Feedback on new mid-range Flight Sim X tower?

[sfalquez]

Hi Everyone,

I've gotten some fantastic information browsing this forum, but today I have my own question for you all. I'm helping my dad put together a mid-range tower (around $1,000) for multimedia and to play Flight Simulator X smoothly. Not looking to break the bank for a few more frames, so just something that will run the game at a solid 30fps with high settings.

I may try to overclock the CPU to 4ghz. Apparently FSX doesn't use over 4GB of RAM, and we're not interested in overclocking the RAM or changing the timings in any way. The goal is cool & quiet stability.

Do you think these components will work well together? Any advice on a better GPU for under $300 that wouldn't have diminishing returns for FSX? Trying to stick with Nvidia chipsets since they seem to render textures in FSX better.

Here's what is on our wishlist:

Lian Li (Lancool) ATX case
Cooler Master eXtreme PSU 600W V2.3
Intel i5 2500k 3.3ghz
Cooler Master Hyper 212+ in push/pull config
MSI P67-GD65 (B3)
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS DDR3 1333
MSI TwinFrozr N560GTX Ti Hawk
OCZ 60GB SSD
500GB 7200RPM HDD
Samsung BR Combo 12X

Thanks in advance for any comments!

 

[phensen]

The Cooler Master eXtreme PSU 600W V2.3 got a very poor review from Hardware Secrets, and they do thorough PSU reviews.

You can't go wrong with Seasonic PSUs.

Hope your dad loves his new computer!

 

[g-unit1111]

MSI P67-GD65 (B3)
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS DDR3 1333

This would be a better setup - 4GB is very underpowered for flight sims, you want at least 8GB.

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128506
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314

You also want a good cooler if you plan to overclock - maybe try something like this. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

MSI TwinFrozr N560GTX Ti Hawk

I'm not a fan of the TwinFROZR, and in your case I'd actually be more inclined to recommend a Radeon because if you do Flight Simulator, Eyefinity makes setting up multiple monitors far easier. Maybe try this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102945

OCZ 60GB SSD
500GB 7200RPM HDD

OCZ is a very hit-or-miss SSD manufacturer, and their RMA department is certainly not the most reliable. These would be better choices:

SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148441
HD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769

Lian Li (Lancool) ATX case
Cooler Master eXtreme PSU 600W V2.3

Lian Li makes some good cases but I honestly feel they're overrated. And Cooler Master is either hit or *REALLY* miss when it comes to PSUs, but they make some great cases.

Maybe try this:

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139008
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

 

[sfalquez]

Thank you very much! I'll look into your suggestions.

 

[Pyree]

Get a larger SSD (80GB+). You will find that you will run low on space with 64G very soon. FSX (without any addons) and the OS together will use about 35GB.

 

[g-unit1111]

Get a larger SSD (80GB+). You will find that you will run low on space with 64G very soon. FSX (without any addons) and the OS together will use about 35GB.

That's what the secondary HD is for. I have a Crucial which I only use for MS Office and Windows, and everything else is stored on my 1TB Spinpoint.

 

[Pyree]

I just think it would be nice to have the SSD to load FSX quickly (since this is specifically an FSX build).

 

[g-unit1111]

I just think it would be nice to have the SSD to load FSX quickly (since this is specifically an FSX build).

What you do is use the SSD as the boot drive then you install all the other programs on the secondary. That's what I do and it still loads everything just as fast.

 

[Pyree]

FSX loads much quicker. In fact that is true for any other games and program (major improvement on photoshop) for that matter on SSD.

128GB SSD is now below $200 (around $180-190) and they tend to be faster than smaller SSD so spending more (not double the amount) to get double the space and to have the speed up from 64GB SSD as well as fast load for everything is worth it IMO.

But of course if the PO is unable to afford it, a small SSD to just boot off the OS is still better then running everything on HDD. The decision is for the PO to decide.

 

[sfalquez]

Great suggestions everyone, I'm redoing the build according to the recommendations I've seen and it's looking much better. Thanks again.