First Custom FSX build

[G1000Pilot]

Yea I would get two new ones, but only one of the recommended one for FSX.

So if i were to hook up the computer to my TV (52'' 1080P) it probably would not work to well with FSX?

I looked at Alienware computers! What a rip off!!!!!

[NickN]

Well

1080 is actually lower resolution than FSX wants to run and I have heard of people doing that and it works however you may need do a bit of settings work for it to run right... the drivers need to be set up for HDTV display

I have never done it.

Yes, Alienware is garbage especially their laptops

the only laptop on the planet which is really sufficient to run FSX well is the Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q708 for 4000 bucks

[G1000Pilot]

http://www.amdboard.com/sytrin_nextherm_ics_8200_2.html

Any chance this PSU would cut it? If what else can i use it for haha?

Many people say it is a solid workhorse, my buddy had one laying around.

[NickN]

http://www.amdboard.com/sytrin_nextherm_ics_8200_2.html

Any chance this PSU would cut it? If what else can i use it for haha?

Many people say it is a solid workhorse, my buddy had one laying around.

not even close

TOTAL 0/P       460W

EFFICIENCY      

[G1000Pilot]

I Will order that one today, I was just curious about the other one. Thanks for everything Nick, the hardrives are on the way and the motherboard and CPU will follow shortly. There will be updates! I calculated the costs as well on a spreadsheet. Minus the monitor, speakers, keyboard, etc. etc. the hardware runs about $2k-2.5k, not bad compared to what Dell would want!

After I get everything set up, I might pick your brain about tweaking. I will of course read the stickies under the FSX section!

[G1000Pilot]

ok i ordered that PSU. This should be good for when i OC as well correct?

[cause88]

Ok I hate to show my ignorance when it comes to computers, but here I go anyway.

I do

Anything that places the data at the edge of the platter increases performance through basic geometry.

This idea of using a separate hard drive for FSX appeals to me, however the making it work part is totally escaping me.

I format the FSX drive to 64K clusters instead of the default 4K using Acronis Disk Director (Windows does not allow 64K) and that cuts way down on fragmentation.. you lose a little space but its worth it to keep it clean.

I use O&O Defrag and run multiple passes of Complete\Name defrag with a reboot between each pass... there is a list in the FSX forum for system optimizing and using the right software for defrag.. sticky at the top of the forum

I understand that you are using third party applications to format the drive to higher clusters and also to defrag the drive for better performance.

With the larger Raptor you can install everything to one drive however you can not format the drive to 64K clusters.. no Windows partition can be formatted to anything other than 4K

This is the passage that is throwing me. So does this mean that the larger Raptor drive can not be formatted using the third party applications to the higher cluster rates? It appears that a windows partition must be installed on the drive. What I don

[T1MT1M]

Ok I hate to show my ignorance when it comes to computers, but here I go anyway.

I do

Anything that places the data at the edge of the platter increases performance through basic geometry.

This idea of using a separate hard drive for FSX appeals to me, however the making it work part is totally escaping me.

I format the FSX drive to 64K clusters instead of the default 4K using Acronis Disk Director (Windows does not allow 64K) and that cuts way down on fragmentation.. you lose a little space but its worth it to keep it clean.

I use O&O Defrag and run multiple passes of Complete\Name defrag with a reboot between each pass... there is a list in the FSX forum for system optimizing and using the right software for defrag.. sticky at the top of the forum

I understand that you are using third party applications to format the drive to higher clusters and also to defrag the drive for better performance.

With the larger Raptor you can install everything to one drive however you can not format the drive to 64K clusters.. no Windows partition can be formatted to anything other than 4K

This is the passage that is throwing me. So does this mean that the larger Raptor drive can not be formatted using the third party applications to the higher cluster rates? It appears that a windows partition must be installed on the drive. What I don[ch8217]t understand, if you are using a separate hard drive for the storage and playing of FSX and its add-ons, then would not that drive require an OS to be installed on that drive?
If it does require a separate OS then how do you make the FSX drive OS and the primary computer OS play nice together?

Do not partition performance disks.. one drive, one partition.. only partition storage disks that hold backups and that type of data

Last one, I always thought that you had to partition a drive to make it work with windows OS. So does a performance drive only get the one partition to make it work with windows, and storage drives can have multiple partitions?
I[ch8217]m so confused now. If you can explain or link me to more information, I am not above spending quality time reading, I would appreciate it.

I shall patiently enter into the holding pattern and wait for landing instructions, from the people with a much larger picture of what is going on around me, than what I can see myself.

Thanks.

With the partition part. If you already have a hard drive with an OS on it then you can open up your computer, plug in the second hard drive using the sata cable and the power for it, then turn your pc on, once its on and running it will boot into widows normally you will have to format the space on the hard drive (i think) using admin tools, computer management, storage tools, disk management, you always format the drives to NTFS. You assign it a drive letter and then it will be an empty hard drive with nothing on it ready to use. You can then start installing all your MSFS stuff on it .

Or you can use acronis to format the drive changing the clusters to 64K like nick suggests


Acronis will turn the NEW hard drive with nothing on it to 64K but and partition with WINDOWS installed on it will not be able to do the 64K. But with the new hard drive its ok because theres no windows on there .


If you have a hard drive used ONLY for storage (just storing files no games or programs ect.) then it is ok to partition it because this will decrease the performance but who cares? its storage. Partitioning the storage will make it easier to find everything or you could have one partition of the storage disk for windows backups and the other for storage. It just keeps everything clean. So dont partition hard drives if they have programs or an OS or games on them because it will decrease performance and it is not a prerequisite to partition storage but can keep things clean.

Hope this answers your questions.

[cause88]

Apparently I am making this way more complicated than it is. I have used a 2nd drive for years as a storage only drive. I was totally unaware that I could run programs out of it. I just dragged stuff back and forth between the OS drive and the storage drive. Mainly digital photos and back up stuff that I didn

[T1MT1M]

Apparently I am making this way more complicated than it is. I have used a 2nd drive for years as a storage only drive. I was totally unaware that I could run programs out of it. I just dragged stuff back and forth between the OS drive and the storage drive. Mainly digital photos and back up stuff that I didn[ch8217]t want to lose in case of an OS crash.

This is ok, many people do this.

So windows must be installed on a drive that is formatted to the smaller cluster, however it will still talk to and use the drive with the higher cluster format, so long as it is installed after the OS drive is online. I think I got it.


Yes that is correct if you edit it to this


So windows must be installed on a drive that is formatted to the smaller cluster, however it will still talk to the drive with the higher cluster format, so long as it is installed after the OS drive is online. I think I got it.


You can also move this second hard drive with no OS on it to any other computer that also has an OS and still have all the files in tact and ready to go. It is essentially the next step up from "plug and play" because instead of just plugging and playing you have to open the case first .



I have for all these years, when doing a reformat, always partitioned the drive that windows was going to go on, but I set the partition to the size of all of the available unpartitioned space that the system would allow me too. That way I had one great big partition and then kept everything in folders for easy retrieval. So I guess I should not be doing that. I should be skipping the partition phase and just installing windows on the unpartitioned space, if I understand correctly. So format the drive, but don[ch8217]t partition it.

No what you were doing is correct

You have to partition it but with just ONE partition. So for example you look at My Computer you will see only C:\ drive in it (+ cd drives etc.) You need at least one partition to be able to put things on it. But in your case if you have 2 hard drives you will see C:\ drive and D:\ drive as both of the different hard drives.

If you have 2 partitions then this means that your C:\ drive and D:\ drive will both be from the same hard drive. This allows you to format your windows from C:\ and keep all of your information on D:\.

[cause88]

Great I fully understand what you are saying now. I appear to have been doing it correctly, I just got very confused by the way it was explained and started to doubt what I have been doing.
Not to say it was explained in a confusing manner to people that are much more computer savvy than I am. Let me shut up now, before I make Nick mad at me.
I really appreciate the time you spent in trying to get me unknotted and straighten back out.

[G1000Pilot]

any cable will work with a SATA II drive as long as it supports the 3gb speed correct? I am going to buy one raptor and the other is a 7200speed 3.0gb from the same manufacturer.

Any recommendations Nick?

Thanks!

[NickN]

any cable will work with a SATA II drive as long as it supports the 3gb speed correct? I am going to buy one raptor and the other is a 7200speed 3.0gb from the same manufacturer.

Any recommendations Nick?

Thanks!

Correct,, make sure is it a SATAII cable

[G1000Pilot]

And sorry to bug you again about the PSU, however, It arrives tomorrow and I just wanted to verify that this will suffice even when I OC. For the 940 i7 if i were to boost it to 3.5 would you recommend a different heat sink?

[NickN]

And sorry to bug you again about the PSU, however, It arrives tomorrow and I just wanted to verify that this will suffice even when I OC. For the 940 i7 if i were to boost it to 3.5 would you recommend a different heat sink?

I would not have posted the PC Power and Cooling PSU if it would not do the job in a full 4GHz+ clock

As stated,

Overclocking heatsink
>3.4GHz clocking use: Thermalright 120 Extreme 1366 edition

you should use a replacement socket 1366 cooler for higher clocking if the goal is to get the most out of the processor

http://www.quietpcusa.com/Thermalright- ... 07C61.aspx

thats a big boy and will take a but of work to install since it uses a mechanical backplate mount to the motherboard and the motherboard must be out of the case and unmounted from the tower to install it... but it will do the job at any speed and run the processor much cooler at its normal speed


The heatsink that comes with the 940 should be able to handle up to 3.4GHz but higher you may need a better cooling solution. Clocking does mean you need to learn the safe operating temp of the processor and always remain below that temp which is why the larger heatsink is needed above a certain speed with more CPU voltage applied.

The video and information I posted shows how to make the settings changes needed for low/high clocking.