Ordered my first Gaming PC for DCS, here is how I did it.

[Doug_Masters]

I wanted to go pre-built for simplicity and it turns out I can buy pre-built cheaper than I can buy the components for anyway. I have built PC's before (back in the 90's...) so I understood some of the basics (but all the details have changed!).

 

Here was my process to get started for DCS:

 

1. Lurk the forum and do a lot of RTFF. Learned challenges that people were having hardware (and software wise...). Know your enemy. :)

 

2. Decided on a couple key components for the build:

- 2080 Ti is a must.

- Intel is better at single core performance and is preferred by DCS.

- 32GB 3200 MHz Ram

- Minimum 512GB SSD or better (NVMe vs older SSD does not impact game)

 

3. With an understanding of the key components, I compared a bunch of manufacturers (CyberPowerPC, IbuyPower, HP Omen, Dell, MSI, etc.).

- HP Omen was not working because the motherboard would not allow RAM higher than 2666GHz.

- Several companies have bad customer service and that was a turn off.

- Liked MSI & Dell

- Ended up going with Dell because Alienware had a good reputation for using quality components.

 

4. After choosing Dell, I looked at 3 different "levels" of Alienware, all of them have 1TB SSD, 32GB 3200MHz Ram & 2080 ti...the difference is in the processors:

- Aurora R11 with new Intel i5-10600k, 4.1GHz w/4.6 Turbo.

- Aurora R11 with new Intel i9-10900k, 3.7GHz w/4.9 Turbo.

- Aurora R9 with Intel i9-9900k overclocked to 4.8GHz.

Alienware is not overclocking the i5-10600 and i9-10900k yet (there is a lot of talk of heat issues due to this but I think the chips are too new for them to offer the capability in their software yet). The single core performance of the i9-9900k overclocked was within 1% of the other two slightly newer chips. That's not even considering the issues DCS has with Intels Turbo function (know your enemy!!!). At a price difference of $500, it's a no brainer to go with the i9-9900k overclocked as a solid solution.

 

Here's the system I ordered for $2002.13 (free shipping) + $180 RAM upgrade:

Aurora 9

850W Power Supply

16GB Dual Channel HyperX FURY DDR4 XMP at 2666MHz (ordered 32GB of 3200MHz RAM to swap in for $180 and will sell the 16GB to offset the cost somewhat)

NVIDIA® GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11GB GDDR6 (OC Ready)

9th Gen Intel® Core i7 9700K (8-Core, 12MB Cache, Overclocked up to 4.6GHz across all cores)

Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Initial Year

512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD

Windows 10 Home

 

5. Used the $500 savings to buy the TM Warthog Stick & HOTAS. :)

 

6. Will get $125 in credit with Dell for future purchases.

[tintifaxl]

This looks like a fine system. Congrats!

[Mr. Big.Biggs]

Attaboy Timmy!!!????

[Doug_Masters]

Attaboy Timmy!!!????

 

Trying to give back and save somebody in my same position some time in getting up to speed. It's a steep learning curve before you can even start the learning curve of the game.

 

Love your cockpit in a piece of furniture idea also!

[Mr. Big.Biggs]

Trying to give back and save somebody in my same position some time in getting up to speed. It's a steep learning curve before you can even start the learning curve of the game.

 

Love your cockpit in a piece of furniture idea also!

 

I was being a Tongue in cheek asshat but in reality, I went thru the same rubric so my apologies.

I’m a touch bipolar and get “that way” from time to time.

Thanks for the props. Love to take credit for the idea but I saw something similar on the web.

If I was to do it again, I would probably go transverse with the whole thing opening down and me flying in a seat facing the box as opposed to sitting in it.

I take an ass beating from the wife and kids every time I go to “sit in my box”.

Oh well.

Regards!!

[GhastlyTT]

Dude, you're getting a dell!

[Doug_Masters]

Dude, you're getting a dell!

 

lol, never thought i would be looking forward to getting it. Build time is about a month though.

 

Ordering all the accessories now...

 

- 32GB Ram upgrade

- Pedals and desk mounts (VKB)... surprised there's not a cheaper desk mount solution out there. I work closely with a machine shop, may just develop something.

- Track IR or the solution that uses the Playstation camera

 

That should do it to get me started. Then I figure a few month learning curve and may look into VR at that point.

[Doug_Masters]

I was being a Tongue in cheek asshat but in reality, I went thru the same rubric so my apologies.

I’m a touch bipolar and get “that way” from time to time.

Thanks for the props. Love to take credit for the idea but I saw something similar on the web.

If I was to do it again, I would probably go transverse with the whole thing opening down and me flying in a seat facing the box as opposed to sitting in it.

I take an ass beating from the wife and kids every time I go to “sit in my box”.

Oh well.

Regards!!

 

no worries, i've got a thick skin. and i'll need it for all comments coming from my family as well...

[Mr. Big.Biggs]

no worries, i've got a thick skin. and i'll need it for all comments coming from my family as well...

 

Funny, I don’t remember posting the pictures yet. Is there a way To see the album if I just upload?

The best part of “the box” is I can hide my embarrassing hobby!!

[Doug_Masters]

Funny, I don’t remember posting the pictures yet. Is there a way To see the album if I just upload?

The best part of “the box” is I can hide my embarrassing hobby!!

 

Just click on your name and go to your profile. The pic is in the bottom right hand corner:

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/member.php?u=152422

[Demon_]

What is that 850W Power Supply? What is the warranty of him?

[Zoomer]

Nvidia have new GPUs releasing in a few months that will be a big jump in performance over the current 2080ti. AMD have big Navi releasing likely before that. Not a great time to be buying new PC parts or new builds atm. At the very least such parts will be cheaper as they are surpassed. Even Intels i10 CPUs are only a hail mary stopgap, they are still stuck on PCIe 3.0, while Zen 3 later this year from AMD will likely blow Intel out of the water. Also DDR 5 again from AMD possibly next year.

[Doug_Masters]

Nvidia have new GPUs releasing in a few months that will be a big jump in performance over the current 2080ti. AMD have big Navi releasing likely before that. Not a great time to be buying new PC parts or new builds atm. At the very least such parts will be cheaper as they are surpassed. Even Intels i10 CPUs are only a hail mary stopgap, they are still stuck on PCIe 3.0, while Zen 3 later this year from AMD will likely blow Intel out of the water. Also DDR 5 again from AMD possibly next year.

 

I looked at that. Actually that's why I held off until I did. Nvidia's announcement was in early May (postponed a month due to CV) but they did not release a date or info on the next gen GPU's, specifically the "3080 ti" or whatever it will be called. With the lack of info, I wasn't going to wait to September/October this year to see if they released it. I can see waiting to upgrade, but I was buying new and did not have a PC to play DCS with.

 

On the CPU's, I researched the whole 14nm design architecture but again I wasn't going to hold off due to it. I actually chose an older chip that performed better in single core tests rather than the newer chip that was better multi-core (and overall...).

[Zoomer]

I looked at that. Actually that's why I held off until I did. Nvidia's announcement was in early May (postponed a month due to CV) but they did not release a date or info on the next gen GPU's, specifically the "3080 ti" or whatever it will be called. With the lack of info, I wasn't going to wait to September/October this year to see if they released it. I can see waiting to upgrade, but I was buying new and did not have a PC to play DCS with.

 

On the CPU's, I researched the whole 14nm design architecture but again I wasn't going to hold off due to it. I actually chose an older chip that performed better in single core tests rather than the newer chip that was better multi-core (and overall...).

 

Yeah I can see you're in a bit of a bind on that front, if you have no PC at present. As a Reverb user, I can tell you the DCS is very single core CPU bound in VR. Even the next 3080ti will be hamstrung by poor optimisation. Vulcan really is a must for VR as busy missions are a bit of a slideshow. Some campaigns are pretty unplayable atm until DCS get the finger out in relation to same.

[killerwhale]

Sounds like a powerful system. I look forward to you posting before and after FPS gains. I too am building similar system but with RTX 2080, the last system I built was 2014 back then, oh yeah back then. Time goes fast

I plan on selling my RTX when NVIDIA releases its next big game changer, that is provided somebody still wants my GPU ----_--->

Edited May 20, 2020 by killerwhale

[Burt]

I ordered my Thrustmaster Warthog along with my R9 in March from Dell.... Got the rig but still waiting on the Warthog, its been over 3 damn months. DO NOT ORDER WARTHOG FROM DELL !!!

 

And I wouldn't say they use quality parts either.... the RTX 2080 Super in my R9 is a Pony brand/1 fan OEM card built for Aienware/Dell. But I'm not a pc builder the R9 runs like a beast and I'm happy with it.

[BitMaster]

I ordered my Thrustmaster Warthog along with my R9 in March from Dell.... Got the rig but still waiting on the Warthog, its been over 3 damn months. DO NOT ORDER WARTHOG FROM DELL !!!

 

And I wouldn't say they use quality parts either.... the RTX 2080 Super in my R9 is a Pony brand/1 fan OEM card built for Aienware/Dell. But I'm not a pc builder the R9 runs like a beast and I'm happy with it.

 

Dell doesnt use cheap parts, I mean there are worse ones around, or..from all pre-build machines I like to repair Dell over any other brand, seen from a tech guy's view.

 

The downside is, you also dont get excellent parts. You only buy Dell PC's for the office, Lab, Server etc but not for gaming if you can avoid it. They have cut many corners but charge a super premium for selling you lesser stuff in Gaming.

If you compare Apples to Apples, there is no way around a home made or PC-Shop-of-Trust built machine.

 

The big downside is Bios. Dell only polishes the Bios for their needs ( aka Parts they sell ).

The next big part is space inside and aftermarket parts, either the GPU is too long, needs more PCIe connectors, or 2x 8pin instead of 1x 8 and 1x 6 pin, and /or the PSU is of Bronze quality and borderline with wattage. Those are the usual things you see with such machines, being the narrow tailored Bios being #1 imho as seen recently here and elsewhere.

[Burt]

Dell doesnt use cheap parts, I mean there are worse ones around, or..from all pre-build machines I like to repair Dell over any other brand, seen from a tech guy's view.

 

The downside is, you also dont get excellent parts. You only buy Dell PC's for the office, Lab, Server etc but not for gaming if you can avoid it. They have cut many corners but charge a super premium for selling you lesser stuff in Gaming.

If you compare Apples to Apples, there is no way around a home made or PC-Shop-of-Trust built machine.

 

The big downside is Bios. Dell only polishes the Bios for their needs ( aka Parts they sell ).

The next big part is space inside and aftermarket parts, either the GPU is too long, needs more PCIe connectors, or 2x 8pin instead of 1x 8 and 1x 6 pin, and /or the PSU is of Bronze quality and borderline with wattage. Those are the usual things you see with such machines, being the narrow tailored Bios being #1 imho as seen recently here and elsewhere.

 

I totally agree. From what I have read after the fact... they have the bios locked down tighter than a knats assss. I will attempt to build my next go around for sure. I just needed a machine to get started in DCS asap.

[Doug_Masters]

What is that 850W Power Supply? What is the warranty of him?

 

Standard is a 1 year warranty. I think my credit card doubles it though. With this system, the draw should be max 650-700W so 850W will cover it.

[Doug_Masters]

The big downside is Bios. Dell only polishes the Bios for their needs ( aka Parts they sell ).

The next big part is space inside and aftermarket parts, either the GPU is too long, needs more PCIe connectors, or 2x 8pin instead of 1x 8 and 1x 6 pin, and /or the PSU is of Bronze quality and borderline with wattage. Those are the usual things you see with such machines, being the narrow tailored Bios being #1 imho as seen recently here and elsewhere.

 

I read this as well. Looks like Dell provides instructions on how to change/upgrade all components in an R9... EXCEPT the motherboard (& Bios...). There are instructions online on how to do it as well. I'm happy with my order as many discounts lined up and I got a full 2080 ti / i9 system & 32GB 3200MHz Ram for $2.2k and it includes a warranty (and looks pretty cool too). Comparable systems from other manufacturer/assemblers were at least $400-$500 higher and I was reading nightmares about build quality. I also could not source the parts for the cost I paid (maybe there is a parts premium cost going on now due to CV19?).

[Doug_Masters]

Just ordered J-Pien desk mounts for the TM Warthog for $120 shipped in USA. They look to be solid units and less than 1/2 the price of other similar concept desk mounts.

Edited May 21, 2020 by Doug_Masters

[Doug_Masters]

I ordered my Thrustmaster Warthog along with my R9 in March from Dell.... Got the rig but still waiting on the Warthog, its been over 3 damn months. DO NOT ORDER WARTHOG FROM DELL !!!

 

And I wouldn't say they use quality parts either.... the RTX 2080 Super in my R9 is a Pony brand/1 fan OEM card built for Aienware/Dell. But I'm not a pc builder the R9 runs like a beast and I'm happy with it.

 

Wow! Did they give you an order fulfillment estimate? They say mine will arrive by June 19.

[Doug_Masters]

Ordered a set of MFG Pedals... that should do it. Now just wait for the arrivals...

[Burt]

Wow! Did they give you an order fulfillment estimate? They say mine will arrive by June 19.

 

I have called soo many times and got several case numbers on this issue. they told me May 27th is the last shipping date. I've been so angry about this since March 10, 2020. They also said that they are waiting on Thrustmaster to ship it... good luck getting a hold of Thrustmaster too its just about impossible.

 

So yeah .... I'm waiting to see what happens on the 27th.

[Burt]

Also.... They tell you again once its sold.

Good Luck I hope you get it that quick.