Some Suggestions For a FAST PC for things Like FSX

[Missismiggins]

I am looking (Yet again,) for a new motherboard/RAM / Processor, I don't want to change my hard drives or DVD burners or monitor or power supply.

I was thinking about the Intel DX58SO Extreme, with 6GB of Kingston 1066Mhz DDR SDRAM

What processor would you go for? The Intel I7 seems a bit out of my price range at the minute, what would be a good i5 processor to match this (if possible)

I basically have the machine on 24/7, loading torrents, but I want something that can run programs like FSX, Photoshop at maximum speed.

I wrote down a list last night but it looks like the dog ate it, I recall I had a Gigabyte MB on there as a good choice, so any suggestions?

I am running XP at the minute 32 bit (proffesional) will I need to change the OS to a 64 bit system to utilise the extra RAM?

Also - realistically, am I likely to see a big improvement over my current setup? And is there anything else that I would need to change?

Current set up is:

Intel D101GC - 2GB RAM - single channel.
Nvidea 512MB Graphics card.PCI Express 16
1 x SATA 80GB Drive (OS)
1 x IDE 80 GB Drive (for photos)
1 x SATA 160GB drive (for video)

I would need to keep at least one PCI slot for a Firewire card for my video, but the rest of the things I use are all on USB.

Any suggestions? And would you expect to see a big improvement?

Thanks!

Sorry, I should have mentioned, the current processor is an Intel P4 2.66GHz., I am not really up on this dual core and quad core stuff...so any help is most welcome!

[TizMe]

I'm going for a new PC soon. I'd like to wait for USB 3.0 to become the standard supported connection, but not sure if I can wait that long.

[Isee]

Have a look at this site. Its an Aus based forum on various stuff but the link is for PC builds. It will give you a good idea of what combinations are being used/recommended. Helped me with a recent build I did - they also have a recommended config based on budget, gaming, business etc - which they draw from the general consensus of the forum at the time.

Building - Desktops - Whirlpool Forums

What psu you running at the moment - may need to think about running something bigger.

Decided to find the page for ya which gives the system recommendations

http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/?tag=rmp_sg_whirlpoolpcs

[DaffyDuck]

I basically have the machine on 24/7, loading torrents, but I want something that can run programs like FSX, Photoshop at maximum speed.

Torrents will not care about the speed of your PC, they only care about the speed of your DSL connection.

Flight Simulator will care more about the quality of your video card, how much capacity it has, and how fast the bus connecting it to your motherboard is -- usually, anything PCIe will do fine, in that case, with a decent amount of video RAM (512mb), and a decent graphix processor (nVidia).

Photoshop - again, it matters what you are trying to do. Just retouching and the usual cropping of pictures or turning them into JPEGs, your existing setup will work just fine.

Honestly, a Mac would work best for all the above (27" iMac, most likely), but you won't consider that, or think you can't afford it, and all your buddies will have a cow over it -- so, go for something with a Core 2 Duo, and a RAM speed of 1066MHz or better, along with the above specs. MSI or Gigabyte make decent motherboards that support this.

i5 or i7 are overkill for what you are trying to do - possibly the i5 (if you want to go that way), as it's the successor to the Core 2 Duo (or Core 2 Quad) line.

Apart from that, it sounds by your qualifications and specifications, that you don't need anything top of the line.

[Camel Toe]

Torrents will not care about the speed of your PC, they only care about the speed of your DSL connection.

A lot of people forget that, or don't know that.

Isn't 6 gigs of RAM a bit of over-kill? I have 2 and PS has never failed me. As far as video games go, the most demanding specs I've ever seen is 4 gigs.

Processor/Main Board speed is much more crucial for what most of us want to do.

[Fondles]

What is your budget ??
You want to keep your PSU, what brand and power rating is it ??
What is your current case, might wanna purchase another ??

The Intel DX58SO Extreme board is an i7 board, this will be an exxy task as you will need i7 and ddr3 ram.

You dont mention running high end games so I would head the cheaper route and go dual core/Quad core.

CPU - Q8400 - 6100bht
MoBo - Asus P5Q deluxe - 5200bht
Ram - Corsair DDR2 1066mhz xms dominator 4gb - 4700bht
GPU - Asus ENGTX260 - 7400bht
I would ditch the ditch the 80gb IDE HDD for another Sata of a decent capacity (WD 640gb - 2100bht) and suggest the use of a 64bit operating system.

[Fondles]

.....

[baldrick]

you will need a new mobo , cpu and ram , minimum ( probably a new video card if the present one is AGP )

asus/gigabyte mobo , dual/quad cpu and 1066/1333 ram

your new mobo will have PCIe for video , so you will not be able to use the AGP card you have

I would not runn your torrent client on your main machine - either use the p4 or buy a 2-3k baht secondhand box and run it without monitor , kB and mouse - either run a minimal net install of ubuntu or openmediavault booting from a usb stick.

[DaffyDuck]

Torrents will not care about the speed of your PC, they only care about the speed of your DSL connection.

A lot of people forget that, or don't know that..

Most people can't put 2+2 together (or, in the case of Scampy, won't)

Isn't 6 gigs of RAM a bit of over-kill? I have 2 and PS has never failed me.

Most PC system boards won't recognize, or rather, USE, more than 3.3GB of RAM, unless they are run with a 64-bit operating system.

So, it won't matter.

If you have a modern operating system that is 64-bit capable, you *should* go with more RAM (6GB to 8GB) if you plan on doing graphics work. 2GB to 4GB are plenty enough for more mundane work.

It also matters if you plan on having a lot of different applications at the same time (active applications live in RAM).

[Camel Toe]

From what I understand you could put 4 or 6 or 8 gigs of RAM in an XP OS and it would never show more than 2.6. W7 would be slightly higher.

[Butterfly]

so, go for something with a Core 2 Duo, and a RAM speed of 1066MHz or better, along with the above specs. MSI or Gigabyte make decent motherboards that support this.

i5 or i7 are overkill for what you are trying to do - possibly the i5 (if you want to go that way), as it's the successor to the Core 2 Duo (or Core 2 Quad) line.

holly fuck, I agree with Quack Quack !!!

[Missismiggins]

Thanks for all the input!
I am trying to hang on to my case/hard drives DVD writers, but I think I need to change the M/B RAM and Processor.

I currently have a 2.6GHz p$, 2GB of DDRAM on an Intel d101GCC M/B...and to be honest, it is put to shame by the second hand PC I got for my son!

Maybe I will just steal the inards from his when he is at school!

I don't really want to change the OS, I quite like XP, so I am not looking at Vista or 7, so am not really sure how much RAM XP can recognise!

[Missismiggins]

Torrents will not care about the speed of your PC, they only care about the speed of your DSL connection.

A lot of people forget that, or don't know that..

Most people can't put 2+2 together (or, in the case of Scampy, won't)

Isn't 6 gigs of RAM a bit of over-kill? I have 2 and PS has never failed me.

Most PC system boards won't recognize, or rather, USE, more than 3.3GB of RAM, unless they are run with a 64-bit operating system.

So, it won't matter.

If you have a modern operating system that is 64-bit capable, you *should* go with more RAM (6GB to 8GB) if you plan on doing graphics work. 2GB to 4GB are plenty enough for more mundane work.

It also matters if you plan on having a lot of different applications at the same time (active applications live in RAM).

Cheers!

This is the kind of thing I am trying to find out about...if I end up buying the wrong combination then it is money down the drain!

Thanks.

[baldrick]

decide on a CPU and we will give advice as to the MoBo and ram required

the problem with your p4 - old tech - like I said use it as the base for another system to learn on or that does not need the power.

just build a new gaming rig , and I would also get a new case - a good coolermaster is 1-1.2k baht

[Butterfly]

I currently have a 2.6GHz p$, 2GB of DDRAM on an Intel d101GCC M/B...and to be honest, it is put to shame by the second hand PC I got for my son!

you are joking, right ? this is a great config,

if you are only surfing porn and posting on TD, then you don't need to change anything

I suspect you have a slow drive, which can be upgraded for less than 2000 THB

you are probably full of virus and trojans, so maybe a clean install of WinXP with SP2 will make your PC run like a new one

99% of slow downs are due to bad optimization or virus or bad system tune-up that could be solved in 1 hour. However, the average user has no clue and very confused, so instead they buy new PC and start over. That's good in some ways for the hardware PC industry, keep the manufacturers happy

Intel is the computer industry king

[baldrick]

if you are only surfing porn

er - flight sim

but I want something that can run programs like FSX

[dotcom]

We really need to know EXAVTLY what CPU you currently have. 2 more GIG of RAM would help some. Agree w? BF a clean install of WINXP is a good idea.

Is your CPU a duo core or quad core. Because Windows does run a lot faster with multi-core.

If your CPU is single core - junk the whole thing & start over.

I personally would go with i5 750 on ASUS P7P55D LE motherboard.

[Fondles]

We really need to know EXAVTLY what CPU you currently have. 2 more GIG of RAM would help some. Agree w? BF a clean install of WINXP is a good idea.

Is your CPU a duo core or quad core. Because Windows does run a lot faster with multi-core.

Read the thread, the OP has an old P4 cpu....

[Butterfly]

flight sim

the Video CARD would seem more important then, also depends which version of the game, if recent or not, compatibility with the display card

gamers needs powerful Video Cards that run like a second computer of its own,

so current config seems more like adequate, maybe an expensive video card (5,000 THB I think), and a clean install of WinXP

[Isee]

Missismiggins - Why not just look at that site I posted and do some research for yourself. I just did a build for my father and from that site (as I don't keep up to speed on new comp tech) used the following for the best bang for buck imho:

AMD Phenom II 550 DualCore 3.1GHz 7MB CACHE 80W BLACK ED
Gigabyte GA-MA785GT-UD3H MB-AM3 785G/SB710 5.2GT/s,DDR3
G Skill 4G(2x2G) DDR3 1600Mhz PC12800 9-9-9-24(CL9D-4GBNQ

OK, its not your latest i5 or i7 but a huge improvement on the old p4 system. Could have built it cheaper and could have built it more expensive. The only things I salvaged from the old box was the cd/dvd burner and a couple of sata hard drives. Could have reused the case, but decided to go for a new one. Didn't use the old 512 vid card as the onboard was good enough for what my father needed. One thing you should notice is that I bought a set of Ram....

Also easily unlocked it to quad core (no guarantee and personally don't see any great improvement when I test it) and overclocked the cpu a little (as its on 24 hours a day) - as used the standard cpu fan. Also got a new PSU as the old one was a noisy bugger and to ensure enough power going around.

Do some research, see whats available locally and then decide what combination you are looking at putting together.

[Missismiggins]

I currently have a 2.6GHz p$, 2GB of DDRAM on an Intel d101GCC M/B...and to be honest, it is put to shame by the second hand PC I got for my son!

you are joking, right ? this is a great config,

if you are only surfing porn and posting on TD, then you don't need to change anything

I suspect you have a slow drive, which can be upgraded for less than 2000 THB

you are probably full of virus and trojans, so maybe a clean install of WinXP with SP2 will make your PC run like a new one

99% of slow downs are due to bad optimization or virus or bad system tune-up that could be solved in 1 hour. However, the average user has no clue and very confused, so instead they buy new PC and start over. That's good in some ways for the hardware PC industry, keep the manufacturers happy

Intel is the computer industry king

The thing is useless with FSX, there is a problem with this MB and DDR RAM, the RAM supports "dual speed" or something like that, but the motherboard doesn't, so it appears to only utilising half the speed of the RAM - DUAL Channel!, but you can only use single channel on the 101Gcc.

I was thinking of going to quad core ore dual core at the least, maybe i5 or i7 at a push, but I really didn't want to change my OS.

If I run FSX with the reccomended settings for most of the add on scenery...you cannot hear yourself think from the noise of the CPU fan...it is in overdrive all of the time.

The PC has no trojans or viruses, it is defragmented every night, updated antivirus and scanned every night.. (AVIRA) it is scanned weekly for malware (Antimalware bytes) so I don't think an infection is an issue.

It is running on SP3 too.

The target frame rate for the FSX stuff we run is supposed to be 22 FPS, but the PC is lucky at times to be able to reach 15FPS.

My kids machine has an dual core and it handles it so much better.

I just thought that an update (given the expense) would be worth going for i5 or i7. I don't want to be in the same situation in 3 months time.

I don't plan on running any other "sooper dooper games" FSX is as far as I go.

Photoshop bogs down if you use a lot of filters etc, so that would need improving.

Also, a bit of video editing, I use Premier 6.5 Pro, and some of the real time effects tend to cause a few problems.

I want to stick with Intel for the processor and chipset, I don't want AMD.

I want to be able to use my current Graphics card, Nvidea GT 9400 gt, (NOT IMPRESSED AT ALL!) keep my current hard drives, 2 x SATA and maybe lose the IDE, it is only a back up anyway.

Changes would be MB/RAM/Processor - OS at a push, as I guess at some point I am going to have to get a 64 BIT OS. just to utilise any extra RAM.

Thanks for your input though...it has my brain in gear at the suggestions!

[Missismiggins]

you will need a new mobo , cpu and ram , minimum ( probably a new video card if the present one is AGP )

asus/gigabyte mobo , dual/quad cpu and 1066/1333 ram

your new mobo will have PCIe for video , so you will not be able to use the AGP card you have

I would not runn your torrent client on your main machine - either use the p4 or buy a 2-3k baht secondhand box and run it without monitor , kB and mouse - either run a minimal net install of ubuntu or openmediavault booting from a usb stick.

The GPU isn't AGP it is PCi Express, Nvidea 9400GT 512 MB, but to be truthful, it is SHIT!

So maybe I would change this.

It seems that most of the shops in Com Plaza Chiang Mai will buy back your unwanted hardware, i.e. I can get about 1K for the 2GB RAM, the processor is sellable as is the MB, so I can get a few K back ...Is it WORTH changing to i5 or i7? and upping the RAM?

I saw a system that has 24GB of RAM!!!!

Past experience has told me that upgrading the memory has made the biggest single difference in speed...does that still hold these days? (I went from 512MB to 1GB then to 2GB and the difference was immense)

[Butterfly]

Games take a lot RAMs, so the more RAM the better, also they use a lot of video resources, and if they are not available, they will use the CPU more intensely

it's very important that you get a proper video card as a gamer, GT9400 512MB sounds like quite a lot, but maybe not these days if your game is quite recent and for heavy gamers (and it sounds like it is with the nice textures)

the gamer doom paradox, never enough power for doing so little

buy a PS3, would be cheaper

[Butterfly]

(I went from 512MB to 1GB then to 2GB and the difference was immense)

for Photoshop and Video editing, it will make a huge difference, but that's not related to the OS per se, it's the application heavy use of RAM

[Missismiggins]

Games take a lot RAMs, so the more RAM the better, also they use a lot of video resources, and if they are not available, they will use the CPU more intensely

it's very important that you get a proper video card as a gamer, GT9400 512MB sounds like quite a lot, but maybe not these days if your game is quite recent and for heavy gamers (and it sounds like it is with the nice textures)

the gamer doom paradox, never enough power for doing so little

buy a PS3, would be cheaper

FSX is quite old compared to current games, and no way am I going to buy PS3...I could do a lot to the PC for 14-15K baht. Keep the suggestions coming though....I am on the course of a Gigabit MB, i5 processor....need to look a bit deeper,