New Computer Built, Opinions Please

Good Evening,

 

I have spent most of last night re-building my computer as FSX was running slow and crashing; new specs are as follows:

 

ASUS Z97-Pro gamer motherboard

750w Corsair PSU

Corsair H55 CPU cooling

i7-4790 @ 3.60ghz 4 x core

AMD Radeon HD 6900

SSD 250GB

HDD 1 TB

12GB DDR4 RAM

 

FSX so far runs nicely with no crashes (out the box), graphics are pretty standard though, (as they were before) most people say AMD cards are not particularly great for FSX and tend to go for a NVIDIA? what's your thoughts?

 

Secondly, I intend to buy lots of scenery add-on's, do you think my rig will run it ok?

 

Thank you

I like radeon cards just fine. have used them and nvidias both in systems over the years, the nvidias are fine too. you've got twice my ram, a slightly faster chip and the ssd, so I would imagine that system would do very well w fsx, as mine doesn't do too badly. that said though, the more clock speed you have the better, that's probably the single overriding criterion.

There's one thing I wouldn't do. To be honest, I don't know why did you buy an i7 with a locked multiplier on a Z97. Not worth the money, unless you could get the CPU for around 250-270$. If I were you, I'd get an overclockable i5 and leave the motherboard. Other than that, your PC is very good (good cooler, plenty of storage)

AMD Gpu? Since FSX needs a good CPU, the GPU doesn't matter that much. To be honest, getting an AMD CPU is worse than getting an AMD GPU.

Interesting amount of ram though.

In general, nice PC.

PS

What monitor do you use?

Hi mark3536,

 

Congratulations on building your new computer!

 

Your specs are very similar to my FSX computer - I'm running the H55 for my CPU as well (NEVER a heat-related problem with that relatively inexpensive cooler, and it is near-dead silent even when running 2 fans at the radiator in a push-pull configuration), and my vid card is the 6950 w/ 2gb ram.

Just to be sure - is your CPU a "K" version? As in 4790K? If not, no worries as others here are running similar CPUs with good results in FSX. That motherboard is a good overclocker, but don't do it unless you're confident/educated in what to do.

If you're interested in overclocking, you'll need a "K" chip - it means it's multiplier is unlocked and much easier to explore overclocking potential. In FSX, CPU speed is king, the higher the MHz, the potentially smoother the flight. This most likely will play into your needs the more you add complex addons. You will find at least one complex addon (or a combination/collection that you find you can't live without in FSX) that will slow your system down to the point where overclocking might become a consideration.

That is exactly what happened to me... :D

 

With my similarly spec'd machine, I've been able to run just about every addon I've installed with little problem. My only regret is running Win 8 with FSX. Does it work? Yes, but I have to do some work-arounds with certain things (EZCA and the occasional joystick disconnect, which I've tried every trick I could find, but still no luck). So the small problems I've had are not hardware-related; they have been operating system-related. Still, I can do hours-long flights without crashes or OOMS. Especially since I made the DX10 switch and have SteveFX's DX10 fixer (I highly recommend it IF DX10 already works on your set up. If you can't run DX10, the fixer probably won't help).

Win 10 has had so far a mixed bag of success with FSX and I'm waiting to upgrade after more bugs (in relation to FSX) have been worked out.

 

Hopefully you're already running Win 7...

 

Some have reported FSX problems with drivers for your vid card, and some have had zero problems running the latest AMD drivers. If you're not seeing any issues so far with your current drivers, then don't worry.

The consensus here is Nvidia is the preferred vid card for FSX. My AMD card runs so well that I do not feel the need to make the switch, and that saves me money to get more addons ;)

 

I agree with cavalierjan19 about your RAM count. Not that 12 is bad number, but there is the thing about running RAM in dual-channel being "faster" and more efficient, which can translate into possibly increased performance in FSX. My guess is that you're running either 1 stick of 8GB RAM in one slot and a 4 GB stick in another, OR 3 sticks of 4 GB in 3 slots, or some other combination. My recommendation would be to get two matched sticks of the fastest RAM (MHz-wise) that your motherboard supports in either 4 GB (total of 8 GB - which is all you really need for FSX) or 8 GB (total of 16 GB - which is better if you plan on playing any first-person-shooter games or video/photo editing), read the motherboard manual, and put them in the slots that will enable dual-channel use.

 

OR - the other thing you may try is (and it's free), depending on the sizes of your RAM, is placing an even amount between the 2 RAM slots that enable dual-channel (again, read the motherboard manual) - ex: 4GB x 2. If you have one stick that is 8GB and the other is 4GB, pull the 4 GB ram stick so you're only running the 8GB stick. After you have done either of those, boot up and try FSX again and see if there are any improvements. If not, no harm, no foul - go back to your original RAM config and you're done.

 

So, looks like you have some good hardware for FSX - your next step may be to explore some tweaking, like in the fsx.cfg, to squeeze out as much performance as you can within FSX. Search these forums for tweaks - some work great and make a difference, and some don't. Sometimes it just depends on the individual machine and what's on/in it.

 

If you end up considering overclocking in the future - my advice is to search, read, search and read all you can about it before picking up any hardware.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Good luck,

 

E-Buzz :pilot: