiveplz advise

I run a fairly ancient machine for FS9 with a 7800GTX 256 MB using the latest Omega drivers. I keep reading about NHancer and how it makes such a difference but cannot find it anywhere on my machine. On my START/Programs I have NVidia Corporation Mixer Application and also a link to the Nvidia Omega drivers. I guess I must have uninstalled NHancer when I cleared out the NVidia drivers prior to installing the Omega ones. My ongoing problem for years is that I get lots of shimmering and jaggies and my frame rates aren't great. Is it worth going back to Nvidia drivers and using NHancer? But please someone tell me what it is and what it does? :-hmmmJohnMy system: AMD Athlon…

Does anyone have any advice re:good or bad companies that will build custom pcs based in the UK? I don't have the confidence to build it myself but now know the sort of spec I'm looking for. I've so far investigated Mesh and pcspecialist.co.uk. Both have mixed reviews. Does anyone have experience with either or advice about any other good reputable companies? thanks again!

Hello,Can someone tell me what the performance impact is on autogen on a newer system, either a Core2 extreme, i7 or or one of the new 9xxx Quads.I'm looking for a realistic indication, which I know each system will be different, but at least a ballpark reference.I see posts with people saying sliders almost or maxed out getting solid, smooth locked 24 to 30 fps, over large airports, is that with NO tree or autogen tweaks applied.I'm thinking of getting a new i7 920 (will upgrade chip when prices come down), and I'm wondering if I'll get similar performance with setting my autogen on Dense with no tweaks.Thanks for your time and consideration.ed

I just bought a couple of identical HD's and I'd like to set them up in a RAID 0 and keep the OS on my existing HD. In keeping with the instructions for my Rampage Extreme board, I went into the BIOS and configured the storage configuration as SATA, then in a different menu, I picked the two new drives and specified RAID 0. When I did so, my PC promptly stopped working since the existing HD with the OS no longer appeared, even in the boot priority menu, and the two new drives were obviously empty. So is there a way to do this, to have the OS on a single (old) drive and other (new) drives set up in RAID, or does RAID require doing everything from scratch? (by the way, I wa…

helloi wanna run fsx with 4 monitors so what should i buygtx280+ 8600gt(already here) 9800gtx+ + 9800gtx+plz help

Hey guys,Sorry for the tangent but this might help anyone who like me runs dual Nvidia video cards (non-SLI) to power multiple monitors so I thought I would share. I play with Rail Simulator on my 2nd XP64 OS that I also have FSX installed on. I sort of use that as my guinea pig system. Long story short I was playing with Nhancer settings and for years I have run combined 8XS and 16x AF (Thanks Ryan, I still follow your tips :) ). While playing around for RailSim I clicked on SLI AA by mistake and read the description which said it is for older games or games that can not use SLI. This setting allows the game to use both video cards for AA only to improve the graphic…