Alienware for FSX - Good Enough?

[maneks]

Hi guys, I'm planning on buying an Alienware Aurora R3 this summer for FSX. Are these specs good enough to get a decent frame rate with addons including REX, airports like Imaginesim WSSS and WoAI?

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7-2600K (8MB Cache) Overclocked Turbo Boost to 4.1GHz
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
CHASSIS COLOR Matte Stealth Black Chassis with 525W Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
MEMORY 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
VIDEO CARD Dual 1GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 460 - SLI Enabled
HARD DRIVE 1TB SATA 3Gb/s (7,200RPM) 32MB Cache

I'm sure with some tweaking here and there, a target fps of 25 is achievable in places like NYC? Thanks for any help.

PS: I'm no tech whiz which is why I'm buying an alienware - I know they are over priced but I have no clue how to build a rig myself and I think this is the best way to avoid compatibility problems, etc. However, if you have any alternates which are good for FSX, I'll be more than happy to consider it.

[noell]

That system will run FSX nicely.
You are right in that you do pay a premium for the Alienware name.
If you're not hung up on the Alienware brand name, you can get systems that will perform just as well for less money from suppliers like iBuyPower, CyberPower for example.

[fxsttcb]

I agree with noell.

Two points:
1) SLI doesn't help with FSX
2) 525 watts is weak for two GTX 460s, A single GTX 460 requires a 450 watt PSU with 38amps @12v. While it probably will work, IMO, it's marginal.

Both of the sources mentioned have a great configurator to create the system of your dreams...Don

[kagazi]

Single video card and better power supply as mentioned. You'll likely need 750W power supply (minimum) especially for the overclock and future expansion. Pick up another hard drive. Operating system on one drive and FSX on the other. I'd go with the fastest drive you can afford for FSX. I'd also go for slightly faster ram (1600). Most manufacturers are now making ram specifically designed for the Sandy Bridge. Lastly, I agree with noell as well, and I'd suggest ibuypower over cyberpower. Lots of coupons so never pay full price.

If you do go with ibuypower or the other, do not pay for them to overclock. Intel Turbo will get you 3.8 for free. There's not much diff. between 3.8 and 4.1. Plus the I7 2600k will practically over-clock itself up to 4.2/4.3. Higher may require some reading and trial and error but it's minimal. Post back when you get your system and I'd be happy to share setting information.

[noell]

If, instead of Alienware, you do decide to go with a rig from a supplier like iBuyPower or CyberPower, with the money saved, you may want to consider going with an SSD (Solid State Drive) on which you could install Windows and FSX.
Makes for one sweet running system, IMO. I have both on a 120GB SSD and even with a number of payware aircraft, UTX, GEX, REX and three titles form ORBX (PNW, PF & NR), I still have about 20GB free.
If, however, you plan on more addons than that, you should consider a larger size SSD.

[brian]

That system will run FSX nicely.
You are right in that you do pay a premium for the Alienware name.
If you're not hung up on the Alienware brand name, you can get systems that will perform just as well for less money from suppliers like iBuyPower, CyberPower for example.

Interesting thought, I never heard of those brands. I myself, am looking to purchase an Alienware simply for FSX to get it off of my HP laptop. Alienware offers military discounts, iBuypower does through an all service catelog, not sure about Cyberpower.

[av8tor98]

I've had 2 different systems from Cyberpowerpc.com. The latest one I bought a year ago and with zero problems and runs FSX extremely well. I do suggest SSD for operating system and a SSD or VelociRaptor for FSX. I have the latter for FSX since higher capacity SSDs are quite expensive. One GTX 580 GPU does a great job in handling FSX as well.

[munnst]

I was thinking of a Dell Alienware PC but they wouldn't give me interest free credit and don't have option for dual SSD's.
So searching around I found www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk.
Glad I did. I got a better rig, overclocked, 2 gig gfx, 2 x ssd and for a few hundred pounds more (and a few hundred times more power) and 10 months interest free.
For the same price I would have got a much faster rig.