Upgrade advice

[sichars1968]

I have ordered X-Plane 10, and I am intending to upgrade some of my PC components.

At the moment my Specs are:-

CPU - Core2Duo E8500 3.16Ghz

GPU - ASUS GeForce 9800GT 1GB

Mem - 8GB 800Mhz

M/B - ASUS P5K-VM

OS - Win Vista 64bit

I am gettting pretty good performance in XPX Demo, but unable to use shadows, reflections and HDR. I do have Very High texture resolution, objects and roads set at tons, and airport detail and detail draw distance at high. This is with RW weather and reasonable cloud settings and I am getting 25 - 45 fps.

I am intending to upgrade the CPU to a Core i5 2500 3.3Ghz, but I do not want to overclock so will get the locked CPU and use the boost when under load. The motherboard I am looking at is ASUS P8Z68-V LX, any advice here would be welcome. Memory wise I want to get 1600Mhz but don't know whether to get 4GB(X-Plane is 32 bit) or 8GB(bearing in mind I have a 64 bit OS. Any advice welcome?

My main area for help/advice is the graphics card. I have always used nVidia, but I feel there are some good ATI cards out there(Radeon 6870). Is it best to stick with nVidia bearing in mind I have a Win OS? If so I think looking at my budget I would be looking at a GTX550/560, any thoughts?

Any advice with this would be very welcome.

Cheers

Simon

[Ntr09]

The things you have picked out look pretty good. Make sure to get good cooling for the i5 even if you don't intend to OC. 8GB of ram is a good choice over 4GB. I recommend Corsair brand. I'm like you, always been with nVidia, so therefor I think the GTX560 Ti is the best value. If you want the PC to be relevant for possibly even another iteration of X-Plane, you might even consider a GTX570 if you have the money.

Regards

-NR

[sichars1968]

Thanks for the advice NR.

As regards the graphics card, the resolution I use is only 1280x1024, so would this change your advice regards the GTX560/570?

Simon

[Ntr09]

To really take in XP10 I recommend getting a decent 1080P monitor such as this: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=127037&CatId=4420 But at your current state a GTX560Ti would probably do OK.

Edited December 21, 2011 by Ntr09

[Ntr09]

Also, I previously mentioned I prefer Corsair memory, specifically these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL122011&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL122011-_-EMC-122011-Index-_-DesktopMemory-_-20145345-L024D They come in three colors, blue, red and black.

[sichars1968]

Once again thanks for your advice.

If I do the upgrade to the PC, I wouldn't have the budget to change monitor as well at this stage. Having looked at the nVidia cards and my available budget I may go for the GTX460 now and then see how prices go further down the line.

I will take your advice regarding the memory and go for Corsair, probably the ones you linked to.

Cheers

Simon

[Ntr09]

I have a GTX460 right now, it will run x-plane 10 OK but I don't see more than 30 fps with extreme res and everything else at slightly less than medium. Save up and get the 560Ti. It will be worth it . Also I forgot to mention a motherboard:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128512 It doesn't have to be exactly that one, but I do recommend Gigabyte's -UD (ultra-durable) line of boards. Very well constructed and high quality. Mine has been excellent.

-NR

[sichars1968]

Thanks NR.

I will do the upgrade in Feb/Mar, so I will monitor prices until then.

As regards the motherboard, I have always had ASUS m/b's, but I would consider changing to Gigabyte. I will take a good look at them.

Thanks

Simon

[Kesomir]

If you can it may be worth waiting for the ivy bridge processors to launch in march/April as they will be faster.

This may also push down the price of sandy bridge processors

[sichars1968]

Hi Kesomir

Yes I have been reading about their launch next spring, and it might be a good idea to see how the pricing evolves as regards both. If it pushes the sandy bridge processors down in price I may be able to look at a better video card.

Thanks

Simon