Laptop died, time for a new FSX machine!

[madkudu]

My old laptops outdated graphics card crapped out and died, out of Warranty, itl cost WAY to much to replace through dell, only really got about >10 FPS anyway in FSX sooo....
its time for a major upgrade!

I was thinking maybe Win7, i7 processor, nvidia video card (cos apparently ATI doesnt play nice with FSX), $2000-2500 budget, and hopefully including a monitor,

-First a decided to look at the Alienware range and found this; Alienware Aurora
Base price $2699 (I could work with that)...but of course typical dell when you 'customise your system' by simply choosing i7 instead of i3 and NVIDIA instead of ATI thats boosted up to $3098.99..perhaps a bit to excessive.

-Also had a look at Jetline Systems specially built machines for FSX but a bit expensive there too; Jetline Systems website

-Then had a look around Trademe and found a few systems
--"Core i7 PC GTS250 8GB DDR3 Asus 24" LCD w/HDMI"
$2099, CPU i7 860 (4x2.8 Ghz), Memory 8GB, 1TB HD, 24x speed DVD writer, Video Card Nvidia Gefore GTS250 1G DDR3, Win7 64bit trial, and a 24" Asus LCD screen.

--"(41) Best price!i7+8GB+1GB gts250+Gifts"
$2158, CPU i7 860 (4x2.8 Ghz), Memory 8GB, 1TB HD, Video Card Nvidia Gefore GTS250 1G DDR3, Win7 64bit trial, and a 23.6" AOC LCD screen

--"i7 intel, GTS250, 8G DDR3, 1TB, 24"FullHD!"
$2179, CPU i7 860 (4x2.8 Ghz), Memory 8GB, 1TB HD, 24x speed DVD writer, Video Card Nvidia Gefore GTS250 1G DDR3, 23.6" AOC LCD screen, Does not mention OS or other software...

--"Alopex GI6::Intel i7, 4GB DDR3,1TGB,GTX 480"
$2349, CPU i7 860 (4x2.8 Ghz), Memory 8GB, 1TB HD, Video Card Nvidia Gefore GTX470, Win7 64bit trial, and NO screen

--"Alopex GI7::Intel i7, 4GB DDR3,1TGB,GTX 470"
$2122, CPU i7 860 (4x2.8 Ghz), Memory 4GB, 1TB HD, Video Card Nvidia Gefore GTX480, Win7 64bit trial, and NO screen

I only know the basics of computers i.e not an expert, however these were just a few options I found, so a decided to post this here and hopefully some of the computer ppls that are around here could give me some advice/other options.
Please dont tell me to go and build my own system cos its cheaper..etc, I dont have the time, knowledge and its not my thing , I would much rather buy a new, pre built system that I can trust with minimal maintenance and most importantly can run FSX with a heap of addons..
What do ya think?

Cheers, Jimmy

[mfraser]

Hi there - commiserations for the old PC dying and congratulations for not being a recession sufferer and being able/allowed to buy a new PC!!!

I've been doing HEAPS of research lately for a PC upgrade and can tell you any of those systems would be able to run FSX in pretty much close to - if not in ALL - its splendid glory. AMD/ATI has always played fine with FSX for me.......... that's all I've ever used since FS98 and I've never had any issues to date. My current FS PC is an AMD64 X2 6400+, 4BG DDR2 RAM, ATI HD 5770 Video Card and a 320GB SATA2 HDD. I can run FSX with pretty much all the eye candy turned on as long as I reduce the AI ground, sea and air traffic, so I'm confident you'll have no worries with any of those systems you listed.

These are just my opinions:
If you're set on an Intel machine, I'd go for one of the two Alopex systems as they have the newer GTX cards. I'd weigh up how much you need to pay for a new monitor and then see if they still fit your budget. 8GB RAM isn't a necessity but of course every little bit helps!!

For an AMD alternative, see this link. Its similar to your ones but with an AMD CPU running at 3.4GHz (Versus the Intels 2.8GHz). I don't want to start a debate about FSX CPU vs GPU dependancies, but I certainly noticed an increase in performance between my 2.8GHz dual core cpu vs the 3.2GHz dual core I'm currently using - so that's something to keep in mind.....
TradeMe Alopex AMD system

Best of luck, I know its a time cosuming process trawling all the reviews and websites looking for information.
I hope I've helped!!

[Adamski]

QUOTE (madkudu @ Jul 12 2010, 09:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was thinking maybe Win7, i7 processor, nvidia video card (cos apparently ATI doesnt play nice with FSX), $2000-2500 budget, and hopefully including a monitor

All the systems you listed should go well. The single deciding factor IMHO is Win7 - make sure you install the 64-bit version. Since upgrading from [the disgusting] Vista, my PC has been so stable it's almost boring

Good hunting!

[madkudu]

Hey guys, thanks heaps for the replies

mFraser, cheers for the info on AMD/ATI machines, will look into it. looking at the ORBX forum it seems that the high Clock speeds in the processor is really what speeds things up. I see people with clockspeeds 4Ghz+, but the Intel i7 I think can only go up to 3.2Ghz??
Is this due to the whole 'overclocking' thing? What is it? Is it safe? Does it screw up the processor?

Hmm and i'm having second thoughts with the Alienware machine, if Windows 7 costs about $200, Microsoft Office about $130, a good monitor somewhere between $200-300; would it be worth the $700(compared to the Alopex G16) to buy a machine that already has Win7, Mic Office, monitor, a i7-920@3.2Ghz instead of i7-860@2.8Ghz, 6GB RAM instead of 4GB RAM, Keyboard and mouse instead of none, however Alienware has a GTX-260 rather than the GTX-480 on the Alopex? (hope that makes sense ). i.e If I buy the 'Alopex G16' and all the bits and bobs that I need with it, will it turn out MORE expensive than if I bought the Alienware Aurora as it is?

Jeez buying a new computer is such a huge job..
Thanks again for the reply,

Cheers, Jimmy

[Bushmaster]

I wouldn't buy a computer with nVidia graphics card 'cus with my old desktop the graphics card just died after a year or so, now i have my new ATI graphics card its been going fine and its been a year since i got it. With the i7 going up to 3.2 ghz well it is quad core so there will prob be 3.2ghz in each proscessor and good thing is you could probably let FSX have its own procsesser to eat.

[pilot.masman]

QUOTE (saski17 @ Jul 13 2010, 05:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I wouldn't buy a computer with nVidia graphics card 'cus with my old desktop the graphics card just died after a year or so, now i have my new ATI graphics card its been going fine and its been a year since i got it. With the i7 going up to 3.2 ghz well it is quad core so there will prob be 3.2ghz in each proscessor and good thing is you could probably let FSX have its own procsesser to eat.

would have to say that was just bad luck... i have the same experiences with both brands

at the moment i wouldn't say either are outstandingly better than the other, i have a 4000 series ati, my friends have the Nvidia 400 and 200 series as well as a few lower than that and another friend with the 5000 series ati.if i was forced to pick a side at the moment i would have to pick NVIDIA. with their 400 series.

as for ram and cpu, i think youve got it fine there, stick to the I7 or the phenom 2 x4 are also good and allot cheaper. even the X6 chip would be round the same price as some of the i7 chips. dont be deterred from amd CPUs, they arent as bad as most people seem to think. and will certainly run fsx brilliantly