New computer advice

[MeneMene 1]

Having never put together my own pc before, I'd thought I'd post here for advice on what components to get. I'm looking to spend between 1000-1300 USD, with 1500 being the max. I'm currently using FS9, and not looking to use FSX at the moment, but might in the future. With that in mind, I'd like this pc to be very "upgradable," with as much potential as possible. I want to be able to run FS9 at a solid 30 FPS under any situation, with any combination of payware aircraft, scenery, traffic intensity, and bad weather, and I'd also like to be able to run the DCS series as well. I'd prefer intel over AMD for the CPU, Nvidia over ATI for the GPU, and at least 8gb of ram. Outside of that, I am completely ignorant about power supplies, motherboards, cases, cooling systems, and pretty much anything else I'd have to get. Would anyone be kind enough to supply some recommendations or a "shopping list"?

 

thanks

[Manny 1,293]

Here is one

 

1) CPU = Intel i5-3570K ($230)

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819116504

 

2) Motherboard ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 ($190)

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131820

 

3) Memory Gskill Trident 8GB = $99

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231587

 

4) PSU = PC Power and cooling $90 (750 Watt)

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817703027

 

See if you can get more power or less price from a good reputable company. For the PSU. I like PC Power and Cooling. ITs bought over by OCZ. but OCZ brands are generally more expensive. You may do some searching here.

 

There's also corsair

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139021

 

 

5) HD = 1TB Western Digital BLACK 6MB Cache (Do not get their Green HD or the 3MB cache HDs) $120

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136533

 

(You could remove your old HD from your old PC and leverage that as welll as additional storage.

(Leverage your old Keyboard and mouse)

(See if you can leverage your old PC Case if possible) otherwise

 

 

6) Mid tower PC Case Budget $100 (Too many options here) I got a full tower HAF 932 for about $100 during Thanks giving sale a year ago. I just bought it at that time and used it for my new build recently.

 

7) CPU Cooler COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO ($35)

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835103099

 

8) Win 7 OS Home Premium 64bit = $99

 

 

9) I almost forgot the video card. Evga GTX670 FTW ($400)

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814130787

 

So the total damage = $1250

 

I think I got my math right.

 

 

You may consider as bonus a 250GB (in reality 220Gb) SSD for your FSX/FS9. I prefer Samsung SSDs.= $250

 

http://www.amazon.co...rds=samsung ssd

 

 

So a new total of $1500

 

 

 

And see if you get them at Amazon if you have prime shipping(1 month free Trial)/free shipping. They have awesome customer service and return policy. I can't say enough good things about Amazon. Newegg ain't so bad. But they come second to Amazing. IMO.

 

Also make sure you double check befiore hitting OK on your order, that you have these same exact model and specs that you ntend to buy. like for eg. make sure your CPU has the "K" at the end. the HD has the 6gb cache the video card has the FTW from EVGA... unless you get something else other than these parts.

 

 

And you would have an awesome setup. If you are not very confident of OCing, With a flip of a switch on that Mother board, you could OC it to 4.1Gz and then later on, after research and learning, you could get it to OC to 4.4-4.5Ghz

 

Manny

[MeneMene 1]

Thanks for the list. I was looking around for ~100 dollar cases- what do you think about the Antec P280? Any other recommendations besides the one that you listed?

[Manny 1,293]

Cases are so personal... Even the very popular HAF 932 (Full tower) I have, I can nitpick. There a few things I didn;t like and few features that it lacked.

 

Anyway.. I have a midtower (my previous build) which I really liked. Its a Liam Li.. And Liam Li cases are awesome.

 

Here are some, you may want to read up on the features + the reviews... read their cons and see if they would be your cons.

 

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811112239

 

But that does not have the one feature that I used to like..removable MB Tray like this one

 

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811112040

 

But they are not selling this anymore

 

Manny

 

Too many choices for Cases though. And no matter what you pick, I am pretty sure there are features that you would not care for features that you wished it had. Some featuers are good while building and some features are something that you need every day.

[Manny 1,293]

Any other recommendations besides the one that you listed?

 

If you think the 670 video card is too much, then you could spend less now on something like the GTX 560Ti or 550Ti. to bring down the cost.

 

Just make sure you have atleast 1GB Video RAM (Memory) for a single monitor setup. FSX with addons, you could come close to 800Mb VRAM.

[MeneMene 1]

Thanks.

 

About the SSD, what would be the advantages besides faster loading times? Does it help with blurries at all or anything like that?

[Manny 1,293]

I am not 100% sure, But I would suspect that it would help with faster loading of textures too.

 

I remember the FS9 days, the biggest fight I had was trying to beat the FS9 phot scenery blurries. Oh lord! how I used to hate that. I tried RAID 0 with 10,000 RPM Disks and what not... With FSX and with the SSD, I get very minimal blurries flying most aircrafts going at say 200kts in a single monitor setup. With three monitor setup, I do see a hint of the system refreshing here and there.... and thats one of the best things about my new build that I love.

 

I am not sure with FS9 weather the blurries were due to HD load alone or FS9 itself contributed to the blurries problem. I think it did.. Remember the ACES guys were here talking about the whole blurries issue and FSX etc... In wich case, even with SSDs FS9 might still have blurries problem...but in FSX its almost negligible, unless you are running three monitor setup and flying the f-16 at 2000 feet going over 600 kts. Atleast it can't be worse using an SSD. And oif you are going to spend over 1300 bucks on a system, a 250$ is kind of a added make sure I have done my part to kick that blurries off my back thingi. Thats how I look at it. I have seen some folks here who do not believe that SSD adds to simming other than fast loads.. But for me., its just that additional kick I am going to give my system. But I have no proof.

 

you also have the option of not getting the SSD now, install everything on the 1TB HD with 6MB cache and see for yourself.. later on add the SSD and move your FSX to the SSD. SSDs prices would drop further eventually.

 

 

This way you can build a sub $1000 PC that is pretty awesome for now,..add the GTX670 and the SSD later (Those two are big tkt items that is not so hard to upgrade).

 

 

 

IF someone wants a sub $1000 PC for FSX/FS9,. that would be my suggestion. The same list minus the SSD and the GTX670 and and add the 550Ti or 560Ti for a kickass FSX Gaming PC.

 

IF someone doesn't have a monitor, recentlI I bought from DELL Financial services a refurbished DELL 2408FPW monitor for $220 bucks on Ebay

 

Manny

[MeneMene 1]

Lastly, are you sure I need the 750w power supply? I've asked around a few other places and I've head that a c.500w psu will be fine.

 

thanks

[RWFeldman 159]

Lastly, are you sure I need the 750w power supply? I've asked around a few other places and I've head that a c.500w psu will be fine.

 

thanks

 

Sure a 500W PSU will run it.............for about 6 months.

[MeneMene 1]

Sure a 500W PSU will run it.............for about 6 months.

 

So i take it that I do indeed need a 750 watt psu?

[Manny 1,293]

If you already have the 500watt PSU and you are going with the GTX 550i instead of the GTX 670 then you could start with the 500 watt and see how far you can go.. but then be prepared to pull everything out and rebuild. the 750watt and the price point seems sub $100 so that was what I had suggested. Since your budget is around $1300 do not scrimp on PSU. Espcially if you are thinking of buyiung a new 500watt psu... don't

[raymar 969]

Manny,

 

for a first time builder that is looking for a new FSX machine would you discuss briefly the high and low points and therefore the good and bad of Sandy Bridge vs Ivy Bridge? I think I am one of those guys that would like to flip a switch on the MB for a simple OC boost but am not ready for serious bet your CPU on this type OCing. I am certainly willing to spend an extra $100 or so to avoid worrying about screwing up and burning up my gaming pc.

 

I have an off the shelf i7 870 2.93 GHz 8 GB 2 TB GTX480 / 1 GB w/ a 24IN WS dell and a 18" Dell ultra sharp. It just won't keep up with FSX and I have to put up with jagged lines to get decent FPS. Time to u/g.

 

Maybe also the advantages/disadvantages of air cooling vs liquid cooling. I have an oversized desk with a fairly standard PC space with an open front and back for air cooling. I also have several 500 - 750 GB v3.0 USB drives loaded with scenery files that I need to plug in.

 

BTW, I am a big Amazon fan with a prime account.

 

Ray

[Manny 1,293]

Hi Ray.

 

I am not a PC or OC expert like many folks here. So I am unable to talk about the SB vs IB. :)

 

I was on the fence on weather to go for the SB 2700K or the new IB 3770K ...so I was reading all the posts here talking about SB 2700K and how good it over clocks and also the effects of that running FSX. I also read few articles on the new IB and how that stacked up against IB. And I got an educated impression that They were pretty much the same or close. In my head, I was thinking that a IB OCed to 4.5Gz would be equallent to SB OC to 4.7 or 4.8.

 

I also realized that some folks have OCed the SB to over 5Ghz... like 5.2. But then I also see some folks OCing the IB to 4.8Ghz. So in terms of pure processing power at the worst case, IB and SB were very similar. But the reason that pushed me from the wobbling wall of indecision to the IB processor was the performance of Memory and the PCIe 3 Video (Even if it doesn't contribute much to FSX, atleast it can't be worse).

 

After I got the IB and OCed it 4.5Ghz. With one 24" Dell monitor 1920 x 1200, I was extremely satisified with FSX performance. After doing the Word Not Allowed tweaks and general due diligence, I got 30 FPS locked with many addons... Aircrafts + airports + AI. It was smooth, no sttutters. The smoothest I have seen FSX. Ofcourse I have lost that 30FPS with my 3 X 24" monitor but thats a different issue.. Except I cannot compare with SB envronment to tell you how much better or worse it is to SB. Mind you, I also have SSDs for FSX.

 

But as a hunch (not some scientific or clinical evaluation) I am thinking IB is the way to go instead of the SB.

 

 

Others can weign in on this SB vs IB thingi better. Particulalry if they have had both and experienced FSX with an OCed SB and OCed IB.

 

About cooling. If you are not trying to sqeeze every ounce of OC from the IB, then you can go with many coolers including the very modestly priced EVO 212 (the one with the copper tube all fused together.. check the link above) for $35. This is not huge like the D14. The cooling thing is just too many choices like the PC Case thing so I want to stay away from this. since I am not sure myself.

 

If you have a prime account with Amazon.. and if something doesn't work, you can call them and they would overnight you without any charge and you can slowly send the old one back. Its ideal when building a PC. Its nice to have something where you can call in the evening and you have the replacement parts at your door step the next afternoon for FREE! I don't know anyone who does that other than Amazon.

 

The ASUS P8Z77-V MB is the cheapest in that MB family I believe that use the IB and PCIe 3.0 . I felt I can live without the other features of all the other MB in that ASUS series. and the ASUS P8Z77-V MB comes loaded with the amout of Sata HDs that it can have. it has two PCI slot to leverage any old USB cards that you may have. It has plenty of PCI-Es too. It has Wifi if you need them. And it also has that swtich for OC ing that gives you a slight OC boost for the conservatives who don't want to mess with fiddling with the BIOS and what not. The price of this thing has been going down. I now see it at $180. If budget is really a concern I am sure others here can suggest other MBs that can be had for cheaper that can OC an IB to 4.5Ghz.

 

Manny

 

 

Manny

[raymar 969]

Thanks for the quick response. I do hope others will join in with points to consider. It appears that the price difference is not much of a deciding factor for the SB 2700K vs IB 3770K.

 

I started looking at a few cases at NewEgg and Amazon. They seem to be < $100 or >$170. I am surprised as how large all of them are. I may have to pick one based on size as one of the primary considerations.

 

In addition to all the necessary items for a case, the v3.0 USB will be high on my list and for sure used as a tie breaker. I will probably add several more v3.0 as that has to get more popular in time - they are so much faster than the v2.0. I have a couple of 1TB SATA HDD that I want to bring over just to have a ton old files that I can't bring myseft to erase.

 

Ray

[Mace 1,904]

Thanks for the quick response. I do hope others will join in with points to consider. It appears that the price difference is not much of a deciding factor for the SB 2700K vs IB 3770K.

 

The deciding factor seems to be overclocking. Current Ivy Bridge processors are running really hot temps while only doing moderate clocks.

 

I think it is coming down to how much you plan to clock it. To me, today's IB's are space heaters. I lean towards the i7 2700k for my own build. I'd love to hear others input on this topic, too.