My New PC is on order...

[Randy Culp]

....or I should say, the parts to build it are.

As many of you know, I've been a long time holdout to FS2004. (mostly because I'm a cheap bastard and didnt' want to shell out big $ for the required hardware upgrades whenit first came out)

I've been running FS2004 nice and smoothly for a while on my Dual Core AMD processor, with only 1GB RAM and an old 64MB AGP graphics card (an "all-in-Wonder" ATI video capture card that I still use occasionaly).

But before I went on vacation, my wife happenned to pick me up a copy of FSX for my birthday.  I installed it on my current marhine and (as expected) could never break 10 fps....and it had a lot of "stuttering" to it.
But what I could see, FSX has sold me, and I have finally decided to upgrade.
My wife's constant complaining about me "hogging" the computer didn't hurt either, so therefore I've decided to build a dedicated machine.
I've got it on order from TigerDirect and it should be here in a week or so (darn slow shipping across the border to us Canucks)

While I am sure it doesn't even compare to some of the machines that you guys are running (ie: Andy's 12 GB monster machine), it's a big upgrade for me, and I'm quite excited about it.

Thanks to those of you who provided me with some hardware suggestions.

FYI: This is what I'll be building...

CPU:
AMD Phenom II X4 940 "Black Edition" (whatever "Black Edition" means)
This is a Quad Core processor with a clock speed of 3.0 Ghz

Motherboard:
Asus M3N72-3
SLI (and Hybrid SLI) ready
Onboard video chipset is NVidia GeForce 8200, although I won't be using it (no hybrid SLI for me....for now)

RAM:
4GB
(2 x 2GB) OCZ PC6400 (800 Mhz)
This RAM is apparently "SLI ready" also. (whatever that means for RAM)

Video Card:
XFX GeForce 9600 GSO
768MB DDR2
PCI Epress 2.0
SLI Ready

Power Supply:
650 Watt
"SLI ready" (?)

As well as the standard SATA hard drive and DVD R/RW optical drive.
(hey....that's an upgrade for me...I'm still running IDE drives!)


I talked to a friend of mine in the IT industry, and he said not to bother going with Vista , but that he'd probably have a copy of Windows 7 in a month or so that I can use anyway; so I'll be sticking with XP Pro for now. (which unfortunatly does not suport Hybrid SLI from what I have seen).
That's also why I'm sticking with just 4GB of RAM at the moment (my regular ol' 32 bit XP won't recognize more than 4GB anyway)

So...from what I have heard, this system should run FSX quite nicely.
I'll be sure to let you know once it is up and running.

I can hardly wait!!!

 

[Denbill]

It will Randy, don't worry about, I also run an AMD Quad core + 8GB Ram + Gainward Video Card MSI chipset crossfire 4GB Ram under Vista Home, Almost all sliders to the right I have (without any problems) 35Fps, but fixed the frame rate slider to 20Fps for multiplayer sessions.   

[bobkey]

Hey guys,
I run a Pentium Core 2 Quad, 8 Gig Ram, 512 Video, have found the biggest frame rate killer to be real world weather set on high.   
Probably need to updgrade the video. Altough it runs fine, (but ya,know always looking for better)
Found this also to be true with FS9, I use FSX most of the time and been using it since it came out.
Just my personal experiences, for your info if worth anything.

[bobkey]

Actually I meant Intel Core2 Quad

[bobkey]

Hey guys,
Also, I don't think I told you about a great free program, ( game booster) shuts down and restarts unneccessary programs with just one click.  Works
great.   Think I got it from CNET, but just google it and you'll find it.   

[Randy Culp]

New PC components were delivered today.

I've got it assembled this evening, with XP Pro installed, and just got FSX running.

I don't seem to have sound yet (a minor problem, I'm sure)....but....

Took off in the Regional Jet from Anchorage (where else?)...with most display option sliders nicely to the right...set unlimited target frame rate to see what I'd get (5-10 fps on the old machine).

Now I have consistently 50+ fps.


I'm a happy camper.