PC Build Recommendations

[moond0ggie]

I'm ready to assemble a new set-up,
Looking for recommendations on a nice MOBO/CPU combo.
Any additional sugestions a plus.
I'm a mid-level enthusiast.

I'd like to try the 64bit XP pro, if its a worthy improvement.
I like ATX & fond of AMD/Nvidia, but open to Intel,
I want 3GHZ++ of multi-core,
4 to8G of memory with good MHZ,
Should have 4 SATA ports & I'll probably use a 80G SSD for C:,
I have a nice GTX 7900 but a video card improvement is welcome.
It would be nice if there were a couple of old PCI slots.
What can you guys come up with, I'm shopping Newegg, Tiger & Amazon
Thanks

Oh, my primary need for performance is running MS Flight Sim X on a 52" LCD HDTV

[CaptBuzz]

What's your frame-rate/max resolution with the 7900 on simx?

What's your budget? Did you want to transfer over components from your current rig or did you want a full build? If you want to transfer, what's your current setup? Do you need a new tower too?

Here's a quick list: https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/M...px?ID=20170406 though I'm sure you can save quite a bit by hunting around for non-ca stores, coupon codes on other sites, etc. You may also want to consider a gaming laptop for the price. If you go that route just check the following:
- Max resolution is 1080p to get the most out of your tv
- Enough USB ports to run your external mouse/keyboard/joystick depending on your desk setup
- accepts Sata II or Sata III so you can utilize the speeds of SSD's
*Preferably has 2 harddrive slots so you can either RAID 2 x SSD's or 1 x SSD + 1 x 7200 Media drive
- Buy a nice laptop cooler
- At least 1066mhz mem
- At least a 9800GTS graphics card
- HDMI port
- Decent sound card if you want to run a 5.1+ sound system

[pc_load_letter]

64 bit XP would be a tremendous waste of time. Very few programs run in it and drivers are dwindling.

Should really go with 64bit Windows 7. Stable, fast and easy to use.

When shopping for anything computer related, whole PC's, laptops, or parts, I head over to bensbargains.net

Search on the right hand side under "Desktops".

[TML]

Based on your needs I would just buy a Mac and call it a day. After having been using PCs for 15 years, it's nice to switch over to a Mac where things run as intended... Just sayin'

[natrab]

Yeah, it's nice having a mac where you can't fix anything when it fails.

[natrab]

I'd also highly recommend Asus for your mobo. I have used them for builds for years and had very few problems. My last build was a Sandy bridge 2600k on an Asus Sabertooth which comes with a 5 year warranty and is built for toughness. Been running very strong for about a year now with zero issues and tons of speed.

I can't figure out how to post a pic from my iPad, but here's a link:

http://db.tt/hzCFBNco

[castgold]

Two years ago I built myself a system around a i5 with an Intel board, 3.2 GHz, 8g RAM, Geforce 4000 series card with HDMI out, 1TB 7200 rpm C: drive and a 2TB 5400 storage drive. I run Valve on a 46" monitor and everything runs smooth on full quality settings. The only thing I'd change is to get a case with external SATA docking. I haven't felt the need to increase the RAM yet with Win7 Ultimate.

[ldivinag]

64 bit XP would be a tremendous waste of time. Very few programs run in it and drivers are dwindling.

Should really go with 64bit Windows 7. Stable, fast and easy to use.
.

ditto.

a few years ago, a new faculty wanted a workstation since he was working with gigabyte sized data files.

so i ordered him a dell workstation running xp pro 64 bit.

holy cow, the driver set for that was SOOOOO small.

i had trouble getting his HP printer (!!!) getting to work. i think i eventually went with HP universal driver to make it to just print.

windows 7 64 bits is so universally accepted these days it's a no brainer...

forget xp anything these days, unless you are using custom written software that WILL only work in XP...

[sigsr]

What about the new Ivy Bridge processors being release soon? Would wait to see if it's release drops the prices on current Sandy Bridge setups.

[Dubious_Beans]

What about the new Ivy Bridge processors being release soon? Would wait to see if it's release drops the prices on current Sandy Bridge setups.

Some Ivy bridge CPU's were released 2 days ago.
Haven't seen any Sandy Bridge price drops yet....

[Demonicspire]

Note that monitor size has little to do with performance. IMO you should update the 7900, its ancient. A pricepoint would help tailor my recommendation.

[JDay]

Note that monitor size has little to do with performance. IMO you should update the 7900, its ancient. A pricepoint would help tailor my recommendation.

If you're a gamer your display resolution has everything to do with your frame-rates. The higher the resolution the more pixels there are to render, which directly translates into more processing power required by the GPU. In fact if you get a monitor that goes over 1920x1080 (typically 32" and higher) and you want to game you will need two video cards in order for games to be playable at the native resolution.

[twohi2play]

To OP, if you are looking to build a PC specifically for Flight simulator, you need to check out the Avsim forums. http://forum.avsim.net/forum/326-mob...ther-hardware/

[Demonicspire]

If you're a gamer your display resolution has everything to do with your frame-rates. The higher the resolution the more pixels there are to render, which directly translates into more processing power required by the GPU. In fact if you get a monitor that goes over 1920x1080 (typically 32" and higher) and you want to game you will need two video cards in order for games to be playable at the native resolution.

Monitor S-I-Z-E size =/= resolution. I have a 24 inch 1920X1200 which takes slightly more juice to drive than my 42 inch 1920X1080. People here were talking about the actual diagonal of their monitor like it was a performance issue. I have my own build locked down pretty tight
i7 2600k
HD 7970
8GB DDR3
3TB memory + 90GB SSD
built from scratch

The HD 7970 is actually pretty great, I can game with two 1920 monitors on at once, and battlefield 3 will run just fine.

[JDay]

Monitor S-I-Z-E size =/= resolution. I have a 24 inch 1920X1200 which takes slightly more juice to drive than my 42 inch 1920X1080. People here were talking about the actual diagonal of their monitor like it was a performance issue.

Monitor size directly translates to a higher resolution. A 24" monitor always has a higher resolution than say a 20.5". So yes, large monitors have greater requirements when it comes to gaming.

i7 2600k
HD 7970
8GB DDR3
3TB memory + 90GB SSD

Memory != Storage capacity.