Simviation Forum - Time for a new build

Reply #15 - Mar 2^nd, 2009 at 3:48pm

Celtman Offline
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SubZer0 wrote on Mar 1^st, 2009 at 7:21pm:

Looks good. But... you still need an HDD. Unless of course you already have one. But whatever you get, make sure it's at least a SATA II drive. Preferably, get one of these two to run just FSX in them:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136322

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136296

Got one

500GB Sata II HDD, will probably invest in a VelociRaptor drive sometime, not yet though Cool

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Reply #16 - Mar 2^nd, 2009 at 7:30pm

pengyman89 Offline
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I didn't notice anyone else mention it while skimming through, but if you're paying extra for the arctic silver 5; don't. It won't provide any noticeable difference for your application of the hardware and the stock thermal paste that comes with the 120 is more than enough for the job.
easy way to knock off a couple $$

CM690&&Intel e8400 @3.937Ghz&&2GB Patriot PC2-6400 DDR2-800Mhz @ 875Mhz 5-5-5-16&&250GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive + Seagate 640GB&&Windows XP Media Center -32bit&&eVGA 8800GT 512MB&&Antec Truepower Trio 650W&&LG W2252TQ 22" LCD

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Reply #17 - Mar 2^nd, 2009 at 8:50pm

SubZer0 Offline
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pengyman89 wrote on Mar 2^nd, 2009 at 7:30pm:

I didn't notice anyone else mention it while skimming through, but if you're paying extra for the arctic silver 5; don't. It won't provide any noticeable difference for your application of the hardware and the stock thermal paste that comes with the 120 is more than enough for the job.
easy way to knock off a couple $$

In that case... oops Embarrassed

I found out that AS5 was old news AFTER I bought it. However I have been recommended OCZ Freeze, which apparently is better and lasts much longer than AS5 or anything else currently available

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Reply #18 - Mar 3^rd, 2009 at 1:08am

Papafox Offline
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I second the nomination on OCZ freeze. Works great for me.

As for motherboards the Asus P6T Deluxe is a solid i7 board which overclocks well. The one issue I found with it is that it does not go into S3 Sleep mode at overclock speed. For many simmers that's not a big deal, but for my method of computing it is. I went to a Gigabyte UD5 to get S3 to work at overclock speed and I'm happy with the board. The Asus has better load-line calibration than the Gigabyte, but for me the S3 issue was a biggie. BTW, the EVGA X58 also cannot S3 Sleep and recover at overclock speed, and for MSFS X, you really need a good overclock to take maximum advantage of the program.

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Reply #19 - Mar 13^th, 2009 at 8:53pm

Celtman Offline
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Right, update time

Bought everything except the graphics card, I've thrown my old 8800GTS (640MB) in there for now.

System is working great, but kind of limiting in COD5, FarCry 2 etc, because of the graphics card.

Now I was thinking of a 4870X2, but they're abour £340, a lot of money Cry

so....

How well would a single HD 4870 work (1GB)?
Is the X2 (or the GTX 285) worth the £180 price increase?

I hear DX11 will be out at the end of the year, so I'm not too keen on spending huge amounts on a card now, only to upgrade later.

Does anyone here own a single 4870? How well does it work in FSX or other games?

If I go cheaper, I can use the extra £180 to buy a raptor, or 6GB more RAM (12GB total) or 6GB extra RAM, and another 500GB HDD with a RAID 0 array.

Bit long winded, but to sum up - is the 4870X2 worth £180 more than the single 1GB 4870?

Thanks,
Celtman Cool

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Reply #20 - Mar 14^th, 2009 at 9:55am

SubZer0 Offline
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If you go RAID, you're going to need a good RAID controller card which goes for $300+. Otherwise, you're going to have performance problems in FSX such as stuttering. So that's something to consider...

If you decide on the ATi... they don't do well in FSX, although they are awesome in other games... but then again so is Nvidia.. LOL. So if you're building a system for flight sim, I'd go with the GTX260 at least.

The 12GB memory... I don't know why you'd need so much memory, but I don't know what you use that computer for. So again, that's up to you to consider.

Remember that although DX11 may be coming out at the end of the year, the first generation of the next DX version cards may have problems. I would get a cheaper card now such as the GTX260 and then wait until DX11 settles in with good, reliable cards for you to make a switch.

So.... If you go with a GTX260, you can still get a VelociRaptor (no RAID) to put FSX in for awesome performance.

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