Upgrading a PC for Flight Simulator FSX

[izqomar]

Hello! I'm looking to upgrade my old PC with a new motherboard, processor, the works, for running FSX with add on aircraft and sceneries, PMDG, FlyTampa, BluePrint, ect, with all the optional sliders set as far as possible, and get a smooth performance (30fps or higher at all times, if that's possible). I found some old threads about this, but they were a year old.

Should I reference those old threads, or is there any new hardware out there that I should consider? Trying to stay under $600, but will consider going higher. I do have a case and a power supply on this old PC (Allied, Model AL-A350ATX), so hopefully that's enough. But I'm out of touch with what's new in the motherboard / processor arenas these days.

Any input appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[ingtar33]

what is your current system?

 

[izqomar]

Current system is oooooold. Motherboard is an ASUS P4T533, with 512MB ram, running Windows XP.

 

[ingtar33]

crap that is ancient... so in essence you're looking for a brand new pc... that can play FSX... on what sized monitor (or do you need a new one of those too?)

 

[izqomar]

Nah, I have a monitor and all the peripherals. Just need the guts of the PC. Forgot to mention (not that it matters), but the processor is a Pentium 4, 2.26 Ghz processor.

 

[ingtar33]

whats your budget?

(and what's the max res of your monitor?)

 

[izqomar]

Monitor is a HP w2338h, which has a max res of 1920 by 1080 and a 16:9 aspect ratio, according to this site. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2360099,00.asp

As far as budget, would like to stay under $600, but willing to go higher if that's what it takes to get smooth frame rates with all the add-ons I plan to use.

 

[ingtar33]

mmm... $600 is a tight budget

are you planning on doing any overclocking?

 

[ingtar33]

-edit- double post

 

[ingtar33]

here is a build at about $600. should do pretty good all told. You might want to look into turbo multiplier overclocking, should give you a boost when playing the game. but otherwise this should work for you. I assumed you have a hard drive you'd like to use in the new system. if it's an IDE, you will need to get an ide pci card so you can continue to use it.

if you want a new hd... you can get tb sized drives for pretty cheap these days, for another 60-70 dollars you can get a seasonic barracuda or WD caviar blue.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($178.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus P8B75-M LX PLUS Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk 64GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($189.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Raidmax ATX-249B (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($23.25 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $617.19
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-25 15:55 EDT-0400)

 

[izqomar]

Oh wow, thanks! Never heard of that site, looks neat. One question though, I already have a case and power supply. The power supply is an Allied AL-A350ATX. Will that be ok? Can't tell you much about the case, it looks like a regular case. Was hoping to not have to replace those but I will if necessary.

 

[smeezekitty]

The case should be ok to reuse. I would be cautious of that cheap PSU though.

 

[ingtar33]

yeah... you can reuse the case... i would replace the psu.

 

[izqomar]

Gotcha. Thanks for the quick help everybody!

 

[CompuTronix]

As I've explained in many threads, FSX frame rates scale nearly 1:1 with the number of CPU cores and clock rate, so a high overclock produces the best frame rates. Unlike most "gaming" titles, FSX as well as X-Plane are "simulations" which are very heavily CPU bound, but very lightly GPU bound.

As such, neither FSX nor X-Plane benefit from CF / SLI or high-end graphics horsepower. Further, since these simulations perform better with nVidia drivers, a mid-range nVidia based graphics card works well, which is why X-Plane recommends a single GTX 660.

The following link is to X-Plane's website - http://www.x-plane.com/store/hardware/ - and to their partner's website, XForce PC, who builds their PC's - http://xforcepc.com/store/index.php/computers.html?mode...

This is their description of their recommended hardware configuration:

"XForcePC Computer Specifically Designed for X-Plane: Intel Quad Core i5-3570K Processor overclocked at 4.0GHz, 16 Gigabytes of DDR-3 1600MHz" ... "Nvidia GTX 660 Video Card with 2GB. Requires no special adapters to run X-Plane on 3 screens."

I run both FSX and X-Plane, and have designed my rig specifically for this purpose as the 1st priority. My configuration is shown in my signature.

Hope this helps,

Comp

 

[ingtar33]

yep... my first build was around a i5-3570k and overclocking it. his budget however couldn't handle it, so i downgraded slightly.

 

[CompuTronix]

I agree on the 3570K.

A high overclock is the most critical key to good frame rates in FSX. I can force the frame rates to follow the clock rates by changing the overclock in BIOS. It's amazingly revealing about just how very CPU bound FSX and X-Plane really are!

I would highly recommend breaking open the piggy bank ... or whatever it takes ... to scrape enough $ together to go with an ASRock Z77 Extreme4, an i5 3570K and a Hyper 212 EVO, then overclock to ~ 4.5Ghz.

 

[ingtar33]

I would highly recommend breaking open the piggy bank ... or whatever it takes ... to scrape enough $ together to go with an ASRock Z77 Extreme4, an i5 3570K and a Hyper 212 EVO, then overclock to ~ 4.5Ghz.

hahah! those are exactly the parts i swapped out when i saw his budget was $600. with those parts the price of the rig jumps up over $800... and i figured that was too much for him.

 

[izqomar]

Sounds good. Looks like I'm gonna wait a while and save up the right amount of dough to do it right, since it seems pretty clear $600 alone will restrict me. Will consider everything posted here. Thanks again!

 

[CompuTronix]

If I was the OP, I would sell my sister to get the money!

 

[izqomar]

Well, (If anyone is reading this resurrected thread), I've decided to swing the opposite way, and instead of sticking to my original $600 budget, I indeed am breaking open the piggy bank and making my ultimate dream machine for running Flight Simulator X.

I've gone overboard here because I do intend to add after market aircraft and scenery packages, and so would like to keep the simulation running as smoothly as possible with those add ons. So here is the parts list I've come up with. Do you think this will do the job, and are there any compatibility issues I should be aware of?

(Only thing missing is the HDD, which I already have. I plan to load FSX and Windows 7 on the SSD, and everything else on the HDD).

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/11YpV

CPU
Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor $318.17 FREE $318.17 Amazon Buy

CPU Cooler
Xigmatek AEGIR SD128264 89.5 CFM CPU Cooler $64.99 FREE $64.99 Amazon Buy

Motherboard
ASRock Z77 Extreme6 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard $154.98 FREE $154.98 Outlet PC Buy

Memory
Crucial Ballistix Sport 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory $225.07 FREE $225.07 Amazon Buy

Storage
Sandisk 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk $89.99 $89.99 NCIX US Buy

Video Card
EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card $197.99 -$10.00 FREE $187.99 Newegg Buy
$10.00 mail-in rebate

Case
Raidmax ATX-249B (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case $44.99 $5.99 $50.98 Newegg Buy

Power Supply
Corsair Builder 600W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply $69.99 FREE $69.99 Newegg Buy

Optical Drive
Samsung SH-224BB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer $21.98




Looking forward to your feedback. Thanks again for all the input!

 

[smeezekitty]

Well it is a massive upgrade from your old system.
I don't know if you can pull it off in your budget, but it would be worthwhile to change the GPU up to the 660ti

 

[ingtar33]

looks solid.

😀 Good luck!