Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler - About to build a PC, what do you think of this setup?

Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | PC Support | About to build a PC, what do you think of this setup?

DVA7922
Senior Captain, MD-88
OLP

Joined on November 04 2009
50 State Club
Online Century Club
Triple Century Club
Globetrotter

"Student Pilot: "Um, Your controls.""
Dallas, GA USA

384 legs, 1,292.5 hours
128 legs, 221.9 hours online
382 legs, 1,281.7 hours ACARS
18 legs, 40.6 hours event

Posted onPost created on December 30 2009 07:08 ET by Charles Carter

Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3L Socket 1156 P55 ATX Motherboard
Intel Core i5 750 Processor
Corsair XMS3 4GB DDR3-1600 RAM
GS 550 Watt Power Supply
Visiontek Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 PCIe 2.0 Graphics Card
Windows 7

I already have, and plan to install:
FSX
CS 767
REX
ASA
FS Commander

Do you think this will work well? I know it's not a top-end graphics card, but it gets good reviews and has a good price point.

Charles Carter

Senior Captain, MD-88

DVA7373
Captain, B757-200
OLP

Joined on May 31 2009

"Howdy"
Southeastern United States

72 legs, 187.6 hours
32 legs, 85.4 hours online
67 legs, 153.2 hours ACARS
2 legs, 3.1 hours event

Posted onPost created on December 30 2009 09:40 ET by Nicholas Taylor

Do away with the 4850 and get a GTX 285 2GB version, if you can't afford it, go for the 1GB version. ATI is not for flightsimming.

Nicholas Taylor

Captain, B757-200

DVA2784
Senior Captain, B777-200
OLP, COMM, 737-ATP

Joined on January 01 2006
50 State Club
Globetrotter
Online Double Century Club
Quad-Jet Quartermaster
US Mountaineer Club
Everett 1500 Club
Bi-Millennium Club
US Coastal Club
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary
Four Million Mile Club

"The PAST...learn from it or repeat it."
Highland Home, AL USA

2,310 legs, 9,806.8 hours
243 legs, 873.7 hours online
2,037 legs, 8,595.0 hours ACARS
22 legs, 51.7 hours event
0 legs dispatched, 0.5 hours

Posted onPost created on December 30 2009 10:33 ET by Rob Morgan

I have the ATI 4850 HD and absolutely love it. Easy set up and stellar performance. There is nothing wrong with this card..other than personal preference.

Rob Morgan

Senior Captain, B777-200

DVA8033
First Officer, MD-88

Joined on November 23 2009

Fresno, CA USA

11 legs, 19.0 hours
10 legs, 17.8 hours ACARS

Posted onPost created on December 30 2009 10:51 ET by John Denner

I would suggest going to newegg.com and researching the motherboard. A quick check showed that motherboard with a small number of reviews and they weren't very good. If you've built a system before than you'll know that having to pull everything out to replace the motherboard (mounting hardware etc...) is a huge pain in the tail. You motherboard is what will make your computer upgradeable for years.

John Denner

First Officer, MD-88

DVA7899
Captain, B737-800

Joined on October 29 2009
Online Double Century Club
Long Beach Century Club
Triple Century Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary

"PMDG or go home :)"
Springfield, MO USA

304 legs, 743.8 hours
283 legs, 682.2 hours online
303 legs, 740.0 hours ACARS
30 legs, 47.9 hours event

Posted onPost created on December 30 2009 13:34 ET by Skylar Macminn

You seem to have forgotten the heat sink, fans, a CASE, hard drive -- stuff like that

Corsair ram, it's not much more, but go for the 2000 over the 1600 -- the 2000 runs better, and you can overclock it later if you want.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817153104 -- This power supply is good, not only because it is 750w, but it also gives you more space in the case by not having a whole bunch of wires you won't use.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813131403 -- just look at the specifications for this motherboard.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608014 -- CPU Cooler.

These are some of the parts I am using (currently purchasing a new computer via newegg -- I can post the specs if you want them :P)

Skylar Macminn (DVA7899)

DVA2088
Senior Captain, B777-200
OLP

Joined on January 13 2005
Online Century Club
Everett 250 Club
50 State Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
Million Mile Club
Globetrotter
Eight Century Club

Seattle, WA USA

817 legs, 2,352.9 hours
192 legs, 620.9 hours online
673 legs, 1,872.6 hours ACARS
11 legs, 54.5 hours event

Posted onPost created on December 30 2009 21:22 ET by Eric Paul

I second the Asus P6T Deluxe MB....I built my system with one and have had nothing but top notch performance.

I can also speak highly of the GTX 285....it would work well for you.

Eric Paul (DVA2088)

Posted onPost created on December 30 2009 21:57 ET by Skylar Macminn

I would also recommend the GTX 285 -- that's what I plan to get. My idea is to run the main fsx monitor off of the 285, and then use my old(ish) GTS250 1GB for the secondary monitor.

The 285 is pretty much the highest quality you can get in that specific pricerange -- anything after that is 350+ (at least the ones worth buying)

Edit: Eric, do you have the P6T DELUX, or the P6TD Delux -- there is a difference apparently lol.

Skylar Macminn (DVA7899)

Posted onPost created on December 30 2009 22:29 ET by Charles Carter

Thanks!

As far as the little stuff is concerned: I was gutting on old box and reusing some parts so that stuff is covered.

I ended up getting the XFX ATI Radeon HD 5750 1gb GDDR5, and I'm getting 145fps out of it... there's just one problem.

There's something wrong with the simulation rate. It seems like it's in slow motion. When I turn the rate up to 2x it seems more like it normally should (and I'm getting 145fps the whole time). I checked this by setting the FSX 747 to 4000fpm climb and timed 1 minute with a RW stop watch. I started at 16800 feet, and should have been at 20800 feet 60 seconds later. Instead, I was at 18,400. Something is wrong. The 747 clock ticks slower, while the system time in the taskbar is ticking at normal speed.

Any thoughts?

Charles Carter

Senior Captain, MD-88

Posted onPost created on December 30 2009 22:38 ET by Nicholas Taylor

Charles Carter wrote:

Any thoughts?

Get the GTX 285.

Nicholas Taylor

Captain, B757-200

Posted onPost created on December 30 2009 22:46 ET by Skylar Macminn

Nicholas Taylor wrote:

Charles Carter wrote:

Any thoughts?

Get the GTX 285.

^this

Posted onPost created on December 30 2009 23:11 ET by Charles Carter

so at 145fps you think the video card is causing the problem?

Charles Carter

Senior Captain, MD-88

DVA4295
Captain, B767-300

Joined on April 05 2007
Online Century Club
Double Century Club

Stratford, CT USA

212 legs, 397.9 hours
194 legs, 368.4 hours online
190 legs, 356.7 hours ACARS
3 legs, 6.7 hours event
19 legs dispatched, 10.0 hours

Posted onPost created on December 30 2009 23:44 ET by John Alusik

145FPS is a bit excessive, try taking it down to 20-30fps to get a real feel for what might be the problem. For those who say ATI isn't meant for FS i don't see a problem. I have an 4850 and i have no problems, i don't see how FS is different from any other game. All I know is that FSX is very CPU reliant. If you get a good CPU and a good card everything works fine.

John Alusik

Captain, B767-300

Posted onPost created on December 31 2009 00:27 ET by Charles Carter

I'm currently trying to repair the installation. I dialed the fps down and that didn't help. It's something deeper. It's running on an i5 750 processor. I don't even have to move the plane to know the problem still exists... The chronometer in the plane ticks too slow. From that I can tell that the problem is still there. My repairing the install will fix it. I've verified I have the latest Win7 drivers for all the hardware, and checked that I have to current BIOS for the MB. If this doesn't work, I guess I'll try reseeding the processor, RAM, and video card. I can't think of anything else to fix this.

Charles Carter

Senior Captain, MD-88

Posted onPost created on December 31 2009 09:02 ET by Nicholas Taylor

John Alusik wrote:

i don't see how FS is different from any other game.

Then there is no point in trying to explain it. FS is 10000000% different than any other game. It's a simulator, not a game. Time and time again Nvidia is superior to ATI cards of the basically same specs in FS.

Nicholas Taylor

Captain, B757-200

Posted onPost created on December 31 2009 09:46 ET by Charles Carter

I've tested EVERY component. I've tested the video card, the CPU, the memory. I believe there's a problem in some clocking mechanism on the motherboard. I'm taking this MB back to get a better one. The one I wanted wasn't available so I ended up getting an MSI board that has all this novelty overclocking stuff on it, and CPU clock phase adjustment technology. I think something in these chips is messing up the clock speed of the computer, and somehow directly effecting FSX when it goes into a simulation. Taking it back... can't wait to hear what their tech's think of my theory.... Should've gotten an ASUS

Charles Carter

Senior Captain, MD-88

Posted onPost created on December 31 2009 10:42 ET by John Alusik

If you really want to go high end for not alot of $, get a new ATI 5000 series card, the lower end ones are about $150 give or take $15. Those are the fastest video cards in the world breaking the 1Ghz mark. But to be honest which brand to pick is a preference not a science. There are a number of factors that can determine performance. I have a 4850 and have no problem, but I also have an AMD based system with an AMD CPU and an AMD chipset so they all work together a little better. Its honestly up to you, it is nearly impossible to argue for one card or another since there is no real hard data which card is better. But good luck finding the one for you!

John Alusik

Captain, B767-300

Posted onPost created on December 31 2009 15:12 ET by Charles Carter

I'm sticking with the ATI Radeon HD 5750. The graphics have not been a problem at all. It's the motherboard and something on the board causing FSX to run in slow motion. I'm getting very smooth, high fps with high detail settings. The best way to describe it is that it's like taking the rate down to 1/2 in FSX. So to make it run at normal speed I have to run around in 2X rate mode. There's a LONG beep after P.O.S.T. when the computer boots, and I've tested every piece of hardware attached. I took the MB back and got an ASUS P755D. I noticed something. The ASUS box has two Intel logos... one for i5 and a seperate one for i7. The Msi board only had the i7 logo. There are different spec sheets that say it supports i5 and i7, but they also say to refer to some other spec sheet I can't find. I'm beginning to wonder if that board just somehow doesn't support the i5 processor. At any rate... I'll be rebuilding/reformatting/reinstalling tonight as we wait for the new year... here's hoping for better results!

Charles Carter

Senior Captain, MD-88

Posted onPost created on January 01 2010 09:39 ET by Charles Carter

Ok...

Fresh ASUS MB, start from scratch with a reformat. I got Win7 going and install all updates available. I installed the MB software, and the video card software. Then I installed FSX with no SP's and it worked perfectly. I installed both service packs and it still worked perfectly. I cranked all the graphics details up to max and it still ran perfectly and at 40fps. Then I celebrated new years and went to bed.

I got up this morning and installed ZoneAlarm Extreme Security 2010 (win7 version), then FS Commander, then REX, then ASA, then DVA ACARS, DVA 737NG, and CS767. I didn't run any of those programs, just got them installed. I ran FSX again and it's in slow motion again!

I uninstalled ZoneAlarm, no change so I reinstalled it. I reinstalled the video card software/drivers. No change. I uninstalled FSX SP2, no change. Next on the list is use the original FSX disc to repair FSX. If that doesn't work next will be the complete removal of FSX and start the installation over. Anyone have any ideas? I'm just about to pull my hair out.

Charles Carter

Senior Captain, MD-88

Posted onPost created on January 01 2010 11:03 ET by John Alusik

If you can't figure it out contact Microsoft support and if they can't help contact ATI support/ASUS support and see what they say, they might be able to help you.

John Alusik

Captain, B767-300

DVA8033
First Officer, MD-88

Joined on November 23 2009

Fresno, CA USA

11 legs, 19.0 hours
10 legs, 17.8 hours ACARS

Posted onPost created on January 05 2010 17:08 ET by John Denner

Charles,

Try taking a look at the Win7 performance and resource monitor that's built in to win7. Run FS and see how where your resources are going. If that doesn't work (or tell you anything useful) I would start unistalling addons one-by-one and seeing which one is the culprit. Are you still getting POST code beeps? You can google your MB maker and see what the code means.

You could also benchmark your rig to get an idea of how well or bad your machine is processing graphics. www.furturemark.com

John Denner

First Officer, MD-88

Posted onPost created on January 05 2010 18:29 ET by Charles Carter

I replaced the MB with one from ASUS and the POST beep went away. I replaced the ATI card with an nVidia GTS 250. My resources arn't being maxed out at all. So far the only answer I've come up with is an incompatability problem between FSX and Directx 11 (which is preinstalled in Windows 7, so there's no way to get it off there). I'm about to pull my hair out. This problem exists even without any addons installed. It's not that the frames are lagging. The screen is very smooth. It's just going at half speed. Even with the plane sitting still and with the lowest details set, the clock on any aircraft panel runs at half speed while the shift+z fps monitor shows maxed out fps. I can "simulate" normal speed by going to rate x2, but then addon aircraft like the CS 767 start having small problems like not being able to make turns without overshooting.

Charles Carter

Senior Captain, MD-88

DVA5929
Senior Captain, B747-400
OLP

Joined on May 10 2008
Million Mile Club
Online Quadruple Century Club
Everett 500 Club
Globetrotter
Six Century Club
50 State Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary

"It's buried under a big W!"
TX USA

651 legs, 3,806.1 hours
472 legs, 2,922.9 hours online
565 legs, 3,319.5 hours ACARS
8 legs, 18.9 hours event

Posted onPost created on January 05 2010 19:39 ET by Nicholas Carpenter

If money is tight for this project, get the Nvidia 7800, it's what I had to get because it was the only upgrade that would fit in my cpu. But believe, me FSX runs great on it with a high FPS on most settings high. I've seen some high end graphics cards that couldn't even get 4 fps with everything on low. Yours should be alright though.

Nicholas Carpenter

Senior Captain, B747-400

DVA8033
First Officer, MD-88

Joined on November 23 2009

Fresno, CA USA

11 legs, 19.0 hours
10 legs, 17.8 hours ACARS

Posted onPost created on January 06 2010 15:24 ET by John Denner

I'm sorry I couldn't be more help Charles. What you are describing in your most recent post is a problem beyond the normal checks and fixes for hardware. A quick google search did find that a new build (7127) of FSX fixes the problwm with dx 11. There also seems to be a hack for making it work. Google dxdiag hack. Hopefully that is helpful.

John Denner

First Officer, MD-88

DVA7176
Captain, B747-400
E-MAIL

Joined on February 16 2009
50 State Club
Millennium Club
Two Million Mile Club
Everett Millennium Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary

Wasilla, AK USA

1,291 legs, 5,878.5 hours
90 legs, 370.7 hours online
1,261 legs, 5,676.9 hours ACARS

Posted onPost created on February 06 2010 23:01 ET by Jerry Friz

Hi Charles,
After installing FSX, be sure to do a short flight, before installing the SP's. [this is to let the config file build] Also re-boot. [it's all in the instructions] judge

Jerry Friz

Captain, B747-400

DVA8158
Captain, B767-300
OLP

Joined on December 31 2009
Century Club
Online Century Club
50 State Club

"Eight hours bottle to throttle."
Newnan, GA USA

197 legs, 437.5 hours
161 legs, 329.8 hours online
196 legs, 435.9 hours ACARS
5 legs, 17.1 hours event

Posted onPost created on February 06 2010 23:16 ET by Peter Bagrationoff

I am ready for a similar build but I want to keep my eVGA 8800 GTS 640mb video card a bit longer. I already bought the motherboard, new psu, and cpu cooler. What do you guys think of the following:

eVGA P55 LE 123-LF-E653 KR LGA 1156 P55 Motherboard
i7 860 Lynnfield
4 GB Gskill Ripjaws DDR3 1600
Corsair CMPSU-620HX Psu
Cooler Master Hyper 212
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

Currently running Fs9 although my Core 2 Duo e6600 @ 3.2 GHz can run FSX albeit with some stutters.

Peter Bagrationoff (DVA8158)

DVA3794
Senior Captain, A320
OLP, 737-ATP

Joined on December 03 2006
50 State Club
Globetrotter
US Coastal Club
Events Quadruple Century
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Everett Bi-Millennium Club
Tri-Millennium Club
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary
Three Million Mile Club
Online Thirty Century

"volando libero......."
Antarctica

3,459 legs, 8,141.9 hours
3,131 legs, 7,039.5 hours online
3,251 legs, 7,332.7 hours ACARS
478 legs, 964.8 hours event
65 legs dispatched, 72.4 hours

Posted onPost created on February 06 2010 23:27 ET by Vincenzo Musumeci

charles I have the GTX 285 2.0GB and absolutely love it....definitely worthed ! biggrin

DVA7209
Captain, B767-300

Joined on April 11 2009

Seattle, WA USA

36 legs, 120.9 hours
1 legs, 1.8 hours online
34 legs, 113.7 hours ACARS

Posted onPost created on February 08 2010 21:39 ET by John Byre

The GTS 250 isn't a Direct X 11 card. Don't see how the GTS 250 can be utilizing it and causing compatibility problems.

550w on your power supply might not be giving you enough clean power. I'd consider upgrading to a Corsair PSU, that puts out between 650w and 750w.

How much testing have you done with your system to make sure it's 100%? Prime95? Memtest86? Video Card Stability Test?

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