help , new system ,

[EHM-0990 Dick]

hi guys,

I am no expert with computers, maybe because of my age?
but the last 4 years i flew FS 2002 on the system i bought
at the same time as FS2002. It performed very well, didn't
jam during a flight ( with pisses me of big time )and stayed
fairly good on frame rates.
But,,,  I promised myself a new system along wiht the new
FS2006 , FSX .
unfortunately it is not so easy to find the right hardware just
to match FSX. so i have to rely on advise from the salesman ?
or take a big gamble like the last time and hope it will go as well as then.

This is the system that was proposed to me:

Intel Bad Axe D975 Chipset,
intel Core 2 Duo 6400,  2,13 Ghz, 1066 FSB 2 mb cache,
2 x 160 GB WD Serial ATA ll 300 mb/sec in Raid 0,
GF7900GT/PCIE  256MB  nVidia,
2 x Memory / 1GB 800 HZ  DDR2  non-ECC CL5 DIMM.

Is ther anyone who understand this, or have any commend.

please, please     groeten dick de (fly)boer.

[EHM-1651 Christian]

Well i think that should do it, you will get some envy from me for sure:$

[EHM-1703 Philip]

Hi Dick,

That's a great system. There are two improvements I would consider if you can afford the outlay, they are just performance improvements on the set up the salesman has quoted.

Firstly I would suggest is if you can afford an Intel 6600 CPU then go for it. (It's about 50-70 euros more I would say) The reason I say this is because the 6400 is an Alendale Processor, this is based on older Pentium M technology. The performance gain from the 6600 would be worth the money as this is an all new design Conroe processor and utilizes the latest technology and a larger cache memory which will vastly improve it's 3d performance. Oh and it's faster!! Most of the tests I have seen in magazines rate the 6600 about 25% - 40% faster than the 6400 depending on the benchmark software used.

Secondly if you can afford to go CL4 or CL3 memory then it will give you a more stable and faster performance. The CL rating is the  CAS Latency which is the speed at which information is handled. If you click on the above link you will see, 600mhz Memory at CL2 or CL3 actually handles the data faster than the memory that the Salesman has specified. CL5 is the most common memory in production and is therfore the cheapest but you may find performance gains by tweaking the specs and only slightly increasing the cost.

Sorry if this all seems a bit complicated but buying a high performance system is not that simple!

Good luck and enjoy your system.

[EHM-0005 Maarten]

Dick,

As a fellow Dutchman I can recommend the Dutch website http://www.tweakers.net. There's always a topic running about Flight Simulator and those guys can give you advice too. The link:

http://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/list_messages/1146931/last

en kijk ook eens naar:

http://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/list_messages/1063857

Suc6!

[EHM-0990 Dick]

Thanks Phill,

the first part of your remark i can follow, you are right its just a couple of euro's more to switch to the 6600, if you consider the amount of money the system costs.

the second part is more difficult.,  it brings me to the question :  where do i need the speed  increase,  CPU,  Memory, or the craffic cart.   And how important is teh speed of the harddrive's?

And if i am getting confused, do i need this realy for FSX. ?

met vriedelijke groeten  en dank U zeer  (is dutch for: with kind regards and thanks you very much).  

 dick de (fly)boer.

[EHM-1703 Philip]

Well Dick, to be honest.... Your current system will probably run FSX, just not very well. Your right though, you could end up spending money for no reason or for little gain. All of you PC's components will have a bearing on FSX peroformance, but as you say, Graphics Card and CPU are your main areas.

The memory improvements from having lower CAS ratings will be subtle, although it will not tend to speed the application up amazingly, it does afford you more stability and allow yout to tinker with your settings or even overclock it.  

In short, remember, FSX has been designed from the ground up to showcase Vista and Direct X 10, neither of which are currently commercially available. This probably means, short of spending 5000 euros, you will not be able to buy a system that will allow you turn all the sliders to their highest level.

I suppose the only way to tell for sure is if at all possible, save the new FSX demo to a CD, take it to your salesman and ask him to demo it on the system that he is recommending, if you are happy with the results then that's your baby! Make sure you turn the settings up and get a good look at how it runs if you do this.