Help me build a basic system

[pilot09 0]

Hi guys and girls

 

I'm building a system to help me practice for the real world and Im not sure what to buy.

I want to send the least amount, but still run the game which will enable me to practice IFR and commercial operations.

 

I am current studying for my CPL and have a cessna 150 and my PPL, but anything to improve my procedures and ATC is a bonus and much cheaper of course.

 

Doing a quick scan I have picked out the following and am not quite sure if this is suitable or the best out of the bunch. Im thinking minimum i5 processor, should I stick with Intel over AMD?, Which version of windows should I use? 

 

http://www.cclonline.com/product/137963/NoMfgCode/All-CCL-Desktops/CCL-Elite-Raven-III-Gaming-PC/CCL-EL-RAV3/

 

http://www.chillblast.com/Chillblast-Fusion-Typhoon.html

 

http://www.ginger6.com/g6-sonic-fsx1-flight-sim-pc-p-51929.html?gclid=CjwKEAjwiumdBRDZyvKvqb_6mkUSJABDyYOzh3XyZwlTHE6Hycr-upl_nh03sKw_SD147GiXSbu0VhoCZPPw_wcB

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fast-Six-Core-4-1ghz-8gb-1tb-Flight-Simulator-Sim-X-Home-Computer-Free-Joystick-/251048453581?_trksid=p2054897.l5658

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Freshtech-1600Mhz-Vantage-Windows-Gaming/dp/B00IOQVBWI/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=A1ETURH7GKZEHA

 

Any help would be appreciated 

 

[flybytes 34]

Hi ASdam,

 

The Intel I-5 series of cpu's is still probably superior to the AMD versions - make sure that you obtain the I5-K (or I7-K if going for that one) versions which are over-clockable, which is an advantage as FSX is very CPU intensive.

 

Also take a look at this Yorkshire site (which may be on your doorstep) which will build custom PC's or FSX specific PC's :

 

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

 

My current PC is from PC Specialist and about 2 1/2 years old apart from the graphic card & larger SSD which are much more recent - it runs FSX quite smoothly.

 

Ray.

 

[hlminx 301]

Welcome to the forum ASdam

I was in a similar place a year back and in the end my huzband and I built my pc. Was a fair bit cheaper than buying it and made me appreciate and understand the workings of the whole system a lot better.

I would probably look at windows 7 as opposed to win8 as its pretty stable

good luck !

[flybytes 34]

ASdam/Steph,

 

Have built many computers over the years, but unless cannibalising previous pcs, if you need to use the latest (& fastest) components, I've always found it cheaper to buy a pc off the shelf or use one of those companies that will build a pc to your own spec'.

 

On the other hand, it is very rewarding to build a pc yourself from scratch.

 

Steph, if you can build cheaper, next time I'll buy my components or fully built pc from you!

 

Ray.

 

[pilot09 0]

Further news.....

 

I've gone to PC specialist, seem to be the cheapest and ordered the following, I have built a few systems, but to be honest I can't be bothered and decided to let somebody else do the work and its cost £678 which seems reasonable 

 

Case STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA MICRO-ATX CASE + 2 FRONT USB Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790 (3.6GHz) 8MB Cache Motherboard Gigabyte H81M-D2V: Micro-ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs Memory (RAM) 4GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 4GB) Graphics Card 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 760 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready 2^nd Graphics Card NONE 1^st Hard Disk 500GB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 16MB CACHE 1^st Hard Disk Partitions 300GB, 200GB 2^nd Hard Disk NONE RAID NONE 1^st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM 2^nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NONE Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT Power Supply CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY Processor Cooling INTEL STANDARD CPU COOLER Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD) Wireless/Wired Networking 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs Wireless Router/HomePlugs NONE USB Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS Firewire NONE TV Card NONE Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead) Operating System Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence DVD Recovery Media Windows 8.1 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve Office Software FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL Browser

Microsoft® Internet Explorer

 

 

Thoughts?

 

Also I want to buy a few items to enhance the flight sim, such as pedals, yoke and radio panel, preferably second hand, the classifieds are pretty old, is there anywhere else I could buy this sort of thing from?  

[britfrog 180]

if i can add my thoughts ,

get at least 8gb memory fsx will use 4 and other things like planners or vatsim will use the other 4gb

 

do not use W8.1 you will only have grief, only 1 in 20 get it to work well, use win 7 that works perfectly

 

and personally i dont think a hard drive of 500gb is enough  you need at least 1tb

 

[MartinW 0]

8 GB Ram.

 

Windows 7

 

450 watt PSU is bare minimum, consider more to allow for capacitor ageing etc.. Also consider amps required on the 12 volt rail for your graphics card.

 

Intel's cooler will not allow you to overclock. If you intend to, then you will need to upgrade the cooler.

 

To save money, you don't need a sound card. Modern on-board sound is very good.

 

 

[goosenka 9]

Nothing much to add to the above. My system is just about enough to do pmdg flights on vatsim. 2.2 intel cpu, 4g ram and a gts 450 memory card. I only run ezdok and thats it. Separate laptop for flight planning and running vatastic etc.

Keeps me amused

[pilot09 0]

Thanks  for the comments

 

Don't know what overclocking is, giving that a miss

 

Microsoft have said they intend to stop offering updates for windows 7 soon, so hence windows 8

 

I'll get another 4Gb of ram 

 

I have a 500GB external HD for extra storage, I'm sure I could spend more and it's at the bottom end of the scale compared to some of high end systems on here, but it should be adequate ?

 

[goosenka 9]

Yes it should. My mantra with fsx has been performance over capacity. I know my system is on the cusp of performance but i don't get any OOM errors and its not laggy at all. I bought all my parts second hand and the whole system excluding yokes and pedals was £300. Can be done.

[britfrog 180]

Thanks  for the comments

 

Microsoft have said they intend to stop offering updates for windows 7 soon, so hence windows 8

 

 

you will regret this decision!!. I have windows 8.1 and tired fsx on it for 6 months and eventually gave up, it is a self inflicted wound, but hey you pays ya money and you takes ya choice!

there are several hundred simmers here and about 3 use win 8.

[pilot09 0]

Bit of an update

 

Set the system up and now have Proflight Yoke (£99.99 pc world online), Proflight pedals.

 

The game runs with everything set to max and seems fine, very happy and so far haven't had an crashes.

 

Now all I have to do is learn to use the FSX  properly

 

 

[flybytes 34]

The wonderful thing about simulated flying is that you do learn by your mistakes, rather than the real thing where you are likely to die by them.

 

Ray.

 

[tomj421 5]

If you use Windows 8.1 you might have to buy for $200.00 Prepar3d. I have Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 Pro on two SSD drives.

Prepar3d is installed in Windows 8.1 and FSX is installed in Windows 7. Both are working very well without any problems.

I tried for a month to run FSX using Windows 8.1. Had nothing but problems.

[J G 927]

My advice is:

• Use Windows 7 with Microsoft Security Essentials for you're anti-virus.  Don't let them put Norton on your system its just over priced bloatware and Microsoft Security Essentials is free.
• Get a 1TB second hard disk drive (HDD) and use this for FSX or your sim of choice.
• Max out on USB ports - you will end up using as many as you can fit in the PC and then some.

[adaksh 0]

Hi Pilot09

 

I am a student pilot too and happens to be a Network and Systems Administrator by profession.

 

In my view your demand for powerful PC depends on the flight simulator and add-on you are planning to run on it. In my knowledge and experience, there are only 3 best flight sims out there: FSX/FSX:SE, P3D and X-Plane, and I use 2 out of them to learn different procedures. I use FSX:SE and X-Plane 10 on different occasions to try and learn different VFR and IFR procedure.

 

If you are planning to use FSX for learning...then you can get by with 4-8 GB RAM and if you are planning to use X-Plane 10 then even if you put 16 GB in your computer it will use all of it because of it's program architecture (64-Bit). 

 

FSX is a 32-bit application and it's minimum memory requirement is 4GB to run. But memory overheads are due to number of add-ons people put onto it to make it look better. Examples of the add-ons which are really memory expensive are ORBX, REX and VatSIM etc. But from procedural learning perspective you need solutions like AivlaSoft EFB or FlightSim Commander and they are not dearer to memory. Alternatively, you can run these programs from second PC and off-load any memory intensive tasks there. 

 

To tell you the truth, if you are setting up all this gear for your learning then you should think about software integration in more detail before buying your hardware. Assess your memory, storage and networking requirement before procuring a new computer.

 

If you need help in drawing up your software integration plan, send me a message. 

 

 

[TomDangeroux 4]

Hi Pilot09

There has been some great advice on this post.

bitfrog advises at least 8Gb of memory and a 1Tb HD. That’s great advise, go with it.

He and others advise Windows 7, again, great advise. The OS will be supported for many years to come and by the time it’s not, it will be pretty much rock solid.

As for the anti virus, JG was spot on with recommending Microsoft Security Essentials. Don’t let them touch your system with third party AV software. Stick with software designed by the people who designed the OS. Quite frankly AV software is a nightmare, but if you feel you need it, go with Microsofts. And as for JG’s advise on USB ports and a second HD, again, great advise. Make sure you get the Microsoft OS install disks. You’ll be glad you have them when the time comes And don’t let the PC makers install any crap ware. You want a clean Windows 7 install just as Microsoft intended, no extra rubbish.

Best of luck with your build, I hope it goes well.

[donnybalonny 46]

Quit that Intel I7-4790 and get an I5 or I7 that ends with a K. A cheaper I5-4670K will be a better choice than what you got there. Only the K models overclock. And even though you dont know about overclocking now, if you get serious with FSX or P3D, within very short you´ll want to overclock. The performance gain is bige if you can get it over 4ghz and better a bit more. My I5-4670K runs 100% stable at 4.3 ghz with just a decent ventilator. I can get it to run 4.4 all cores and even 4.5 on one core, but then stability will suffer a bit, and so I took it sown a tad and thats good enough for me. The last 100 mhz is what pushes everything to far and system stability and lifespan suffers.  Overclocking nowadays is very easy. Its not something mystical like in the "good old days" where we fiddled with jumpers and stuuf to get the super 300mhz celeron without any cache to run at 450mhz.  

 

besides that, 8gig ram, 600w power supply or more and win 7 64 bit is my advice

[hifly 925]

Has anyone noticed that pilot 09s last post on this thread was in July 2014 where he says that he has his setup up and running.

 

He is now possibly in the right hand seat of a 777.

 

I feel that further advice here for pilot09 is wasted although useful for others starting out.

 

 

[donnybalonny 46]