Freiherr_Wulff, generally speaking you're correct. But if someone has a limited budget to spend on an upgrade, then the question becomes "what is the most performance I can get without spending too much money?" or "bang for the buck". take a look at these articles to see others who have tested the effect of hard drive upgrades:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/12/10/hdd_vs_ssd_real_world_gaming_performance/#.VFYjOI3fodU

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/battlefield-rift-ssd,3062-13.html

Also, I'd definately recommend a RAID system and set it up to protect you from hard drive failure.

Bang for buck is knowledge and that comes with the internet.

Fact is, if you are OCing non budget components on standard storage systems there is a questions to be asked. Do you really need to? Or is it just an addiction to a bragging process ? I used to flick heat plates off K6's and stripe back PII/III all the time. But why? see how far I could push them. It had nothing to do with performance and a lot of people who OC today fall into the same category I did then, braggers rights.

Lets OC a i7... really but we are on a budget?

How I look at it

If your computer is 3 years old and lacking go for the OC. But, only if you can replace parts when it goes tits up.

But you want inexpensive ways to speed up a computer, Flashdrive (ReadyBoost)

Better file management buy a 2nd HDD

Use Raid 0. Raid 0 can warn of a drive failure unless it is an instant but in those cases a stand HD would catch you out. How does Raid 0 warn you, its called sync identical HDD should make identical sounds. If one drive slows then a delay in the sound of HD clicks will be the result. Greater Pitch likely drive closer to you is failing a dull pitch further away.

Manuel setups of software is by far the cheapest and most beneficial just take the time to read.

Ok, decision time. I'm going to start with the less controversial purchase first: controllers

Joystick 1

Joystick 2

Any thoughts? Does anyone know if you can ignore the twist rudder on those or turn it off? It seems they don't make a basic ambidextrous stick without a rudder twist anymore...

How about this:
Rudder Pedals 1

Rudder Pedals 2

I really liked my old CH pedals, is there anything better about the Saitek ones?

Thanks for the input guys, maybe this thread will help someone else in a controller search!

Hey Rick,

Personally, I wouldn't touch anything made by MadCatz. I don't think they make quality gear that lasts.

As to the rudder pedals you listed, I used to use the CH Pro Pedals for many years. But when Saitek came out with the Pro Flight Pedals, I decided to try them. I found that I like them better than the CH Pro Pedals because your feet are set farther apart, which to me is more comfortable. I still use them(the Saitek) to this day.

Over my 23 years of PC flight simming, I've tried many different HOTAS sets. I always end up coming back to this faithful combination:

CH Fighterstick
CH Pro Throttle
Saitek Pro Flight Pedals

Sorry Rick and i dont want to hijack your thread..ive always used a logitec extreme 3d pro a great stick that ive used for a few years now..its time for a new stick though anybody have any thoughts on the Thrustmaster T_Flight Hota x joystick..Thanks guys

What is MadCatz? Is it a lower level Saitek?

Mad Catz is the manufacturer of those two joysticks you posted links to in your earlier post.

Yeah, definitely lower quality than Saitek.

hmm... Saitek is a brand of Mad Catz group !

Yeah, thanks corsaire, that's what my poorly-worded post was getting at. I was wondering if Saitek was the Mercury and MadCatz was the Ford...

I like the style of the 2nd stick better, but i wonder about the durability of the "soft touch rubber finish".

Ok, for part 2, How about something like this:

Motherboard/Processor Combo

I have just picked up my ASUS Z97 Pro with i7-4790k and a GTX 970.
I haven't done much testing yet... but what I've seen so far, I can say that I'm quite, quite happy.
It's a monster processor and it matches perfectly with Z97 boards.

Looks good to me, Rick.

It's good.

Of course your free to spend your money however you please and I know that your mind is already made up, so, I'm not going to try to convince you that adding another $100 to your budget and you can get a better video card which will give more performance boost than the mobo/cpu combo....

Thanks, Oldhat, I do appreciate the input. As a simple public servant, I do have a limited budget and the processor I have now is the older part of the cycle, so I decided to go with that first and maybe grab a card next year, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't go on giving the best advice you have, others will probably look over this thread and hopefully profit from it!

Rick, I'm curious to know if you have had a chance to try out your new hardware in WOFF. What change do you notice in Windows or WOFF from your old combo?

Hey, OldHat, I actually haven't loaded WOFF back up yet. To be honest, I was hoping that 2.0 would be imminently released and I could start fresh with everything. I have been Mechwarrioring a bit, and there is definitely improvement on that front...

After my last surviving pilot died under highly suspicious controller input issues, I decided to update my old serial inputs with something made in the 20th century... I went with the Saitek AV8R Joystick and the Saitek pedals to match. The joystick was surprisingly robust and took up a reasonably good chunk of real estate on my desktop:

As you can see, compared to my old sidewinder, there's an embarrassment of riches when it comes to button choices:

The stick has a lot of programmable features that I haven't used yet, since it pretty much did what I wanted it to do out of the box. The spring tension feels pretty right and the rudder twist requires intent to use, which is good, since I am going to ignore it to use the pedals instead.
Pedal comparison:


I liked my original CH pedals, but I was recommended to go with the Saitek instead. They feel less durable to me and slide around the floor a bit, but I am willing to give them a shot. They also come with some set up abilities, but again, worked right out of the box. If these inputs last as long as my other ones did, they will be a true value indeed!

Me too..infact I wait two to three years before I think of a graphic card upgrade. I haven't yet got to a stage where I couldn't play a new release due to hardware restrictions (Actually I lie..some games are Win 8 only).

Rick, as seen below, I prevent my rudder pedals from moving by having them jammed up against the base of my computer desk. That's the best way, as any rudder pedal set will try to move forward as you use them.

Please excuse the Beagle hair on the pedals, I have two of them, and they shed horribly.