Hot Rod Computer

[Zach Decou]

Hey guys and gals. I have a large income tax refund coming. I intend on spending it wisely, but there's a good chance I'll have a fat chunk left over after bills and other boring stuff. Around March of 2013 I accidentally gave my then only X-Plane 10 machine a coffee enema. True story. A perfectly timed divorce and the birth of my baby business caused me to blow through my savings before I could replace the thoroughly rinsed laptop. I've been out of the simming world since then. Boy oh boy am I getting the itch to blow some of that tax refund money on a new computer.

Since my last one was a lil ol' MacBook Pro, and the one before that was a 2007 iMac, I don't have any real world experience on high end Windows machines. My instinct is to look at the most expensive stuff (by Intel and Nvidia) because "expensive means good". That rule holds true for the most part in the entertainment production business that occupies my day job time slot.

So here's the nuts and bolts of my delema. Say I go all out on a TitanX. Will I see a noticeable difference over the next card down in the product line? I'm not sure what all the bells on these new fangled cards do with relation to what XP10 needs. Same goes for processors. If I shoot for the top of the heap, will that get me improved performance over the next chip down? or the next chip down from that? Are there currently unused features in these high end devices that X-Plane may some day utilize?

These seem like silly questions to me, I know. I've been simming since 2004 on sub-standard machines, and now I might have the chance to go balls out on a new one. I'd like to know if any of you have had positive (or negative) experience by going straight to the top of the pile when purchasing components.

Thanks!

[Morrigan]

So, I have had similar conversation when I was buying a machine being able to run X-Plane comfortably but still is on a budget. 

I was talking to someone I trust with those things as I am not really a tech aficionado.

 

As far as I know, decent tier i5 CPU is more than enough. You won't get any noticeable performance boost by overkilling it with an i7. That would save you quite a bit of money. Unless you want to stream, I suppose. 

 

Nvidia 970/980 with 4gb memory should serve you well for quite a bit of time, there are some topics of people getting Titans only to be disappointed with the result. It appears to have little to none impact on 1080p and I don't now how to excuse paying over TRIPLE of what you would normally pay. 

 

When it comes to RAM, it's always useful. 16Gb is optimal. 

Edited January 13, 2016 by Morrigan

[Zach Decou]

So, I have had similar conversation when I was buying a machine being able to run X-Plane comfortably but still is on a budget. 

I was talking to someone I trust with those things as I am not really a tech aficionado.

 

As far as I know, decent tier i5 CPU is more than enough. You won't get any noticeable performance boost by overkilling it with an i7. That would save you quite a bit of money. Unless you want to stream, I suppose. 

 

Nvidia 970/980 with 4gb memory should serve you well for quite a bit of time, there are some topics of people getting Titans only to be disappointed with the result. It appears to have little to none impact on 1080p and I don't now how to excuse paying over TRIPLE of what you would normally pay. 

 

When it comes to RAM, it's always useful. 16Gb is optimal.

Thanks! I should've outlined my goals in a more concise way. I want a machine that will run X-Plane 10 at the highest settings possible, and I want to be ready for future developments (new rendering features, hungry add-ons, etc.)

[Celis]

Go to ibuypower configurator so you can get an idea of hardware and prices...

http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Intel-X99-Core-i7-Configurator

a fast example:

$8,555 US

Processor

Intel® Core™ i7 5960X Processor (8x 3.0GHz/20MB L3 Cache) - Intel Core™ i7-5960X w/ Intel Performance Tuning Protection

Processor Cooling

Corsair Hydro Series H100i GTX 240mm Liquid CPU Cooler

16 GB [4 GB X4] DDR4-2400 Memory Module - Corsair

3 NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan X - 12GB - EVGA SuperClocked - 3-Way-SLI Mode (Triple Cards)

SLI Bridge

Motherboard

MSI X99A GAMING 9 ACK -- 5x PCIe x16, 2x USB 3.1, 10x USB 3.0

Power Supply: 1500 Watt - Thermaltake Toughpower TPD-1500MPCGUS-1 - 80 PLUS Gold, Modular

Advance Cabling Options

Standard Default Cables

1 TB Samsung 850 Pro SSD -- Read: 550MB/s, Write: 520MB/s - Single Drive

1.2TB Intel SSD 750 Series PCI-E SSD

Meter Display: AeroCool V12XT Touch Screen Fan, Temperature Control & HDD Working Display (Large dual 5.25" LCD screen)

Sound Card: ASUS Xonar Essence STX -- 7.1 Channels, 192kHz/24-bit, 124 dB SNR

 

Let us know the results.

 

Good luck

[Zach Decou]

Thank you for the link! I've been shopping on newegg. This looks like a great way to come to a starting point. Also, last time I was in the loop, X-Plane 10 didn't use additional graphics cards on SLI. Has that changed?

Go to ibuypower configurator so you can get an idea of hardware and prices...

http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Intel-X99-Core-i7-Configurator 

a fast example:

$8,555 US

Processor

Intel® Core™ i7 5960X Processor (8x 3.0GHz/20MB L3 Cache) - Intel Core™ i7-5960X w/ Intel Performance Tuning Protection

Processor Cooling

Corsair Hydro Series H100i GTX 240mm Liquid CPU Cooler

16 GB [4 GB X4] DDR4-2400 Memory Module - Corsair

3 NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan X - 12GB - EVGA SuperClocked - 3-Way-SLI Mode (Triple Cards)

SLI Bridge

Motherboard

MSI X99A GAMING 9 ACK -- 5x PCIe x16, 2x USB 3.1, 10x USB 3.0

Power Supply: 1500 Watt - Thermaltake Toughpower TPD-1500MPCGUS-1 - 80 PLUS Gold, Modular

Advance Cabling Options

Standard Default Cables

1 TB Samsung 850 Pro SSD -- Read: 550MB/s, Write: 520MB/s - Single Drive

1.2TB Intel SSD 750 Series PCI-E SSD

Meter Display: AeroCool V12XT Touch Screen Fan, Temperature Control & HDD Working Display (Large dual 5.25" LCD screen)

Sound Card: ASUS Xonar Essence STX -- 7.1 Channels, 192kHz/24-bit, 124 dB SNR

 

Let us know the results.

 

Good luck

[Celis]

http://www.x-plane.com/?article=slicrossfire-x-plane

 

http://developer.x-plane.com/2011/10/x-plane-sli-and-crossfire/

 

nope... But it might in the future.. 

Edited January 14, 2016 by Celis

[Nano]

I just finished my RedBeast two days ago.  I too just switched over from Mac to a PC exclusively for XP.  The iMac will still be my main computing rig but XP will now be played on the PC.

 

Here's a parts list to the computer I built. http://pcpartpicker.com/user/nanosour/saved/#view=N32dnQ I got all the parts from new egg and am extremely happy with their service.  Joined the Premier for 90 days to get the 3 day shipping.  A good deal for $20.

 

Some lessons learned:

 

1) Although the GTX 980 is great, I would have gone with the 980 Ti if I could have a do over.  I'm running pretty much maxed out with the exception of Water reflections  and Shadows and get no less than 25 fps.  Usually 50-60 in the vast majority of area.  Using GPU-Z I notice that I'm routinely at or over 3500 MB of VRAM used.  The 6GB 980 Ti would be useful.

 

2) The Fractal Design Define S is a phenomenal case.  Check out you tube for reviews.  I love not having a rack taking up all that room in the front. Here a pic of pretty much what I built.

 

http://imgur.com/gallery/hizeQ

 

Youtube video review of Define S

 

 

3) If you are gonna go with a water cooler with different fans, make sure the fans are 4-pin PWM fans so they can be controlled by the CPU Fan header on the motherboard.  I made this mistake on my original purchase of Corsair SP120 fans for the H105 cooler.  Had to return them and get the SP120 PWM fans.  Also, the water pump should be plugged into a system fan header for constant pump rpm.

 

4) No need to pay full price for Windows.  Got a genuine product key for Windows 7 Professional for $35 here:  http://www.bonanza.com/listings/Microsoft-Window-7-Professional-32-64-Bits-Oem-Product-Key-Code/270948159?gpid=76983190261&gpkwd=&goog_pla=1&gclid=CLem_ZuNrMoCFcKGaQodLp0CCg You can make your own free Win 7 Pro bootable USB from the microsoft website to install Windows.  I believe the free upgrade to Windows 10 is good thru July if you should eventually want Windows 10.  Also, make sure you get at least the Professional level of windows or you will be limited to 16 GB of RAM support.  

 

That's about it.  It was fun building it.  If it's your first time, check out the tons of youtube vids on PC builds.  

 

Good Luck with it.

[Zach Decou]

Thanks Nano! I need the "this is what worked for me" kind of advice instead of "I got mine, figure out your own". This is extremely helpful.

I wonder if your bottleneck is gpu or cpu related (shadows and reflections). I'll flip around and research where those impact.

Your build looks beautiful! Sadly, I'll probably go with metal side panels and no fancy lights. I have two small children and don't need any razzle dazzle to lure their sticky fingers. That case is exactly what I'm looking for. Simple. I'm not much on cases that look like plastic Walmart shelf top stereos.

One question. It doesn't look like there's anywhere for optical drives. Am I wrong? Are you using the X-Plane USB key?

One more question. Have you tried any texture-heavy aircraft near heavily modeled custom airports? I'm curious how a box like yours will handle it.

Thanks again!

I just finished my RedBeast two days ago.  I too just switched over from Mac to a PC exclusively for XP.  The iMac will still be my main computing rig but XP will now be played on the PC.

 

Here's a parts list to the computer I built. http://pcpartpicker.com/user/nanosour/saved/#view=N32dnQ I got all the parts from new egg and am extremely happy with their service.  Joined the Premier for 90 days to get the 3 day shipping.  A good deal for $20.

 

Some lessons learned:

 

1) Although the GTX 980 is great, I would have gone with the 980 Ti if I could have a do over.  I'm running pretty much maxed out with the exception of Water reflections  and Shadows and get no less than 25 fps.  Usually 50-60 in the vast majority of area.  Using GPU-Z I notice that I'm routinely at or over 3500 MB of VRAM used.  The 6GB 980 Ti would be useful.

 

2) The Fractal Design Define S is a phenomenal case.  Check out you tube for reviews.  I love not having a rack taking up all that room in the front. Here a pic of pretty much what I built.

 

http://imgur.com/gallery/hizeQ

 

Youtube video review of Define S

 

 

3) If you are gonna go with a water cooler with different fans, make sure the fans are 4-pin PWM fans so they can be controlled by the CPU Fan header on the motherboard.  I made this mistake on my original purchase of Corsair SP120 fans for the H105 cooler.  Had to return them and get the SP120 PWM fans.  Also, the water pump should be plugged into a system fan header for constant pump rpm.

 

4) No need to pay full price for Windows.  Got a genuine product key for Windows 7 Professional for $35 here:  http://www.bonanza.com/listings/Microsoft-Window-7-Professional-32-64-Bits-Oem-Product-Key-Code/270948159?gpid=76983190261&gpkwd=&goog_pla=1&gclid=CLem_ZuNrMoCFcKGaQodLp0CCg You can make your own free Win 7 Pro bootable USB from the microsoft website to install Windows.  I believe the free upgrade to Windows 10 is good thru July if you should eventually want Windows 10.  Also, make sure you get at least the Professional level of windows or you will be limited to 16 GB of RAM support.  

 

That's about it.  It was fun building it.  If it's your first time, check out the tons of youtube vids on PC builds.  

 

Good Luck with it.

[Nano]

You are in luck.  The Define S case comes in a non-window version for $10 less.  And correct, I didn't purchase an optical drive for this computer.  I created and .iso and load that to play xplane without having the disk in the an optical drive.  There are lots of videos on the internet on how to do that.

 

For the most part if I'm under 30 fps, it's CPU limited.  However, the 4790k at 4.4 GHz is that best you can do for XP.  I've overclocked mine to 4.8 and have had no issues at all.  Temps top out at 60 and are mostly in the 30s even when flying the sim.  In the two days of flying I've done so far, I can say that 90% of the time I'm at 35+ fps.  Only around object intensive scenery; i.e. London, Birmingham does it slow to the low 20s.  I have GB Pro so there are lots of objects as I fly around the UK and at "extreme" objects they are all there.  Even in the low 20s the sim seems very smooth and if I didn't have the fps data posted, I wouldn't really notice it.

 

The pics below are the DDenn Challenger 300 at Aerosoft's Dublin scenery with real-time weather.

 

 

Edited January 15, 2016 by Nano

[Zach Decou]

On January 15, 2016 at 3:13 PM, Nano said:

You are in luck.  The Define S case comes in a non-window version for $10 less.  And correct, I didn't purchase an optical drive for this computer.  I created and .iso and load that to play xplane without having the disk in the an optical drive.  There are lots of videos on the internet on how to do that.

 

For the most part if I'm under 30 fps, it's CPU limited.  However, the 4790k at 4.4 GHz is that best you can do for XP.  I've overclocked mine to 4.8 and have had no issues at all.  Temps top out at 60 and are mostly in the 30s even when flying the sim.  In the two days of flying I've done so far, I can say that 90% of the time I'm at 35+ fps.  Only around object intensive scenery; i.e. London, Birmingham does it slow to the low 20s.  I have GB Pro so there are lots of objects as I fly around the UK and at "extreme" objects they are all there.  Even in the low 20s the sim seems very smooth and if I didn't have the fps data posted, I wouldn't really notice it.

 

The pics below are the DDenn Challenger 300 at Aerosoft's Dublin scenery with real-time weather.

 

 

I has another question-

I plan to fly using online ATC and traffic. Would I benefit from a CPU that has 6 or 8 cores? I know not all chips are created equal, and some of the 6+ core Intel chips are way out of my price range. This is more of a general question. I know XP10 uses multiple cores to compute flight dynamics of AI traffic, but I'm not sure what it's doing with all those extra cores when it's not dealing with native traffic. Thanks!