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Dedicated FS desktop.

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Dedicated FS desktop.

Postby peterg1000 » Sun Jan 17, 2021 11:46 am

I'm intending to build a new desktop solely for running FlightGear and have narrowed down the hardware to the following.

CPU - Intel i3 10100F 3.66GHz no onboard graphics.
Ram - 16Gb DDR4 LPX2666MHz
SSD - 240Gb M2 SATA3

Motherboard - ASRock ntelH410M-itx/as
Graphics - MSI Radeon R7 240 2GD3 LPV1 (already have this but may upgrade once proficiency gained)
Power - Seasonics SSP-300SFB

Appreciate that the graphics performance may not be to the highest standard, but scenery is not the highest priority - initially anyway.

Comments and advice gratefully received.
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Re: Dedicated FS desktop.

Postby Hooray » Sun Jan 17, 2021 12:09 pm

You could also share your budget with us, and whether you'd consider getting a used/refurbished machine.
As has been said elsewhere, depending on where you live, getting a refurbished nvidia-based workstation (or a Server with PCIe 16x) will offer quite some affordable performance, i.e. in the $ 500 US ballpark - a HP Z820 has typically 64-128 +gb of RAM, 3-12gb of VRAM and at least 8 cores


How to install OpenGL
Hooray wrote:The recommendation looks sound, if possible it would be great if you could help us update the hardware recommendations accordingly.
Like I said elsewhere, even an "old" (3-5 years) used/refurbished Nvidia based quadcore workstation with at least 2gb of VRAM and 16gb of RAM will usually be in the 200-300 USD ballpark and should provide plenty of horsepower, and it's likely to take years before it will require an upgrade, at which point 150 USD for a better graphics card will go a long way. Things like Vulkan are unlikely to become relevant until a handful of long-standing core issues are addressed.
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Re: Dedicated FS desktop.

Postby peterg1000 » Sun Jan 17, 2021 12:42 pm

Not really interested in s/h machine - enjoy the challenge of DIY!! I've set a budget of £400 ( approx $550 at the moment ), and the proposed hardware comes in at £365 approx ( $500 ). From what I've read on this forum my proposed system should give adequate computational performance, but be somewhat limited in graphics.

I should have added that I wanted to keep the package physically small, so have opted for a Mini ITX case that can VESA mount at the rear of a monitor or TV.
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Re: Dedicated FS desktop.

Postby The epic chicken » Sun Jan 17, 2021 12:56 pm

you could get a joystick
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Re: Dedicated FS desktop.

Postby peterg1000 » Sun Jan 17, 2021 1:04 pm

I've an ancient Microsoft Sidewinder 3D pro that will serve until I make my own hardware.
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Re: Dedicated FS desktop.

Postby danielHL » Sun Jan 17, 2021 1:40 pm

I would recommend a NVidia graphics card. Even an older model from ebay will work better. Try to find one with the highest second digit of the model number you can find: gtx 680 is better for FG than 750 or something. Get the best board you can afford.
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Re: Dedicated FS desktop.

Postby V12 » Sun Jan 17, 2021 3:01 pm

Do not buy ATI/ AMD GPUs, they are good known troublemakers in FG.
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Re: Dedicated FS desktop.

Postby The epic chicken » Sun Jan 17, 2021 4:40 pm

V12 wrote in Sun Jan 17, 2021 3:01 pm:Do not buy ATI/ AMD GPUs, they are good known troublemakers in FG.


so would you be better off with an intel intagrated graphics processing unit
than a amd rx 6900 xt
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Re: Dedicated FS desktop.

Postby Hooray » Sun Jan 17, 2021 4:51 pm

peterg1000 wrote in Sun Jan 17, 2021 12:42 pm:Not really interested in s/h machine - enjoy the challenge of DIY!! I've set a budget of £400 ( approx $550 at the moment ), and the proposed hardware comes in at £365 approx ( $500 ). From what I've read on this forum my proposed system should give adequate computational performance, but be somewhat limited in graphics.


Fair enough, it's obviously your call. I would still recommend to keep the pain/gain in mind, i.e. the specs you can get for the given amount of cash by setting for a certain type of setup (no matter if that's a server or a workstation). And obviously, it comes with the territory that "compact" machines tend to be less powerful and more expensive than the bulkier ones (notebooks).

Speaking in general, these days it should not be necessary to spend more than 300-500 USD on a pretty solid box that will be suitable to run FlightGear for years to come, as long as you have the option to upgrade the GPU easily.
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Re: Dedicated FS desktop.

Postby V12 » Sun Jan 17, 2021 7:53 pm

The epic chicken wrote in Sun Jan 17, 2021 4:40 pm:
V12 wrote in Sun Jan 17, 2021 3:01 pm:Do not buy ATI/ AMD GPUs, they are good known troublemakers in FG.


so would you be better off with an intel intagrated graphics processing unit
than a amd rx 6900 xt


Intel integrated GPU is OK only for office work, not for gaming. rx6900XT is far more powerfull. But there is possibility of compatibility problems. Best bet is nVidia, for FG is enough old GTX1060. For comparison Intel HD630 vs RX6900XT check https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/I ... 8724vs4091
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Re: Dedicated FS desktop.

Postby peterg1000 » Sun Jan 17, 2021 10:27 pm

Thanks for all the comments - particularly about the AMD processors. I rejected the Intel CPU's with graphics having seen the relatively poor specs on even the eye wateringly expensive ones.

GTX 1050's with 2 Gb start at around £33 on ebay!! certainly worth considering once all the development and learning is more or less over. That user benchmark link makes interesting reading too, thanks for that.
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Re: Dedicated FS desktop.

Postby danielHL » Mon Jan 18, 2021 12:43 am

Take a look at this list and get the card with the highest amount of CUDA cores (memory goes second) that you can afford...

https://gist.github.com/cavinsmith/ed92fee35d44ef91e09eaa8775e3284e
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Re: Dedicated FS desktop.

Postby peterg1000 » Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:48 pm

Thanks for the card list - the top of that list requires a 25 year mortgage !!! Guess my very modest Radeon will will serve for the time being!!
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Re: Dedicated FS desktop.

Postby The epic chicken » Mon Jan 18, 2021 6:22 pm

the quadro rtx 8000 costs twice as much
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Re: Dedicated FS desktop.

Postby benih » Mon Jan 18, 2021 6:27 pm

In would go for graphics card memory, second system memory.
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