Over two years ago, I assembled a new PC for running FSX. It comprises a dual core 3GHZ CPU, GeForce 8800 GTX video card, 4GHZ DDR2 RAM, running on 32 bit XP Home Basic. I chose a dual core 3 GHZ CPU at the time over a quad core since FSX was designed for single core and later upgraded through SP1 with approximately 90 percent processing through core 0 and 10 percent spread amongst remaining cores. Since FSX appears to be CPU bound, it was better in my opinion to have core 0 to at least 3GHz using a dual core in my price range rather than a quad at less than 3 gig. For the last two years, I have enjoyed smooth flying just about anywhere with most settings maxed out and flying in a range of 15 to 30 FPS. Yes in a few places lower and a few higher.

Now two years later, I have settled on another PC design for FSX. We know that FSX in its current state will not change nor in the near future will there be a new release. However, state-of-the-art computer hardware and software are such today that one can now design (at a reasonable cost) for achieving significant performance improvement running FSX current software. The new PC that I have just assembled does achieve this end. These are the components.

Power Supply:            ULT X3 1000-Watt Power Supply
Motherboard:            ASUS P6T Delux
CPU:                  i7 920 (Overclocked to 3.82 GHz)
CPU Cooler:            Noctua NH-U12P
RAM:                  12 GB DDR3
Video Card:            BFG GeForce GTX 285 OC
Hard Drive:            VelociRaptor 300GB 10,000 RPM
Case:                  Thermaltake Zaser ATX Full Tower
Operating System:            Vista Home Premium 64 bit
Other miscellaneous parts

What is the difference between my old and the new - simply, the new one cost less and is three times faster.

I increased the wattage of the power supply, added a motherboard which makes over-clocking easy, over-clocked a i7 920 CPU from 2.67 MHz to 3.82 MHz, added 12 GB of DDR3 RAM, changed from a 32 bit processor to 64 bit Vista Home Premium, installed a Raptor 10,000 RPM hard drive, upgraded my video card from an 8800 GTX to a GeForce GTX 285 OC with 1 Gig DDR memory, and all in a new case large enough to fit an oversized CPU Cooler.

Over-clocking the i7 was accomplished by changing performance settings in the BIOS. I set the BCLK freq to 190 and the PCIE freq to 100. DDR3 freq runs at 1523 MHz. These simple changes boosted the i7 920 Frequency to a stable 3.82 MHz.

About This New System

With the exception of Water and Bloom, I pretty much max out settings. I indicated that before I was getting 30 and sometimes greater FPS with the old system. In Rio with the new system along the coastline over populated areas I get over 100 FPS. I fly over Manhattan with 45 FPS. I freely fly over and around major airport hubs with packed aircraft on the ground and a queue of aircraft on final and remain in the 30 plus FPS range with smooth flight. All of a sudden 45 to 70 FPS has become norm. Another big plus to the new is the quick response to trim settings. One push on a trim button gets immediate response and makes it easy to set up an aircraft on approach with just trim. A final note is that this is my first experience with Vista. I have had no problems with it and look forward to Windows 7. I needed an additional OS as I am keeping my old system to run comparisons of it to the new. Micro Center had an open box sale of a full OEM 64 bit Vista Home Premium package for $47. So I bought it then pre-ordered Windows 7 from Microsoft for $49. I also bought my i7 920 from Micro Center for $200. All my components were bought over the Internet after extensive research for a best buy and hardware fit for FSX.

Since it has been a long time since I have input anything into this forum, I thought I would pass on my upgrade experience.

Happy Flying,

Flight Ace

I have a similar spec, and got 8FPS at major airports with all sliders and setting maxed out. (DX9) and 10FPS (DX10). I just got Nvidia 190.33 drivers and there are excellent, I get 15FPS steady in major airports with max traffic and 30+ everywhere else. My previous 186 drivers didn't work well at all.

Specs:

EVGA GTX 285 Stock
Q9650 3.0ghz stock
8gb's dual channel DDR2 800mhz
EVGA 780i FTW Motherboard
Creative x-fi fatality pro extreme gamer
Windows 64bit Home Premium (there's nothing new in ultimate except windows office suite and hard drive encryption based on whats on the box so home premium was a good choice. I use open office anyway )
Antec 902 Case
320gb Seagate 7200RPM for OS/Drivers
500gb Seagate 7200RPM for Data/Games

However you have much better hard drives and a core i7 + DDR3, but now it seems I am not getting the performance I should be. I will try with water and bloom off and see how it is. Congrats on your new build how much did it cost? I just built mine for 1500(with monitor). Plan on getting a second 285 for Christmas but sadly FSX doesn't benefit from SLI at all.

EDIT: WOW.... Taking off water and light bloom made me jump from 25 to 85 FPS with the default flight and now an average of 20FPS at KJFK with 100% Traffic! I will mess with the settings to see which one made the difference the most. Thanks 

sbq wrote on Aug 1^st, 2009 at 10:00pm:


Sorry for not answering sooner. I had not noticed that my Post had been moved and had received no Email notice of anyone responding to it. You had asked what tweaks I have used. The answer is none. I have made changes in the BIOS to over-clock my i7 920 to 4 GHz and lowering my Vcore voltage to 1.39v. On Auto, it had gotten up to 1.42v. I am using PC Probe ll to monitor system stats, voltages, and temperatures and O&O for Defragging. I am getting, what I call, outstanding performance with safe voltages and temperatures running FSX (see my previous Post). With your (what I call super)specs, I would expect better performance. Do you have your frame rate locked or unlimited? I leave my unlimited. I also leave Light Bloom turned off and have water set to Low 2.X. I am also running GEX, UTX, and REX. Have you checked your voltages and temps? I am not familiar with your Video Card. Do you have the most current driver? How about your hard drives? Have you defragged them? Go through a mental check of things, as with your specs, there must be something that has been missed that is slowing down your system.


Flight Ace