The Next Frontier

[Ian Warren]

Ian our posts crossed, didn' t realise you'd trodden this path exactly.
So do you get 20fps in your little Cessna, out of a country airstrip, everything maxxed?

Max with addon , CHCH example , bad for F/rate history and LD767 , Smooth! , but also have issues somtimes , require defag , and real world weather has an effect , prob min F/rate to 15 , but heck maxed with AGN and all ... maybe i should do a screenie test to help or show

[Zöltuger]

You can also split the sound with FS9 if you use a USB headset. ;]
Alex

So...what, d'you just plug it in and you get a single channel?
How d'you select what you hear through the headset?

I think the aircraft engine noise etc comes through the speakers while the Communications go into the headset- have a look in the Sound settings menu

[Alex]

Yea, well, at least possible if you are using something like IVAO or VATSIM, I'm not too sure whether its possible using FS2004 default...

Alex

[Charl]

The other important point is that I have a MS FF joystick, which I am very fond of.
An old sound card for the voice channel would provide an old-fashioned game port for it. Thanks for this heads-up.
Now to the last bit, and in line with going one step back from bleeding-edge, the CPU will be an Intel Core 2 Duo as Zöltuger has suggested, an E6600 2.4GHz Conroe. This has a 1066MHz FSB, my present one is 400, should see some difference there
Motherboard to match all the above, ASUS P5N-E SLI Socket 775 nVidia nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel.

A nice fat 600W PSU for all the bits that will come, Dual Layer +/- DVD Writer (NO Floppy drive) and we're about done.

Ah! Case should have a window so you can see all those goodies.

[scon]

Hmmm

Quad core 3GHz per core 4gb of ram and 2 Nvidia 8800 in SLI mode

[Charl]

Hmmm

Quad core 3GHz per core 4gb of ram and 2 Nvidia 8800 in SLI mode

=200fps + no money in the bank
Target is more modest:

FSX with all sliders maxxed, target 20fps

+ change for the desk fan

[towerguy]

all you doubters - shame! the system to run FSXII already exists and as soon as they can get it out of the ship it arrived on and out of area51 we'll all be sweet! If only Bill would hand over his keys!

[gokanru]

Hmmm.......I wonder what the frame rate would be on NASA's computers

[Charl]

Exhausting - no light aircraft to follow within 3 minutes...

[Naki]

Nice - I hope you don't do your flight simming on the deck. It might not be too good for the computer when it rains - although it will keep it cool! I have to open my ranch sliders (my computer is in the living room and I have two massive ranch sliders on both sides of the living room) to keep the temps down on mine on a warm day.

[Charl]

Heheh well I hope to save on heating bills this winter, hot exhaust air from this little 0.6kW heater will be ducted to the family room
That is, if I don't get evicted and have to go flightsimming on the deck...

Now for the Great Rebuild of Flight Simulator, and the Dreadful Truth:
Will this make the FSX 20fps target?

[JonARNZ]

OMG, thats not a PC, its a small nuclear reactor with a graphics card. The anticipation is killing me, will it live up to expectation, or will FSX crash and burn...

EDIT - lets also remember that SP1 for FSX is proving to be 'very encouraging' so that will make a difference if it doesn't quite do it for you immediately.

[Zöltuger]

that's a really nice case, what's the model?
and what's your graphics card?

[Charl]

Here's the final spec:
Windows XP Home SP2
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 2.4GHz Conroe 1066MHz FSB 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Dual Core Processor
G.SKILL 2GB kit (1GB x 2) DDR2-800 (PC-6400) CL4-4-4-12 F2-6400CL4D-2GBPK
ASUS P5N-E SLI Socket 775 nVidia nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
Seagate 500GB 7200RPM SATA2 16MB Cache
XFX PV-T80G-THF9 Geforce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI-EXPRESS 16x Video Card
Onboard 7.1 Channel Audio,
16x Dual Layer +/- DVD Writer
Onboard 10/100/1000 Network
Silverstone ST60F 600W Power Supply with 12cm fan
Silverstone SST-TJ06 Tower Case w/ Side Window, Wind Tunnel (Silver or Black)
1x Audio, 1x Mic, 4x USB2.0 front panel, 1x 1394, 4x USB2.0, 3 ss jacks rear
I'll drop in an old Audigy soundcard for my joystick/split sound channel.

[Charl]

The anticipation is killing me, will it live up to expectation, or will FSX crash and burn...

OK the verdict is in...sort of.
FSX is a very strange animal, and the way it handles elements in the flightsim world has me totally confused.

But the good news is my new rig lives up to the 20fps challenge - if you measure it right.
Consider these two screenshots:



They were taken 20 seconds apart, while the sim was paused, over NZWN, with essentially all sliders maxxed.
I say essentially because some settings, especially the kind of weather, can't really be quantified in that way.
Nothing was changed between takes.
In any event, the top fps reads 21, and the bottom, 16.6.
You take your pick whether you think FSX is schizophrenic.

EDIT: The fps was all over the place, and never stabilised. Go figure.

[Alex]

Maybe it was loading detail at the airport or something?
Either way, with sliders maxxxed like that, thats bloody good peformance.

Alex

[Charl]

Got a USB headset and fiddled a bit - Bingo! voice available through the phones, loud grumbly sounds through the subwoofer!
Love my flight simulator again...