Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | PC Support |
New PC Specs |
DVA3904
Captain, B737-800
Joined on January 05 2007
""What goes up, must come down!"" Northeastern United States
48 legs, 46.7 hours
8 legs,
10.9 hours online 14 legs,
11.7 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
May 24 2008 19:00 ET by Christian Tucci
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I am building a new PC from scratch and wanted to see what you guys thought of the specs:
Intel 3.0Ghz Core 2 Duo 65W dual core processor
2GB of DDR3 RAM
400W Power Supply
256 MB graphics card w/ 3.0 shader model
The graphics card is temporary and I will be upgrading to a better 512MB card sometime soon.
Do you think this will run FSX and FSX Acceleration nicely? I also want to get DDR3 memory. I have heard it is super fast!!
Christian TucciCaptain, B737-800
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DVA4491
Senior Captain, MD-11
E-MAIL
Joined on May 22 2007
Quincentenary Club
Online Quadruple Century Club
"You dun goof'd!" Lexington-Fayette, KY USA
592 legs, 1,474.8 hours
482 legs,
1,334.7 hours online 455 legs,
1,163.5 hours ACARS 11 legs,
33.0 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 24 2008 19:16 ET by Weston Woodward
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Do yourself a favor and get the 8800 768mb model, then you'll see FS how it was supposed to be seen.
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DVA3904
Captain, B737-800
Joined on January 05 2007
""What goes up, must come down!"" Northeastern United States
48 legs, 46.7 hours
8 legs,
10.9 hours online 14 legs,
11.7 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
May 24 2008 20:10 ET by Christian Tucci
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I was looking at that and saw it needed a 475W PS. I think I will just get a 640MB or just stick with the 512MB because I am already spending enough money on the current specs!
Christian TucciCaptain, B737-800
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DVA071
Senior Captain, B757-200
Joined on July 03 2001
Triple Century Club
Online Triple Century Club
Weston, MA USA
375 legs, 1,827.1 hours
310 legs,
1,535.6 hours online 159 legs,
991.1 hours ACARS 2 legs,
14.5 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 24 2008 20:28 ET by Geoffrey Smith
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400 W PSU is probably not sufficient even without the 8800. Although everyone manages to do it, power supplies are really something you shouldn't go cheap on. A weak power supply will a) die quickly b) malfunction and do damage to your other top notch components. I've had both of those happen, so do your research. Also, if you get a good power supply, it can last you through a number of builds but that 400 won't even last you until your next graphics card upgrade.
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DVA950
Senior Captain, B737-800
Joined on November 19 2002
Online Quadruple Century Club
Millennium Club
Million Mile Club
Events Double Century Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
"Houston, We have a Problem" Nazareth, PA USA
1,210 legs, 2,875.1 hours
1,147 legs,
2,716.7 hours online 886 legs,
1,977.2 hours ACARS 206 legs,
484.9 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 24 2008 20:35 ET by Anthony Piasecki
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650w PS at the minimum, If your going to upgrade a VC wait until September when the new tech comes out, and yes DDR3 is the way to go. Look at the X45 boards, or the 790i series. do your homework the CPU is fine, 3 gigs of DDR3 minimum, especially if you are loading Vista as well.
Anthony PiaseckiSenior Captain, B737-800
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DVA3904
Captain, B737-800
Joined on January 05 2007
""What goes up, must come down!"" Northeastern United States
48 legs, 46.7 hours
8 legs,
10.9 hours online 14 legs,
11.7 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
May 25 2008 09:50 ET by Christian Tucci
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Here is a list of the products I will be buying. I already bought the first item on the list. I alrady have a hard drive and DVD drive.
https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=6231414&WishListTitle=PC+Project%2DIntel
Christian TucciCaptain, B737-800
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DVA3680
First Officer, B767-300
OLP
Joined on November 01 2006
Stock Car Racing Club
Century Club
Berthoud, CO
114 legs, 232.4 hours
97 legs,
212.8 hours online 106 legs,
215.1 hours ACARS 2 legs,
3.7 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 28 2008 00:30 ET by Kevin Williams
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That seems like a good setup. Experimenting around w/ hardware and such I would grab 4GB memory and any DX10 512MB+ video card will do. I haven't run any benchmarks with DDR3 memory but with DDR2 800 vs 1000 there is a very very small gain so I wouldn't expect DDR3 to boost performance for fsx all that much But if you've got $250 go for it! I've also benched the ATI 3870, 8800GS, 8800GT, 9600GT, and the 9800GTX and they are all very very close to one another. 400 Watts is a bit low but can work wish some of those cards.
My only other recommendation is to consider going with a quad. With a q6600 you can easily overclock it to 3.0GHz+ and that will help in the big cities. Even though you can overclock the 8400 to 3.6 GHz+ all 4 cores will be at 100% in the big cities. so you can get 3.0GHz x 4 = 9 GHz w/ the q6600 vs 3.6 x 2 = 7.2GHz with the E8400. The 8400 is still be a nice processor and you wouldn't be disappointed either way you go.
Kevin WilliamsFirst Officer, B767-300
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DVA3904
Captain, B737-800
Joined on January 05 2007
""What goes up, must come down!"" Northeastern United States
48 legs, 46.7 hours
8 legs,
10.9 hours online 14 legs,
11.7 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
May 28 2008 16:32 ET by Christian Tucci
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I was looking at one of the 8800GT cards on www.newegg.com. The motherboard I am purchased above says it has PCI slots, PCI Express x16 slot, and PCI Express x1 slots. All the 8800GT cards say they need PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot. Is the 8800GT compatible with my motherboard?
Christian TucciCaptain, B737-800
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DVA3680
First Officer, B767-300
OLP
Joined on November 01 2006
Stock Car Racing Club
Century Club
Berthoud, CO
114 legs, 232.4 hours
97 legs,
212.8 hours online 106 legs,
215.1 hours ACARS 2 legs,
3.7 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 28 2008 16:44 ET by Kevin Williams
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PCI-Express 2.0 cards are backwards compatible with PCI-E 1.1 and 1.0. You will not have a problem. Just make sure that the 8800GT that you will be getting has 512MB of ram and not the 256MB versions.
Kevin WilliamsFirst Officer, B767-300
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DVA3904
Captain, B737-800
Joined on January 05 2007
""What goes up, must come down!"" Northeastern United States
48 legs, 46.7 hours
8 legs,
10.9 hours online 14 legs,
11.7 hours ACARS
|
Posted onPost created on
May 29 2008 15:19 ET by Christian Tucci
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What do you think is better for FSX and acceleration?
4GB (2GB x2) DDR2 RAM
or
2GB (1GB x2) DDR3 RAM
----------------------------------------------------
3.0 GHz Core 2 Duo
or
2.4 GHz Core 2 Quad
Christian TucciCaptain, B737-800
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DVA3680
First Officer, B767-300
OLP
Joined on November 01 2006
Stock Car Racing Club
Century Club
Berthoud, CO
114 legs, 232.4 hours
97 legs,
212.8 hours online 106 legs,
215.1 hours ACARS 2 legs,
3.7 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 29 2008 15:47 ET by Kevin Williams
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4GB for sure. Then you won't be using your pagefile system as much.
I just did a benchmark between ddr2 800 and 1000 and the 1000 got an average of .13 fps more. Even if you did get DDR3 1600 or 1800 I would guess that you would get maybe .5-.75 fps more, if that. Even though it's not much of a gain, if you can I'd say go for it.
Kevin WilliamsFirst Officer, B767-300
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DVA3904
Captain, B737-800
Joined on January 05 2007
""What goes up, must come down!"" Northeastern United States
48 legs, 46.7 hours
8 legs,
10.9 hours online 14 legs,
11.7 hours ACARS
|
Posted onPost created on
May 29 2008 16:49 ET by Christian Tucci
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So overall you think I should get the 2GB of DDR3 even though I could get 4GB of DDR2. Right?
Christian TucciCaptain, B737-800
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DVA3680
First Officer, B767-300
OLP
Joined on November 01 2006
Stock Car Racing Club
Century Club
Berthoud, CO
114 legs, 232.4 hours
97 legs,
212.8 hours online 106 legs,
215.1 hours ACARS 2 legs,
3.7 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 29 2008 17:58 ET by Kevin Williams
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sorry, my bad. The extra 2gb (4GB total) will help out much more than just 2gb of the ddr3, so get the 4gb ddr2. And again I would go quad. You can very very (can I say it again) easily overclock the quad to 3.0GHz without breaking a sweat. Eventhough you may be able to get more frames out in the country with the Core 2, what really counts is in the city where the other 3 cores really kick in.
Now some ramblings:
Get a cheaper motherboard and go for 4GB of DDR2 800, the Q6600 OEM, and a CPU cooler. https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.asp?ID=6677985
$440 after rebate a bit cheaper than your $528.
Just browsing around Newegg is running a deal on a biostar 9600GT for $113 after rebate, a killer deal! I also echo the recommendations of the others that you'll need a better power supply if you will be running anything higher than a 9600GT.
Kevin WilliamsFirst Officer, B767-300
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DVA3680
First Officer, B767-300
OLP
Joined on November 01 2006
Stock Car Racing Club
Century Club
Berthoud, CO
114 legs, 232.4 hours
97 legs,
212.8 hours online 106 legs,
215.1 hours ACARS 2 legs,
3.7 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 29 2008 18:03 ET by Kevin Williams
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I think that link may not work. Try this one: https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=6677985&WishListTitle=PC+Project%2DIntel2
Kevin WilliamsFirst Officer, B767-300
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DVA3904
Captain, B737-800
Joined on January 05 2007
""What goes up, must come down!"" Northeastern United States
48 legs, 46.7 hours
8 legs,
10.9 hours online 14 legs,
11.7 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
May 29 2008 18:57 ET by Christian Tucci
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Wow, Thanks Kevin!! Every Time I visit newegg I see a new deal but it looks like you got a great one there for me! I was looking for a motherboard with 2 PCIe x16 slots so in the future I could do SLI. I am not buying a video card right now so I will wait until "Santa" comes or my birthday for that.
Christian TucciCaptain, B737-800
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DVA3904
Captain, B737-800
Joined on January 05 2007
""What goes up, must come down!"" Northeastern United States
48 legs, 46.7 hours
8 legs,
10.9 hours online 14 legs,
11.7 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
May 29 2008 20:26 ET by Christian Tucci
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This is my final version. My dad is buying it and I already changed it 10 times so he is getting annoyed. Feedback?
https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.asp?ID=6249874
Christian TucciCaptain, B737-800
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DVA3680
First Officer, B767-300
OLP
Joined on November 01 2006
Stock Car Racing Club
Century Club
Berthoud, CO
114 legs, 232.4 hours
97 legs,
212.8 hours online 106 legs,
215.1 hours ACARS 2 legs,
3.7 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 29 2008 23:35 ET by Kevin Williams
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that link didn't work for me, can you re-post?
Kevin WilliamsFirst Officer, B767-300
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DVA3904
Captain, B737-800
Joined on January 05 2007
""What goes up, must come down!"" Northeastern United States
48 legs, 46.7 hours
8 legs,
10.9 hours online 14 legs,
11.7 hours ACARS
|
Posted onPost created on
May 30 2008 17:28 ET by Christian Tucci
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Sure, sorry!!
https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=6249874&WishListTitle=PC+Project%2DIntel
Christian TucciCaptain, B737-800
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DVA3680
First Officer, B767-300
OLP
Joined on November 01 2006
Stock Car Racing Club
Century Club
Berthoud, CO
114 legs, 232.4 hours
97 legs,
212.8 hours online 106 legs,
215.1 hours ACARS 2 legs,
3.7 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
June 03 2008 11:28 ET by Kevin Williams
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yep, looks great!
Kevin WilliamsFirst Officer, B767-300
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DVA1427
Senior Captain, MD-11
OLP
Joined on December 14 2003
Online Double Century Club
50 State Club
Tri-Jet Triumph
Globetrotter
Moose Club
US Capital Club
Everett 250 Club
Quincentenary Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
"Livin' in the Dog Pound!" Kannapolis, NC
558 legs, 1,984.3 hours
250 legs,
611.8 hours online 384 legs,
1,530.5 hours ACARS 38 legs,
82.7 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
June 03 2008 12:14 ET by Lewis Gregory
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That should be pretty good. I went with the slightly cheaper GA-P35-DS3L motherboard instead of a -DS3R and it's been great--you'll be good either way, Gigabyte makes good stuff, very solid. I don't know if FSX takes advantage of quad cores or not, but the Q6600 is at a really good price point now and is overclockable with a good heatsink (I went with a dual-core E8400/Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7 combo instead). The only thing that concerns me is the 400W power supply. I think you SHOULD be OK with it, but you won't have a whole lot of headroom for further down the road. You definitely wouldn't be able to do SLI even if your mobo supported it (which it doesn't of course). 4GB of memory is an absolute must if you're planning to run Vista at any point.
As for video cards, look at the 8800GTS vs. the 8800GT. The GTS is a little faster, with more shaders, and the GTSes are all dual-slot designs which vent the hot air out the back of your case instead of inside. The G92 cores run very hot--my ECS 8800GTS 512MB, with stock fan settings, hit 85C one time in EVE Online before I used RivaTuner to turn the fan up a bit. It still runs in the low 70s when pushed hard. So there may be an advantage to blowing the heat out the back. The 8800GTS is also slightly faster than the 9600GT, but slightly more expensive.
Lewis GregorySenior Captain, MD-11
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