FSX at 1920 x 1200

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vince - 28 Jul 2008 21:35 GMT

Greetings,

Google is great, but a lot of the information seems to be old.

I purchased FSX a long time ago, but I never bothered to install it once I
found out about the insane hardware requirements.

I am planning on building a computer with a q9300 or q9450 and overclock
them to 3.4-3.5 GHz. I will install 4 gigs of ram (Knowing full well it
won't see it all) and what ever video card will work best.

Will a system like this be able to run FSX at my 24" LCD's Native resolution
of 1920 x 1200?

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Ian D - 29 Jul 2008 00:37 GMT

> Greetings,
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> resolution
> of 1920 x 1200?

These charts have FPS for various CPU vs GPU combos at 1920x1200
and other resolutions.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-gpu-upgrade,1928-10.html

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vince - 29 Jul 2008 14:11 GMT

I should have mentioned that I had come across this, but this chart doesn't
represent Flight Simulator with any of the service packs available.
Therefore these benchmarks don't represent the performance gains seen in
Mulitcore processors accurately.

> > Greetings,
> >
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
> http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-gpu-upgrade,1928-10.html

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Slap - 29 Jul 2008 02:33 GMT

> Greetings,
>
> Google is great, but a lot of the information seems to be old.
>
> I purchased FSX a long time ago, but I never bothered to install it once I
> found out about the insane hardware requirements.

huh?

Install it. On the computer you have. Install SP1. Install SP2. Both are
available from MS. You could install Acceleration... probably at your local
store. It has both service packs.

Don't turn on the frame rate display. Calculations to figure this out cost
10 frames. Leave it off. Enjoy the smooth flight.

To run 1920x1200 is of course not a problem as long as the Video Card has
the memory, etc. to run at this resolution.

Fly the Virtual Cockpits with a Wide Screen. Find FSX.cfg and change the
line...
WideViewAspect=True

Frame Rate Display... dumbest thing invented. Sucks up more resources
trying to figure itself out than it's worth.
--

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vince - 29 Jul 2008 14:13 GMT

Okay I installed it on my current computer (p4 with Nvidia 6600 GPU) it is
terrible!

Regarding the Video Card, everything I have read seems to indicate that the
CPU is the main bottleneck for this sim.

Is there a resource that outlines the best component choices for FSX?

> > Greetings,
> >
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
>
>

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Slap - 29 Jul 2008 14:28 GMT

> Okay I installed it on my current computer (p4 with Nvidia 6600 GPU) it is
> terrible!
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
> Is there a resource that outlines the best component choices for FSX?

Yep it would be slow on that machine.

Video card at least a 8800, - new ones out now so I'm not up to speed on
them. I have 8800 GTS but there are much better now. More memory on the
vid card the better I'd get at least 512 mb. Stuff like AA can be handled
by the card in FSX. True the CPU does most of the work.

I have a dual core processor. SP1 for FSX will use the multiple cores. Now
days I'd go a quad core and the fastest I could afford.

Memory... I have 4gb and suggest that. Vista 32 bit can't quite use it all
(hardware is taking up some) but most of it is available.

I've had good luck buying computers from the local mom and pop shop but that
can present its own set of problems. They usually know the good stuff.

Often you can get a good price on HP or Dell machines from the larger co.'s
... Best Buy, Future Shop

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vince - 29 Jul 2008 14:56 GMT

> > Okay I installed it on my current computer (p4 with Nvidia 6600 GPU) it is
> > terrible!
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
> .... Best Buy, Future Shop
>

Oh yeah, my current computer is really slow, no doubt about it.

I am going to build my own computer, I don't have a problem with that at
all. I will also be overclocking and water cooling to processor, no problem
there either.

My concern is if I drop 2 Grand on a new computer, and I'll only really be
doing it for FSX and it dosen't play perfectly on my 1920x1200 24" screen at
high settings, I will blow a gasket. I also want to be able to play it via
1080i(or p) on my Next TV which I'll be getting this holiday season.

I can't find any information that tells me, for example. A Q9300 quad core,
over clocked to 3.4GHz with 4 gigs of memory, with 2 SLI 8800 Video cards
plays well at 1920x1200 with High detail. Searching the web, all I can
really find is benchmarks that don't use Service Pack 1 (or 2) so the
multicore proessor isn't fully utilized and reviews also seem to indicate
that the GPU doesn't really matter much, it is the CPU that matters the most.

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Slap - 29 Jul 2008 15:31 GMT

> Oh yeah, my current computer is really slow, no doubt about it.
>
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> that the GPU doesn't really matter much, it is the CPU that matters the
> most.

Well FSX isn't going to use SLI so for FSX the second card would be wasted.

Ask this question at...
alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim

That newsgroup is much more active than this one and a couple of the guys
there have some pretty top notch machines. They should be able to help you
out.
--

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Tony Sperling - 29 Jul 2008 18:33 GMT

Vince,

said in the most general terms: if you are not doing a lot of multi-tasking,
or Virtual Machine stuff, dual core CPU's don't matter a lot. Go for a fast
processor that is known to stand a bit of sensible OC. Get 2 or 4 GB of the
fastest RAM you can lay your hands on - a solid case (I am particular to the
Antec P180) and fill it with large slow rotating fans - a really good
quality PSU of 600W at the very least, as long as you do not think og
getting multi GPU cards or SLI/Crossfire, then I'd suggest 800W. You don't
have to buy PC Power and Cooling, Seasonic is about as good (some say
better) but cheaper. I have the M12 myself.

Beyond this, you want fast HD's - personally, I have set up mine for RAID0 -
and then back-up all the time.

For Graphics cards you probably want something very modern and DX10
compatible and minimum 512 MB. Forget I just said that, go for 1 GB!!! I
think today you can just about get a system like that for 2 - 2,5 kilobucks!

Defragment before you install FSX and again after.

Happy tinkering!

Tony. . .

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