Advice required for Flightsim PC Desktop

[Algy]

Hi
I have £2k to spend and I am looking for a bit of advice regards selection of a PC Desktop (midi) system for use with Flightsim - Prepar3D v4.2 (64 bit)
Preferred options.
Intel i5 or i7 (overclocked/water cooled if necessary.)
Motherboard to suit above (if overclocked)
Nvidia GTX 1080ti Graphics card
16GB memory.
'Normal' midi case (practical rather than 'flashy' lights etc.)
500GB SSHD
2 or 3TB HDD
Windows 10 Home
Obviously looking for the best 'Bang for Bucks'
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Al

 

[southernorth]

Hi
I have £2k to spend and I am looking for a bit of advice regards selection of a PC Desktop (midi) system for use with Flightsim - Prepar3D v4.2 (64 bit)
Preferred options.
Intel i5 or i7 (overclocked/water cooled if necessary.)
Motherboard to suit above (if overclocked)
Nvidia GTX 1080ti Graphics card
16GB memory.
'Normal' midi case (practical rather than 'flashy' lights etc.)
500GB SSHD
2 or 3TB HDD
Windows 10 Home
Obviously looking for the best 'Bang for Bucks'
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Al

Which monitor/monitors would you be pairing with the PC?

 

[Algy]

Sorry, should have mentioned (existing), 4K monitor.
Al

 

[Habakkuk]

What socket types does the monitor support?

 

[Algy]

Hi
Display Port and HDMI

Al

 

[Habakkuk]

What control interface are you going to be using - you don't have a mouse or keyboard listed.

Are there any Flightsim-specific controllers you already have?

 

[southernorth]

Hi
Display Port and HDMI

Al

For the case, would you want a tempered glass window? Or would you prefer no windows, and sound-dampening panels (will make the PC really quiet).

 

[Algy]

Hi
This is basically an replacement to an existing Flightsim setup. (Prepar3D v4.20)

I already have A 4k monitor/keyboard/mouse/Saitek yoke/throttle/rudder pedals etc. etc.

Certainly a 'quiet' case would be preferable to a glass panel.

Thanks again for your input(s)

Al

 

[southernorth]

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Seasonic Focus Plus 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply= £89.99
• 1 x Microsoft Windows 10 32/64-Bit (Creator Update Ver.)- USB Pen Drive - Retail (KW9-00478)= £104.99
• 1 x Team Group Dark Pro 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Red (TDPRD416G32= £179.99
• 1 x Intel Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz (Coffee Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail= £218.99
• 1 x Asrock Z370 Extreme 4 Intel Z370 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £142.99
• 1 x MSI GeForce GTX 1080Ti Gaming X 11264MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card= £809.99
• 1 x Samsung 500GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E500B/EU)= £124.99
• 1 x Toshiba 2TB P300 Performance Hard Drive (HDWD120UZSVA)= £49.99
• 1 x Fractal Design Define R6 Midi Tower Case - Black= £104.99
• 1 x Alphacool Eisbaer LT360 CPU AIO Water Cooling Unit - 240mm (11446)= £89.99

Total: £1,932.20 (includes shipping: £15.30)
​

In that game, and at 4K, you're very much GPU-limited. Therefore the 1080ti would be the best option here (it's the fastest card you can widely buy). But, many are speculating that Nvidia is about to release their next-gen within 1-2 months. If you waited, a GTX 1180 would provide better system longevity and should outperform the GTX 1080ti at 4k.


The rest of the spec is focused on low temps and silence; quiet GPU, silenced case, quiet CPU cooler.

For the case, remove the un-needed drive-cages at the front for improved airflow.

For CPUs - The 8700k could an option if you wanted greater system longevity, but that would put you over budget, and the current difference between 8600k @ 5ghz and 8700k @ 5ghz is very minimal (basically 0 at 4k).

 

[Algy]

Hi
My current GPU is a Nvidia GTX 1060 6Gb.

As an interim measure could I use this graphics card with the above M/B, awaiting on the availability of the GTX 1180 or the GTX 1080ti coming down to a 'sensible' price?

The GTX 1060 does run the 4K monitor, albeit not with the graphics settings 'maxed out'.

Thanks

Al