Spasticatedtoad

Thanks for your Reply Kuky. At this point, I am inbetween two hard places. No money and surgeries coming up that I can't afford. In no way, shape or form do I Want to sell my gear. I would much rather keep it for EDGE. But the way my PC is acting lately, and absolutely no money to do anything for it....I only have 1 option. Say goodbye to all my favourite posessions and sell them. I'm trying to rationalise keeping them, but I can't. This wasn't so much a For Sale notice, more of a ' if others think they are worth enough to sell it, then it's gotta go'. To be honest......I think it's priceless for DCS and everyone should have one. I guess I just approached this the wrong way and gave the wrong impression. Sorry for that. Not my intention at all. Thanks for taking the time to help out anyway. Thanks everyone. Have fun. :) Toad

Well, judging by the overwhelming lack of response, Thrustmaster's are not worth anything second hand. I really thought that there would be enough of them being sold on EBay and such, that people here with more experience at those sites, would have at least a ballpark figure of what it could be worth. Surprising considering how good they are. Must be that once people get their hands on one, they never let go of it. :) I was hoping to sell it while it was still worth something, and go back to flying with a Saitek cheapy. Anyway, no probs. I guess I'll just pack it up till it gets in the way too often and I chuck it out. Thanks anyway. Toad

I'm thinking about selling my Thrustmaster Warthog ( approximately 12 months old with only 3 months use ). Also, I would be looking to sell my Track Ir5 With Both Hatclip and Pro Clip. And I also have a set of Saitek Combat Pro Peddles ( also 12 months old with only 3 months use ). I bought these items to help improve my flying to bring better looking videos once EDGE came along. EDGE hasn't been released yet, my PC is on its last legs and I have no hope of upgrading it in the near future. So, I have some fantastic gear collecting dust ( not literally ), and I feel that it is just a waste for me to keep it when I see many people on here needing spares or replacements and not getting a tonne of help from Thrustmaster. I am posting this here to see what level of interest there is in buying my gear for DCS and how much people here feel it is worth. If I sell the gear, the price I post will not include shipping ( that will be extra ), which probably excludes a lot of interest in my gear from oversea's as shipping takes a Huge bite out of everyones wallet. As I live in Australia, interest will probably only be from here, but I am willing to send it anywhere. The gear includes all box's, bag's, manuals, foam inlays,Target Software, Saitek Software , Track Ir5 Software and even the little wire twists that hold all of the cables neatly while in the Retail packaging. I treat my possesions like they are Gold, very delicate Gold. There's not a single scratch, scuff or anything on the Thrustmaster, Track Ir5 or Saitek Combat Pro Peddles. And when I decide to sell them, I will include pictures of all the items in high detail so you know exactly what I am selling. Just for now, though, I am only seeing what the level of interest is. I would rather my gear go to someone who will appreciate it for the fantastic piece of kit that it is. I don't want to sell it on ebay to some guy who wants to use it for car racing games or playing Tomb Raider. I would rather sell it to someone who enjoys DCS as much as I do and would love to own good gear. All advice would be appreciated and if a serious offer is made, I may just take it. Thanks for your time. Toad.:cry:

Due to an ageing PC, I recently stopped making DCS videos. I'm hoping EDGE will make enough of a difference that I will be able to start making videos again as I enjoy it very much. If EDGE doesnt help as much as I hope it will, it may be another year before I can afford to replace my system. In the mean-time, I do have about 30-40 DCS videos on my channel. I hope you enjoy the show. :) Feel free to rate or comment as you see fit. https://m.youtube.com/user/Spasticatedtoad

Its not just you. I have also reiceived several requests to change my passsword also. The emails all came in in just the last 10 minutes.. :/

I experienced the same thing after I updated. I know the file format for control configurations changed some time ago, but had forgotten and out of habit, was saving my control profile over ones created before the change over. With this latest patch, it seems to not recognise files older than version 1.2.9. I had a lot of old missions as far back as 1.2.4 ( because I always put it off due to wanting to navigate a plane or heli instead of my PC. I always thought ( I'll do that later. ). I suspect that if you have been making alterations to your controls, and saving over your old file ( which was created before the file type change over ), it can no longer be seen unless you select ' Show all files ' instead of ' Show Controller configuration files '. But even then, if you try to load it, it just loads some random configuration that was not set up by you. That's just my take on what happened to my configuration files. I may be wrong, but if you have been doing the same as me and got the same result, it may be likely. Only thing I could think to do was start over. :( EDIT: dang. I missed the point completely. I'm sorry. Mods, can you please remove my unrelated post, so it doesn't dissolve the actual discussion at hand? Again, I am sorry.

I had controller issues, which I have resolved by programming them all by hand. My backups were not recognised. And after some fiddling, I found that my mouse clicks have changed when using the F-86F. ( I never touched the mouse configuration, never need to ) but now what used to be a left click in the cockpit, is now a right click. Probably just my end, but doesnt hurt to mention it. My only consistant Problem is trying to get online. I try to sign in and nothing happens for about 10-15 seconds before a dialogue box appears stating it can not connect to the Master Server. As I usually never experience the same issues many do during updates. This is pretty much the first time I have had things change negatively. Its always been better after every update for me. So because of that, I am not sure how to start to fix it other than a Repair ( done 3 times ) or its usually delete some file and let the program re-create it. In this case, I am not sure what the fix is.

Not to mention that the new update will wipe all of your Previous Missions, Tack Files and all. I didnt realize this update would do this, but I should have known better. You should never update anything on a PC unless you have a recent backup. I fall for it all the time. I'm hoping I 'just haven't found them yet ', but I am not liking my chances :( EDIT: Doh! I found them :) I knew I should have looked a little further before looking so foolish. My mistake. All is good.Except I'm still a fool :)

I'm not diminishing your point at all, just offering a perspective of my own. I can see why you would be disappointed at not getting your products at the cheapest price possible. Not everyone has a budget that can afford splashing money around. I live on one of those budgets and very often miss the sales because I don't even have 2 coins to rub together. There are also times ( like the recent flash sale ), where I have bought a product on sale, then seen it's price further reduced after I bought it. I don't feel that is E.D's responsibility to make that up to me because, IMHO, for what you get when you spend money here, it is worth waaaaay more than the few dollars I missed out on saving. And really, I think it's just the way life goes. I could point to over 100 times in my life where it has happened and the difference in prices ranged from 100's to 1000's of dollars difference. It hurts, but you still get what you pay for. It's not like the product is not worth the money spent on it.

+1 on the Proclip. Particularly if you have a window behind you and Verticle blinds like I do. With the Hat clip, my view would sometimes jump wildly due to the blinds moving in a draft and the Light coming through would distract the camera. But when using the Proclip, I have not had a single problem. I use TrackIr 5 too. I have never tried the TrackIr 4, so can not comment on how it differs in use from the Tir5 unit.

Oh yeah. Dust bunnies can be fatal for a PC. It's one of the main reasons I bought my own air compressor. Just make sure to secure any fan blades before blowing the dust clear so as not to damage any Low Speed fans you may have. When I got my first PC, I bought a good desk for it, but found if you put the tower in the slot they provide, it gets no airflow at all. After that, it's just been habit to have it in the open.

Just a short update. ( well...as short as I could keep it ) It's always pays to get a second opinion. My CPU while in idle, was sitting on a temp around 46 degrees Celsius. Upon opening anything, I would see that temp immediately shoot up to around 53 degrees. When flying in DCS, I was seeing temps of 63 degrees. Which is around 3 degrees above the recommended threshold temperature ( with standard cooling ) for my CPU. My system is not overclocked ( tried to increase from 3.4Gig to 3.5Gig and got immediate reboots ) and it was winter here with very cold temperatures. I know that my system runs a lot hotter in summer than it does winter and was concerned it was not going to survive this spring/summer. After flying on DCS for around 30 minutes, I saw very high temps and stuttering. After shutting DCS down, my fans were going nuts for the next 10 minutes ( while sitting in desktop and all programs closed ). After 10 minutes, it would take another 5 minutes to ramp down my fan speed. All the while, it was only able to drop the CPU temp by 0.1 degrees per 10 seconds. I assumed my processor was on the way out because 4 sensors in my tower report ambient temps of around 21 Degrees and my GPU reports around 19 Degrees. With all other temps reporting so low, I could not think of another reason........until I decided to clean the system up and shut it down for good. For several years, I have had Paid-For software for looking after the maintenance of my PC and Sunday is Scan-Day. I always clean my system up, check for issues and delete junk files. During this process, Advance System Care ( 1 of the programs I use ) has always found a registery fragment ( over the last few months )and some left over files from a previously uninstalled program ( does not state which program ). I always followed instructions and it never resolved the issue. I looked up the issues online and they were deemed ' Not Malicious ' and to fix it required editing the registery. As it said they were Not Malicious, I left it alone as I was not confident editing the registery. But a few days ago it bugged me for the final time. After thinking about it for a while, I remembered a program called SuperAntiSpyware freeware edition. I downloaded it, installed it and ran a scan. Before it even ran the scan, it found 7 issues needing attention immediately. I clicked next, it ran its scan ( around 16 minutes ) and at the end, had another 36 issues to be resolved. Immediately after resolving those issue's and rebooting my PC...... Everything changed. My temps are still higher than I would like, but are now at least 5-7 degrees cooler while flying DCS. But more importantly, as soon as I shut down DCS, my CPU temp immediately drops by 15 degrees and starts ramping down the fans straight away. Within 2 minutes, it's back to normal running temps and fan speeds. The offending files, turned out to be from another program called iObit Malware Remover. iObit also make Advanced System Care and yet it could not clean up the left over files or resolve the issue. I have been putting my PC through its paces over the last few days and have found it is a LOT happier now. It's still not good enough for me to continue making DCS videos unfortunately. And I have missed my short window of opportunity to upgrade my PC this year, so may not be able to make any more videos for some time. As my knowledge of computers and flight systems is limited, making videos was the only way I felt I could contribute to the community here and enjoyed it very much. I never knew how much I enjoyed it, until I decided I can't make any more videos. It's like losing a friend. :( But, at least I am not left without a computer to work on and I can still fly on DCS. So all is not lost. :) Thank Goodness for free software. :D

You have nothing to feel bad about if you were able to get it off the ground. Over the years I have flown in many flight simulators ( over many platforms ) and have never failed to be able to fly. When I bought the P-51D, ( with Rudder Assistance On ) I took off and flew around no real problem. I gained a bit of speed and tried to pull my first loop. In trying to pull my first loop, I crashed about 6-8 times and it actually took me a couple of hours of constant attempts to finally get my first loop. Straight away I was hooked. Flight Simulators ( prior to Lock On ) never really challenged me when it came to flying. Only the combat side was a challenge. But to find such an in-depth simulator where you can feel a sense of achievement, just from basic flight......I was hooked instantly and don't ever see me shaking the addiction. :D

Nice. I was pretty pleased when I got my SSD, and discovered the difference AHCI made to PC performance. Although I only have a SATA II system, the difference was still huge. :)

If it's just to learn 3D modelling and not make any money off it, you can always download the FREE STUDENT EDITION. You don't need to provide any proof of Student Qualifications to be able to use the full version. I have seen this posted in other areas of the net and have also connected Autodesk directly to confirm that is right. And yes, I was pleasantly surprised to find out it IS PERFECTLY LEGIT. I've had it installed with no issues for more than 6 months with FULL Server Access. ;) I should add, it also gives you access to several previous editions of 3dsmax as well. Both 32 and 64bit. EDIT: I'm not sure about the previous editions of 3dsmax, but the 2014 edition has some great Basic tutorials built in, with access to many more on their server. Also, if I remember correctly, there's also direct access to tutorials made by other user's.

+1 I really like this idea too. Recently, when I bought the Warthog and Saitek Pedals, I was not very familiar with any of the modules. As I own all the modules, I found that I spent far longer deleting duplicate commands from my new equipment, than I did setting up the few basic controls I knew. I can imagine, that someone who is brand new to DCS, would have a lot of hassle figuring out what command is needed where.

It has become clear to me that my lack of knowledge on upgrading my PC is going to do nothing but waste my money and annoy people further on this forum. This was not my intention in either case. I was hoping to avoid as much downtime as I could in the changeover from 1 system to the other. But I was also hoping I would be able to make a much more informed choice. I thought my choice of PSU was of such little concern, there would be hardly any discussion about it in comparison to my choice of MB or CPU. But judging by the conversation so far, I really missed the mark by a mile on all counts and I am better of just shutting down my system to prevent any further damage and spending a lot longer figuring this out. As it is at this point, I am starting to be able to fly less and less before my processor is hitting dangerous temperatures and frame stuttering becomes more prominent. Rather than cause any further confusion and annoyance, I'll continue working on this in the background. If there's any interest in my progress, people can request info here or PM me and I'll be happy to post whatever I can to help. That way, I won't be cluttering the thread with a million questions and annoying others with my naive thinking. Thankyou all for your advice and assistance so far. You have all helped me far more than I could have achieved on my own. :) Looks like I'm gonna end up seeing what EDGE is like before upgrading my PC after all. :( I was hoping to be able to make videos upon EDGE's release ( and modules inbetween ), but I guess I'll just have miss out on that till I can figure out what my next move is.

lol. 8 years ago. It was the top of the line Trex 450. I never had a transmitter, charger...nothin. Today, you can get a Trex 450, that makes mine look like fossil, for around $500. With Transmitter, around $1000. Didn't I get into the hobby at the wrong time ? :D

That site is very handy indeed. Some of the available options you can select, are a little beyond my understanding. So I started with what I do know, and got a result of around 480W. I then added another GPU ( 2 Total ) I got a result around 530W. So I added another GPU ( never gonna have 3x 7950's ) and got a result of around 600W. So far it is looking like I can save a bundle by using my 750W. For the options on that page that I don't understand, I figure the best thing I can do, is go though 1 by 1 and check what the minumum requirement for that category will be and the maximum. I only once got a result that exceeded 750W and that was by having 2 GPU's in Crossfire and Selecting 50% in the Capacitor Ageing option. The Result was 803W. My PC does spend a lot of time on and is usually rendering some HD footage from somewhere. And as it turns out, that site even recommends buying a PSU with a capacity at least 20% greater than your requirements, if you want to get more than 1 years use out of it at heavy use or 20-30% if you want it on 24/7. They suggest that after a year, the Capacitors start to wear down, reducing total power available. What it suggest's to me, is if I have a budget that is no sweat to replace a PSU in 12 months time, I could get away with using the 750W and it will last at least 12 months at heavy use. But I am hoping to get longer than that out of whatever PSU I buy. So their advice ( in tiny print at the bottom of the page ) about aiming 20-30% for 24/7 use actually seems a better option, simply for the fact that at 24/7 operation, it will be fine for 12 months before the capacitors start to wear down. But seeing as my PC is not being used 24/7 ( really only about 12 hours a day ), in effect, that should mean that I should get around 2 years use out of the PSU before the capacitors start to wear down. As I see it ( and its very likely I am wrong ) the 750W I have, would give me 1 year worry free use before it starts to wear down. The 850W I can get, may give me 2-3 months more before wearing down. But something around the 1000W mark, in theory, could last closer to the 2 years I need from it. If I error on the side of caution, a 1200W should definately last 2 years, even if my average use or demand on my system increases over the next 12 months. ( very likely to happen ) And for that extra peace of mind and wallet, it'll only cost $80 more than something like an 850W. That's how I rationalized a 1200W would be appropriate. Would that be a fair assumption in your opinion? Or have I missed the boat completely ? I'm not disputing the advice you are offering at all, so I hope you don't think I am doubtful of the advice you are offering. I am just looking at the situation from several angles, to make sure I am understanding the information and advice offered to me. And to work out what may be best for my situation. I understand that without giving you my itinerary for the last 2 years and let you go over my books, it would be very hard for you and others, to understand my exact needs. And I already type too much, so I try not to clutter my information, with a million variables. That's where, if someone recommends a particular piece of Hardware/set up, I can calculate ( by my theory ) whether that will meet the criteria, or whether I may need to go 1 model higher, to meet my financial/time-frame requirements. I'll continue checking that site and working it out as it is very helpful so far. It doesn't have some of the model processors in its drop down list, but that's ok, I can judge by what is there, as to what I may need. Thanks for taking the time to help me with this. I really do appreciate the collective knowledge of everyone here. Without it, I would still be clueless as to what I should do next.

Awesome information. Thank you very much. See that is the sort of knowledge I am lacking. The Technical side of a PC. I have several Diploma's in engineering, so I am no stanger to complex systems and set up. But that being said, I know nothing about Computers from a technical stand point. The reason I chose the 1200W PSU is because the other PSU's currently available to me, were not that different in price. And all through my engineering training, it was drummed into my head, that when working with/on machinery that you are not familiar with, error on the side of caution. If you are unsure just how much reinforcement/structural requirement you need, go overkill by a decent amount, to ensure it performs as you hope. With my limitted understanding of the technical side of a PC, I can only think of it in the physical sense, like its a machine. I didn't think like that with my 1st PC and had nothing but endless issue's and problems that cost me buckets of money. At that stage, it was just this wonderous black box that did amazing things. 1 night after much frustration, I was preparing to put a hammer through the side of it. In my head I thought " You are nothing but a glorified switchboard. Not worth the money I spent". And that annoyed me more, I am also an electrical engineer ( not a very good one ) but have worked on Switching Systems worth Millions of dollars, carrying Voltages as high as 330,000 Volt. Once I started to think of it like a switchboard, I started to figure out what all the mysterious problems were, and that it was going to take a total rebuild to fix it. After I built a new system, using my theory of Aiming Higher than I needed by about 20%, I found that I no longer experienced Hardware issue's , just the normal updating software issues or installation issue's like everyone else experiences every day. And it was nice to never have to consider ' Can my System run this?'. Because it was more than your average PC, it took just about any software you could want to put on it. No work-arounds needed, no sacrifice's and none of the Technical knowledge needed. As a by-product of spending the extra money, I got a system that ran so well, if anything went wrong, it was generally just 1 thing at a time, and usually was fixed by uninstalling the offending product, and reinstalling it. I would be over the Moon if a 750W PSU would be enough to run the system I am looking at, because I got a good deal on a 750W PSU about 12 months ago and intended to install it myself. I took the cover of my Tower, found that all the cables disappear into the back of the case and make it impossible to trace their route. I put the cover back on and have not touched it. I still have that PSU sitting in its box. I'll check that site out A.S.A.P and if in fact that turns out to be right.....mate I owe you big time for that info. To show how naive I am, I did not even know that sites such as that existed. After a quick glance at it, I am gonna be very grateful for that info. Thankyou.

Just my 2 cents worth.... When buying a game or program, I always prefer to go to the source. I have purchased games through 3rd party suppliers before and when things go pear shaped, the 3rd Party Denies responsibility and palms you off the Manufacturer. The manufacturer then states that because you bought the game through a 3rd Party, you need to talk to them about it. And around and around you go in a eternal circle trying to sort it out. As a rule of thumb, I always go to the source. And with Eagle Dynamics, I have never ever experienced a single problem. Anything that goes wrong, you contact them and they contact you back in a very short period. I've never had a problem that took more than 2 emails to sort out either. I do however have 3 games on my steam account, that are not working as they should ( crashing to desktop and more ) yet I have never been able to get steam to even answer a single support ticket on any of them. And I have sent them in excess of 20 emails.

Hi Art-J. Sorry I took so long to reply. Sorry for the confusion about my GPU. I probably worded it wrong. I couldn't tell you how much power my GPU actually use's, but when I got it, it was recommended that for this card to run in my system, it was going to need 550W minimum. If I were to Crossfire 2 of the Cards, I would need a minimum of 750W. With the stages of PSU available to me, above that size ( 850W, 1000W,1050W,1200W ) The price difference between the 850W and the 1200W is around $80. I just felt that if I got the 1200W PSU, I could never really use all of that, so therefore it would not work really hard in my system. By buying the bare minimum I needed in my previous PC's, meant that in a 4 year period, I went through 3 PSU's costing a total of around $1100. One PSU lasted 6 days and cost me $480. I got sick of that pretty quick so the next PSU I replaced, I aimed over the top of what I needed by a long shot. I still have that PSU and its now 6 years old. ( in another system ) Anyone I have spoken to about my current system, all wince when I mention the size of my PSU. And each of them suggest I should upgrade it as it really isn't enough. The reason I was thinking of getting a 1200W power supply, is not to enter some 'Who's is bigger Competition'. I don't have enough money to play that stupid game. It is simply because in the future, I may want to Crossfire my system, and when that time comes, I don't want to be buying another PSU and replacing a perfectly good one. On my budget, you only replace things when they expire completely or become useless. My line of thinking is, that part of Future-proofing my system is to get as much lifespan out of my equipment as possible. So I usually aim to buy a system that is a bit more powerful than I currently need. If I buy a system that is designed to work really hard, but I never push it to its full potenetial, It's expected lifespan is lengthened. Just like a car. If you buy it, and push it like a maniac everywhere you drive, you may not get the expected lifespan out of that engine. But if you cruise around, don't spin the tires and only use the handbrake for parking, that engine could go for years without skipping a beat. So in effect, it may look like I am trying to play some sort of 'Mine's Bigger than yours' game with this build. But that is not what this build is about. I don't have the money to add a part or 2 here and there and make upgrades as time goes on. And even that may sound like a contradiction when you look at the system I am looking to build. But as I have found with many other Expensive items, if I aim for something that is a bit more than I require, those are the items that generally end up being the best money I ever spent. Because years later, they are still kicking butt and I've hardly spent any money on them at all. If the system I am looking to build, is some sort of high end dream machine that many people would love to own, then I am too clueless to know that. What other people think of my system is not my concern. I'm not looking to go to any LAN parties or anything like that. I'm just trying to cover myself as best I can. Hopefully, I have explained myself a little better this time and made it a bit easier to understand where I am coming from. But that's not to say that I am set on this system. I am open to any input you may have. If you feel I could achieve a similar result, for less money, believe me, I'm all ears. I'm just trying to find a happy balance between what I can afford and what I need. Without cutting it too close, as that can limit future potential of the system without upgrade. In order for this Upgrade to work for me, I need it to last at least 2 years. By aiming high, my last 2 PC's have not cost me anywhere near as much in the longrun, as what my first one did.

I am almost certain that post EDGE will not be as rough as what some suspect it will be. I am not anywhere near as experienced with PC's, so I don't think it hurts to take both views into account. I am really, really hanging my hopes that AMD GPU's will experience a performance improvement with the implimentation of DX11. Not that long ago, I bought a $600 GPU that has barely even been realized so far in my system. I suspect it is either the best card in the world because it barely gets above 15C EVER....or its barely even being used due to lack of power in my system. In either case, the GPU is one thing I will not replace. Its a great Card and still has a lot of life left in it. For the money it cost me, it still owes me a lot of use yet :D

Well, much like ED"s announcements all of that is 'Subject to change'. If I can get a system that meets my current needs with room to expand my capabilities, but it costs $2200, then that is money well spent. As opposed to trying to stick to a budget of ~ $1100 and end up with another PC that only makes flat dull videos and takes 20 hours to do that. To me, that is not really an upgrade, its just a newer version of what I have now and more of a waste of money. Like with my RC Helicopter a Trex 450. I could have bought a clone of the Trex 450 at $69 and electronics that cost another $90 ( The cheap route ). I know many people who went that direction because the Heli I bought was waaaay too much money for them to justify at $3500. But 8 years later, I still have that heli. I've crashed it twice and it did cost a bit to repair. But the others who went the cheaper Route, have spent more in the last 8 years on Heli's, than I have in replacement parts + my initial cost of $3500. So in the end, although I went more expensive in the Beginning ( and it hurt more than I can explain ) in the long run, it turned out to be a far better decision for me because I was not having to spend money on parts every week to keep it running. Honestly, I can't afford to be spending even $1000 right now on my PC. But if I stuck to what my budget could afford, I would not have a PC that meet any of my needs. And would be more likely to be no good at all if DCS requirements go up. So that is why I was trying to keep it from getting too expensive. Because if it goes much more than $2000, I won't be able to afford to patch this PC, nor buy another PC until next year sometime. So I will have to decide to either go ahead with it, or give up completely as I have many other projects at this point in time, all screaming for the same amount of money.

If I had the knowledge to do that, I could imagine it would be quite a good solution. I have a friend who talks to me about that sort of thing, but unfortunately, I have such little experience in that area, that he may as well be speaking another language sometimes. Maybe one day I will get there :)