crazysundog

Personally, I chose the E8500. I'm putting together a new comp and it's sole purpose is to play flight sims now. Maybe when the price of faster (3 ghz) quad cores drops, I'll upgrade, but for now Ill stick with the 3.16ghz the 8500 offers. I may also try my hand at OC'ing. I also decided on eVGA 750i FTW mobo, and an eVGA GFX 260 core 216 GPU. hopefully I wont have to replace everything in 12 months...(!!)

yeah, my confusion was because I dl'd from the net, and put the pics in my DCS screenshot folder, and then used one for my avatar... I knew they looked familiar!!

on the first video, @ 3:51 and 3:54, correct me if im wrong, but arent those screenshots from DCS??

I searched 'development of the ka-50' on google and had all the information you seek in a matter of milliseconds. Plus some new stuff I hadn't read......"The integrated 30mm cannon is semi-rigidly fixed on the helicopter's side, movable only slightly in elevation and azimuth. The aircraft's agility allows the weapon control system to turn (the entire helicopter and) the cannon at the target acquired in the pilot's helmet sight about as fast as the cannon turret of the Apache or the Mi-28 turns. The semi-rigid mounting improves the cannon's accuracy, giving the 30mm a longer practical range and better hit ratio at medium ranges than with a free-turning turret mount."... http://www.military.cz/russia/air/helicopters/Ka-50/ka50_en.htm I think 'cost efficiency' is the main reason for the designers 'logic'. http://www.aeronautics.ru/nws001/news013.htm http://www.military.cz/russia/air/helicopters/Ka-50/ka50_en.htm (there are two small vids at the bottom of page!) My apologies Sobek, found some interesting info last night, then ran out of free time!! In response to Cool_T; I think there is enough information here to satisfy your question as to the placement of the cannon on the Black Shark. Affordability, availability, and the fact that the BlackShark turns quicker towards the target (offering a smaller target) due to having no tail rotor to slow it down. However, there are others that share your opinion that it should have a better articulated weapon: enter the Ka-50-2 Erdogan. http://www.military.cz/russia/air/helicopters/ka-50-2/ka-50-2.htm

The aircraft carries a substantial load of weapons in four external hardpoints under the stub wings plus two on the wingtips, a total of some 2,300 kg depending on the mix. "The main armament are the twelve laser-guided Vikhr anti-tank missiles with a maximum range of some 8 km. The laser guidance is reported to be virtually jam-proof and the system features automatic guidance to target enabling evasive movement immediately after missile launch. The fire control system automatically shares all target information among the four Black Sharks of a typical flight in real time, allowing one helicopter to engage a target spotted by another, and the system also can input target information from ground-based forward scouts with man-portable target designation gear. The integrated 30mm cannon is semi-rigidly fixed on the helicopter's side, movable only slightly in elevation and azimuth. The aircraft's agility allows the weapon control system to turn (the entire helicopter and) the cannon at the target acquired in the pilot's helmet sight about as fast as the cannon turret of the Apache or the Mi-28 turns. The semi-rigid mounting improves the cannon's accuracy, giving the 30mm a longer practical range and better hit ratio at medium ranges than with a free-turning turret mount."

In 1997, Israeli Air Industries (IAI) in cooperation with the Kamov bureau entered a Turkish design competition for a $4 billion contract for 145 (later changed to 50) combat helicopters. The helicopter designed for the competition became the Ka-50-2 Erdogan, a tandem cockpit twin-seater variant of the Ka-50 that featured a modern, Israeli-made "glass cockpit" avionics and a turret-mounted side-folding (for landing clearance) 30mm cannon as opposed to the fixed cannon of the Ka-50. (A similar Italian turret is also offered as a modification to the Ka-50.) The Erdogan beat the Eurocopter and Apache helicopters, but lost to an improved version of AH-1 Cobra. At the end the contract went to the Italian A-129 Mangusta.[2] Kamov is still looking for a buyer, since the Russian military does not have the funding to purchase it themselves.

"The new helicopter's cannon 'borrowed' from ground combat vehicles features a very high degree of precision as well as excellent ballistic characteristics. It is very efficient against regular targets including against armoured targets as well. Mounting the cannon in the centre of gravity ensured a negligible sideways deflection when firing. Sure, for us to perform more effective air-to-air engagement, it would be great to have greater rotation and elevation angles of the cannon, but this could be achieved via mounting a lesser-recoil cannon."

And taking some great screenies of the damage!!! Or a quick vid! :thumbsup:

:thumbup: thanks Groove!!

Thanks a bunch for all the info guys... I think I'm gonna have to go with both OS. I'm really glad Wags chimed in when he did!!

:crazy: whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttt??? Thank you very much for that bit of info Wags!! I would like to use this computer to: 1. -run DCS:BS (which apparently should happen on XP) 2. -run FSX:A and Xplane 9 (for the navigation flying and flight dynamics, respectively) 3. -run a Blue-Ray/HD-DVD player for my home theatre. So, my next question would be: Does XP support DX-10?? If not, can I run both XP and Vista on one computer?(like on different HDD's?) :helpsmilie:

Well thats great!!! So can i set a trigger to make my heli lose 800KG in weight, say the trigger is set to condition of landing; and at take of be 800KG lighter??

Interesting, i had no idea...:notify: however, rattler is right, back on topic please!! I've got another query maybe some could help with: As previously stated, I will be going with Vista on my new build, but what are the merits of 64bit as opposed to 32? I have 32bit home premium on my laptop, but I've heard that 32 wont recognize any more than 4 GB ram...for that matter, do I/will I need more than 4 GB for DCS:BS, and the upcoming releases with new game engine?? The reason I'm going with a quad instead of a duo is that eventually the quad will be supported, so maybe having 6 or 8GB ram is something i should plan for... any enlightening thoughts?? - im pretty new to flight simming! I've tried searching hardware forums such as HardwareCanucks, but those guys are waaaay beyond my level....

I don't know if troop transport is a common role for the Mi24V, but I think that would be a blast, trying to land troops in a hot LZ!! I have FSX:A and I've spent many hours pretending to drop troops while flying the EH-101 (yes i know its a buggy/unfinished model) and I even made a video on youtube of me doing it...lotsa fun IMO!

I've never used a Mac, but a lot of ppl I know say they are great... Will you be able to play BS on it? Is there good driver support for apps, games, HOTAS, TIR4, etc.etc.?? My brother uses his for video editing, and I know that Xplane was developed on Macs, but I really have no clue what they are good for, and what the pitfalls may be...

Hey Engineer, what mobo do you have??

what you say makes a lot of sense newfie...the guy thats building my rig thinks I'm dumb for wanting Vista, I still dont think I'll go with Xp cuz I'm used to vista now, but it makes me wonder about dual booting...

OK, well you lost me at yate loons/sharkoon... I only planned on having 3-4 fans powered until I added another GPU...so you think thats maybe overdoing it?? I could easily get a smaller case with 2 x 120mm fans, just thought it would overheat with the Mobo and CPU i picked out...?

I'm positive that if ED announced the official release date as Dec. 01/2008, there would still be impatient spam-artists and over-eager fans demanding to be better informed and continuously reassured that ED would make the release date on time; and failing that constant reassuring, the same people would type up posts of woe detailing their inner fears of why ED wont make the date and why... Not that I can blame the fans that voice their opinion, I feel their urge, and it is painful waiting. :badmood:

I should also have mentioned that I don't run many different types of apps., and that goes a long way to not having any OS issues. This rig will be my first actual gaming computer, and I'm having a proffesional build it. That being said, I want to keep it simple... no Overclocking for me... Question: I'm getting a 750w PSU, with a case that has 6 fans... if i upgrade my CPU, or get another GPU, should I invest in water cooling? How much does it help, really? p.s. not trying to hijack your thread rattler, but i feel this is continuing your original thoughts. i am buying this rig almost solely for use with BlackShark, and would like some input on specs.

So I've changed a couple of things on my new rig, the mobo and monitor. Intel Quadcore Q6600 @ 2.4ghz Asus Striker Extreme 4 Gb Ram Kingston 2 x 2GB 500 Gb HD @ 7200 rpm GeForce 8800GT Factory OC'ed to 667 MB Coolermaster 750watt PSU 24" LG monitor- 5ms response, 2000:1 CR, 1920x1200 The reason I'm sticking with Vista is because I've almost never used XP, and have been using vista on my laptop problem free for 8 months. If the rumour mill/bandwagon was telling the truth, then Windows 95 was the best OS ever, and windows has progressively gone downhill with every new iteration, and Vista is only good for loading a screensaver then exploding your computer. Maybe if i start seeing some major bugs I'll believe the sky is falling!!!

Good info!! Thanks guys!! I'll be purchasing my new computer in 3 loooooonng weeks. I am going to use Vista as my OS, because I dont have the urge to upgrade later. However, I wouldn't mind a couple of opinions on my system before its too late to change my mind... Intel Quadcore Q6600 @ 2.4ghz Asus P5N32 E SLI mobo 4 Gb Ram (not sure of make/model) 500 Gb HD @ 7200 rpm GeForce 8800GT Factory OC'ed to 667 MB whaddya people think? lingering questions on my mind are: should i go with 2 GPU's? Can I get a better CPU/Mobo for the same price range? 22" LG LCD monitor/2 ms response time

just out of curiosity, what is the price tag on that thing?

you know that would work great with DCS:BS!

And how about the new engine?? Will it be a 32 bit application as well? Curious myself because i'm building a gaming computer around this game...