30 replies to this topic

[aaschacher]

During the course of this year I want to build a new rig to run FSX as well as many add-on's and scenery's including REX and UK2000 extreme. I am torn in mind about which rig to build. One compromising of AMD mix which I have only used on laptops before, or one compromising of an Intel/nVidia mix which I have always had for desktops. Here are the rigs I have in mind:

Rig A (AMD mix):

• Motherboard: AMD 990x Pro
• CPU: AMD FX 8150
• GPU: AMD HD 6990 (x2 for crossfire)
• RAM: Komputerbay DDR PC3-10600 32GB

Rig B (Intel/nVidia mix but most likely):

• Motherboard: Intel DX79SI if Ivy bridge supports LGA2011
• CPU: Intel Ivy bridge when released
• GPU: nVidia GTX590 (x2 for sli)
• RAM: Corsair Dominator DDR3 PC3-16000 32GB

Both rigs will have the following components:

• Chassis: Corsair Carbside 500R
• PSU: Corsair Gold AX1200
• SSD: Corsair Force GT 240GB (x2, OS & Games)
• DVD Drive: LiteOn iHAS624-32
• Cooling: Corsair Hydro H100
• OS: Win7 Ultimate 64-bit

What do you guys suggest, and what would you change/add?




EDIT 11 Mar: Updated the above specs through your suggestions and further research


Happy flying all

Edited by aaschacher, 11 March 2012 - 12:20 AM.

[Wast3d]

Im a Intel / nvidia fan even if i use a ATI atm... But why a Xeon? Whats the reason of it? You will miss important controller actions... i dont even know if the CPU supports SSE2/3

A simple I7 2600k will do the job pretty perfect... Or wait for the new IVY processors.

Edited by Wast3d, 14 February 2012 - 06:25 PM.

[aaschacher]

When comparing the Xeon and i7 on intel's website they both seemed to have the same specs but the Xeon had one or two extra features. As for the IVY, I'd never heard of it till you mentioned it, sounds promising and good so think I'd wait for that

[alainneedle1]

When comparing the Xeon and i7 on intel's website they both seemed to have the same specs but the Xeon had one or two extra features. As for the IVY, I'd never heard of it till you mentioned it, sounds promising and good so think I'd wait for that

+1

[djMot]

Minor point, but don't use Artic Silver. Use OCZ Freeze. Silver has metal in it and is said to have to be re-done periodically. Neither is the case with OCZ Freeze. Better thermal transfer, safer, and no do-overs.

I'm an intel fan, too, and also curious on the Xeon choice, although your argument isn't too left field. Be sure you get a motherboard that supports ECC memory and can be overclocked if you want best performance.

[Wast3d]

In fact you should keep in mind: The intel Xeon processor familiy is made for use in Servers and not made for Destkop PC´s

[aaschacher]

Minor point, but don't use Artic Silver. Use OCZ Freeze. Silver has metal in it and is said to have to be re-done periodically. Neither is the case with OCZ Freeze. Better thermal transfer, safer, and no do-overs.

That's some good info and I'll definately be looking into it and probably use it

In fact you should keep in mind: The intel Xeon processor familiy is made for use in Servers and not made for Destkop PC´s

I'm going to wait for the new Ivy bridge and probably use that. Depending on it's socket, I may use intel's DX79SI board instead as it seems much better and can hold more

[ateh1]

holy shit ..!! 48 gb of RAM ....??

[aaschacher]

Updated above specs

Minor point, but don't use Artic Silver. Use OCZ Freeze.

I had a look but this product is no longer made unfortunately. However with the cooling I've added, a thermal compund layer is pre-added.

Thank you all for your feedback soo far

[Guitarman]

@ Kiwi, please add your REX order number into your signature as per the forum rules.

Thank you.

[aaschacher]

Can I ask, what monitor(s) are you using?

One misconception is that when you get a 3GB card (590) and another one to match. You DONT get 6GB of graphics memory. Because everything to doubled. So, depending on your monitor(s) this could either be total overkill, or you are going to run into more problems because some systems don't like SLI/Crossfire.

Good luck with it. But if FSX is your main way of gaming, you are going to have heaps of spare resources. So, maybe only 2 cards instead of 3 might do the trick even better. This is because the drivers for the cards might not be to happy with 6 GPU's. 4 would be the max I would ever run.

Remember that 1 card is already acting like 2 cards because they have duel processing units.

As with the bulldozer, they will not match the power of the ivy bridge. (I would put my money in Intel and only get the 2 590's) This will save you heaps of money and also the heat generated by having 3 cards might not sit well for the top card. Are you going to water cool the graphics cards? I see that you are going to water cool the CPU which is a good move. The power consumption of both of these cards is heaps, so in return the heat produced is a lot.

Also, that Case might not be the best choice. Because of the major power consumption of the new motherboards are coming out with power controllers on the back of the board, you might want a case that has a back fan either pushing cold air onto the back of the motherboard, or sucking it out.

There, that is my recommendation for ya. :-)
Kiwi

Thank you very much for your detailed reply Kiwi

I currently have a Samsung 1920x1080 monitor and a small side monitor at 1024x768, both at 60Hz. This is mainly because I don't have room for more just now till I can get my own place in the future. I hope to get at least 2 1920x1080 side by side in the future maybe running with TrackIR. The most resource intensive game I have or plan to have at the moment is FSX.

I'm hoping to have this machine future proof as far as possible hence the outrageously huge specs, but if needed I can always add more later so 2 cards is prob better. The reason for the choice of case is I know it is compatible with the water cooling. I'll have a look see what other cases I can find with a fan behind the motherboard see if I can find one thats compatible. I never thought about cooling of the GPU, and didn't know they could be water cooled also so I'll def be looking into that also.

Thanks again for your reply Kiwi

[timest999]

Don't have REX. I was just giving someone help with their computer choice.

And with that, thank you!

[aaschacher]

1: No problem.
2: A rule of thumb when looking at computers is to never "future proof", this is a word that people use to get you to buy thier parts. "Buy for today, not for tomorrow" -> This is my rule of thumb. Once you have bought you parts, there will always be other parts that then trump yours.

I know someone that got 1 590 graphics card and he games with FSX at 130fps with all sliders maxed out. So, 2 cards will most likely be overkill, but then again it can't hurt if you play other games as well.

With your SSD, are you going to have another hard drive that stores your big files of information?

REMEMBER: NEVER defreg an SSD you will screw it up big time :-)

That is all,
Kiwi

If you have any more questions, I am happy to answer them.

I have read the many stories of defragging SSD's so that, I am staying away from. As for the guy you were talking about there, do you know what conditions he hit those fps's in? e.g. with add-on scenery and aircraft in fairly busy areas?

The SSD info above I seem to have forgotten to change. It's acctually 2x240GB of that type, one for OS and one for games.

Thank you

[aaschacher]

Look forward to hearing back

Thanks for all your help!

[aaschacher]

I'd lock the frames to the monitors refresh rate, which would be 60 with my monitors just now

[aaschacher]

It'll be later this year maybe even into next year.

Or as soon as I win the lottery

[aaschacher]

The new nVidia card has been released, the GTX 680. Some specs are slightly better, some slightly worse. Main difference is the PCI Express version they support with the 680 supporting the new PCI Express 3. Another big difference is the 680 has 2 HDMI slots whereas the 590 has only DVI.

Is using PCI-E 3 going to give a graphics advantage in games with some slightly worse specs compared to PCI-E 2 with slightly better specs?

[Gonçalo Carvalho]

Before I make my first post, I just want to leave the info to the forum moderator that I'm not an owner of REX yet =) Maybe in future with REX Essential.

Now about hardware. I just like you Aaschacher because I want to build a new Rig too. So maybe this will be my new PC:
- Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z/Gen3 Intel Z68;
- Asus GTX 680 2GB DDR5 PCI-E;
- Asus Stick USB-N13 Wireless 300Mbps USB 2.0;
- Asus DVD+/-RW Slim SDR-08D2SU USB 2.0 Black;
- Intel core i7-2600 (Unlocked) 3.4 GHz (3.8GHz turbo) 8MB;
- Corsair Gaming Series GS700 700W 80 Plus;
- Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 64MB Sata III 6GB/s;
- Corsair Vengeance 2x4096MB (8GB) DDR3 1600MHz CAS9 1.5V.

So the question I want to leave here, is this Rig ready to receive the upcoming REX Essential with addons like PMDG 737NGX plus sceneries from Aerosoft/UK2000/FSDreamTeam/FlyTampa(Keep in mind the best FPS)?

BTW, In my GPU option which one is better? Asus GTX 560 TI, Nvidia GTX680 or ATI Radeon HD 7970 3GB to obtain great textures/FPS on FSX with REX?

Thanks guys!

Edited by Gonçalo Carvalho, 25 March 2012 - 07:02 AM.