I will be grateful for some input/feedback on a build I am putting together.
This will be part of a JetMax 737 single seat sim.
It will also be dual boot so my Son can fly his A2A Cessna 172 and practice instruments or fly an F-18 and shoot missiles or drop bombs without messing up my Drive #0 737 settings.
CPU I-7 8700K (or the 8086K) planning to have Silicone Lottery delid the processor.
CPU Cooler Kraken X62
Mother board ASrock Z370 fatal1ty professional gaming i7 (has 3 M2 drive slots)
Ram GSkill 2x16G DDR4 3200Mhz timing 14-14-14-34 (this seems to be fastest with CAS latency and timings considered)
Drive 0 Samsung 970 EVO M2 500GB for OS#1 and P3Dv4 dedicated to the 737
Drive 1 Samsung 970 EVO M2 500GB for OS#2 and P3Dv4 for my Son to practice instrument flying in the A2A Cessna 172
Drive 2 Samsung 970 EVO M2 2TB for Scenery Storage (thinking about a Crucial MX500 2TB SSD for $400 less)
GPU 0 Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Aorus Waterforce Xtreme
GPU 1 Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Aorus Waterforce Xtreme (Does SLI help/hurt in P3D or no difference)
PSU EVGA - SuperNOVA T2 1000W 80+ Titanium
Case Cooler Master - Trooper SE
OS #1 & # 2 Win 10 Pro 64 bit
Thus far I have the case, motherboard, PSU and CPU cooler, but before diving all the way in I wanted to check with you folks to get feedback on the big ticket items like the GPUs . Is there much if any benefit to getting 2 1080ti GPUs? I am running a 65 inch curved Samsung 4K tv and also want to add two additional 32 inch screens for left and right flight deck window outside views.
FYI by building my dream Rig in PC part picker I have been able to closely watch the price of parts; I have set price alerts to notify me of price drops and I decided to only buy parts when they are at least 20% below current prices. Today I picked up the high end motherboard for $167 vs the normal $289.
Thanks in advance for any advice, insight, experience, etc... Cheers!
New Build
Re: New Build
Be sure you check the motherboard carefully to understand what the limits are for those I/O ports. There is usually a limit such as using third M2 deactivates a couple of ports you might want to use for SSDs. Study it carefully.
In my opinion, a 500 GB drive is much too small for anything like an OS and P3D combo. My minimum for a system drive is closer to 750 GB, but I see you will have scenery on a separate drive so you'll may be okay. I don't understand the reason behind two separate OS, nor do I understand the reason for a second P3D just for instrument flight familiarization. Although I got my instrument rating decades ago, I feel that one might be able to get 20% of the skill and knowledge needed from a simulator, but it will not be the primary foundation for his training. Also, a lot of C172s now are using the G1000 type of panels and A2A is not offering that yet.
I don't see anything in your list that warrants a 1000W power supply, even if you have an unlimited budget you don't want to oversize a power supply. The video cards are the major load followed by the CPU and the rest is nil. You could get by with something in the 700W range and have lots of excess capacity.
Two 1080Ti in SLI are better than one, but only when the graphics load is so heavy as to slow down a single card. I have this SLI and I rarely see the GPUs loaded above 20%. But there's not much that slows it down. If I push it with a x4 simulation rate for several hours I can start getting smeared terrain textures, even with the SLI. The CPU is still a dominant player.
In my opinion, a 500 GB drive is much too small for anything like an OS and P3D combo. My minimum for a system drive is closer to 750 GB, but I see you will have scenery on a separate drive so you'll may be okay. I don't understand the reason behind two separate OS, nor do I understand the reason for a second P3D just for instrument flight familiarization. Although I got my instrument rating decades ago, I feel that one might be able to get 20% of the skill and knowledge needed from a simulator, but it will not be the primary foundation for his training. Also, a lot of C172s now are using the G1000 type of panels and A2A is not offering that yet.
I don't see anything in your list that warrants a 1000W power supply, even if you have an unlimited budget you don't want to oversize a power supply. The video cards are the major load followed by the CPU and the rest is nil. You could get by with something in the 700W range and have lots of excess capacity.
Two 1080Ti in SLI are better than one, but only when the graphics load is so heavy as to slow down a single card. I have this SLI and I rarely see the GPUs loaded above 20%. But there's not much that slows it down. If I push it with a x4 simulation rate for several hours I can start getting smeared terrain textures, even with the SLI. The CPU is still a dominant player.
Dan Downs
KCRP
KCRP
Re: New Build
Thank you Dan,
Yes, you are correct about the M2 and SATA ports, each M2 slot used will deactivate a SATA port.
The reason for 2 OS is the 737 and Sim Avionics are very sensitive to settings and if I run another aircraft I've been warned that it will likely interfere with the 737. The simplest option is a second drive with a boot script that dismounts the unused session drive so the drive is ignored and not visible to Windows.
How much space does a full install of P3d take up on a hard drive? I was planning on Win 10 Pro 64 taking up about 100GB which leaves 300 for P3D plus swap file and update space etc... Do you think I need 750GB?
Money is not growing on trees for me, so I may hold off on the second GPU if you really don't think it will be useful on 3x4K monitors.
The 1000 Watt PSU was to cover the max calculated load of 739 watts plus a 20% margin. The machine will be running a large radiator and pump and two fans and the two GPUs also each have their own pump and radiator fans plus the case fans.
Yes, you are correct about the M2 and SATA ports, each M2 slot used will deactivate a SATA port.
The reason for 2 OS is the 737 and Sim Avionics are very sensitive to settings and if I run another aircraft I've been warned that it will likely interfere with the 737. The simplest option is a second drive with a boot script that dismounts the unused session drive so the drive is ignored and not visible to Windows.
How much space does a full install of P3d take up on a hard drive? I was planning on Win 10 Pro 64 taking up about 100GB which leaves 300 for P3D plus swap file and update space etc... Do you think I need 750GB?
Money is not growing on trees for me, so I may hold off on the second GPU if you really don't think it will be useful on 3x4K monitors.
The 1000 Watt PSU was to cover the max calculated load of 739 watts plus a 20% margin. The machine will be running a large radiator and pump and two fans and the two GPUs also each have their own pump and radiator fans plus the case fans.
Re: New Build
Hi Marcenzi,
I started with a Samsung 970 Pro m.2 of 500 GB and after installed it must be a 1 TB "OS, P3D, REX, AS, ORBX..., and others"... 1 TB is needed, or 2 of m.2 500 GB.
I have 3*65" 4k monitor in surround views and is needed 2*1080 TI... my P3D is not at max but is more than average settings. I have testing many options to have a compromise in terms of smoothness. I must have a 2080 Ti in SLI when come...
P3D is heavy dependent of CPU, i have 8700k overcloked at 5 GHZ by watercooling.
Regarding power, a good power unit 1000/1200w never going to be bad, a have 1200w and is good. Only a choice of not hast money, but keep in mind future updates.
I have a B737 & A320 cockpit simulators :)
I started with a Samsung 970 Pro m.2 of 500 GB and after installed it must be a 1 TB "OS, P3D, REX, AS, ORBX..., and others"... 1 TB is needed, or 2 of m.2 500 GB.
I have 3*65" 4k monitor in surround views and is needed 2*1080 TI... my P3D is not at max but is more than average settings. I have testing many options to have a compromise in terms of smoothness. I must have a 2080 Ti in SLI when come...
P3D is heavy dependent of CPU, i have 8700k overcloked at 5 GHZ by watercooling.
Regarding power, a good power unit 1000/1200w never going to be bad, a have 1200w and is good. Only a choice of not hast money, but keep in mind future updates.
I have a B737 & A320 cockpit simulators :)
Re: New Build
Thanks NBWorld,
Does P3d need to be on the same drive with the OS?
If I install all the scenery files to larger less expensive drive like a 2TB Crucial 500MX, will I have lag issues?
Thanks again for all the great responses.
Does P3d need to be on the same drive with the OS?
If I install all the scenery files to larger less expensive drive like a 2TB Crucial 500MX, will I have lag issues?
Thanks again for all the great responses.
Re: New Build
Hi,
I think that is better to maintain P3D "all", in the fastest hdd possible. For the common user it can be a solution, but for me with 2 professional simulators... no.
Other thing take in consideration are the graphics driver... for now the best driver is on nvidia is 397.64, never update without testing. If works and never add issues...never update :) :) :)
I think that is better to maintain P3D "all", in the fastest hdd possible. For the common user it can be a solution, but for me with 2 professional simulators... no.
Other thing take in consideration are the graphics driver... for now the best driver is on nvidia is 397.64, never update without testing. If works and never add issues...never update :) :) :)
