New Gaming Rig Help

[SSIDiver]

I plan on doing my first build soon and have become addicted to this website because of it.

Basically, I want a rig that will be able to run Flight Simulator X at the highest settings without lag. I figure building the computer myself will be much cheaper than ordering one from any company. Plus, I think it will be a great hobby to take on.

I would like to know what I should look for. I know I want 4GB of RAM and a hefty processor and video card but I do not even know where to begin to look.

I have a slight general idea from a threat below this but I did not want to hi-jack that one.

Posting NewEgg/TigerDirect links to the components would be awesome and very much appreciated.

Hope you all are having a good holiday season.

[RickyTick]

I don't own Flight Sim X, but I have friends that play it a lot. I'm told that it is actually designed for hardware that is not yet available, and that NO computer can play it at maximum settings. Here's a little helpful info on FSX.

http://www.fsinsider.com/tips/Pages/What'sYourFrameRate-PartI.aspx

Now that doesn't mean that it can't be played at high settings. You'll just have to make a few adjustments to the settings to get the most out of it. So if you plan to play it at the highest possible settings, you'll need a very powerful gaming pc.

I hope that helps some. Others may have more to say.

[SSIDiver]

That was a good read. I knew FSX was taxing but I did not know that there is NO computer that can handle it perfectly.

Nonetheless, I'm still interested in building a high-end gaming computer.

[RickyTick]

I guess the NO part could have been exaggerated, but it's what I was told. fwiw

[Jamie Nixx]

There are computers that can handle them, but your talking big bucks.

If your still interested in building a solid gaming rig, tell me your budget and i'll price you one.

[SSIDiver]

Thanks, Jamie.

After reading about it a little more, I think it makes sense to stick with FS9: A Century of Flight. Apparently it isn't as demanding and can run smoothly at medium settings on a fairly average computer.

With that, I still want to build a rig that can really tackle flight simulation. I'm looking at a budget of $1,000 to $1,300. I have an operating system (Vista 64-bit) and a monitor.

I'm not planning on purchasing all the parts at once as I'm in graduate school and I'm using this build to give something other than book work to do (read: keep my sanity) so it is going to be an on-going process where I buy a part of two with every paycheck from my assistantship.

Any assistance with some parts and prices would be great!

[iiiprimeiii]

i dont think that buying your parts one here and another there is a good idea. u should save up and buy them all at once. you never know what new will come out and something may only have a short return policy that wont be in effect later when u get all ur parts together to build it and find out something is wrong and need a new one.

[Jamie Nixx]

Save up and buy all in one go, buying bit by bit is not a good idea.

In the time between buying your parts better and newer components will be out and store warrantys as iiiprimeiii said may have run out also making it difficult to send parts back if they don't work.

[ANOVA]

i dont think that buying your parts one here and another there is a good idea. u should save up and buy them all at once. you never know what new will come out and something may only have a short return policy that wont be in effect later when u get all ur parts together to build it and find out something is wrong and need a new one.


The other consideration is the return policy for bad hardware. If the parts languish in the corner too long you could find yourself stuck.

[jclaydon]

The other consideration is the return policy for bad hardware. If the parts languish in the corner too long you could find yourself stuck.

Well i guess it just depends on where you get the parts then. Because I've never had a problem with the store i buy from honoring the manufacturer wartuntee. Of course, it helps if the place you buy from also has a store that you can take the item back to for replacement.

I don't really see what the difference between having a part with a three year waruntee failing after two months of use and having a part for two months and finding out it's faulty, its still under waruntee.

The other thing a person can do if they don't mind spending the extra money is buy replacement insurance. Now granted it will save you a considerable amount of money if you can get all of the componets at once, but if a person has no other choice, it is an option.

just my two cents