£450 enough for:

Rollingskies

Rollingskies

Rollingskies

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Joined
13 Nov 2007
Posts
169
Location
Aberdeen
A motherboard, ram, processor and video card?

Yes, I know it is; but I want to run FSX fluently on top settings with stable 25+ fps. It's probably one of the most demanding games out there. I was told elsewhere that I should be looking at a:
"P35 or 680i motherboard, a Q6700 or better, 2GB 1066MHz RAM and a 8800 Graphics card and that it would cost £700+"

I'd appreciate all comments and suggestions on the recommendation and my proposed budget. Many thanks.
 
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £64.99
(£76.36) £64.99
(£76.36)

BFG GeForce 8800 GT OC 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £154.99
(£182.11) £154.99
(£182.11)

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £132.99
(£156.26) £132.99
(£156.26)

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £34.99
(£41.11) £34.99
(£41.11)

Sub Total : £387.96
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.25
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £69.34
Total : £465.55


You might want a different cooler if you are OC'ing. You need to consider the O/S too.
 
You could try this... You'd have to make sure your PSu is up to the task though

specbl3.jpg


edit: is FSX multi threaded?? If not you'd be better saving some cash and getting a dual core
 
I suppose the question is; Is the multi threading efficient enough to make full use of 4 cores, or would it be better off with 2 faster cores? ie spend the money on better cooling and faster memory, or even a GPU with more memory
 
Wow, amazingly fast replies. Great stuff.
No, I don't do overclocking and FSX is multi-threaded.

I have done similar suggestions myself as above (thanks for them), my problem is that I don't want to go and spend a heap of money only to find out it just isn't good enough. Anyone out there with FSX?

I need to check the PSU, but I believe it is powerful enough.
 
Well this is the problem! I can run on here and order 4 parts, but where I spend the money on which part is going to make a considerable difference. What I don't understand is how important each of those four components are in giving top performance and where the trade off with regard to price/performance is.
 
What's spec'd above is just about as top-end as you can get. It's a quad core and the 2nd fastest graphics card. If you wanted to get it under budget drop the mobo to the Abit IP35-E.
Rollingskies said:
Well this is the problem! I can run on here and order 4 parts, but where I spend the money on which part is going to make a considerable difference. What I don't understand is how important each of those four components are in giving top performance and where the trade off with regard to price/performance is.
Click to expand...
:confused:
 
The way I see it, you are getting a high performance system at a very low price. It's never been a better time to buy. You can always buy cheaper but the trade off is performance.. It's difficult to have both but the quoted specs are are the nearest you'll ever get to a cheap performance system.
 
I have no problem on the price. What I am concerned about is that the memory isn't good enough at 880mhz and the processor too weak.
Many people I know with top end systems (unfortunately I don't have their specs handy) are struggling to get decent performance.
 
I agree Huddy. Very good specs, but as I am sure you understand I'd rather not buy and invest now unless I would get top end performance. I'd rather wait a few months until prices come down or technology improves a bit further (well comes down into a sensible price band!)
 
That's because it's a crap game :p

In all seriousness the parts I have above are the same ones I'd recommend if you were spending thousands. Don't worry about the RAM since no matter what you get you'll be running it at 266 MHz.

Seriously, now is apretty good time to buy. You can always wait since there's always something around the corner, but you'd be quite happy with this.
 
If you're not overclocking, there's no point getting a better motherboard than the Abit IP35-E, unless you need any of the extra features/ ports on more expensive boards. They won't improve performance at stock speeds whatsoever. So there's an area to save & put your money elsewhere.
 
Rollingskies said:
I have no problem on the price. What I am concerned about is that the memory isn't good enough at 880mhz and the processor too weak.
Many people I know with top end systems (unfortunately I don't have their specs handy) are struggling to get decent performance.
Click to expand...

Firstly, RAM running more than FSB speed has very little added value to RAM running sync with the FSB. If you arent overclocking you only need ram that runs at 266 or 333Mhz (depending upon the CPU).

Secondly, the Q6600 is a solid CPU, and any of the Quads faster than it are stupidly more expensive for the extra few Mhz. you could go with an E6850, but TBH quads are the future.

Thirdly, the GT is better than the GTS by a way in most stuff, and only the GTX is better (at 2x the price).

That spec is pretty much THE ONLY spec to buy atm unless you have more money than sense. Be happy its such a good time to buy hardware!
 
BENdage said:
You could try this... You'd have to make sure your PSu is up to the task though

specbl3.jpg


edit: is FSX multi threaded?? If not you'd be better saving some cash and getting a dual core
Click to expand...

problem i've spotted is the CPU cooler is AMD so it won't work on that mobo & CPU :)
 
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