PC Build advice purely for FSX

pchynoweth · 12 May 2014 at 22:00

Hi

I would like to build a PC purely for MS Flight Simulator X and wondered if the below specs will provide good performance. I would like to fly with good and complex addons. My budget is £1000

Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black

Stage 1 Intel: Overclock of CPU - 4.2GHz Overclock - Haswell K Edition Processors Only

Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail

Akasa AK-CC4008HP01 Venom Voodoo CPU Cooler

Asus Z87-PLUS Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard

TeamGroup Vulcan GOLD 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLYD38G2133HC11ADC01)

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 WindForce 3x OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N770OC-2GD)

Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD

OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM

Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020048-UK)

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02733)

Asus USB-N10 Micro USB Network Adapter Wireless-N 150Mbps

System Build Fan - Noiseblocker BlackSilent Pro Fan PLPS - 120mm PWM [EXNO-001]

I would be really grateful if anyone can give me feedback on possible performance of FSX if I used the above? I'm not looking for 60fps, but as long as I can land at Heathrow with a good addon I.e. PMDG 737 etc, UK2000 Heathrow, REX etc at around 20FPS then I'm happy. I can't afford a super rig unfortunately.

Also should I keep with Windows 7 or go with 8.1?

Many thanks

lee32uk · 12 May 2014 at 22:29

Hi

Are you looking for a pre-built system ? Or can you build your own ?

A few things. The new Z97 motherboards are available for order (Pre-release) and they are due around 16th.

I would change the power supply for a superflower golden green. The Corsair CX range are pretty average.

The case is also a pretty old design now. There are better ones available that you could work into the budget.

I use Windows 7 myself, and have no intention of going anywhere near windows 8

Although others will swear by Windows 8.1. I wouldn't have thought there would be a huge difference in performance between the 2 operating systems

mickyflinn · 12 May 2014 at 22:53

You should get a SSD for your boot drive, its a must on a modern system,

pchynoweth · 13 May 2014 at 15:52

lee32uk said:
Hi

Are you looking for a pre-built system ? Or can you build your own ?

A few things. The new Z97 motherboards are available for order (Pre-release) and they are due around 16th.

I would change the power supply for a superflower golden green. The Corsair CX range are pretty average.

The case is also a pretty old design now. There are better ones available that you could work into the budget.

I use Windows 7 myself, and have no intention of going anywhere near windows 8 Although others will swear by Windows 8.1. I wouldn't have thought there would be a huge difference in performance between the 2 operating systems

I'm looking for either pre-build or custom. The only requirement is that it runs FSX quite smoothly and a £1000 budget.

Any advice much appreciated

leigh_boy · 13 May 2014 at 15:57

I would want to be installing the flight sim on to a SSD for max performance.

lee32uk · 13 May 2014 at 16:05

This pre-build is pretty good for the money.

YOUR BASKET
1 x "Titan Bayonet" Intel Core i5 4670K @ 3.8GHz Turbo AMD Radeon Gaming PC £249
1 x Standard Build Systems - Dispatched within 7 working days £0
1 x 24 MONTH WARRANTY - COLLECT & RETURN £0.01
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02733) £73.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black (CC-9011023-WW) £47.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £233.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £67.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £43.99
1 x HIS Radeon R9 280X iPower IceQ X2 TURBO 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £249.95
1 x No Sound Card Upgrade £0
Total : £981.91 (includes shipping : £12.50).

You can ask customer services to swap the Ram for something faster, as the above comes with 1600MHz. I would suggest 2133/2400MHz

robfosters · 13 May 2014 at 16:17

FSX works best with nvidia cards.

lee32uk · 13 May 2014 at 16:29

robfosters said:
FSX works best with nvidia cards.

Ah ok well in that case change the 280X to a GTX770.

pchynoweth · 14 May 2014 at 14:32

Hi

Is this any better? This is a self-build one. I've decided not to overclock it as I'm completely green on that.

Specification
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black
Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail
Asus Z87-PRO Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard
TeamGroup Vulcan GOLD 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLYD38G2133HC11ADC01)
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 WindForce 3x OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N770OC-2GD)
Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW)
Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD
OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM
Corsair RM Series RM 750 '80+ Gold' 750W Power Supply (CP-9020055-UK)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02733)
Asus USB-N10 Micro USB Network Adapter Wireless-N 150Mbps
System Build Fan - Noiseblocker BlackSilent Pro Fan PLPS - 120mm PWM [EXNO-001]

Price £987.55

Thanks

916Mick · 14 May 2014 at 15:16

Have a look at NickN's guide on simforum.com
Its not called Nick's FSX Bible for no reason .
Its got all you need , including an overclocking guide .
http://www.simforums.com/Forums/the-fsx-computer-system-the-bible-by-nickn_topic46211.html

lee32uk · 14 May 2014 at 15:31

pchynoweth said:
Hi

Is this any better? This is a self-build one. I've decided not to overclock it as I'm completely green on that.

Specification
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black
Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail
Asus Z87-PRO Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard
TeamGroup Vulcan GOLD 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLYD38G2133HC11ADC01)
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 WindForce 3x OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N770OC-2GD)
Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW)
Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD
OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM
Corsair RM Series RM 750 '80+ Gold' 750W Power Supply (CP-9020055-UK)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02733)
Asus USB-N10 Micro USB Network Adapter Wireless-N 150Mbps
System Build Fan - Noiseblocker BlackSilent Pro Fan PLPS - 120mm PWM [EXNO-001]

Price £987.55

Thanks

Overclocking is pretty easy on modern boards. Usually a few clicks of the mouse is all it takes. There is also a separate part of the forum where you can ask resident OCUK Overclocking Guru 8Pack if you wanted to fine tune.

You want to be looking at the Z97 motherboards, as these are the replacement for Z87. The new boards will support the refresh cpu's and also Broadwell when it is released.

You can drop the psu down to 550W if you only plan on running a single graphics card.

Other than that your spec looks ok. I still think you can do better on the case, but that is personal preference.

pchynoweth · 15 May 2014 at 11:58

lee32uk said:
Overclocking is pretty easy on modern boards. Usually a few clicks of the mouse is all it takes. There is also a separate part of the forum where you can ask resident OCUK Overclocking Guru 8Pack if you wanted to fine tune.

You want to be looking at the Z97 motherboards, as these are the replacement for Z87. The new boards will support the refresh cpu's and also Broadwell when it is released.

You can drop the psu down to 550W if you only plan on running a single graphics card.

Other than that your spec looks ok. I still think you can do better on the case, but that is personal preference.

Thanks, do you know when these refresh cpu's and Broadwell are released?