New build- little help please

[jaclanton]

Hello all,

I am very pleased to have found this forum and begin my journey into the wonderful world of flight sim! I am just getting back into this world after a long pause. I got my first flight sim back in college and loved it. Things have for sure come a long way since then!! I have been operating in the laptop and Ipad world since college and played a few sims on them but it really wasn't the same. Then I came across the realistic build outs and creative ingenuity of cockpit simulators and totally found my new hobby! I have been doing extensive research on flight simming and building sim cockpits for several months now and am just about to jump in and get back in the saddle. I will be working from zero (including the cpu) which I feel is a great place to start. There is so much information out there on individual setups and "personal preferences" in regards to processors, hard drives and graphics cards to increase frame rate and provide "realistic" flight experiences that it can put your mind in a tailspin. I have found a company in Florida that builds CPU's specifically for FSX and seems to have a fairly reputable name amongst flight simmers. I am leaning towards beginning my journey with them. While the cost of their mid range CPU is a little over 2k (overclocking above 3.5Ghz, DDR3 ram, NVIDIA card, 1TB of RAM etc.) I am wondering if I am overshooting to get my initial set up going?? In other words, I would like to start with this CPU to initially run FSX. As I upgrade with add on's and instrument hardware I would like to transfer FSX to a more elite CPU system (SSD hard drive, better GPU, etc) and use the old CPU for add ons and other programs such as Ifly, Vatsim, etc. and network the two together. Does this seem like I am on the right track here? Any suggestions on start up would be most appreciated.

Thank you,

JC

[mach7]

Welcome. I suppose first you have to decide what you want to build. If you are talking about the company called "Jetlinesystems"...i will agree with you...they seems to have top of the line equipment for any simbuilder...in fact I have been looking at them for some time now and will probably use them to upgrade my computing systems.

My suggestion is to map out what you want to do...then decide what kind of computer power you are going to require with respect to graphics, add-ons, etc.

One piece of advice, is don't buy something you are going to replace in the short term...if your goal is a large aircraft with all the bells and whistles...then spend the money on computers that can handle the task now instead of slowly upgrading.

[CanberraACT]

Hello JC,

I'm interested in what you are going to build: Heavy metal, GA or fighter?
Are you content to look at everything on one screen or want to suspend reality by creating an environment that immerses you?

I'm biased (like many on the forum to their particular interest). For the past 10 years I have built and slowly improved on my full size Boeing 737 cockpit.

The big step forward came about 10 years ago when I discovered OpenCockpits cards to connect hardware and create stuff. Many companies around the world make hardware now. You have a lot of choices to connect to your solitary PC or add other PCs, on a small network, to display instruments and manage hardware. About 5 years ago I discovered the ProSim737 suite. I can't wish for more. The systems are accurate and quick and control FSX very well.

Don't throw your older computers out as you may need them as you expand your system from a single screen to a cockpit. You still need the best PC you can afford to run FSX and your scenery smoothly.
"The Best" changes every week so you will get a lot of suggestions.

Good luck.

CanberraACT

[jaclanton]

Mach7,

Thank you for your suggestions. I was referring to "Jetline" they seem to be very reputable and reportedly provide excellent customer service which I am certain that I will need as I undertake this project.

Best,

JC

[jaclanton]

Canberra,

Thank you for your reply... I would love to build out a 737 flight deck using flight deck solutions MCP and pedastal etc. The reality is that I am not to that skill level of flying and would probably find myself with a really "cool" setup and not be able to fully appreciate it. I was thinking of starting with a GA simulator. One screen will work to start as I jump back in the seat but eventually I am looking to use a projection screen and incorporate programs such as warpalizer for visuals. I am also looking at SimKits gauges and avionics to start the kit with. I figure that I can get some very useful hours out of short hops from around the globe. One question that I have is- As I develop my skills (which will definitely take many, many flight hours) and want to begin to move into Heavy aircraft will it be as simple as not networking the simkits cockpit and having the basic FSX program run alone with the Heavy as it would come in its most basic form? In other words will I be able to fly heavy using just FSX or will I have to reconfigure the entire system?