Dedicated Flight sim PC

[TJPaterson]

Hi all,

 

I have just build my first PC and really enjoyed it. I have viewed a lot videos online showcasing a whole bunch of people playing FSX and X plane. What really bugs me is that frame rates TANK with add in's and have been thinking of making a really out there and insane sim machine. I have a few ideas for example using a dual 2011 mother board maxing it out with RAM (64GB) etc. and with two high end graphics in there. I would like to have peoples take on a parts list as I would most likely have a sizable budget to play with. Ultimatly I would like to have a system which hopfully runs smoothly as Flight sims are very very graphic intensive.

[AlwaysFSX]

Please don't go dual 2011/64 gigs of ram route. Trust me on that.

 

I can have a rig list up in a few minutes. Read red text below by the way.

[Excon]

If I recall correctly FSX is single core only so a 4670k is the best/all you need. RAM past 16Gb won't matter either and the needed GPU power depends on resolution.

[Paralectic]

i5 4670K, 8GB ram + a GTX 780 is enough.

[Bluethulhu]

You should go for something more like this.

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($229.98 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($159.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($77.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($88.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card  ($489.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($122.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)  ($134.94 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Dell S2340M 60Hz 23.0" Monitor  ($153.99 @ Adorama)
Keyboard: Logitech G710 Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($97.99 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Logitech G500 Wired Laser Mouse  ($67.78 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1879.58
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-10 09:35 EDT-0400)

[TJPaterson]

@Bluethuhu, I won't be just running FSX, I will most probably be using xplan and DCS. What is the reasoning for not using 2011 chips?

[Keudn]

FSX doesn't support hyperthreading (in fact it is primarily single threaded) and XPlane generally runs better without hyperthreading enabled (see this post http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?showtopic=55346&hl=&fromsearch=1) so getting say a 4770 over a 4670 is a waste of money. Put your money towards better graphics, especially if you want multimonitors, which since you are looking for an ultimate flight sim computer I will assume you will. Get a 4670 and get a 290x or a Titan and run 5780x1080 or even 7680x1440 if you don't mind dropping settings a lot. A 780ti only has 3gb VRAM and at those resolutions with X Plane having so many textures it likes to load you are going to want 4GB minimum.

 

What I personally would build for what you want

 

CPU: i5-4670K

Mobo: Whatever you need/want

RAM: 8-16GB

GPU: 290x or Titan (SLI if you have the budget for it)

PSU: However many watts you need

Storage: Install X Plane and windows on a SSD so you don't have slow loading textures (get a large HDD if you want)

Monitors: Up to you, 7680x1440 will need settings dropped with one GPU however