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

Hello I decided to Install Driver Booster which is a windows driver updating tool, I ran it and i was Informed i had 65 Very Old drivers that need to be updated, I closed it and did not updated anything. I then opened up the Device Manger and spent about 2 hours going through all my windows drivers and updating them, Most of the time it came back with "The best driver for this is already installed" I still managed to manually update about 15 drivers I restarted my computer and then ran Driver Booster again, It now Informed me i had 61 drivers that needed an update, Initially i was told by driver boosted i needed 65 and even though i updated about 15 …

So i went in to bios and change the clock from 40 to 45 i checked hwmonitor to see that i was running at 4.5ghz and i was then i went into prepar3d and notice i didnt get a fps increase the only thing that increase was my minimum fps by like 3 or 4 but the average fps still stayed the same. Is my overclock unstable or what is it?

I'm reading articles stating Skylake-X CPUs are drawing large current when you put all cores to 4.5 or 4.6Ghz and run full load w/ wattage up to 293 and so even simple closed loop cooling isn't going to cut it well. The case isn't quite as bad for I7-7800X or 7820X. My 3930K during P3DV3 would be around 130W or so, and air cooled w/ a Noctua plus some cooler ambient air and core temps never go over 60C. Anyway, I'd like to have at least 6 cores but best overclocked single core performance for a 6+ core processor. What's my best bet now? My current 4.3y/o build has died and I'm not sure which part died but it could be time to do a new build.

Hello all, I will buy new system for prepar3d v4. I want to run P3d smooth with pmdg, active sky, orbx, etc. I've picked parts on partpicker as follows. CPU: Intel - Core i5-7600K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($227.88 @ OutletPC) CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($69.95 @ Amazon) Motherboard: Asus - STRIX Z270F ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($173.89 @ OutletPC) Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($135.88 @ OutletPC) Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($127.99 @ Amazon) Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($66.89 @ OutletPC) Video Card: …

Hello All! I recently starting flying again with P3D V4 and it doesn't look like my CPU is overclocked. I set it in the BIOS but nothing. The only thing that happens is the fan running at full speed. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4,0 GHz (Devils Canyon) OC'd to 4.5GHz Motherboard: ASUS Z97-K, Intel Z97 Mainboard - S1150 RAM: Corsair Vengeance Pro Series Red DDR3-1600, CL9 - 8GB GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 Superclocked ACX 2.0, 4096 MB DDR5 Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 3 Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster BX2335 LED 23" @ 1920x1080 SSD disk, Windows 10 64bit, Saitek Yoke, rudder pedals and throttle, TrackIR I know there are more forum posts on this topic than mushrooms after the rain but I'm not a hardware guy so I'd appreciate some advice on what to buy or not to buy. Right now I don't have spare dough for a brand new computer but I'd like to upgrade performance and…

I'm needing to upgrade my SSDs and have always used Intel SSDs. While doing some research I've noticed a lot of folks use Samsung. I would be interested in knowing the pros and cons of both drives and why folks choose one over the other. blaustern

What would be the optimal value of allocation unit size when formatting SSD for P3D v3? 4096 bytes or 64 kilobytes or something else?

This summer I'll be starting a job and normally have around $135 to spend each week. I was looking at buying a new CPU and Motherboard to replace my AMD FX8350. I was going to buy the i7 6700k, but then I saw they have a 7700k. The difference is only $20 so I was wondering if there is any major performance gain from the 7700k?

Hello everyone! I've been away from simulators for few years and now is time for me to come back flying in conjunction with the release of Prepar3D v4 and Plane 11 which looks insane for VFR flights. Since I have the LG Ultrafine 5K Display that I use with the new MacBook Pro, I'd like to take advantage of this gorgeous monitor for Prepar3D (only 4k as max resolution with Windows). I'm building my rig with a : i7 7700K 4.2 Ghz Kaby Lake Asus STRIX GTX 1080 TI Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB RAM 2 x Samsung SSD 1 for Windows and one for P3D Does anyone use Prepard3D v4 in 4K resolution? With the GTX 1080 TI I expect to fly in dense areas max set…

I currently have 2 drives: one HDD for other programs and stuff, and I have a SATA SSD as my boot drive and the drive I have FSX:SE and P3D v4 on. I only have 37GB (might seem like a perfectly fine amount but not to me) left on the SSD so I am taking a look at getting an M.2 SSD to expand with because I really want to get X-Plane 11 with the FlyJSim 727. I want to get rid of FSX:SE completely and even though it would free up space, it is still not enough to comfortably accommodate X-Plane 11. But my real question is, based on a demo test of X-Plane 11, I can confirm it seems to perform slightly better IMO than P3D v4. So based on this, I was thinking since P3D seems to h…

Hello I had my system built for me back in 2014 (Gigabyte GA-Z87-HD3 motherboard, I7 4770k Running at 4Ghz, GTX770 2GB running Win7), as I didn't feel confident in building one myself. Last year i upgraded to a GTX 970 4GB which I managed to do myself and I have been very happy with peformance running FSX. I have also dabbled with P3D v3 and now V4 has been announced I would like to give this a try.Now I don't expect to run on max sliders just hopefully smooth performance running a single screen 1920x1080 I have been reading the discussions and have read that 16GB is probably the minimum I should be running and at the moment I just have 8GB. I have had a look …

Getting close to full time retirement, looking to build a nice system for 64bit PD3v4 and "maybe" FSX. I have built 4 systems over the past 12 years. Been out of the tech loop for the past few years. Need to make sure I'm not going to run into any issues here. There was a notice in the build that the M.2 would use one of the PCI lanes. No problem. I should be all set with the 1TB M.2 and the Evo 1TB SSD. I'm thinking of replacing the two case fans with more quite fans and putting the other three on top to vent air. Remove the drive cages and place the SSD onthe back of the MB plate. Should provide good space in the case. I would rather not "M"uck with water cooling if …

Plenty of reviews out now. This one compares the 7740X to the current Prepar3d gold standard, the 7700K. https://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/intel_kabylake_x_core_i7_7740x_review_better_than_7700k,1.html Main benfit I can see is the clock speed. I read in another review that an overclock to 5.1 was easy, and 5.5 should be no problem. The more expensive chips that have been announced have slower clocks, but more threads - so for P3D the cheaper 7740X sounds like the chip to get. What do you guys think?

So the new build seems to have come off really well - thanks to everybody here for answering specific questions and for posting lots of useful information for us passive readers - I would never have found my way to Phanteks Enthoo cases or gone with a Noctua NH-D15S instead of an AIO if not for the discoveries I've made while reading this forum). At the moment I'm running stress tests - Silicon Lottery delidded i7700K dialed in at 5.0 on 1.3 volts with temps in the low 60s (it's rated for 5.1 but the voltage demand escalates, and I like the idea of low temps/low voltage and a long service life), too much DDR4 RAM at 3600 on an XMP profile... life is good. My las…

I'm fixing to replace my development computer which has served me well for several years now, but is beginning to show it's age in some not-so-friendly ways. That means my main simulator computer will be bumped over to my development desk, and I'll get something newer, better, and faster to replace it. Some caveats are in order. I must buy from Amazon because that's where I have sufficient credit open. There is one available there that meets my budget limit, and offers what appears to be the best "bang for the buck." My question is simple enough, will this be satisfactory for the next few years? EDIT: I just read all of the glowing reviews, but one thing s…

Intel just announced a new line of CPU with up to 18 cores. I think I read that Rob said version 4 was using all the cores in his CPU. Maybe version 4 really improved the multi thread usage. If so, these new chips will really be good for simmimg.

Two and a half years ago, I purchased a GTX 970. I also purchased an 4770K cpu. If I were upgrade the 970 to a 1080 Ti, would how unevenly would these be matched. I will be soon getting P3D v4.

Hi Guys My i7 6700k is overclocked and running pretty solidly at 4.8ghz with XMP3200 enabled, but I have just one thing I can’t seem to establish… I know some prefer not to use this feature when overclocking, but I prefer the CPU to clock back down when NOT under load. I used to be able to set this with issues, but now either something changed in a BIOS update, or I can’t remember how I enabled it (much more likely the latter). I have ‘Speed Step’ enabled in the BIOS, and have tried both ‘Balanced’ and ‘High Performance’ in Windows 10 settings. I also tried 'Adaptive Power' for the CPU, but really didn't like the core voltage it applied. Any ideas…

time for me to pick a mobo but with so many i can't pick one so was thinking i can get some help from you guys ..

Giving consideration on how best to set up disk space for best performance and ease of use in a two OS system. I’m starting from ground zero, new hardware and software. The end result will be the ability to boot into either Win7Pro for FSX or Win10 1703 for P3Dv4. For storage I have a M.2 1TB and a 2TB magnetic drive. 32G of ram. I also have the option of putting a 128G SSD drive on the back of the MB, but I may not go there. Still undecided. That’s what this post is helping me to decide. From everything I read the consensus is to install the OS’s in the fastest drive in the system. Mixed opinions whether or not to install the flightsims on that same fastest drive, t…

Thinking about an i5-7600K or i7-7700K build on Z270 M/B dedicated to flightsims: DCS X-Plane v10 / v11 P3D v3 / v4 VR in the future Q1) Based on browsing users system specs on several flightsim forums am I right in thinking the current Kaby Lake "sweetspot" for RAM is: 16MB DDR4-3200??? Q2) Is anyone really going to need more than 16GB for current flightsims (anyone running the above sims with 8GB and no OOMs)? Q3) Would VR need more system RAM?

Hello to you all, Obviously, I am seeking some input specific to P3Dv4. I will hopefully be using a combination of XPlane11 and V4 and I am ultimately looking for an upgrade in hardware specifically regarding addressing these two platforms. Firstly, does anybody know for sure, whether either of these two platforms, either use or plan the use of multiple threads/cores in the future and if so, would the Xeon CPU (which I believe is slower but has more cores) be a better choice over the Intel/AMD CPUs. If, this is the case, would there be any benefit in using a dual CPU XEON set up. I know in the past there has been no specific benefit for the flight sim comm…

Looks promising multicore 5ghz 10core with high ipc

I'll be soon upgrading to P3D v4 and I'll have to get new RAM. Right now I have Corsair Vengeance Pro Series Red DDR3-1600, CL9 -8GB Kit. I'll be going for 16GB now. RAM is not that cheap these days and the difference in price between "normal" and "high performance" RAM is significant. I'm wondering what are the practical and observable differences in P3D v4 if one is using "slow" in comparison to "fast" RAM?