Gaming Pc for Flight Simulator

Jareth Davelaar,

Just 2 days ago I went to great lengths to answer your questions about FSX on your previous thread of the same title: Gaming Pc for Flight Simulator - http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1770076/gaming-flight-simulator.html

Sorry I didn't get back to you, but sometimes folks get busy with other priorities.

If you're covering the same ground again because you're seeking other opinions, then know this; you'd be hard pressed to find others more knowledgable and informed on this particular topic. Among other interests, I'm a pilot, electronics engineer and computer enthusiast. I run FSX and X-Plane quite frequently.

Over the past 20 years I've run every version of MS Flight Simulator, and built many rigs specifically for this purpose which includes various combinations of Intel, AMD, nVidia and ATI hardware. I know what works best, how to get the highest frame rates through parts selection and overclocking, and how to get the best image quality through software tweaks.

We left the previous thread with your question concerning the H80i, since the you said the H100i won't fit in your case ...

(1) The H80i is slightly better than high-end air, so I'd go with it, since it'll fit in your case.

(2) The Crucial Ballistix "Tactical" you selected is DDR3 1600, which don't have LED's; you want "Tactical Tracer" DDR3 1866. Here it is again ...
8GB Red/Green Kit - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148555
8GB Orange/Blue Kit - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148554

(3) Also, change the 1TB WD "Blue" for the faster and more robust 1TB WD "Black".

(4) Definitely keep the i7 4770K.

Otherwise, your build looks good to go!

mauller07, although I agree that you don't "need" an i7 for "gaming", an i7 is the best choice for FSX. Please read the following:

From Jareth Davelaar's previous thread, in which I wrote ...

"Unlike most "gaming" titles, "Flight Simulator X" and "X-Plane" are "simulations" which are very heavily CPU bound, but very lightly GPU bound. As such, neither FSX nor X-Plane benefit from SLI / CF configurations, high-end single card horsepower or GPU overclocking. Moreover, as multiple GPU's require more CPU interrupts, frame rate can actually decrease slightly.

As I've explained in many threads, frame rate scales with the number of CPU cores, and nearly 1:1 with clock rate, so a highly overclocked Intel Core i7 produces the best frame rates, as the i7's Hyper-Threading feature can keep minimum frame rates from dropping below 30. Further, since FSX as well as X-Plane perform better with nVidia drivers, a mid-range nVidia based graphics card works well, which is why X-Plane recommends a single GTX 760.

The following link is to X-Plane's website - http://www.x-plane.com/store/hardware/ - and to their partner's website, XForce PC, who builds their PC's - http://xforcepc.com/store/index.php/computers.html?mode...

This is their description of their recommended hardware configuration:

"XForcePC Computer Specifically Designed for X-Plane ... Intel Core i7-4770K Processor Overclocked at 4.2GHz ... 16 Gigabytes of DDR-3 1600MHz RAM ... Nvidia GTX 760 Video Card with 2GB ... Requires no special adapters to run X-Plane on 3 screens."

Keep in mind that as old a title as FSX is, there still is not enough CPU horspower available to run FSX or X-Plane max'd out, so I can't over-emphasize enough that CPU overclocking is absolutely essential! Once a high overclock has been achieved, then the best combinations of frame rate and graphics detail remains a delicate balance between which simulation settings to tweak, as well as knowledge of the FSX.cfg file, so Google up the Flight Simulator websites and be prepared to do some research."

Hope this helps,

CT