Another upgrade!!

[delticbob]

Seems upgrades are in at the moment.

I am thinking of getting a better PC - that packs a punch . A friend has given me the URL to Alpine Systems http://www.alpinesystems.co.uk/xoop/modules/wiwimod/ who, (I must admit), I'd never heard of.

Has anyone here either got one of their systems, had one of their systems, or got views in their systems?

Are they any good?

I suspect they are not cheap, but this time round I want something that will give me the FSX experience I dream of....not shuffling round with sliders set to minimum.

In advance, thanks

Bob

[speedbird591]

Hi Bob. I'm toying with the same idea in the next couple of months but I'm also a bit out of touch with the very latest technology. The current edition of PC Pilot (Nov/Dec) has a five page article dedicated to us - helpfully entitled 'What is the best computer for running Microsoft's Flight Simulator?'

I've no idea how accurate all this is, I'm only repeating what the article says. One would imagine they have some experience to draw on!

It starts off by suggesting that it's not as simple as just buying the most powerful PC you can afford as FSX won't utilise all of it - after all it was designed for older architecture and released in 2006. For instance it's only designed to be run on one core so speed is more important than the number of processor cores. Similarly it won't use more than one video card so a dual GPU system would be a waste of money if you only want to run FSX.

This is what they recommend. An i7 chip with a liquid cooling system in a x-58 compatible motherboard utilising triple channel memory. They recommend Asus or EVGA boards. An Nvidia GTX 480 graphics card. 6-8 Gb of DDR3 memory (Corsair Dominator or Kingston HyperX). An SSD drive will give the fastest transfer speeds by a long way but a Western Digital Velociraptor 10,000 rpm drive is a good compromise if you can't afford one. Also a high output power supply will be essential for that lot. They recommend that 800-1200w should be futureproof. For the OS they reckon XP will become increasingly difficult to support, Vista is to be avoided of course and they feel that Windows 7 is the best OS for FSX.

Well, I haven't added that lot up yet but I would guess it's £1200-£1500 plus a monitor.

The machines close to this spec currently listed at the top of PC Advisor magazine's chart are: Arbico Elite, Eclipse Armageddon, DinoPC Maxosaur and CyberPower Infinity. obviously you can customise the specs on their websites to get a total price for your desired spec.

Hope this helps

Ian

[GHD]

I recently bought a system from http://www.overclockers.co.uk/

Spec:

Code: Select all

Case:          Lancool Dragon-Lord PC-K62 Mid Tower 
Motherboard:   Asus P6X58D-E (Socket 1366) DDR3 
CPU:           Intel Core i7 930 3.06GHz overclocked to 4.20GHz 
RAM:           Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Triple Channel Kit
Cooler:        Prolimatech Megahalems CPU Cooler w/ Akasa Viper 120mm Fan
GPU:           GTX 480 1536MB
Disks:         2 x 600GB Velociraptors 
                2 x 2TB SATA 2
Optical Drive: 22x DVD+RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter
PSU:           Corsair Extreme 750W
OS:            W7 64bit
 

Their after-sales service is second to none.

[DaveB]

Their after-sales service is second to none.

That's not always the case I'm afraid mate. While I've never had a problem with them, there are members here who have and their response was chronic. A suggestion at the time (it was this time last year if I remember right) was to Google 'Overclockers' and see how many complaints came up and the answer was.. quite a lot! Just ask Gary (Fodda here) about his graphics card problems! On second thoughts.. don't, it will only open up old wounds

This said.. you have to speak as you find

ATB

DaveB

[ianhind]

Ah well, I'm never going to run FS at its best

My wife's new PC was similar to the "entry level" on the alpinesystems web site but without the GTX470 - she had to make do with a 9600GT off eBay.

And I can't persuade myself to do more than that if/when I upgrade my PC. As for Ian's estimate of £1200-1500 for a system, I've probably not spent that much over the past 5 years on PCs. Maybe I'm just tight

So not much help from me.

[speedbird591]

I know this thread overlaps the other one a bit, but Bob was asking about a replacement PC to run FSX comfortably rather than upgrading within a set budget.

I think my previous estimate for the specs recommended by PC Pilot are a bit high and could be a couple of hundred quid lower - but if you're thinking of spending that much money (as I am) you need to take a step back and ask yourself what you really want.

In fact my dual core laptop runs FSX comfortably with most sliders towards the right, good frame rates, good graphics and smooth gameplay. So why do I think I need more powerful hardware? It's not to run FSX - it's to run the add-on scenery, animations and AI which is what hits the performance. So I have to decide how much these supplementary visual enhancements are worth to me. I can run FSX comfortably with no further expense but I have to ask myself whether I want to spend £1200 in order to have detailed airports, AI and more realistic ground scenery. I'm not sure that I do as it is the flying that I really enjoy and the rest is a nice-to-have. It's obviously a very personal decision we all have to make based on our likes and circumstances.

My position is that I enjoy my simming experience but I'm not convinced that a £1200 investment would give me an extra £1200 of pleasure. On the other hand, I have got my eye on a £2500 mountain bike that would go very nicely with the other two in the garage ...

Ian

[delticbob]

Guys, many thanks for your input.

I currently have a dual core machine - don't ask dual core what but in FSX I can have double figure frames rates on a good day.

Budget is not a problem. If I see what I want, I save till I can afford it. I have faffed around for too long with mediochre machines, & now is the time to take the plunge.

As I understand it - at least from a Dutch buddy, with a quad core processor - don't know if it can be done with adual core machine, is to allocate a game, be it FS9/FSX or another, to one core, so that part does not have to worry about anything else, & thats my problem. PC is multi tasking - office, music station everything & the clutter, plus the processors inability to do what it should, PLUS the machine is now several years old, I need a dedicated FS PC, & this one can be left to do all the other bits - which it does very well.

Cheers people

Bob

[speedbird591]

Bravely spoken, Bob! Oh - I dunno - maybe I should get a new PC after all

BTW this is how you can allocate a program to a core (at least in W7). Run the prog, open task manager, processes, right click fsx.exe and choose affinity.
Although I've just tried running FSX on one core and got frame rates about 20% lower than with all cores!



Ian

[ianhind]

Ian

My position is that I enjoy my simming experience but I'm not convinced that a £1200 investment would give me an extra £1200 of pleasure. On the other hand, I have got my eye on a £2500 mountain bike that would go very nicely with the other two in the garage ...

I understand entirely and that was probably what I should have made clear when I said how much (little) I had spent on PCs. For what I use PCs for, my budget is adequate. But I'll quite happily spend considerable money if I really, really want something. Only trouble is that doesn't come around often.

Ian

PS looking through some very old posts I found one from Peter about FSX requirements - not sure how relevant it is with the FSX updates but interesting nonetheless. http://www.cbfsim.org/cbfsim/cbfsBB/vie ... r+i7+intel

[Fodda]

Just ask Gary (Fodda here) about his graphics card problems!

Yep, I've replied about that rather costly scam in the other Upgrade thread here.