Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler - RAM, Motherboard and Cooling for FSX.... HELP!

Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | PC Support | RAM, Motherboard and Cooling for FSX.... HELP!

DVA5885
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Posted onPost created on March 08 2013 19:11 ET by Steve Jensen

Ok, so I have finally pieced together a computer for FSX but I need some final input on what speed RAM to get and what motherboard to go with. I also need some input on cooling...

First off the motherboard: I am looking at the ASRock z77 Extreme6 for $160, ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 for $240, ASUS P8Z77-V LK for $135, GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H for $190 all through Newegg.

Secondly the RAM: I have no idea what to really look for with this. The motherboards I mentioned above require certain speeds and I would like to use whatever the highest is or whatever works best with FSX since RAM really isnt too expensive. If anyone here has any information on what I should look at that would be great!

Lastly the Heat sync: I have looked at the H60, 80, and 100 coolers, Cooler Master 212 EVO..and a few others here and there but don't really know exactly what works well. I will want to OC my i7 3770K so I would like an aftermarket CPU cooler to help with keeping those temps low

As far as my other components: I am buying the i7 3770K, GTX 670 FTW, Corsair 850 PSU...I don't plan on doing SLI as I've heard that SLI for FSX hurts performance. Any other info would be greatly appreciated as I am trying to build this computer within the next few days.

Thanks for your help!

Steve Jensen (DVA5885)

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Posted onPost created on March 08 2013 19:17 ET by Brandon Howell

8-16 GB of DDR3 RAM will work just fine.

Brandon Howell (DVA8752)

Posted onPost created on March 08 2013 19:29 ET by Steve Jensen

I know you need or would want a CAS of 9 and 8-16gb of DDR3 but what about the speed of the RAM?

Steve Jensen (DVA5885)

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Posted onPost created on March 08 2013 19:46 ET by Bill Gardiner

Steve, there are some great discussions on Avsim about motherboards and RAM here:

http://forum.avsim.net/forum/326-mobo-ram-cpus-other-hardware/

And more discussions on video cards here:

http://forum.avsim.net/forum/327-monitors-video-cards-and-drivers/

I'm not familiar with the GTX670 but you want to be sure that you don't build your system and wish you had the GTX680 for a hundred bucks more. I have the H100 and it just works. It's a great unit. Get faster RAM if you're going to OC the 3770. Z77 can take advantage of faster RAM and it DOES make a difference with Z77 and a 3770. Get 1866 at least and a MB that will support it. The more expensive motherboards have more sata and usb ports, which you may or may not need, but more importantly they have better designed circuitry to handle overclocked cpu's and faster ram. And the tools to overclock with. There is a wealth of information on those two links, have a look. Good luck and let us know how you make out!

Bill Gardiner

Senior Captain, B747-400

Posted onPost created on March 08 2013 19:49 ET by Steve Jensen

Bill I'll take a look at those and let you know what I came out of it with!

Thanks

Steve Jensen (DVA5885)

Posted onPost created on March 08 2013 20:30 ET by Bill Gardiner

Steve, some really great people there and they know their stuff.

Bill Gardiner

Senior Captain, B747-400

DVA10131
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Posted onPost created on March 08 2013 21:38 ET by Robbie Johnson

Mobo: I recently built with the P8Z77-V LK, and it is a solid mobo for the price. I have not yet began overclocking with it on my system (having some unrelated problems with an HDD, so I'm waiting to get everything stable first), but I did overclock with it in a friends system, we hit 4.4 stable but backed down to 4.0 for an everyday OC. That said, if money is not an issue, I would go with the Sabertooth. That is one of the best mobo's on the market (in my opinion, at least), but if money is an issue I would go for the LK.

RAM: 8GB 1600mhz+ is fine. I would recommend this or something similar.

Cooling: The Hyper 212 EVO will match (and sometime exceed) low cost closed loop watercooling systems (H60-H80). On a recent build for a friend we hit 4.4 with it with reasonable temps (i5 3570k). If you would like to go with closed loop, I would recommend at least an H100i, but I would lean towards the H110 or the NZXT Kraken x60 if your case can support them. Also the Swiftech H220 is coming out soon, which is supposed to be the best closed loop watercooling solution to date, though I am not sure what the price will be.

Other thoughts: You will never need 850w if you are not planning on using SLI. I would recommend going with a 550w to save some money. It is also worth noting that if you do not use any programs which take advantage of the extra threads provided by the 3770k, then you should move to the 3570k and save yourself $100 with no performance penalty for gaming or FSX. For the GPU, I also put the 670 FTW in my system, while it performs excellently in GPU intensive games, you will probably not see any improvements in FSX between that and a cheaper card such as the 660 or 660Ti.

Robbie Johnson (DVA10131)

Posted onPost created on March 08 2013 21:41 ET by Robbie Johnson

Also, for reference, here is my new build:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste ($5.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($72.04 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($389.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Tempest 410 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1085.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-08 21:39 EST-0500)

I plan on adding a 256GB SSD and perhaps some kind of closed loop watercooling in about a month

Robbie Johnson (DVA10131)

Posted onPost created on March 08 2013 21:57 ET by Bill Gardiner

Nice system! Do you have it up and running yet?

Bill Gardiner

Senior Captain, B747-400

Posted onPost created on March 08 2013 22:26 ET by Robbie Johnson

Yep, I built most of it on the 26th (HDD and windows took forever to get here; don't order anything from Outlet PC). It was running great on the 120GB drive that I had laying around, but as soon as I put the 1TB in I started getting random BSODs (~2 times a day) so thats kind of a pain... but I am waiting for the replacement to get here and hopefully I will have better luck with that. I've only been able to fly 2 flights so far, but the performance was great on max settings, in the NGX, with payware; even without an OC. Outside of FSX I have mainly been playing Far Cry 3, which gets about 90FPS and never drops below 70. The only part from it I wouldn't recommend would be the case, while it has some awesome features the cable management is terrible, but it would probably be alot better if/when I replace the 212 with a closed loop watercooling setup (it seems that is what the case was made for).

Robbie Johnson (DVA10131)

Posted onPost created on March 08 2013 22:50 ET by Bill Gardiner

That's the problem with getting components from different places. I got everything from newegg except the CPU and got that on ebay to save a few bucks. Well, the stuff from newegg sat here for a week while I waited for the cpu. It was a long week lol. Good luck with the new drive. Did you install the latest drivers for the mb? Drives are pretty straightforward so if that's your only issue you're ok. Are you going to de-lid or just oc? Don't know if I'd want to de-lid lol.

Bill Gardiner

Senior Captain, B747-400

Posted onPost created on March 09 2013 00:16 ET by Robbie Johnson

I purchased the bulk from Newegg, with the exception of windows, the HDD, and the mobo and CPU (12hr round trip to ATL to pick up the mobo and CPU; fun stuff). Everything is up to date, the problem seems to be isolated to the drive (worked fine with the 120gB); Seagate is replacing it free of charge so hopefully I won't have any more problems. I would never take the risk of a de-lid, if temps are that much of a problem Haswell is coming out in a few months and I would imagine the problems will be fixed.

Robbie Johnson (DVA10131)

Posted onPost created on March 09 2013 16:11 ET by Steve Jensen

Robbie, what kind of payware do you have besides the NGX and what ind of frames do you get with the NGX and say an fsdreamteam airport or an orbx airport in a carenado aircraft?

Steve Jensen (DVA5885)

Posted onPost created on March 09 2013 16:27 ET by Robbie Johnson

So far I have only flown the NGX on this PC. I use REX for textures, ActiveSky 2012 for weather, and I typically grab some payware scenery for whatever airport I am flying out of if there is some available that is compatible with AES. With addon scenery at most airports I get 20+ on the ground in the VC, and it never drops any lower that unless the weather is particularly bad in which case they drop to ~15. That said everything feels relatively smooth, and if I wanted to turn the settings down by a little bit I could get 30+ easily. That said, I am still waiting for the new HDD to come in so I can OC, so I expect a lot of improvement after that.

Robbie Johnson (DVA10131)

Posted onPost created on March 09 2013 16:52 ET by Steve Jensen

I see, yeah I'm sure once you OC your system you will get a bit better frames... I know this is a totally different subject, but for OC'ing an i7, what type of programs do you use or do you just OC directly through the BIOS itself?

I have never OC'ed a system before, but would the average person be able to OC fairly easily?

Just curious becuase I want to definitely OC my system..That is why I am getting the K version of the i7. Are there any forums that explain step by step what to look for? I'm honestly just lost with proper OC'ing..

Steve Jensen (DVA5885)

Posted onPost created on March 09 2013 17:54 ET by Robbie Johnson

There are plenty of guides online, I recommend doing your OC manually through the BIOS. It is safer and you can get a higher OC at a lower voltage than using any automatic programs. That said it is still relatively safe to OC using software in Windows, if that is the route you would like to go I would recommend going with an ASUS mobo, it comes with some auto-overclocking software. I would also recommend going with the i5 3570k unless you use any programs that can actually take advantage of the extra threads. For gaming and FSX you will get the exact same performance.

Robbie Johnson (DVA10131)

Posted onPost created on March 11 2013 15:00 ET by Robbie Johnson

Just an update on my build, I decided to go ahead an OC. I was able to get a stable 4.5 @ 1.216v (offset of +.120). It is also worth noting that I was able to get 4.4 stable @ 1.160v. I haven't flown with the OC yet, but I sat on the ground in ATL (Imaginesim scenery) in the NGX with Activesky loaded bad weather, and was getting 30+ fps with occasional dips to ~25.

Robbie Johnson (DVA10131)

Posted onPost created on March 11 2013 16:42 ET by Bill Gardiner

Nice!

Bill Gardiner

Senior Captain, B747-400

Posted onPost created on March 12 2013 00:32 ET by Steve Jensen

Ok, so thanks for everyones help...I finally made a purchase on newegg and will finish off getting the processor, OS, and a few small things at microcenter, but the rest I just purchased at newegg. If something doesn't look right let me know! However I'm pretty sure it's all good..

- Corsair Obsidian Series 650D

- i7 3770K

- Windows 7 Home 64 bit

- ASRock Z77 Extreme6

- EVGA 02G-P4-2680-KR GeForce GTX 680 2GB

- CORSAIR HX Series HX850

- G.SKILL Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000)

- CORSAIR Hydro Series H100i

- Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD2 2.5" 256GB

- Western Digital WD VelociRaptor WD5000HHTZ 500GB 10000 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"

- 3 x Corsair Air Series AF120 Performance Edition CO-9050004-WW 120mm Twin Pack High Airflow Case Fan

- Arctic Silver 5

- Arctic Silver Arcticlean Thermal material Remover & Surface Purifier

- 2 x Acer H236HLbid Black 23" 5ms (GTG) HDMI Widescreen LED Backlight LED Backlit LCD Monitor, IPS Panel

Steve Jensen (DVA5885)

Posted onPost created on March 12 2013 01:28 ET by Bill Gardiner

What could be wrong with that?

Bill Gardiner

Senior Captain, B747-400

Posted onPost created on March 12 2013 02:58 ET by Robbie Johnson

That looks great, but you went overkill on the PSU (won't hurt anything though), I doubt you will ever saturate 16GB of RAM, and I probably would have gone with a larger 7200RPM HDD for storage. Other than that everything looks fine; keep in mind that for FSX you won't come close to fully utilizing the 680 (my 670FTW barely hits 30% load in FS) but for gaming it will be awesome. Outside of that I see no glaring errors (other than the i7, but its not my money so go for it). Let us know how it goes!

Robbie Johnson (DVA10131)

Posted onPost created on March 12 2013 13:47 ET by Bill Gardiner

I have a Corsair 1050W and yes, it's overkill but when I'm tweaking I never have to think about power as a variable. It's there. I have 16GB RAM, and while FSX only uses 4GB I have enough left over to not have to worry about a page file and all my other apps. I have a GTX 580 with 3GB RAM and in nasty weather and deep clouds it's working hard. IMHO you can never have "too much" power. You're always going to use it.

Bill Gardiner

Senior Captain, B747-400

Posted onPost created on March 12 2013 17:26 ET by Steve Jensen

Yeah, that's exactly why I paid the extra 20-30 dollars for the 850 over the 750. Not a bad investment into the future for that amount..

Steve Jensen (DVA5885)

Posted onPost created on March 12 2013 17:28 ET by Steve Jensen

Oh, and Bill, you said that FSX uses 4 gb RAM? Default without tweaks it only takes 2 gb correct? What tweak did you use to get FSX to recognize 4 gb?

Steve Jensen (DVA5885)

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