Spec flight sim pc.

John_V85

John_V85

John_V85

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1 Dec 2002
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1,147
Hi

Looking to put together a pc for x plane. Thinking about spending c£1k for the box, ex monitors, keyboard, operating system, etc. The budget has some flexibility depending on the incremental benefit of spending more/less.

Specific requirements.
- Dual screen capable.
- Quiet.
- The smallest case I can get away with. Not something with windows, lights, etc.

Otherwise I'm open to anything really.

Thanks in advance.
 
Depends what case you fancy. If you could pick one we could go from there.

As small as you can get is going mini-itx. The prodigy isnt the smallest case but it does allow good sized GPUs with the HDD cage removed. Fitting aftermarket heatsinks can be awkward as the CPU socket is close to the PCI-E slot, unless you use a water block or closed loop cooler which i have edited in below.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Windforce 3X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £349.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 830 Notebook/Apple Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC256N/EU) £146.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77N-WIFI Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £98.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 920 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM2+/AM2+/AM3+) £80.18
1 x PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III Series 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - White £69.98
1 x BitFenix Prodigy 'Yin' Mini-ITX Cube Case - White/Black £64.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD316GB1600C11DC) **OcUK Exclusive** £59.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £1,066.09 (includes shipping : FREE).



The fractal R4 would be a good shout too but is a larger case. It does have sound proofing though.

I have used the nvidia 670 as most flight sims tend to favour nvidia. The 600 series is capable of triple screen gaming now aswell. It also adds cuda support to assist the CPU in other software.

Hope this helps, look forward to seeing what you settle on
 
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two things im unsure of. case says supports up to 240mm vga cooler which must be its max length. gtx 670 is 241mm. however someone in the ratings / comments as stated they use a gtx 670 in the case so should be good to go.

PSU below. i own it. its silent and good! their is an xfx Modular PSU for smae price but its on preorder please ring overclockers and find when this will be in stock as you will eb better off getting the xfx for reliabiltiy.

the mbaord below, can be replaced by the gigabyte board i have linked at the bottom however that is also on preorder so a ring to ocuk will sort that

I also cant find what height of cpu cooler that case supports. but i think cpu cooler ive put on will be fine.

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (02G-P4-2670-KR) £319.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x ASRock Z77E-ITX Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £123.98
1 x Akasa Venom 750w Modular '80 Plus' Power Supply £79.99
1 x Intel 330 Series 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £79.99
1 x BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Cube Case - Midnight Black £64.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £59.99
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £23.59
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £961.61 (includes shipping : £11.75).




Gigabyte itx board thats on preorder

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-417-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2261


EDIT***

I missed ram from build. Add ram Hono put on his lmao! i sat staring at the basket thinking im missing something!! what is it! :D
 
Last edited:
Bacon? said:
+1 for Honno's spec, no offense to you Dunn but his spec beats yours by miles.
Click to expand...

None taken,

I like the fact honos gone for just a 256 gb ssd its all he will need really if he just uses flight sim! so take 1 tb hdd off mine, then take of the 128 ssd and add the 256 ssd.

also i did mention the gigabyte itx board on my spec but as it was on preorder didnt want to put it in.

Then theres around a £80-£100 difference between mine and honos spec. just depends if he wants to spend a little extra for some watercooling.
 
For me that difference means quite a lot. While I am not a fan of water cooling in a MITX case its heard to fit air coolers properly. Also your Z77 board has problems fitting coolers I believe, its to do with the backpanel.

Also his PSU is of better quality and has a quieter cooler card.

However I agree on your idea of a 128GB SSD with 1TB HDD.
 
Bacon? said:
For me that difference means quite a lot. While I am not a fan of water cooling in a MITX case its heard to fit air coolers properly. Also your Z77 board has problems fitting coolers I believe, its to do with the backpanel.

Also his PSU is of better quality and has a quieter cooler card.

However I agree on your idea of a 128GB SSD with 1TB HDD.
Click to expand...

That be true. Its why i put a small cpu cooler in as i knew it would be tight! didn't think of watercooling when building it so if OP can afford it and i was in his shoes i would go that way.

PSU in Hono's spec is better quality but is also on preorder , so all depends on how quickly OP wants his machine and whether he can wait for stock? if that was the case i would then have put the XFX pro 650 watt xxx modular psu into build which is also on preorder

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-014-XF&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=

And again HDD space, will need to wait for OP to clearly state his needs on this. if he does just solely use it for flight sims and some other on side gaming 256 ssd will be more than enough. if he uses it for downloading a lot of files aswell 128 + 1 tb will be way forward
 
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Windforce 3X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £349.99
(£291.66) £349.99
(£291.66)
Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
(£149.99) £179.99
(£149.99)
Samsung 256GB SSD 830 Notebook/Apple Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC256N/EU) £146.99
(£122.49) £146.99
(£122.49)
Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £81.98
(£68.32) £81.98
(£68.32)
Antec Kúhler H2O 920 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM2+/AM2+/AM3+) £80.18
(£66.82) £80.18
(£66.82)
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 650W V2 High Performance '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020038-UK) £78.98
(£65.82) £78.98
(£65.82)
TeamGroup Elite 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED316G1600HC11DC) £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
Antec 302 Three Hundred Two Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £47.99
(£39.99) £47.99
(£39.99)
Asus 24x DVD±RW DRW-24B5ST SATA ReWriter - Black (Retail) £20.99
(£17.49) £20.99
(£17.49)
Sub Total : £872.57
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.25
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £176.76
Total : £1,060.58
 
No need for 650W for a single GPU setup. I am using parts that are on preorder as you get them cheaper that way.

My mobo has a 3 year uk based warranty and includes wifi. Once in stock it will most likely be more than the Asrock mobo. The PSU has ample power and ties in nicely with the colour scheme of the build. Being modular will help no end as space is at a premium.

Dunn needs to edit his spec to include RAM. It is NOT a £100 difference when he needs RAM as well. You could use 8GB of RAM to cut costs but as the mini-itx mobos only have two RAM slots upgrading wont be cost effective.

Once the OP finds a case he likes I can do a respec, I'm sure there will be plenty of other interesting specs to come :)
 
Isn't X-Plane very very heavy on the amount of cores/threads the CPU has available as well as core speed?

X-Plane said:
However, for the best experience, we recommend the following:

a 3 GHz, multi-core CPU (or, even better, multiple processors)
Click to expand...

In which case you may be better off looking at a 3770K as a minimum if not stretch the budget a little and go X79/3930K.

I'm not saying the game will run poorly on a 3570K, just that it may run better on something with more than 4 threads.
 
james_2k said:
1000 pounds you could be a good way into your actual pilots licence
Click to expand...

True but that doesn't qualify you to fly jet fighters and bomb stuff to high heaven ;)

I do enjoy flight sims. My personal fav is DCS A10. It can be as hardcore as you want it to be. Multi monitors is also supported, there is an app for the ipad which allows it to function as your MFDs (multi function displays) with touchscreen support included. It has a fully interactive cockpit too, every single switch, button, lever has a real use!

These guys show the game off quite well

pgi947 said:
Isn't X-Plane very very heavy on the amount of cores/threads the CPU has available as well as core speed?


In which case you may be better off looking at a 3770K as a minimum if not stretch the budget a little and go X79/3930K.

I'm not saying the game will run poorly on a 3570K, just that it may run better on something with more than 4 threads.
Click to expand...

X-plane doesn't support hyperthreading, so the 3770K is pointless over the i5K really as they are both quad cores. Better to put cash into the cooling and overclock the i5K
 
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Thanks so far. I have a pilots license already (james_2k) so this is a case of time for a new pc generally, but also getting a good sim setup that will aid with instrument rating training.

I'll take a look at some of the cases later as that may influence motherboard choice. Equally I'm kind of tempted by three monitors. I can see this having an aviation like budget already!
 
honosuseri said:
No need for 650W for a single GPU setup. I am using parts that are on preorder as you get them cheaper that way.

My mobo has a 3 year uk based warranty and includes wifi. Once in stock it will most likely be more than the Asrock mobo. The PSU has ample power and ties in nicely with the colour scheme of the build. Being modular will help no end as space is at a premium.

Dunn needs to edit his spec to include RAM. It is NOT a £100 difference when he needs RAM as well. You could use 8GB of RAM to cut costs but as the mini-itx mobos only have two RAM slots upgrading wont be cost effective.

Once the OP finds a case he likes I can do a respec, I'm sure there will be plenty of other interesting specs to come :)
Click to expand...

on ym original post i put the gigabyte itx mboaard if he dosent mind waiting for pre-order so gigabyte mboard preorder + xfx 650 watt psu preorder (mentioned in earlier post also) + ram = around £100 cheaper
 
dunn2010 said:
on ym original post i put the gigabyte itx mboaard if he dosent mind waiting for pre-order so gigabyte mboard preorder + xfx 650 watt psu preorder (mentioned in earlier post also) + ram = around £100 cheaper
Click to expand...

All i meant was for you to edit your spec so it is a complete build with a clear price. There is £100ish difference between the totals on my spec and yours, it deceiving as yours is not a complete build. If you wish to alter the spec slightly then do so by all means
 
Having had a look around I think the prodigy case is actually a good compromise between size and space so will probably go with that. I'm also thinking a tripple display setup would be good. With that in mind is 1000 the correct ballpark budget? Where is the bottleneck, if any?
 
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