What are some good Computer Specs?

[goldscotch]

Hi Everyone,

I am planning on building a Home Cockpit Simulator for a Boeing 737 and was wondering what computers, operating system and general specifications I should look for when buying computers to run the software, panels, switches, dials, etc. for the simulator. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Please Note: I already have an iMac Late 2008 and Mac Mini Late 2012 which I could use for the simulator.

goldscotch

[BuildABoeing]

Your best set-up would be having a mail computer that runs FSX and then some secondary computers for additional features.
For this setup you need FSUIPC/WideFS

Take my set-up as an example:
My main PC is an Intel i7 that only runs FSX.
My second PC is an 6 years old FSX-rig. Now it runs SIOC (controls switches and LEDs etc), and it runs the software that simulates aircraft systems.
My third PC is an old Pentium4 that runs my screens in the main instrument panel.

Bare in mind on my setup I use the Prosim avionics suite that runs on PC2 and PC3. This is a stand-alone program that can run outside FSX. if you use PMDG your set-up might look different as you must run PMDG inside FSX.

The important thing is that you will want to run as much as possible on other computers so your main-computer can use its horse power on FSX alone.

If you use dual-boot on your Macs (Have them boot in windows) you can easily use them in your setup (I know of very little Mac software for pit-building).

If you need to but a new FSX-computer the most important thing is CPU-power! FSX is very CPU-hungry.
The Intel i5 3570K is one of the best CPU's around for FSX. Graphic card is not so important, so save a few bucks here. 8gb RAM should also be more than enough.

My new FSX-rig which stood me in around $1000: (Just as an inspiration)
Intel i7 2700K
GeForce 660 2GB
8GB RAM
Asrock Z77 Pro4 Motherboard

[goldscotch]

Thankyou for the tips Peter, however I was wondering whether I should FSX or X-Plane 10 for my simulator.

goldscotch