[new PC] DCS: A-10 Dedicated

[jskycatcher]

I need help with choosing best setup I can get, for DCS series dedicated (A-10, maybe P-51 in future). I would really appreciate any help you could can give me regarding this guys.

 

Budget is: 2500$USD

 

What I already have:

- TM Warthog throttle\stick

- Saitek Pro Flight Combat Rudder Pedals

- Dell ''27 U2711 display

 

What I want:

- best possible framerate for DCS series

- plug 2 more displays in future

- enjoy the best simulator in universe

 

I'm considering buying PC piece by piece and other option is to choose one from those bundles:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=43&catid=2040&subid=1270

 

Do I need more than one GPU for 3 displays ?

[Pilotasso]

Buy Piece By piece, youll get more for the same money. You can run 3 monitors on one card but performance will be slideshow. Right now there isnt enough computing power available to run DCS on tripple monitor with high FPS either.

 

CPU: I5-3570K

You actually dont need an exa core CPU to run this one. What you want is the fastest CPU available without exceeding the number of cores beyond what programs can take right now. There wont be any 8 or 12 logic core games anytime soon, by the time they do its time to upgrade anyway.

 

Mobo: ASUS P8Z77 WS SOCKET 1155

If you got the cash to dish out for SLI/crossfire in dual 16X PCIE 3.0 this is one of the cheapest ones. Its pretty much high end.

 

memory:

8GB CORSAIR VENGEANCE DDR3 1600MHZ (9-9-9-24)

 

CPU cooler:

CORSAIR HYDRO SERIES H80

For best compact cooler thats fits inside the case.

 

GFX:

EVGA GTX670 2GB GDDR5

Add up another one for SLI once you go multimonitor. There are other higher end hardware, but it will cost you exponentially higher. An 690 Costs almost twice as much as 2 670's for example.

 

SSD:

SAMSUNG 830 256GB SATA 3 2.5 SSD

Oh yeah, fast and no stutters baby! Plenty of space for your primary applications and games. DO NOT ubderestimate the usefulness on an SSD. It makes the machine feel fast overall, all applications benifit from this. To me an SSD is just as important and relevant as the CPU or GFX.

 

HDD:

WESTERN DIGITAL BLUE 1TB SATA III

for your media or other stuff that doesnt need the speed of an SSD but takes alot of space.

 

Case:

COOLERMASTER HAF 932 ADVANCED

Lots of airflow for your GFX cards, but can you stand with the ammo box looks?

 

PSU:

Corsair AX850W

7 years of warranty(!) It can take all dual SLI setups. If you want quad GPU youll need an 1000W unit though.

Edited July 22, 2012 by Pilotasso

[Cali]

I just built the computer in my sig for $1538 a month ago, all parts were bought from Newegg.com. It runs great so far, I have no complaints with it.

[Pyroflash]

Buy Piece By piece, youll get more for the same money. You can run 3 monitors on one card but performance will be slideshow. Right now there isnt enough computing power available to run DCS on tripple monitor with high FPS either.

 

CPU: I5-3570K

You actually dont need an exa core CPU to run this one. What you want is the fastest CPU available without exceeding the number of cores beyond what programs can take right now. There wont be any 8 or 12 logic core games anytime soon, by the time they do its time to upgrade anyway.

 

Mobo: ASUS P8Z77 WS SOCKET 1155

If you got the cash to dish out for SLI/crossfire in dual 16X PCIE 3.0 this is one of the cheapest ones. Its pretty much high end.

 

memory:

8GB CORSAIR VENGEANCE DDR3 1600MHZ (9-9-9-24)

 

CPU cooler:

CORSAIR HYDRO SERIES H80

For best compact cooler thats fits inside the case.

 

GFX:

EVGA GTX670 2GB GDDR5

Add up another one for SLI once you go multimonitor. There are other higher end hardware, but it will cost you exponentially higher. An 690 Costs almost twice as much as 2 670's for example.

 

SSD:

SAMSUNG 830 256GB SATA 3 2.5 SSD

Oh yeah, fast and no stutters baby! Plenty of space for your primary applications and games. DO NOT ubderestimate the usefulness on an SSD. It makes the machine feel fast overall, all applications benifit from this. To me an SSD is just as important and relevant as the CPU or GFX.

 

HDD:

WESTERN DIGITAL BLUE 1TB SATA III

for your media or other stuff that doesnt need the speed of an SSD but takes alot of space.

 

Case:

COOLERMASTER HAF 932 ADVANCED

Lots of airflow for your GFX cards, but can you stand with the ammo box looks?

 

PSU:

Corsair AX850W

7 years of warranty(!) It can take all dual SLI setups. If you want quad GPU youll need an 1000W unit though.

 

This is great, but I would like to modify it a bit.

 

1. The case will want to be a Lian Li A-70F or comparable. The toolless design makes working with it a breeze, and the construction is flawless.

 

2. The processor should be changed to an I7-3820. it is a higher end proc that will deliver more performance than the Ivy for only slightly more money.

 

3. To go with the better proc, a different mobo is also needed. the Intel DX79SR is an excellent one, with ASUS being a close runner up. This will not only allow you to take advantage of the best processor on the market, but will also allow you to upgrade to the 2011 Ivy-E processors when they come out as well.**

 

4. Same RAM, but get two of them. 16 GB will be worth it, trust me.

 

5. I would suggest getting two Intel 520 series 120GB SSD's instead of the one Samsung one. You get the same space with increased performance for a marginally increased cost. Though you can still go with Samsung if you desire so, I have heard iffy things about them, but have no personal experience with them to make any real judgement on the matter.

 

**Note, even if you still plan on sticking with the Ivy bridge proc, I would buy an Intel board. The reason is that Intel uses integrated SATA 6GB/s controllers on their boards, while ASUS does not. This will ultimately decrease stability and performance on the ASUS product.**

[Pilotasso]

But Pyro, the difference between the 2 CPU's is so small...and the 3570K is unlocked, meaning whatever clock per clock disavantage it may have can easely be overcome by higher overclock, without changing others components bus that could damage or cause instability to them.

[Pyroflash]

But Pyro, the difference between the 2 CPU's is so small...and the 3570K is unlocked, meaning whatever clock per clock disavantage it may have can easely be overcome by higher overclock, without changing others components bus that could damage or cause instability to them.

 

Granted, but the real advantage comes in when you look at the other aspects of the chip. First of all, the Sandy-E chips have more pins. these pins allow the Sandy-E chipset to support more memory channels (4), and more PCI-E lanes (40 on the LGA 2011) directly through the CPU (a must if you intend to SLI). The LGA 1155 on the other hand only allows the use of 11 (IIRC) PCI-E lanes to be handled through the CPU, and only 2 channels of RAM to be supported. So while the performance per clock may be comparable, and while the Ivy is unlocked (why you need this is beyond me, people have been overclocking locked processors for a LONG time without issue (In addition, this only applies if the user WANTS to OC to begin with)), the Sandy-E still, in my mind, represents a better buy based on the ability to expand later, and the added performance it gives to components that are periphery to the CPU itself.

Edited July 22, 2012 by Pyroflash

[Pilotasso]

Sandy-E bandwith advantage will be unexplored for most gaming titles and DCS. Youll be hard pressed to find it in the forseable future. When you do, its time to upgrade. Also, DCS is CPU limited not graphics or memory limited.

[jskycatcher]

Thanks guys for tips above. This is what I have for now, it's mostly based on your opinions. I just can decide which motherboard pick for this CPU. Any ideas ?

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-3930K @ 3.20GHz

GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 FTW

Mobo: - - - no ideas, any suggestions ? - - -

RAM: 16GB CORSAIR VENGEANCE DDR3 1600MHZ (9-9-9-24)

SSD: Intel 520 series 180GB

Tower: Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced

Corsair CMPSU-850AXEU

[VH-Rock]

Forgive my lack of knowledge, but when you say more memory channels, do you mean how many sticks of RAM the CPU can use? I'm just getting into this PC building stuff