JG27_Arklight

I wish.

I take it that this is a AH-64D model, correct?

AH-1W. The AH-64A (or D) and the Kiowa would be my close runner-ups.

*Will upodate when I get this stuff worked out. My results are not reporting correctly (they seem to high to be realistic, so I am going to test further. I am pretty sure I am doing the test incorrectly.). I will report back when I am done.

That's a good question. I never much paid attention to the stock temps. IIRC, it idled somewhere in the 20's. Now, I believe 2 cores idle in the low 30's and 2 in the high 20's. Not bad for a 1+ ghz overclock. lol During load I beleive my machine currently runs at at low-mid 60's. Core i7s run quite hot, but heat has never been a issue.

Set visual distance to "medium" and water to "normal". You are in a helicopter so visual distance of "high" is not really required. Also, water, IMO, looks more realistic at "normal".

i7 920 - 2.66 ghz i7 940 - 2.93 ghz i7 965 - 3.2 ghz The i7 920 offers the best value since these chips seem to oc very well.

Control panel. I got my 30 inch Dell panel today and I set it at it's native resolution of 2560x1600 with 16xFSAA and 16xAF. So far it appears I do not lose any fps by running at this resolution. lol

A correction to my post above, I am running at 16xFSAA and 16xAF. I said 4xFSAA, sorry about that.

Thanks for the link! I just bought a Evga GTX 280 SSC, so I will see how that goes. Depending on reviews for the GTX 295, I might use the step-up program and order a few of those for SLI. I will see what the new year brings and go from there. The GTX 280 should be fine now for my purposes. :) The NZXT is a good case. The styling is nice too. I went with the Antec 1200 because of the airflow (it's like a freakin' wind tunnel! lol).

All settings maxed except water (normal) and view distance (medium). At 1600x1200x32 8xFSAA and 16xAF I get about 40 FPS with a lot of stuff around (when my processor was at the default 2.66). When I am just flying around, my FPS pretty much stay around 65-85 (85 is my refresh rate). I do not have TrackIR4, but I do have TrackIR3 Pro (havent set it up yet though). For what it's worth, my performance did not change at 1920x1200. My GTX is severly bottlenecking my i7. I really should be running SLI, especially since my processor is running so fast. The i7 scales extremely well with SLI. Note that for this performance I do not have the affinity set to all 4 cores. Since OC'ing I have only checked what my performance is a few times, but I think I picked up another 15-20 fps or so. If I set the affinity for all 4 of my cores my performance is very good and obviously goes up even higher. It seems to run smooth as butter with only a slight jump in the frame rate once in a great while. Needless to say, I am getting quite a bit better performance than my E6600 oc'd to 3.2 ghz. in my old rig. A new videocard should really help. The 8800GTX just can't keep up with my processor.

Thanks, Shrubbo! I ended up going with the Evga GTX 280 SSC. Newegg has is on sale for $399 and it also included a $30 MIR so the price was quite good. I got permission from the wife to buy a second one if I want, but I will probalby wait until prices drop. Hopefully it all works out ok. :) Thanks again for the info, Shrubbo!

Hmm..what kind of performance are you getting at that resolution for Black Shark and COD? I have been pretty set on a GTX 280 or GTX 295, but maybe I should give GTX 260 aother look. I retrospect, the only games I can think of that is taxing on the videocard would be COD (not really that taxing) and maybe FSX (which I think is more CPU dependant as well, iirc.). I actually read a review of the XFX GTX 260 "Black Edition" a few moments ago and that 260 was actually within a few frames of the GTX 280 they tested against. Maybe the GTX 260 deserves another look.

That is in a cpu dependant game (simulator). Try that resolution in a GPU intensive game with a GTX 260 and it's next stop, fail-city. lol :D I take it you are running triple monitors. Which monitors are you using? I didn't know I edited it out. LOL

For simulations, a response time of >5m/s is probably not as noticable. In a first-person shooter, anything over 5m/s is isntantly noticable for me. I can't even play an FPS with a higher response time than that.

Below 1920x1200 and the GTX 260 rocks. Much more than that with FSAA added in could be asking for trouble. 2560x1600 would just not be good. A single GTX 280 could potentaily have issues with that resolution depending on the game and levels of FSAA used.

If Intel could make an X58 board like their Bad Axe 2 LGA775 board, they would be rockin'.

Go with the Asus P6T. ;) I am not too keen on Evga and motherboards (I was a 780i adopter. lol). I won't buy an Evga mobo. I like their videocards, but their mobos....... The Asus P6T has recieved excellent reviews, is priced very well, is easy to overclock, and for me has been rock solid. I wouldn't change a thing on it to be honest (except for maybe re-organize the PCI slots, lol). The P6T is probably the best "all-around" X58 board out right now (read reviews of it and customer feedback at various sites).

Possibly. Black Shark does not (that I know of) currently support SLI so I doubt it supports Crossfire either (somebody please correct me if I am wrong). An X1920XT should be ok though I would guess. Black Shark and Lock On seem to be more CPU dependant rather than GPU dependant. For a 19 inch monitor (are you running an LCD or a CRT?) I would imagine your native resolution (if you are running an LCD) is either 1024x768 of 1280x1024. A resolution of 1920x1200 is a substantial increase in resolution and will require quite a bit more processing wise. You should be fine with your graphics card/s, but I am not sure regarding the CPU. The CPU may be just fine, but I am not sure. My C2D E6600 ran (2.4ghz) Blackshark ok when I test 24 inch LCDs, but that is a different technology.

If I may make a few suggestions.. Changes I would make: 1. Evga GTX 280 SSC (on sale right now at Newegg for $399 and also has a $30 MIR). BFG makes a good product as well though. :) 2. P6T Deluxe Edition - The "Palm" feature on the Palm Edition is a gimmick and serves no real purpose. 3. RAM - Pick up 6GB of Triple-Channel 1.65v or below (if you use Vista 64, now or later you will be glad). 4. Power Supply - Get a Corsair 1000 or similar. A 750 is "ok" for what you are buying now, but if you ever decide to do SLI you could be in trouble. 5. TrackIR 4 = Good :) 6. HOTAS - I have a Cougar as well as a CH Setup and I prefer the CH Setup by a WIDE margin. It is much more precise than the Cougar and it isn't very expensive either (relatively speaking).

Uhoh, what Radeon 4870 are you using? Any reason you choose the ATI offering over the Nvidia offering? I usually prefer Nvidia, but Lock-On and Black Shark seem to operate better with ATI. I almost grabbed an Evga GTX 280 SSC today, but the read that 1 of these cards would more than likely not hack it on my Dell 30". Crap. lol

Either this is a model/texture issue or my videocard is doing screwy things. It appears the lower half of the cockpit window shines/looks differently than the rest of the cockpit door. I know the Black Shark door is flat, so the bottom of the door should not angle in at all. It is actually tough to find pics of the left side of this helo so it is tough to verify. Model/Texture bug, something else, or is that the way it is supposed to be? Some screenies: Reference Photo:

Both of those videos have horrible sound. lol I haven't heard the one in-game, but turboprops in real life do have a jet like whine. Here are a few other videos, not great quality either, but they are a little more indicative of a turbroprop.

Have you re-installed the latest version of DirectX (November Redist.) after the driver install?

If it is a Predator B drone, I believe it utilizes a turboprop. If so, it should have somewhat of a jet like whine to it (I haven't heard the Predator drone in-game).