Volair Sim Cockpit Build

After Christmas I took the plunge and bought a Volair Sim cockpit and 3 Acer 27" monitors. This pit is designed for racing and flight. It supports 3 monitors up to 30" and has about 20 locking knobs to allow you to adjust just about everything you can imagine. It cost $579 + shipping. They are located in Indianapolis, Indiana. So, shipping cost depend on how far away you live.

The one thing it did not have was a place for a 4th touchscreen monitor in the bottom/center. But it was very easy to just flip the front table platform over and mount my touchscreen with a custom VESA adapter that I made. It works great and is very sturdy. The only problem with this is that the keyboard tray cannot swing 'out' away from you now. But it can swing toward you to move it out of the way. However you have to suck in your gut, and move your joystick (if you have it mounted on the right platform) out of the way. Currently I am working a slide-away platform using some good solid kitchen drawer sliders to allow me to simply slide the keyboard try off to the right.

I have been in contact with the Bart at Volair Sim and showed him pics of my touchscreen mod. He said he plans on making the next version of this pit allow for a 4th screen.

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Scout is ready to open these boxes..

The box came UPS and was lined with over 1 inch of solid foam board all the way around. The first think you see is the seat for the Pit, which I was very impressed with. The materials used seemed good quality and stitched together very well. The material looks like it will take a lot of wear and tear, and has a nice Volair Sim logo embroidered on the top. And it's comfortable too, which is very important. It is mounted with runners on the bottom so you can slide it forward and backward like a car seat.

The platform that sits in front of the monitors was packed under the seat. Then all of the other parts were packed in a separate box.

The instructions were pretty good, but you also need to watch the video instructions online to get everything figured out. Once you get all the parts laid out, you realize there really are not that many parts. And it's pretty easy to put together

Sitting in the pit is great. Every control is adjustable, so you can move it where ever you need to make it comfortable. I'll know more once I get all my controls in there and report more then. But my first impression was awesome!

The only problem that I encountered was mounting the center monitor. The monitors that I bought stick out 20mm at the bottom of the back. This is not a problem for the two side mounts. But the center mount is taller (to allow for one large monitor if you like) and hits this bottom, causing the center monitor to push out at the bottom. Hence the mounting screws will not reach and it will be at an angle. The manufacture suggested longer mounting screws and washers for spacers. I bought those today and that worked fine.

One thing to keep in mind when buying monitors is where the plugs are on the back. On my center monitor, the VGA plug is blocked by the support post. The DVI is very close too. I think I can get the DVI plug in, but I might have to cut off one of it bolts to get past the support.

The next step is to take apart my current rig and put it together on the new one.

And here it is all finished. Now I just need to mod the keyboard, and add a beer holder and other tweaks to make it more functional. But this is the Volair Sim cockpit finished. Here are some HDR pictures to help you see the screen as well as the cockpit details.

Looks good. I have never set up the monitor stands as they seem to be too far away from my head but I do love the rest.

It depends on the size of monitors that you use. These 27" monitors are about 3 feet away and it seems real good to me. But smaller monitors would be too far I agree. But the seat allows you to slide forward and back too. I am about 3/4 of the way forward so I can reach my touchscreen.

Looks great. I can't remember whether I'd mentioned this to you before but, have you considered making that touchscreen dynamic, ie instead of using Helios, just having it render directly from DCS? If you haven't seen it yet, I have a writeup here explaining how to do it.

I've actually switched out my 4-screen setup for a single 55" 4k TV, but I did love those 4 screens.

Speaking of that, is that touchscreen mounted or just sitting on the Volair Sim platform?

Cool Dog! Always good to have a loyal wingman :)

Cool Dog! Always good to have a loyal wingman :)

It's probably an act. Mine is only loyal long enough to steal the mouse pad. ;)

Speaking of that, is that touchscreen mounted or just sitting on the Volair Sim platform?

The front platform slides into 2 tubes. I just flipped it over to make it verticle and it also tilts a little. So I bolted a piece of wood with a VESA Monitor mount to it that also tilts and clips on. It's easy to un-clip it take it off, and tilt it just right.

Looks great. I can't remember whether I'd mentioned this to you before but, have you considered making that touchscreen dynamic, ie instead of using Helios, just having it render directly from DCS? If you haven't seen it yet, I have a writeup here explaining how to do it.

 

I've actually switched out my 4-screen setup for a single 55" 4k TV, but I did love those 4 screens.

Thanks. Yes I have seen your post about that setup, but I did not read the whole thing since I don't need SofTH. I don't much about that stuff being totally new to 3/4 screen setups. All my monitors are the same and I am using nVidia Surround with the top 3, and have the touchscreen on the HDMI port on that same card.

I did setup a MonitorSetup setting for 5760x2160 to test that out and I do like it for the cockpit advantages. But I think my fps get hit (I have not done any tests yet) and it is rendering the bottom right and left areas where there is no monitor.

I am still setting things up and testing to see what works best. And I am considering SLI. I have 1 Gigabyte GTX 660ti 3g card, and it is hard to find another one at a good price. I bought mine for $299, but now they want around $400. So, today I was thinking of maybe just selling it and buying 2 new cards at once. Still thinking on it, as I have a friend who has the same card and he might want mine. I could put that money towards 2 new cards.

The front platform slides into 2 tubes. I just flipped it over to make it verticle and it also tilts a little. So I bolted a piece of wood with a VESA Monitor mount to it that also tilts and clips on. It's easy to un-clip it take it off, and tilt it just right.

Thanks for the pics and info. Mine setup is currently a transition from the desk I was using and I am still working on the details.

Pics here.

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=116637

I like this rig. nice setup. wish I had a little extra coin, I'd pick one up. (Have to wait until after I meet with the tax man first...) thanks for the post.

And I am considering SLI. I have 1 Gigabyte GTX 660ti 3g card, and it is hard to find another one at a good price. I bought mine for $299, but now they want around $400. So, today I was thinking of maybe just selling it and buying 2 new cards at once. Still thinking on it, as I have a friend who has the same card and he might want mine. I could put that money towards 2 new cards.

Yu're right about the 3GB 660Ti versions... they're a rare beast to lay hands on, at a reasonable price...

I got two MSI GTX660Ti TF OC 3GD5 in SLI... it's a definite game-changer for DCS...

But I got one (MSI refurbished) smuggled from US Amazon into Europe for 230$ and the other I managed to find a guy who had already bought a new card and suddenly got this baby as a replacement for a year long RMA... got it for 250$, so I can say I had a lucky stroke acquiring my SLI... :D

You guys know that SLI/CF is currenty not used in DCS, right? We have to wait for the new engine before a second card will be taken advantage of.

Nice setup Snacko. Good to see KA-50 intrests alive and well.

Re; SLI . Sli only suports one view. Can be multiple monitors but your 4th monitor {gages} won't be suported.

Mark

You guys know that SLI/CF is currenty not used in DCS, right? We have to wait for the new engine before a second card will be taken advantage of.

CF doesn't happen so easily, but SLI works like a charm... I'm using it and it bugged me out of 10-45FPS into 60-120FPS land... and I sure ain't going back... :pilotfly:

Glad you've gotten something sorted out that will work for you. I used to have an Akers-Barnes, but with my bad knee, getting in and out became a problem. I got an Obutto R3volution about a year ago and it's been a Godsend.

Now if I can just get out of the habit of building stuff. ;)

That's a nice innovative method of mounting your touchscreen.

EDIT: The biggest thing I'm liking is your co-pilot. :D I had a black lab when I was little, and if we had room, my wife would be onboard with us getting a chocolate lab.

Thanks for the comments guys. It sounds like hokuto has increased frames from sli, so I'm not sure what GregP is talking about.

I did not know that using sli would limit me to just the 3 monitors even though my cards may have 4 ports. Is this just true of any sli setup? I could network my 4th monitor.

I finished building my keyboard tray mod to allow it to slide away. I no longer have to remove my joystick every time that I get up. It works good, but I mounted it on the existing tray support and that is not as solid as I solid as I would like. Plus this is definitely a wip. I can make it lighter, shorter, use shorter drawer slides. I'll post some pics later.

I got Scout from the humane society. She was a stray. I could not believe somebody would have a dog like that and not even chip her!!! She was about 3 and house trained. But she needed a lot of obedience training since labs are so energetic. (My trainer said labs are the most energetic of all dogs, and the chocolates are the worst. That may be why someone let her go stray..) She has a chip now! And she knows how to build a Volaire Sim cockpit. She paid close attention to every nut and bolt.

To clarify: since DCS A-10C first came out, it has been the near-universal experience of those using SLI and CF that these setups don't offer any performance improvement over single cards. The ED devs have stated that the engine simply isn't coded to take advantage of multi-GPU setups. Supposedly this will change with EDGE, and that's partially why many are so excited about it.

That being said, I agree that some Nvidia users seem to see real benefit from SLI. Unfortunately (as I'm an AMD owner), I've yet to see an AMD user claim a benefit from CF.

Interestingly, I just tried disabling CF, and my FPS in DCS went from 38 to 45! So in my case it's actually HURTING.

As for SLI 3-monitor limit: I don't know about Nvidia cards, but on AMD cards, I know from my own experience that you can at LEAST run 4 monitors. More than that may require an MST hub.

RE 3 monitors . Sorry for poor info. In my case I was not able to do what you are thinking. I think you can run up to 6 monitors with Nvidia surround But Not in Sli. When you select Sli, IT only allows 1 port to be activated in Sli mode . I have 6 ports on 3 cards, I select sli ,5 ports are grayed out and not avalible for use.

In my case, I was runnig 3 monitors on a single GTX9800+ using a Matrox tripple Head to go.

A new PC later I found out Nvidia suround requiers 2 or more almost Identical monitors to work. My 2, 22" 1680x 1024 acers monitors were not identical enough to single 22" 1680x1024 hp monitor. So rather then get 3 new monitors I continued using my matrox. So with Matrox you can run 3

monitors in sli.I later found out that Nvidia surround requiers that Vsync is identical.

Its been well over a year since I used Sli because I like to have my Black Shark pit opperating With 3 more monitors, 6 total.

When I used Sli There was an obvious improvement in graphic quality, stuters grately reduced and visuals like the way leafs shimmer when moving from the wind or blade downwash.

Matrox now supports the use of 2 devices at the same time. Maybe you could plug a matrox into a matrox for 5 monitors in Sli ?

PLEASE realize that in Sli mode total resolution is 3840x1024, and when using pit about 7200x 1024 . This in its self has an effect so i am reluctant to boast about it without testing.

If I could use my pit with Sli enabled I would.

GregP is right that E.D. says its not suported.

PS. Matrox limits max frame to 60fps

Mark

Thanks for the reply acemark. That is good info. I am trying to figure out what I can expect if I get another GTX 660ti 3gb for 2x SLI mode. I cannot find one in the US, but have a friend in Canada tracking one down for me. (they cannot export them per manufacturer agreement)

The spec sheet for the GTX 660ti 3gb says this:

3 - 3840x2160 at 30Hz or 4096x2160 at 24Hz supported over HDMI. 4096x2160 (including 3840x2160) at 60Hz supported over Displayport. Support for 4k tiled MST displays requires 326.19 driver or later.

I assume this can all depend on the manufacturer, drivers, monitors, pcie bus version?? Is there someway to figure this out.

If my Canuk buddy can find the card, I am getting it. So, I can figure this out when I have it I guess.. :book:

Here are some screenies on my keyboard drawer slide mod. This is a prototype for sure. I don't like the length. It needs to slide about 22 inches to move the keyboard totally out of the way. So I used 24" drawer sliders. But I don't want a 2 foot long thing sticking out to the side.

So, I am making it shorter by making using 16" drawer slides and making it a double-decker. Each slide extends 11", giving me the 22" total that I need. Overall it should be shorter and have more weight on the right to make it more stable.

this looks like the obutto ozone

this looks like the obutto ozone

They are similar, especially the seat, but there are significant differences. Black tubing in a dark room makes it hard to see.

It is a lot easier to see what they look like on the respective websites, where you can easily see the structure.

It looks great! I think it would look better if you got a TMHW!

Hi Snacko!

I Am really considering this purchase, but I also play other games like FPS with mouse and keyboard, That tray looks a little small. Do you feel like it has enough room and is sturdy enough to comfortably play other games when not flying? Or surf the web, answer emails, Ect?

It looks like the unmodded tray can by default be "swung" in and out?

thanks!