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To buy a new computer

Use this forum to discuss technical issues related to the operation of your computer. Graphics, Hardward, Software, settings, etc.
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Jive1
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To buy a new computer

Post by Jive1 »

Hey!
I'm still using an old computer for my FS9, and I want now to buy a new one, and fly my FS9 on a new computer.
What are presently according to MAIW pilots the minimum "must"s for a good new Flight Simulator computer. I'm not very well informed about evolution of the various parts of a up-to-date computer, it's going too fast.....
Is a SSD for the operating system really better thab a normal HD, and is it advantage to have the FS9 software on a SSD as well?
Thanks for newest information
Greetz
Jive1 - Belgium
Windows 10 Home NLD 64bit Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2120 CPU @ 3.30GHz 1600
NVIDIA GeForce GT 430 1024MB 1920 x 1080 NVIDIA High Definition Audio
C:\ NTFS 120,12GB 95,81GB 8 170MB
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Firebird
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Re: To buy a new computer

Post by Firebird »

The standard for new PCs these days is a quite small SSD for your OS. Very, very quick for booting.
I have a 240GB one for that purpose that allows for space for growth especially when you get the rather large regular Windows 10 update.

Now for complete storage needs whether it be vidos, apps or games then a HD is still likely to be vastly cheaper for your needs. A good idea for backing up your HD is to split it into partitions. I always have a PROGRAMS, a DATA and a DOWNLOADS partition. This enables you to spread your backups to save you time. Remember always to backup your SYSTEM and PROGRAMS partitions at the same time though, or you can get into registry difficulties.
For you HD also make sure that once you convert it from MBR to GPT before you install/recover anything to the partitions. The reason is that MBR has a limitation of a disk size of 4GB. Not a problem when it was developed but there are a lot of disks out there now that are way bigger. So if you buy a 4TB disk you can't use it. Also another limitation is that you can only have 4 partitions. If you want more then you have to set one to be an extended partition and then partition that into logical partitions. Its a basic gludge.
One last thing is that the MBR is stored in only one place on the disk. If it gets corrupted none of the disk can be used and you had better hope that you baked that up or are able to rebuild it. GPT stores the table in several places and notices when one record gets corrupted and can rebuild itself from the other copies.

Now for best FS9 performance give it its own partition on the HD then get another small SSD, I use a 120GB one, and use that for the scenery. What you can the do is alter your scenery.cfg to point to the scenery drive.
For example :-

[Area.002]
Title=Default Scenery
Local=Scenery\BASE
Layer=2
Active=TRUE
Required=TRUE

Becomes :-

[Area.002]
Title=Default Scenery
Local=S:\FS9_Default\Scenery\BASE
Layer=2
Active=TRUE
Required=TRUE

So now as you have three separate disks in your PC you have optimum data retrieval for your sim.
The OS is on own SSD and therefore does not impact the sim.
The FS9 partition is on the HD.
All scenery is on the second SSD.
It means that all aircraft and global textures are loaded from the HD and all scenery is loaded from the SSD and you will not get a slowdown on loading. Reducing those little stutters that every has had and moaned about.

Incidentally, the one scenery folder I have not moved is the Default Terrain one

[Area.001]
Title=Default Terrain
Texture_ID=1
Layer=1
Active=TRUE
Required=TRUE
Local=Scenery\World

This is due to the fact that this is where all your AI traffic is kept so as that is constantly being checked and loaded from as you fly around I kept it separate from the rest. Maybe overkill, but hey - it works.

The only other things that you need are a decent graphics card, I took that as read and as you will be using 64bit Windows 10 then get yourself 16GB of RAM.

I hope this helpful and doesn't create more questions than I have answered.
Steve
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Jive1
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Re: To buy a new computer

Post by Jive1 »

Thank you Firebird for your information.
I think, in my mind I was very close to your opinion about a computer to buy now...
And what do MAIW pilots think about self building such a computer, to make it less costly?
Jive1 - Belgium
Windows 10 Home NLD 64bit Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2120 CPU @ 3.30GHz 1600
NVIDIA GeForce GT 430 1024MB 1920 x 1080 NVIDIA High Definition Audio
C:\ NTFS 120,12GB 95,81GB 8 170MB
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hawk_sh
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Re: To buy a new computer

Post by hawk_sh »

I switched to a new system about ten weeks ago after the HDD of my old computer had died.
I had expected this to happen since it was more than nine years old. In the weeks before I had backed up all my stuff (especially everything flighsim related) to a NAS.

I bought a HP Pavi 560-p164ng which costed 999€ at that time.
(Intel i5-7400, 3 GHz, 16 GB RAM, 250GB SDD+1000GB HDD, AMD Radeon RX 480 4.0 GB graphics card)

I wanted the new system as quickly as possible and I did not want to spent time to build it myself.
I deliberately went for a bigger SDD to have enough space to move my scenery folders to the SDD.
However I have not done this yet.
FS9 is running very smooth with all settings maxed out even at complex sceneries and lots of AI and when flying complex aircraft.
There are sometimes very tiny stutters when scenery or AI is loaded. I think they will disappear when the scenery is finally moved to the SDD.

My old system was still Windows XP. So I also moved to Windows 10 with the new computer.
It took some time to get used to it.
I am impressed how fast Windows 10 is. (startup takes about 12 seconds, shutdown sometimes only 3 to 4 seconds).
However it is recognizable that the system gets slower with every Microsoft update.

After all I am very happy with my choice.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Steve (Firebird) for his tips and explanations regarding the best flightsim setup using separate hard disks.
Hartwig
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Jive1
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Re: To buy a new computer

Post by Jive1 »

Hey!
Meanwhile I know what to buy, it wil be a computer with 16Gb RAM, With a SSD Drive of approx. 1 Tb + a second normal hard drive of approx 1 Tb as well. But I'm not sure about the graphics card.
Who can inform me about a good graphics card for the use with, presently FS9, but I'm not sure how long I will fly in FS9, maybe I may in the coming years switch over to another Flightsim software, altough I don't plan that to hurry for that, as long as FS9 corresponds to my expectations. Because FS9 is still a very good Flightsimulator. Pitty that MS stopped support for FS9 so other addon manufacturers also stopped their efforts to make FS9 still better....;
Jive1 - Belgium
Windows 10 Home NLD 64bit Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2120 CPU @ 3.30GHz 1600
NVIDIA GeForce GT 430 1024MB 1920 x 1080 NVIDIA High Definition Audio
C:\ NTFS 120,12GB 95,81GB 8 170MB
Redbull AV and Redbull Firewall
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Firebird
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Re: To buy a new computer

Post by Firebird »

Really I would go for any Nvidia GeForce GTXs that you can afford. You should be able to get a GTX 750 Ti for a very reasonable price. Look out for a 4GB version.

That would be my minimum buy and if I could afford a better one I would do it.

Incidentally for best performance it would be better to keep the OS only on one SSD so if you wanted other high performance stuff on an SSD then get a second one. I would go for 2x 250GB SSDs or 1x250GB for OS and a 500GB one for other stuff.
Steve
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Jive1
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Re: To buy a new computer

Post by Jive1 »

Hey!
At last, I will have my new computer in a couple of days for the use with Flight Simulator, presently still FS9, but maybe I can switch to a newer Flight Simulator leter on....
I will have
- motherboard Asro 7270 Pro4
- processor Intel Core i5-7400
- RAM D4 16GB 2400-16
- graphics Card Asus6GB D5
- Hard Drive 500GB WD5003AZEX Black for FS9 data
- SSD 250GB 520 850 EVOBasic/540 fos OS and other apps
- power supply sharkroon WPM600 Bronze
I'm very happy with that!
Windows 10 Home NLD 64bit Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2120 CPU @ 3.30GHz 1600
NVIDIA GeForce GT 430 1024MB 1920 x 1080 NVIDIA High Definition Audio
C:\ NTFS 120,12GB 95,81GB 8 170MB
Redbull AV and Redbull Firewall
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