Flight Simulator Gaming Rig -- advice needed

[Xenon14]

The only taxing video game would be Microsoft Flight Simulator, so the components should be geared toward that.

5 Criteria:

1) Rig needs to support 3 23" 1080P monitors.
2) SSD hard drive
3) 32 gb ram (or will 16 suffice?)
4) Not including monitor, cost <$2565.
5) Must be ordered from a company that pre-builds the computer.

Obviously the key questions would be what CPU, video card, and company that pre-builds computers would be advised (those that support overclocking would be favored).

Thanks in advance

 

[Blain]

From Wikipedia...

"Falcon Northwest is a personal computer manufacturing company located in Medford, Oregon, USA which was founded in 1992 by its current president, Kelt Reeves.
The company began its existence focusing on high-end systems for Flight Simulation."

 

[Essence_of_War]

Do you have a budget? It might help others advise you if you answered the questions here:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=24043454&postcount=1

 

[Skott]

From Wikipedia...

"Falcon Northwest is a personal computer manufacturing company located in Medford, Oregon, USA which was founded in 1992 by its current president, Kelt Reeves.
The company began its existence focusing on high-end systems for Flight Simulation."

FNW is a good company but their products are way over priced. The OP can buy a pc able to do the job from other companies at a much cheaper price and still maintain good quality products. The most expensive component is going to be the GPU or GPUs I'm thinking because it will probably need to be pretty beefy to run 5760x1080p which is what I'm guessing will be his resolution. If he was building it himself, which I know is not what he said, he would save even more money buying the same good quality parts.

 

[DSF]

OP, is there a reason you've ruled out doing it yourself? You're probably in a position to save a decent chunk of change.

If you want it built for you, iBuyPower and CyberPowerPC are both occasionally used by members here. I have no personal experience with either.

As far as RAM, most gaming builds are built with 8GB these days. Some people go with 16. You won't need 32.

 

[Zap]

The only taxing video game would be Microsoft Flight Simulator, so the components should be geared toward that.

5 Criteria:

1) Rig needs to support 3 23" 1080P monitors.
2) SSD hard drive
3) 32 gb ram (or will 16 suffice?)
4) Not including monitor, cost <$2565.
5) Must be ordered from a company that pre-builds the computer.

This company seems to specialize in building systems for flight sims. That link has some information on what is optimal.

Looks as if 8GB RAM is all that is needed. Fast single Nvidia GPU accounts for 25% of the performance. Fast overclocked Intel CPU accounts for 75% of the performance.

Looks as if that place will sell you an overclocked rig for... I configured $2529 (+shipping?) for these components.
Overclocked 4th Gen Core i7 (can only mean 4770K right?)
ASUS Sabertooth Z87 motherboard
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Cooler Master HAF 912 case
Antec 620 liquid cooler
8GB DDR3-1600
GeForce GTX 780
750W PC Power & Cooling PSU
onboard audio & NIC
256GB SSD (unknown brand/model)
DVDRW
1 year warranty

Let's see what Newegg sells the parts for (not counting any rebates or coupon codes). Where brand/model not specified by Jetline Systems, I choose cheapest offering which met specs. Actually, digging down into the site they seem to specify some brands that are different than in their configurator, such as Corsair PSUs but configurator specifies PCP&C.
Core i7-4770K $350
ASUS Sabertooth Z87 motherboard $258
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit $100
Cooler Master HAF 912 case $60 (not exact "Hellfire" edition, but same model)
Antec 620 liquid cooler $73
8GB DDR3-1600 $55
GeForce GTX 780 $650
750W PC Power & Cooling PSU $120
onboard audio & NIC
256GB SSD (SandDisk Ultra Plus, not my first choice but cheapest right now) $165
DVDRW $18
=$1849

I personally would choose different parts. I would get a different case, probably mATX. I would go cheaper on the motherboard. I would probably do high end air cooling instead of an average liquid cooler, unless a cheaper liquid cooler can be found. I would probably do a lower end graphics card, since everything I read seems to indicate that CPU performance is #1. Not "low end" but just not a $650 graphics card. Maybe a GTX 770 or 760, or even a GTX 670 (they can be had for $280 - see current Hot Deals). I would definitely choose a different and lower wattage PSU. SSD I would go a bit more expensive, maybe a $210 Plextor or something, depending on what is on sale at the time of purchase (Seagate 600 on sale recently?).

Of course building your own doesn't get you the 1 year warranty on the system, but every part has its own warranty.

If you aren't comfortable or don't know how to build your own, maybe you can find a forum member near you who can help you for free or cheap?

Heck, if you live anywhere near a Micro Center you can get the 4770K CPU + Sabertooth motherboard for $280+$215+tax.

 

[mfenn]

Charging $700 for the privilege seems a bit excessive. CyberPower or iBuyPower would do a $150-ish markup.