1329 replies to this topic

[Viper69]

Yes aside from the quality issues, the G940 is a good buy. You will need to do some tinkering though. The throttle can be spiky because of some pinched wires in the housing. Some fiddling inside can fix it and if you do some online searches there are some walkthroughs on how to do it.

[Bongo TauKat]

I still have nightmares about this stick.
My wonderful girlfriend got me this as a gift. I, being a Saitek fan at the time, was quite excited. To this day I tell her that hooligans broke into my house(true) and among the things they took was this HOTAS setup(not as true). The truth is that I HATED this stick. The spring in the spring-and-plate centering was very strong, and with no effort to smooth out the transition, center accuracy was by far the worst on any stick I've ever used. It was not a twisty stick, and instead the rudder was a rocker under the throttle. If that wasn't weird enough, the rocker was fairly hard to access when the throttle was at 100%, which is... erm... almost always. The build quality for everything but the base was below par. The buttons had a stupid amount of slop - worst offender being the pinky trigger. The ergonomics for the stick were off: For example, the palmrest was so much lower than the pinky trigger that one would have to lift their hand off the palm rest to use the pinky trigger. To quote Jayne Cobb, "Where does that get fun?" And to add insult to injury, both the X and Y axis had so many spikes inside of a year that it was essentially useless.
There were some positive attributes of the stick though. The throttle performed rather well, and was quite ergonomic. I'd actually rate it as the most comfortable throttle to use, aside from being a tad on the tight side. Three modes meant a lot of potential variety for the varied buttons. And the odd 100% throttle blocking the rudder problem could be avoided by adopting a Italian-style throttle, where all the way back equaled 100%. Offloading the rudder to the throttle did reduce unintentional axis movement, and that particular application was quite fine for Mechwarrior.
It can be hard to find this stick new. Price reflect the average price of a used unit as of this writing.

You apparently used a different x45 than the one I had. The rudders made for excellent turning with the stick on torso control, the buttons were great for everything from sensors to guns to comms. I broke mine after 7 years of use. In my opinion folks, scoop this one up. It is about the best you can get for the cost, especially now.

[Arnkh]

Just ordered Thrustmaster t.16000m, should arrive tomorrow. Then I'll give MW4 another go.

[Wolfcp]

I have an old Logitech Wingman extreme that i've been using for over 10 years; i've dusted it off in preperation for MWO... has joystick technology advanced that much since then, or is it just as good as modern joysticks in the <$50 range?

Edited by Wolfcp, 13 July 2012 - 03:06 PM.

[CommanderOSIS]

I got the thrustmaster hotas x on the way to replace my old MS SW pre pro. I still have and love that JS but I want a more sim feel. hope it doesnt suck.

[Necrodemus]

Thomas Hogarth, on 11 June 2012 - 05:22 PM, said:

[snip] ... Lot's of useful info... [snip]

Thomas,
I just wanted to post a note to say 'Thank you' for the comparisons. The information regarding the mechanics of various joysticks was interesting. I had not previously considered the way the inner workings would affect different types of gameplay. Based on your information (which led to further research) I've recently purchased the CH Products Fighterstick and Pro Throttle. I had originally intended to get the pedals as well, but using some of the available hats on the throttle works very well for torso control via thumb in older titles. Once I get into more sophisticated flight sims I may consider the pedals, but for now this is more than enough. As you mentioned, the CH stick isn't very eye-catching (except in size), but it is very precise and (for my largish hands) rather comfortable. The software, while a tad cumbersome at first, seems to have no end to it's flexibility... excluding support for non-CH products, of course.

Thank you again for the information. Hopefully this thing will last a decade or so... or until brain mapping is accurate enough to fly.

Edited by Necrodemus, 13 July 2012 - 04:10 PM.

[Vallenaria]

I personally own am extreme 3D Pro, and found it to be a great joystick for the money, i have a friend that owns a X52, and i used a few times, but found it to be odd and uncomfortable compared to my cheap 3D pro. I dont know maybe its because I was used to it, but i always did good in online matches with it.

[Viper69]

Necro,
I own all 3 of the CH controllers you mentioned. You wont be dissapointed.

[Arnkh]

I ended up using joystick and mouse in MW4. Do I need help? o_O I never seen anyone mention such a setup...

[Sythiss]

So I have a question. I'm looking at the various joysticks and the thrust aster a10 intrests me. But what kind of actual buttons does the throttle have. Switches are neat assuming that switching one on could toggle passive radar then flicking it agin for active. But does it have selectable switches. I ask as the razor Artemis has a micro keyboard layout. Assumably for coolant flushes or weapon grouping ect ect. But I wouldn't want to pay for the thrust master if it doesn't cross to a mech sim well.

Has anyone used thrust master stuff for mechwarrior or something close ??

[WarLiege]

Great topic,
Myself going to hopefully try and get my Hotas/cougar stick and throttle setup up and running with MWO. Have a set of
simrace pedals from other company also, including throttle, clutch,+ brake. Throttle + brake pedals i will use for torso twist.. other pedal/clutch i will have to see what MWO offers, maybe a coolant flush of some sort i rig up on that pedal if available. I was fortunate enough back in the day when i bought the hotas to get one with no play in it , and happy with the realistic feel/ precision it offers. The Gimbit upgrades are still out there, and some other upgrades like Contactless Pots and Strain guages like the real F-16s use. So regardless if something goes wrong pots, need a gimbit upgrade for more stiffness, etc as long as your handy with a screwdriver you can pretty much tailor this stick to your liking. Lots of how-to sites on web on how to modify/upgrade this controller also.

[DEHK]

Thank you very much Thomas, that was very helpful.

Here is a deeper review of CYBORGS FLY5

[Vulpesveritas]

how did this fall so far down below?...
... ah well.

[Zero Division]

GREAT post. Thanks for this. I currently have, and am extremely unhappy with, the Saitek X45 setup. The throttle is fantastic and the stick FEELs great... but the damn thing won't center. I've been fiddling with it off an on for years. I was never that happy with Logitech sticks either... but I missed mine after getting the X45! That said, reading this all... I find myself missing my solid CH stick the most.

I think I'm going to go pick up a CH Combatstick (I think I prefer buttons in some places the Fighterstick has directionals) and some pedals. I wonder if I'll be able to stick with the throttle on the base of the stick or get a full sized throttle...

[deserthawk16]

i have the F.L.Y 5 and it is a good stick the t bace is stable unless you are a crasz gamer and slam it around but all in all i like it.

[Silmaril]

This is great. I cant even tell you how great it is. You should put the content into an ebook and either sell it or make it open domain. Thank you very much

[Klaxon]

gigabyte motherboards are so pretty.

[The Justicar]

Why is this a sticky?

[brento73]

Great post, overall, but I felt one point needed mentioned in the AMD vs Intel CPU area. Sorry if someone has already touched on this, I didn't read all the replies.

If you look, for example, at the links in Myth #3, you will notice that Intel seems to bench better at the same speed. The i3 in the first link does pretty well, even though it's running at 3.1 vs the 4.1 AMD. In the second link, the i5 performs better, even though it's only 3.3(again, vs 4.1). I personally know people who have these chips running in the 5GHz range. Based on these links, it looks like you'd need to get the AMD around 6 to match the performance, and I don't see that happening.

[Vulpesveritas]

brento73, on 17 July 2012 - 11:56 AM, said:

Great post, overall, but I felt one point needed mentioned in the AMD vs Intel CPU area. Sorry if someone has already touched on this, I didn't read all the replies.

If you look, for example, at the links in Myth #3, you will notice that Intel seems to bench better at the same speed. The i3 in the first link does pretty well, even though it's running at 3.1 vs the 4.1 AMD. In the second link, the i5 performs better, even though it's only 3.3(again, vs 4.1). I personally know people who have these chips running in the 5GHz range. Based on these links, it looks like you'd need to get the AMD around 6 to match the performance, and I don't see that happening.

It's true, Intel CPUs currently have higher Instructions per clock,
With an AMD Phenom II as a guide, which overclocks up to about 4.2ghz on air.

AMD Bulldozer is 5-10% slower clock for clock, and overclocks up to 4.8-5.2ghz on air.

AMD Llano is 5 % faster clock for clock, and overclocks up to 3.6-3.8ghz on air.

AMD Trinity is 5-10% faster clock for clock, and overclocks to 4.8+ghz on air. (new architecture with limited samples and reviews, Tomshardware having the only desktop overclocking part at this time.)

Intel Nehalem is about 5-10% faster clock for clock, and overclocks to 3.8-4.2ghz on air.

Intel Sandy Bridge is about 15-20% faster clock for clock, and overclocks to 4.6-5.0ghz on air (known to get in the mid 5ghz range on water)

Intel Ivy Bridge is about 20-25% faster clock for clock, and overclocks to 4.4-4.8ghz on air.


However, that was a comparison of stock performance in the opening post, not of overclocking performance. Sandy bridge is the current way to go if overclocking is your goal however, though current games are not CPU limited, and hence unless you've already maxed out your graphics card to something along the lines of a Geforce GTX 680 or Radeon HD 7970, then you probably shouldn't be spending $200 + on a CPU unless playing RTS games at huge frames per second is your goal.