Budget flight sim machine

i may bump the processor up a little to a phenom quad core and push it a little?

What Flight Sim program will he be using? If Microsoft's FSX, that program is CPU bound and you can't get too much CPU. Upgrading the graphics(once you pass a certain point) has less effect than upgrading CPU.

I don't know if FSX supports Physx, but if it does, then, Yes you are limited to NVidia cards.

since im getting two, ill go for the cheaper 750mb or whatever they are, some value close to that as thatll still give me 1.5gb frame buffer, then spend some more and go for a phenom 955 be? and yeah it is flight sim x, i wouldent know too much about it, he just said he wanted physx so yeah. would it be worth going for the six core over the 4?

not since the servic pack one update. its multi threaded now but im not sure how far.

If you are considering FSX, generally speaking FSX and budget do not go together. If you are considering Flight Simulator 2004 (otherwise known as version 9) a lower end machine will do. FSX is recommended unless you have a lot of addons already for version 9, however FSX is highly dependent on CPU power even though it is an old game.

For FSX, Nvidia cards are considered better than ATI, something to do with shader implementation. ATI cards can be severely impacted by the clouds.

As a prior post stated, with the updates it is multi-threaded to some degree. Get the FSX Gold version which includes the Acceleration Pack and all patches. Intel quad-core CPUs are also considered the better choice, Sandy Bridge might be great but haven't heard anybody's experience yet.

FSX is also highly responsive to tweaks to get the best performance. There are some good resources online, a good start is at simhq and avsim forums. A highly recommended addon is REX, and also FS Water Configurator.

Overclocking is always a 'probably' .. you're guaranteed 3.2 GHz on a 955. ANYTHING more is never guaranteed. 3.8-4.0 is probable, however

Just wanted to point out that it will not give you 1.5GB frame buffer, only 768MB, both cards have to have the exact same textures loaded in the frame buffer.

I honestly don't think that the frame buffers (going from 768 to 1BG) on the video cards will make a noticeable difference with FSX.

I think you'll get more noticeable performance putting that 70 quid in your CPU...At least as far as FSX is concerned.

In that case, I would consider getting more system RAM if you are going to use a 64-bit OS. More system RAM translates to less swapping to the hard drive swap file, and that means more performance.

that shoudl be plenty.

actually, I think you have a good overall build. aT 1920X1080, you're better off getting a 1GB 460 than the 768. The 768MB just kinda runs out of frame buffer over 1680x1050. the 460SE (which has 6 ROP vs the 768's 7) outperforms the 768 at 1080p by about 7% because of its 1GB memory, and runs about the same price), the full 1gb 460 is faster still.

if youy need to trim the cost, you can get away with 4GB instead of 8. Consider an Acer monitor, less expensive than BenQ, but still good.

Here's an AMD MB with Nvidia chipset to allow for SLI:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131636

Yep...No 6gb SATA or USB3.0 but if you want to use SLI w/AMD CPU, your options are limited.

Figure out what you MUST do(AMD or INTEL), then whatever is left, is what you CAN do.

the US price for that is about $250, while a Sandy Bridge 2500 and an H67 runs about $300

if you want a P67 and unlocked sandy bridge, its $350-400

all in all thats gone up around about 120 quid, which when you consider youre getting, higher clockspeed, hyperthreading, and a better mainboard is too good to pass up i think

screwy, i cant help but notice your sig, do you really run vista still?

ahhhhh more confusion, the gtx 560's have just come out in the uk! is it worth the money?

all in all the upgrade would cost me a total of 100 gbp extra, so like what, 180$?

Very simple. I'm a FSX fanatic, enthusiast and may potently need intervention at some point, but for now I'm content.

I recommend starting with a higher end Intel MB there significantly more stable, easier to work with and the new MB have a rollback feature that protect it from wrong bios and settings if you muk up. Gigabyte Intel H67 LGA 1155 DDR3 1333 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard (GA-H67A-UD3H-B3) Its phenominal for cost to performance ratino, its got a stock video capability which some higher ends don't and it handled alot of basic games witih no card installed with out freezing ( on low res). Very crisp quality stock index rating was 5.3 or 5.1 not sure.


Depending on your budget and how obsseed you are. My specs for an ideal are the following

i5-2500k . Nothing less than i5( 2500k)You can do i7 but in FSX and 100% of other games you wont see a difference, I found no real difference in performance from the i7 2600k, the i5k is just the same in performance and you will not notice a difference.. I don't know about the others and I don't care, I build what I know will work time and time again. Don't waste your time with the stock heatsink, get you a nice larger one for 4 or so bucks. I don't use water cooling, I don't understand it and don't want to. I have mines over clocked at 3.9 with the i5

When I run dirt 3, and other games the graphics and permance looks so real its actually scarry, my xbox and play station look like nintendo from the 90's withi respect to graphics and performance.

I use the 800watt power supply. ( don't be cheap on that, spend the extra money cause I've had problems with faulty ones in the past, shutting down even some blue screens) I use not one but 2 HD 6990 830M 4 GB GDDR5, I just purchased another one ( I know ).hence why you will need a huge full tower, You don't need to cross fire cause I have 4 screens and was just obsseded with having crossfire, you can get away with 1 but make sure its a 6950 2gb and above!

I use the AZZA tower. Its great! its got 8 fans stock! no need to upgrade and its huge enough to fit a anything you every wanted, easy slots for installation simply open up and plug in the extra Hard rive or cd.

Use 2tb 7900 hard drive. You can go with a slower, no real major difference except on boot there's about a 2-3 second delay after you type in the password to you window. But once you type in, I'm ready in literally 2 seconds. but if your a freak like me I want my pc to 7.9 on everything..I don't know It makes me feel good I suppose.

NO LESS THAN 8GB OF MEMORY. I've tried every variation and I've foundn that 6 is border line 8-12 is the best.

In the end FSX needs alot of working on to tweek and Microsoft had better start shaping up and improving its simulation package and no matter how much money you spend FSX is and will always perform less than sub par with respect to what you want. Its not the same as say Dirt 3 with respect to graphic, still has some glitches and patches.


ALSO ALOT OF PEOPLE WERE COMPLAINING OF BLUE SCREEN WITH ATI, IVE BEEN DEALING WITH THIS FOR YEARS THE MAIN REASON ARE

1 -BAD MEM CARDS!! THEY CAUSE ALOT OF BLUE SCREEN ERROS AND DIFFERENT CODES BUY NEW ONES, DON'T TOUCH WHEN INSTALLING, GROUND YOUR SELF AND MAKE SURE THEY ARE THE CORRECT ONE FOR YOUR PC!! 1333 ETC ETC. IT MAY NOT EVEN SHOW BUT 8/10 TIMES I JUST SWITCHED UP THE STICK AND BOOM! BUT MAKE SURE THEY AGAIN MATCH THE MOTHERBOARD AND EVERYTHING ELSE, DON'T JUST BUY ANYONE.

2-UPDATE YOUR FILES FOR COMPUTER, DOWNLOAD WHAT EVER PATHCES ARE NEEDED FOR FSX DON'T MESS AROUND WITH BIOS ( I'M NOT AN EXPERT ON PC BUT I KNOW ENOUGH TO KNOW TO NOT SLASH OR CHANGE THEM IF I DON'T) ITS CAUSED ME COUNTLESS HOURS AND MONEY TO REMEDY A MESSED UP PC FROM MINES OR MY FRIENDS.

3-UPDATE THE PATCHES AND ANYTHING ELSE YOU NEED FOR THE GRAPHICSCARD. ALLOT OF TIME PEOPLE WERE COMPALING BAOUT THE CARDS AND THE DRIVER. THE MAJORITY OF THE TIME ITS THE PC NOT THE CARDS.I'VE SEEN ALL SORTS OF ERRORS AND IT WAS JUST GOING BACK TO BASICS, CHECK YOUR MB AND SURE ITS WORKING WELL, CHECK OUR MEM CARD, CHECK YOUR ELECTRICAL OUTPUT, CHECK YOUR BIO. EVEN THOUGH SOME SAY THAT THEY DOWNLOADED DIFFERENT CATAYLST AND SAW NO MORE PROBLEMS BECAUSE THEY DOWNLOADED NEW ONES, I NEVER HAD PROBLEMS WITH THE NEWEST ONES. IT THINK THIS GOES BACK TO MEM STICKS AND BIO AND UPDATES.