Flight Simulator X Machine

[kjackson09]

Please help me build an awesome Flight Simulator X machine. The machine will pretty much be dedicated to running the game. I already have CH Products Pedals and Yoke. Now I need a new rig to run the game.

Price is not an issue (within reason of course).

Your help is greatly appreciated.

 

[theprodigalrebel]

At the high detail levels, Flight Simulator X will take all the power you have...and then some.

You can see how the 8800GTX and X1950XTX perform at 1600x1200 as well as 1920x1200

 

[Leros]

Those screenshots didn't look that great. Is that really the best they can do?

 

[SlickRoenick]

The Strategy Guide for FSX states explicity that the hardware which FSX was rendered on is so powerful that consumer video cards that become available in 3 or 4 years will be burdened heavily trying to render FSX in full detail.

 

[Howard]

CPU is definitely the bottleneck. I'd recommend a OCing an E6600 as high as possible, with good DDR2-800+ memory.

 

[Farmer]

If you want to sim seriously (and it sounds like you do), you might want to invest in multiple displays, and might consider an SLI setup, or buy custom control panels.

 

[Noema]

Originally posted by: Leros
Those screenshots didn't look that great. Is that really the best they can do?

Agree. Though I'd like to see the game in motion before making further judgements.

 

[Bill Kunert]

You won't be able to build an awsom FSX machine with currently available parts. It will bring any computer to it's knees at highest quality settings. I'd build a good fast machine and stick with FS 9. It looks pretty darn good with settings maxxed out.

 

[kjackson09]

Thanks for the replies.

Eventually multiple displays would be nice, but there just isn't space where I play my flight sim. I have seen triple head to go and it looks awesome, but the space is limited. Therefore I am going to compromise with one 24" or 30" widescreen display for now.

If the program is so CPU intensive, what do you recommend? AMD, INTEL?

Also, my understanding is that FSX does not support SLI, is this true?

What about hard drives? Is it better to get a smaller really fast drive to run programs and then a separate larger drive for typical media storage?

 

[Noema]

Originally posted by: kjackson09

If the program is so CPU intensive, what do you recommend? AMD, INTEL?

I'd go for Intel at the moment. The C2D X6800 is pretty the best gaming processor money can buy currently. Though an E6600 offers great bang for the buck and it overclocks well.

 

[Genx87]

Also, my understanding is that FSX does not support SLI, is this true?

Yes and it doesnt support SMP either. They were really looking ahead with this one. That said, I enjoy it more than any previous version.

 

[Bill Kunert]

There is supposed to be an update when Vista is out to make it DX10 compatible. Perhaps then they will add SLI compatibility