Gaming Desktop for X-plane 10

[J.Russ]

Hi, I'm getting a Gaming Desktop specifically to run X-plane at high settings. I was hoping if someone could tell me if this desktop will be able to nearly max out X-plane? Here are the specs:

Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHZ and turbos to up to 4GHZ
128GB SSD
16GB RAM
2TB HDD
ATX Case with 500W PSU
NVIDIA GTX970 4GB

I will be buying windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit too.

Also, here is a link to the desktop:
http://www.ebuyer.com/671347-zoostorm-g ... -7260-5042 If you scroll down a bit it will tell you more information on the specs. Cheers, Joe

[Keith Smith]

Looks good to me! I don't know if it'll do max settings, that might depend on the clouds at the time and the level of complexity for the area you're flying in at the time. It looks like a smart system to me, though.

[Pieces]

EDIT: you can probably disregard below. I thought you were building a system from parts. If it is a pre-built system, hopefully they chose a decent power supply.

Be very very careful buying a case with a built in power supply. The supplies that come in cases tend to be... not the greatest quality. And at 500 watts, you're already on the low end of what is ideal for that system. For the money you're putting in, it is worth the extra to get a power supply to make sure you don't fry your nice components.

[bawells]

I have a very similar setup although I'm using a 4790K. I run everything damn near max with lots of scenery for the PE coverage area and the HDMesh v3 - I consistently get 40~45 FPS (or higher depending on the aircraft model) and am usually only consuming 2.7 GB of VRAM. The only reason I don't crank everything is that I prefer to have a bit of headroom and the only sliders left to set are for more autogen. A good test of this was the low and slow helicopter fly in from a few weeks ago where there were twelve of us flying in pretty close proximity and it was quite smooth.

I would suggest looking at something a bit more than a 500W PSU though, that GTX970 needs quite a bit of power - I ended up going with a Seasonic 760W.

[Keith Smith]

Be very very careful buying a case with a built in power supply. The supplies that come in cases tend to be... not the greatest quality. And at 500 watts, you're already on the low end of what is ideal for that system. For the money you're putting in, it is worth the extra to get a power supply to make sure you don't fry your nice components.

That's a good point, Reece, I overlooked that part.

[bawells]

There are also some good thoughts on X-Plane performance on their developer blog, I read up on this stuff pretty extensively as I was planning my build and while a lot of it is from a few years ago but is still good insight in to how the rendering engine works and how settings and different hardware affect performance. You've got to read between the lines a bit but it's in plain enough language that you don't have to be an engineer to make sense of it.

This article is really useful for understanding how X-Plane uses your hardware.

What I personally took away from all my research though is that it's still possible to set X-Plane up in such a way that it can bring current top of the line hardware to its knees through combinations of settings, scenery, aircraft models, etc.

The specs on that system (aside from that PSU, seriously) are more than sufficient to have a beautiful X-plane experience and if I remember tonight I'll try and get a screen of my actual rendering settings and maybe a few screens for reference.

[trigger_fsx]

The specs on that system (aside from that PSU, seriously) are more than sufficient to have a beautiful X-plane experience and if I remember tonight I'll try and get a screen of my actual rendering settings and maybe a few screens for reference.

Please do, as I am clearly missing the ball somewhere with the settings. I can't come close to high settings, let alone run HD mesh v3 without the pc freezing. My specs:

- i7 3770k @4.4Ghz
- 16gb Ram
- MSI GTX 970 4gb
- MSI MPower Z77 MB
- Corsair AX850 P/S

[Keith Smith]

If your PC is literally locking up, then you probably have a cooling problem. I speak from experience there. Try running a CPU and GPU temperature monitor and see what's going on.

[J.Russ]

Cheers for all your help Do you know what power supply I should get to make sure everything runs smoothly? I would rather buy a pre-built comp instead of having to build one. I searched for the 500w psu and it looks like a fan, type thing. Also, all the gaming comps on ebuyer seem to have 500w power sources.

if I remember tonight I'll try and get a screen of my actual rendering settings and maybe a few screens for reference.

Cheers bawells

[bawells]

Cheers for all your help Do you know what power supply I should get to make sure everything runs smoothly? I would rather buy a pre-built comp instead of having to build one. I searched for the 500w psu and it looks like a fan, type thing. Also, all the gaming comps on ebuyer seem to have 500w power sources.

The _minimum_ for a GTX970 as stated by Nvidia is 500W but I suppose it depends on the brand - that site just says 'NVIDIA GTX970. The Gigabyte card I have recommends a minimum of 550. You might inquire with the seller to find out which OEM they're using for the card and check the specific model for the specs. In my experience a quality/reliable PSU is pretty important, especially if you plan on pushing this system or doing any overclocking.

You could certainly get the pre-built and swap it for something a little more serious. I've always had great luck with Seasonic and am personally using the SS-760XP2. It's modular and VERY quiet and comes in a fancy velvet sack!

If your PC is literally locking up, then you probably have a cooling problem. I speak from experience there. Try running a CPU and GPU temperature monitor and see what's going on.

I would agree with this, sounds like something more serious than just your x-plane settings but I'll get those posted when I get home from the office. Outside of a HW problem you might want to clean slate your scenery and start adding things back one at a time until you find what's causing the crash.