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Ultimate flight sim/gaming PC

LordJummy

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I wouldn't suggest water cooling either. Maybe an H80 or H100, since they're pretty much as simple as it gets; but nothing with separate parts needing picked and assembled. And still, I don't know if that would be a lot better than a good air cooler like mine, or maybe a silver arrow. I've looked up a few results from testing both the H100 and the cooler I have, (Noctua NH-D14) and they seem to be within a few degrees of each other. The H100 gets very loud at higher speeds, to get the tempurature advantage. And after a couple hours of gaming, the water begins to warm up a little faster than it can be cooled. so then, it appears to be running hotter than normal. But with an air cooler, the maximum temperature doesn't really change with time. And when you drop the load, air coolers get the cpu cooled down to its idle temperture quicker.

Keep in mind something like an H100 is a lot easier to install for noobs in a lot of cases. The block is so small and easy to install on all the corsair LCS setups. It's a lot simpler than installing a tower cooler, IMO. They also don't really have to worry about air flow direction and messing with the RAM if it doesn't fit properly. Just sayin'...
 
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Thats true. My Noctua's a beasty. it weighs almost 3 pounds, and covers all 2 of my RAM slots. But in its defense, its the best air cooler, and the fan on that side is moveable. (Also, I installed the heatsink backwards, :banghead::banghead::banghead: so being asymetrical it sticks out more than it would if installed correctly. Since I did that, I didn't want to take it off and deal with thermal paste again, so I just put the fans on the other sides. )
 

LordJummy

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Thats true. My Noctua's a beasty. it weighs almost 3 pounds, and covers all 2 of my RAM slots. But in its defense, its the best air cooler, and the fan on that side is moveable. (Also, I installed the heatsink backwards, :banghead::banghead::banghead: so being asymetrical it sticks out more than it would if installed correctly. Since I did that, I didn't want to take it off and deal with thermal paste again, so I just put the fans on the other sides. )

Totally agree. I have a NH-D14 also that is currently not in use. It is an awesome air cooler, definitely the best I have ever used. I don't see why people buy other high end air coolers when this thing is available and so amaazing :p

If he is mechanically inclined he shouldn't have too much trouble following the instructions. The LCS coolers are really easy to install though. It really depends on what he wants I guess. Either way you go you can use custom fans and have a super silent cooler. The NH-D14 may offer better cooling with low RPM silent fans though. It would definitely be my top recommendation for air cooling.


I might go through newegg and do my idea of a good build for him.
 
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Can't say I would do that. You're not taking into account redundancy or aesthetics with those hard drives and that case. But I guess if gaming performance is the only goal that would be okay.

You want redundancy in the HD, add another one for RAID, the money is there in the budget. Persanally I prefer to have a fast SSD for the OS and the most used programs and a good big HD for storage. The case is the one the OP said he wanted. Personally I'd reuse my Lian Li if I was building this for myself.
 
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I also backup my SSD array on my HDD array to give some redundancy :p

I find that tower coolers are pretty easy to install. Plus, he is mechanically inclined so it shouldn't even be a problem, and he has someone that will help him build it.
 
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Yeah, it only took me maybe fifteen minutes to install, including removal and reapplication of thermal paste. Its a great cooler.

BTW, I like your analogies :roll:
 
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meh, I suggest he waits till Black Friday weekend if he decides to buy anything early... Case, PSU, monitors, fans, CPU cooler, DVD-RW and accessories (ie wireless card), and perhaps even RAM, are all OK to buy if you find great deals.
 
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I use FSX pretty avidly, and CPU power is very important. My main rig consists of:

  • i5 2500K at 4.5Ghz (Turbo, 1.6Ghz on idle)
  • 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
  • GTX580 1.5GB

I use a few addons to enrich the flight experience:

  • Ultimate Traffic X
  • REX 2.0
  • FSDreamTeam O'Hare Airport
  • FSDreamTeam McCarran Airport (Las Vegas)
  • Aerosoft Las Vegas scenery
  • Numerous aircraft addons

At first I was using a i7 920 setup at 4GHz, then I switched to the i5. the i5 is far superior and made a noticeable difference in performance, even running at stock clocks. I have found that 4.5Ghz gives the added boost to maintain high frame rates while using all these addons. I also run with scenery and weather effects maxed out with traffic around 60% at the airports (anymore and the airports become too busy).
 
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How multi-threaded is FSX?
 
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Its quad threaded like crysis. meaning very little performance increase between dual and quad from what I read.
 

Moby

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I use FSX pretty avidly, and CPU power is very important. My main rig consists of:

  • i5 2500K at 4.5Ghz (Turbo, 1.6Ghz on idle)
  • 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
  • GTX580 1.5GB

I use a few addons to enrich the flight experience:

  • Ultimate Traffic X
  • REX 2.0
  • FSDreamTeam O'Hare Airport
  • FSDreamTeam McCarran Airport (Las Vegas)
  • Aerosoft Las Vegas scenery
  • Numerous aircraft addons

At first I was using a i7 920 setup at 4GHz, then I switched to the i5. the i5 is far superior and made a noticeable difference in performance, even running at stock clocks. I have found that 4.5Ghz gives the added boost to maintain high frame rates while using all these addons. I also run with scenery and weather effects maxed out with traffic around 60% at the airports (anymore and the airports become too busy).


Could I please ask some one to explain the difference between i5 and i7?
The poster says i5 gives him better results. I assume i7 is a newer version.
sorry, I came to this forum cuz ya'll know a good bit more than I. I hope this isn't a stupid question.
 

3volvedcombat

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Could I please ask some one to explain the difference between i5 and i7?
The poster says i5 gives him better results. I assume i7 is a newer version.
sorry, I came to this forum cuz ya'll know a good bit more than I. I hope this isn't a stupid question.

He had an older architecture i7 920, and upgraded to a newer revised version which is the i5 2500k (Notice the difference in Model numbers). There is also a i7 2600k and i7 2700k.

There are technical cases were a game only uses a certain amount of CPU CORES and a higher clocked LOWER CORE (i5) CPU will give better performance.

In this case above however, he upgraded to a newer i52xxx series 2500k, which overall overclocked better, probably had slightly better utilization, and overall was faster then his previous(older series) i7 920, which clocked nicely, but could not meet the new kid on the block.

Overall, maybe if he grabbed an i7 2600k(newest production i7) that overall would overclock within 10-5% as this person's i5, he would have even "BETTER" performance.
(older line of chips)
i5750
i5760
i7920
i7940
i7960
i7970
(newer line of chips)
i52400k
i52500k
i72600k
i72700k
The newer chips from INTEL, usually offer better overclock ability and numbers, better overall clock for clock performance, added features from previous series, and overall a better CPU Processors(or as our tech minds talk) Chips.
 

Moby

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So I want an i72700 right? That's the latest big bull on the ranch?
 
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So I want an i72700 right? That's the latest big bull on the ranch?

Yeah, or the i7 2700k, but its a little more expensive. Price difference is less than $50 most places, don't know if that would justify it. maybe an Intel nut can say what the difference is, if any other than the higher stock clock.

Edit: I feel stupid. I though you said 2600. :shadedshu
 
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No you want the i7 3800K or i7 3900K series, which are coming out in a few days... They will be the best and latest

The 3800 series is 4 core and the 3900 series is 6 core... So far, from what I understand, you probably want the 3900 series, more specifically the 3930K.
 

Moby

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No you want the i7 3800K or i7 3900K series, which are coming out in a few days... They will be the best and latest

The 3800 series is 4 core and the 3900 series is 6 core... So far, from what I understand, you probably want the 3900 series, more specifically the 3930K.


Does that really slick cooler fit on this CPU?
 
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You should choose the cooler only once LGA 2011 comes out, as of right now, not many LGA 2011 coolers exist. We don't know all the coolers that will include a LGA 2011
 
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Could I please ask some one to explain the difference between i5 and i7?
The poster says i5 gives him better results. I assume i7 is a newer version.
sorry, I came to this forum cuz ya'll know a good bit more than I. I hope this isn't a stupid question.

The only difference is the i7 has Hyper-threading, while the i5 doesn't. In my experience, Hyper-threading has no impact on games, even mutli-threaded ones.
 

LordJummy

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The only difference is the i7 has Hyper-threading, while the i5 doesn't. In my experience, Hyper-threading has no impact on games, even mutli-threaded ones.

some say hyperthreading affects some games negatively. I haven't noticed it myself, but I also haven't tried disabling HT for gaming. Maybe I should sometime to see.
 
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some say hyperthreading affects some games negatively. I haven't noticed it myself, but I also haven't tried disabling HT for gaming. Maybe I should sometime to see.

The impact that HT can have negatively is extremely small, and barely noticeable when measuring FPS. It is only in a few games. Most games see little impact unless they are well multi-threaded, when they see a good improvement
 
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