I'm really starting to want to throw my computer out the window. It's slow, made for family/student use and is pushed past its limits by my games. It gets very frustrating. I had been looking at the Alienware Aurora system for a while and now that Patchz got his new system he's making me jealous. 

Right now I'm running a Dell Inspiron E1705:
Processor: Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2250 @ 1.73 GHz
Memory: 2GB
Video Card: ATI Mobility Radeon X1400

In FSX on Nick's settings, I get between 3-10 FPS, mostly on the lower side. I'm not going to ask the "How do I max out the settings?" question, but I was hoping for some advice on the system I have been looking at:

Alienware Aurora:
Processor: Overclocked Intel Core i7930 (3.36 GHz, 8MB Cache)
Memory: 12 GB Triple Channel 1333 MHz DDR3
Video Card: Daul 1 GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon HD 5670 Crossfire X enabled

Now, I have been trying to learn, but I have no idea what this means. I don't expect a "perfect" system, but if I spend the money, I want a signifcant increase in performance. I'm also not putting a dollar limit on this because I don't want to end up making some piece of crap system.

If you need more info on either system, let me know. Thanks for any advice.

Core i7 930 is a very good processor. It can usually overclock to around 4.0ghz with upgraded cooling.

12 gigabytes of RAM is very rarely needed. If this is an FSX system then 6gb will suffice. It would also be wise to go with DDR3-1600 preferably with low latencies (CAS (CL) = 7).

FSX very rarely gets any gain from dual-videocards. Go grab a single faster card. There's a number of choices here...:

GTX 285 --- fast, tried and tested in FSX.
Radeon 5850 ---  Direct X 11, as fast as the GTX 285 in most games, probably slightly slower in FSX.
Radeon 5870 --- Direct X 11, faster than GTX 285 in most games although apparently equal to the GTX 285 in FSX.
GTX 470 --- Direct X 11, slightly faster than Radeon 5850 in most games, unknown performance in FSX.
GTX 480 --- Direct X 11, slightly faster than Radeon 5870 in most games, unknown performance in FSX.

I honestly have NO idea which one to get. Where's Nick?




Also, you want a good power supply, case and motherboard. I think Alienware should provide that although I am not sure.

Make sure you have a decent screen. I went from a 19" @ 1280*1024 to 21.5" @ 1920*1080 and the difference is astounding. It would be such a waste using such an awesome PC on a small screen.

I don't know much about Alienware, all I know is they are owned by Dell. I've heard they are expensive, but I don't know how true that is. I would preferably get it built somewhere else but that's just me.

Although it's nice to buy something preassembled and under warranty, consider purchasing separate components and assembling them yourself.  It's not a daunting task - I did it and it's worked perfectly.  For the money you would spend for preassembled, you could buy all the best components, have money left and the satifaction of knowing exactly what's inside that box  .

B-Valvs wrote on Apr 6^th, 2010 at 2:57pm:
Exactly what I thought but a little reading and/or Googling provides a wealth of how to information.  Start with an empty case, add each piece in the recommended order and, in few hours, switch on and watch for smoke  .

olderndirt wrote on Apr 6^th, 2010 at 3:11pm:


The sudden appearance of smoke indicates that you have passed the first test:
Plugging it in to the Mains, and switching it on... ...!

Proceed (quickly) to stage 2.

Pablo wrote on Apr 7^th, 2010 at 6:21am: