time to build a new machine, and thoughts on XP10

[Keith Smith]

It's been a few years, and with XP10 just around the corner, it's time to put together a new machine.

Here's the thinking:
I need to be able to run demos from my machine with real time video streaming, and it's gotta look good. I did about 60 mins of research and spoke with Ben (the fella who wrote the rendering engine for XP9 and XP10).

XP9 doesn't push video cards very hard, it's really CPU-limited. XP10 makes much more use of the video card, so it's worth investing in that. The number of CPU cores helps, but only to a point.
- ATC runs on another core (not that I'll be using it).
- flight models for other native AI aircraft run on another core (not that I'll be using it since PE shuts down the AI traffic)
- scenery construction and tear down DOES happen on other cores. This means having more cores will smooth the loading process, hopefully to the point of being seamless.
- The actual flight model and core rendering (ie, drawing the graphics) is still a single thread, through, so the CORE sim is still single threaded.

I'm going to go for a Quad Core CPU (I7-2600K) so I can do video encoding (multi threaded) and X-Plane (2+ cores) without a problem. I'm going with the GTX570 video card...it's one step down from the top (well, two steps down with the 590 just about to come out). It's a HUGE step forward from the GTX260 that I'm running right now.

So, all that remains is to find out what RAM I need (4-8GB, somewhere in there) and what MOBO, then I'm off to the races.

I've had the pleasure of flying around in XP10b8, which did include the V10 art assets, and it's spectacular on many levels.

Rest assured, though, for those who have been able to exploit the fact that XP9 was cpu-limited and barely touched the video card, you WILL WANT a modern-day video card to enjoy the sim to the fullest, and here's why:

When you enable HDR mode (taxing on the GPU, not so much the CPU), every light source becomes 'real', ie, it emits light, illuminates things around it, changes the color of the surroundings if it's a colored light, casts shadows...the list goes on. We're used the landing light being a 'real light, but in XP10, the STREET lights are real, the HEAD lights on every single vehicle (many hundreds of them), the TAIL lights, the TURN signals, the TRAFFIC LIGHTS, the light from a LIGHTNING BOLT, the STROBE light, the BEACON (on the 747, you can see the reflection of the underside beacon on all 4 engine nacelles).

Couple that with the new weather engine (real 3d clouds with continuously variable weather systems in all directions), and the new autogen scenery...the resulting level of immersion is absolutely spectacular.

[Tim Krajcar]

Hmm! Been looking over my shoulder much? You've landed on my exact system specs, which I built about 6 months ago, also in anticipation of XP10. I absolutely love it. It screams.

MSI P67A-GD65 motherboard
i7-2600K
16GB of RAM (this is VERY excessive, but Newegg had a deal, and I do occasionally need to run several multi-GB VMs at once.)
EVGA GTX 570 1280 MB

Of course, since you're doing this 6 months later, I'm sure everything will be half price...! Especially if you take advantage of the 'black weekend' online deals.

One last thing you should really consider if you're building a new system is moving to solid-state disks. The market has really matured and they make an absolutely ridiculous amount of difference. I didn't do this for my build because I already had several very fast conventional disks, but it's a no-brainer for my next round. I bet hyperdriving your IO would be a great way to ensure your loads are seamless.

[Andrew Miller]

Keith, you posted the exact specs of the next machine I plan to build.

4GB of ram is not enough for you. Although adding more probably won't help your fps, I'd rather have more room available. 8GB is the minimum, and I'll probably aim for 16GB, since I plan on running multiple VMs.

Definitely do not bother using SLI. Do go for SSD though! Won't help fps wise, but makes a much more pleasant experience, since you don't have to hear or wait for the grinding on a traditional HD.

[Daddy O]

I have some cash coming in soon, and I am really thinking of spending it to build a commercial flight simulator (non-certified) to sell. I am thinking of going with a 30" touchscreen on the instrument panel, 8' projected screen on the secondary PC, rumble seat, Siatek panels (3x) and maybe the brand new stick/throttle from Thrustmaster (but at $350 it may be out of budget for this build.)

[Chanse Watson]

Keith,

I just built (as you may very well be aware from the ZLA forums) a machine similar to the specs you mentioned:

- ASRock P67 EXTREME4 GEN3 LGA 1155 Motherboard (compatible with the upcoming Ivy Bridge CPU's)
- i7-2600k (currently at stock speeds) cooled by Zalman 9500
- 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC1600
- Waiting on the MSI R6970 Lightning Radeon HD 6970 2GB (planning on overclocking).

The motherboard I purchased has extremely user-friendly BIOS and overclocking settings/capability. I would recommend the Zalman for cooling the 2600k, although it's somewhat noisy at 100% (though, it really doesn't need to running at that level, temperature permitting). From days of researching and reading reviews, the GTX570 is about 10% faster (if that) than the 6970, but that 10% can be thinned with some overclocking (the 6970 has an excellent stock cooling system). I was looking at the GTX570, but the 6970 is the best bang for the buck right now, considering that I needed to purchase nearly every single component for this new build.

As far as purchasing an SSD, I was a click away from purchasing a SSD to solely run Windows 7, however I figured I would wait as I needed a HDD in case my old (4+ years old) 320GB HDD decides to give out. I purchased a WD 500GB 7200RPM 64MB CACHE SATA 3.0 Gb/s. I just can't see myself paying more for less for a SSD when the HDD prices are sky-high.

I'll report back when I receive XP10. One bit of advice though, if you do plan on getting the 2600k, be sure to purchase an after-market cooler as this CPU will run hot. With the Zalman, the CPU is at about 27*C at idle and tested the mid to upper 40's with Prime95.

Aside from that, I look forward to joining PE when I receive XP10. It's great to hear of all the success that PE has already sparked.

[Keith Smith]

I have decided to go with a water cooled setup after speaking with Dan Everette. He has a gtx580 modded for watercooling just waiting for me. He runs his cpu at 5ghz. Should be a monster.

Good to see ya, Chanse!

[Chanse Watson]

After several days of trial and error, I decided to return the Zalman. It was performing well but when I began to overclock, it wasn't cooling as it should. It's uncertain whether or not the issue was the contact with the CPU cooler and the CPU or the type of thermal paste used (XIGMATEK). Even though the temps were well under a threat when I overclocked, I decided to order the Corsair H70.

Which cooler are you looking at, Keith? Are you looking at looping? Cooling your Graphics card?

[Keith Smith]

Hi Chanse,

I don't know a ton about it yet, but Dan Everette built a 5GHz _monster_ with water cooled CPU and GPU. The GTX card that he has for me was modded to allow water-cooling.

[Alex Stjepanovic]

KS has any of this happened and if so, what were the results(ie Was the system enough or are most of the recommended values for running XP10 way below what's truly needed)?

[Keith Smith]

No, I put it on hold to save some cash, but now that I need the machine to do video streaming for demos, I am probably going to pull the trigger.