Kids and flightsim...

[toprob]

These don't always go together, but if you have young kids, they do grow up.

My kids (all grown up now) are building me a new computer for my birthday. It'll be a 'development' machine first, so not a gas-guzzler, but will definitely run FSX better than my existing Athlon X2 4600.

New system is an i5 (Ivy Bridge), GTX 650, Win 8 on a SSD, FSX on a 1TB Barracuda. Plus a new monitor to replace my semi-fried one. Since I didn't think I'd get the chance to upgrade for a year or two, this is pretty amazing.

Should be ready early next month, I can't wait.

[Yob]

QUOTE (toprob @ Jun 24 2013,5:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

These don't always go together, but if you have young kids, they do grow up.

My kids (all grown up now) are building me a new computer for my birthday. It'll be a 'development' machine first, so not a gas-guzzler, but will definitely run FSX better than my existing Athlon XP2600.

New system is an i5 (Ivy Bridge), GTX 650, Win 8 on a SSD, FSX on a 1TB Barracuda. Plus a new monitor to replace my semi-fried one. Since I didn't think I'd get the chance to upgrade for a year or two, this is pretty amazing.

Should be ready early next month, I can't wait.

I am happy for ya mate.

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (toprob @ Jun 24 2013,8:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Should be ready early next month, I can't wait.

Well you no exactly who to pass the old PC onto !

[toprob]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Jun 24 2013,7:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well you no exactly who to pass the old PC onto !

The old one actually started life as a HTPC, so it might go back to that, sitting in the lounge serving up TV.

[Ian Warren]

You may have to set it up for both roles and keep one women happy .

[toprob]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Jun 24 2013,8:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You may have to set it up for both roles and keep one women happy .

That'll be the plan, provided I can find a workspace for it.

[Ian Warren]

you can pickup couple wall brackets and one,two pieces of MDF painted board - making it retractable and your racing , total of maybe $30

[toprob]

My son delivered all the bits today, and we spent the afternoon putting the new kit together. Well, he did the work, I supervised. (He's recently built his own system, so he had more experience than me:)
Hopefully I'll install FSX later this week, but I will need new discs first.
Can't believe how quick it is to boot using the SSD.

[Ian Warren]

Can i get you to slow your typing down ... so quik can hardly read it ... i no a SSBN is quick and quiet

[HamiltonWest]

QUOTE (toprob @ Jun 29 2013,8:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My son delivered all the bits today, and we spent the afternoon putting the new kit together. Well, he did the work, I supervised. (He's recently built his own system, so he had more experience than me:)
Hopefully I'll install FSX later this week, but I will need new discs first.
Can't believe how quick it is to boot using the SSD.

[Timmo]

Ahh nothing like a fresh new machine to make you fall in love with computing again! Awesome news Robin, maybe now you can actually fly around your own scenery in all their glory!

[toprob]

It might be a couple of weeks before I can load FSX onto the new system, the only discs I had were archived downloads of the final version after the beta, and it doesn't take much to put them out of action. This does mean sticking with my old slow FSX for the moment. Still, plenty of things to set up, it's amazing how many little tools you accumulate for scenery development.

I'm really surprised how much I like Windows 8, I thought that I'd hate it since I'm an oldie, but it only took me a couple of days to get the hang of. My flatmate, who is still overseas till the end of this month, will hate it though, so she might want to stick with the old computer -- hopefully.

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (toprob @ Jul 1 2013,12:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

so she might want to stick with the old computer -- hopefully.

Invent some hi-tech jibber jibber , you'd have all our backing if there are queries , and vola PC is yours

[deeknow]

Pics, pics, pics !!!!

[toprob]

I've yet to install FSX on the new system, but I have tried MS Flight. My old system ran Flight, but was definitely minimum specs, so I had no idea how nice it could really look. And landing is so much easier when you are not fighting framerates!

Setting up a TV server from my old computer has been a bit trickier than I thought it would be. The best I'm managed so far is to record stuff and just open the saved file in VLC (the video player, not the other one...) Setting this up meant trying a lot of stuff out, on both systems, and I did manage to pick up my first browser hijack on the old system -- normally I'm a lot more careful, I don't know how this one slipped through. All fixed now, though.

I said earlier that I was pleased with Windows 8, it isn't quite the mess I was expecting from all the feedback. Once I figured out a few shortcuts, it started to make sense. I don't know why people complain that there's no start menu on the desktop, it makes good sense to just press the Win key to switch to Start screen, which is very easy to set up into groups, such as design tools, and you get the added advantage of being able to check the calendar, weather and email at the same time. If you need to, though, you can pin anything to the desktop taskbar, or put a shortcut on the old desktop just like always.

I've used a huge amount of bandwidth with Win8, but this is mainly just setting it up -- transferring Steam games etc. But it is just too easy to stream 1080p videos from various sites, so I need to be careful for the rest of the month.

Since I was already used to Xbox music, I love the new music app, it is very polished, and it isn't overly pushy about selling you stuff. Far too easy to stream music rather than play my own collection, which doesn't help the bandwidth this month.

The only issue is the new 'openness' of Win8. For instance, I've always used an ad blocker in Firefox, but I wanted to try a Metro browser, so I installed Chrome and switched it to native Win8 mode. However just in the short time I tried it out I was bombarded with ads and popups which freaked me out enough to give up on a native browser. I won't be buying any Apps from the store for a while, but I have grabbed a few freebies, but it does seem like an open door for spam and other security threats.

And Media Player doesn't play DVDs -- what's up with that? Luckily I had VLC Media Player already installed.

[toprob]

Finally got FSX installed, after buying some 2nd hand discs on TradeMe. Luckily I had a spare product key for FSX and Accel given to me after the FSX beta.

Went smoothly enough, although I had to revisit Bojote's tweaking toolto stop the crashes. I still have some tweaking to do, but at least it runs. Funny, never had any crashes with the old slow system...

Flight1 gets an A+ for reinstalls, once you get them to send all your order details. I hope everything goes that well.

Nice to be able to pick and choose what gets reinstalled, I'd like to keep it a nice clean system, but I guess that won't last too long. I never reinstalled my old FSX, it just ran and ran, but I guess I was lucky. I have downloads archived for most things, just can't find REX, so I might need to redownload. However I'm very low on bandwidth until the 26th of the month, so I'm in no hurry. However FSX without REX is like pavlova without sliced tomato -- good, but not great.

Since I tried FSX out before I reinstalled any aircraft addons (just VLC and a couple of airports) my first flight was the default accel F18 through the alps -- what a buzz, not like the slide-show of old. I've been using my surround sound system while my flatmate is away -- she hates the rumble of the sub-woofer -- so the sound blows me away.

Now back to reinstalling addons.

[toprob]

Spent the day re-installing stuff on the new system. Here's a screenshot just to show that it works. (click through to 1920x1080)



Flying is so much easier when you aren't hampered by low framerates! I don't have to turn the settings right down to land now, and I was surprised that I can fly the default Bell so well, after years of fighting the controls at 10 frames per sec.

[Fozzer]

Its a funny old do...

...but every now and again I have a brainstorm... , ....and think maybe I should build a very expensive computer suitable for running my copy of FSX flat-out.... ...

...but....my lowly, year 2005, computer (details below*) runs my copy of FS 2004 with all sorts of scenery goodies installed, smoothly, flat-out, with all the settings maxed...and never any problems... ....!

...so.... I think to myself, what's the point of me spending loads of money on FSX, to achieve the same final result as my FS 2004... ....!

The result is....I put my credit card back into my wallet...sensibly...and fire up my FS 2004 again... ...!

They don't come much tighter than me...trust me!... ...!

Paul.... ....!

* Dell Dimension 5000 BTX Tower. Win7 Home Edition, 32 Bit. Intel Pentium 4, dual 2.8 GHz. 2.5GB RAM, nVidia GF 9500GT 1GB. SATA 500GB + 80GB. Philips 17" LCD Monitor. Micronet ADSL Modem only. Saitek Cyborg Evo Force.

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (toprob @ Jul 12 2013,9:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Spent the day re-installing stuff on the new system. Here's a screenshot just to show that it works. (click through to 1920x1080)

, after years of fighting the controls at 10 frames per sec.

That is so scary .... Now what do i have to do too get Kids

[Fozzer]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Jul 12 2013,10:44 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That is so scary .... Now what do i have to do too get Kids

Been there, done it...got 5 Tee-Shirts for my efforts... eldest is 59... ...!

I used to have an instruction manual, many years ago, Ian... ...!

...but I lost it...and anyway...the important bits don't work properly, any more... ...!

Paul... .... ...!