What is best for Flight Sim?
Moderators: Guru's, The Ministry
Re: What is best for Flight Sim?
Given that I can run FSX with most sliders at MAX or near MAX on a 4 and a half year old Quad 2.66, 4GB RAM and a Geforce 8800 you shouldn't have any problems with that, but remember FSX is now how many years old? so its not optimised for ver modern hardware i.e. DX11 etc.
Ben.
Re: What is best for Flight Sim?
Well I did it... upgraded a couple of weeks ago to an i5 2500K at 3.3Ghz currently overclocked to 4.2Ghz. Bits supplied by Overclockers but decided to avoid the bundle and save a bit of cash.
Full spec is: Asus P8Z68 V Pro, processor as above and Kingston dual channel DDR3 1600 CL9. Initially 12Gb of RAM then discovered that the MB likes either 2 or 4 but not 3 of dual channel stuff so got an extra stick off Amazon for a reasonable price. Total cost was around the same as a bundle with the Asus P8Z68 V board and 8Gb RAM. There are though a few "lessons learned" from my experience...
1. Don't forget to delete the manufacture specific drivers for the old board.
2. The P8Z68 board doesn't have either a PATA slot or PS2 stylee keyboard port so guess what, two trips to PC World - the first to get a replacement SATA optical drive and keyboard and the second to get the SATA power lead for the optical drive!
3. RAM as above, either 2 or 4 but not 3 (will take 1 at a pinch).
4. The P8Z68 is a big board, only just got it into a big(ish) CoolerMaster case and even then had to remove one of the cable management plastic bits.
5. Stock Intel CPU cooler was an awkward fit on the board, felt like it was fully home but not the case with a hot little CPU as a consequence!
6. Comes with 8 SATA ports (4 at 3Gbps and 4 at 6Gbps with 2 of these using Marvell drivers). Avoid plugging standard stuff into the 4 x 6Gbps ports if you want to use AHCI mode (better SATA performance).
Everything took a couple of days followed by a bit of tuning but is now running well at 4.2Ghz using the stock cooler - will go up to 4.6Ghz with a more efficient cooler.
One of the best bits about this board is the automatic overclocking that really does work... no longer do you have to get into the guts of the bios to squeeze those pips a bit more and it can even be done from the comfort of your very own Windows desktop!
And how does FSX run... very well indeed and with most sliders planted firmly on the right foot but even now, with the power of Marvin, I do get a bit of juddering with some a/c add ons.
Hope the above helps (to avoid at least one trip to PC World!).
Regards,
Chris
Full spec is: Asus P8Z68 V Pro, processor as above and Kingston dual channel DDR3 1600 CL9. Initially 12Gb of RAM then discovered that the MB likes either 2 or 4 but not 3 of dual channel stuff so got an extra stick off Amazon for a reasonable price. Total cost was around the same as a bundle with the Asus P8Z68 V board and 8Gb RAM. There are though a few "lessons learned" from my experience...
1. Don't forget to delete the manufacture specific drivers for the old board.
2. The P8Z68 board doesn't have either a PATA slot or PS2 stylee keyboard port so guess what, two trips to PC World - the first to get a replacement SATA optical drive and keyboard and the second to get the SATA power lead for the optical drive!
3. RAM as above, either 2 or 4 but not 3 (will take 1 at a pinch).
4. The P8Z68 is a big board, only just got it into a big(ish) CoolerMaster case and even then had to remove one of the cable management plastic bits.
5. Stock Intel CPU cooler was an awkward fit on the board, felt like it was fully home but not the case with a hot little CPU as a consequence!
6. Comes with 8 SATA ports (4 at 3Gbps and 4 at 6Gbps with 2 of these using Marvell drivers). Avoid plugging standard stuff into the 4 x 6Gbps ports if you want to use AHCI mode (better SATA performance).
Everything took a couple of days followed by a bit of tuning but is now running well at 4.2Ghz using the stock cooler - will go up to 4.6Ghz with a more efficient cooler.
One of the best bits about this board is the automatic overclocking that really does work... no longer do you have to get into the guts of the bios to squeeze those pips a bit more and it can even be done from the comfort of your very own Windows desktop!
And how does FSX run... very well indeed and with most sliders planted firmly on the right foot but even now, with the power of Marvin, I do get a bit of juddering with some a/c add ons.
Hope the above helps (to avoid at least one trip to PC World!).
Regards,
Chris
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DogTailRed2
- Concorde
- Posts: 649
- Joined: 24 May 2008, 07:52
Re: What is best for Flight Sim?
Interestingly after a complete re-build I'm getting 50-80% speed increase (both loading and fps) with FSX.
That's with all add-on's re-installed except REX.
That's with all add-on's re-installed except REX.
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timholyoake
- Chipmunk
- Posts: 42
- Joined: 06 Oct 2008, 01:28
- Location: Nottingham, U.K.
Re: What is best for Flight Sim?
Many thanks everybody for you help and advice. In the end I went for the top of everything but kept 3 monitors and got trackIR (Pound for pound the best boost yet) although I only have it working on 1 monitor. I need to start saving again for the three into one setup. I am averaging about 35 FPS and living in heaven. Many thanks everyone.