Ok, im kinda new at this building a desktop. im looking at a budget of about $3000 and wondering if i can get any ideas on some of he new age reccommended hardware. i currently sim on a laptop as being im a soldier and deployment restrict me. i was looking at the asus rampage extreme II as the mother board and am currently stuck between the i7 940 and the 965. also on the GPU i was looking at the radeon HD4780 x2 (2gb video memory) and nvidia GTX 285 (1gb). also will cooling be a factor for a setup like this. one more thing i need a tutorial on overclocking since this is the thing with gaming machines. im kinda new at the terms and how to go about this so any help would be extremely appreciated.thanks in advance for any and all advice.

Avoid ASUS products and Patriot Memory. I had an R2E that fried my i7, and Patriot Memory labels products at higher speeds than they are designed for.Recommended brands are Western Digital for the hard drive, OCZ for the RAM, and Gigabyte for the motherboard. For your power supply, recommended brands are Thermaltake and Silverstone.The i7 940 is a bit cheaper but I think it can be overclocked to the speed of the 965.I own a Radeon 4870x2 but I have seen threads about problems with loading 3D clouds with it so maybe the NVidia card is the way to go.I think that it is best to get a computer case with good circulation, like the Cooler Master Cosmos 1000 case. I have no experience with water cooling but many with high-end hardware choose that over air cooling.Here is a good processor overclocking tutorial. However I don't overclock, I run everything at stock or at the factory overclock. I just feel that I am playing it safe that way.

If this is predominantly for FSX....Core i7 940http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...201&Tpk=940Gigabyte X58 mobohttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E168131283743x2 GB RAMhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820227365GTX280 (best for FSX, rather than ati cards)http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814143141A quality PSUhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817139006And a good cooler (for overclocking):http://www.crazypc.com/products/ultra-120-1366-50985.html

ok this is what i have so far. i have to either order from tiger or newegg since im in a combat zone. but anyone can check this out and any advice would help alot. http://www.tigerdirect.com/cgi-bin/Shoppin...,%200,%201,%202 also i heard this card runs hot so do i have enough cooling capabilities on here or should i look into more or even LCS?

I can't see your cart.Normally it is a good idea to keep the fan speed high on graphics cards to keep them cool.

BFG GeForce GTX 285 OC Video Card - 1GB GDDR3OCZ Intel Core i7 Tri Channel 6GB PC10666 DDR3 Memory - 1333MHz, 6144MB (3 x 2048MB) Thermaltake VH6001BWS Armor+ Full-Tower ATX Case Asus P6T-Deluxe & Ultra X3 1600W Power Supply Intel Core i7 940 Processor VelociRaptor 300GB Hard Drive x2and i also have the optical drive as well.

ok this is what i have so far. i have to either order from tiger or newegg since im in a combat zone. but anyone can check this out and any advice would help alot. http://www.tigerdirect.com/cgi-bin/Shoppin...,%200,%201,%202 also i heard this card runs hot so do i have enough cooling capabilities on here or should i look into more or even LCS?

You don't say where you are at...but I think I have been there...or darn close....and you better have some good cooling. Regards

I'm in kuwait but ill have ac in my room. ill just have to make sure i got plenty of room aroud the case. i just want a machie that will run fsx with decent settings. im not to worried about other games.

Avoid ASUS products and Patriot Memory. I had an R2E that fried my i7, and Patriot Memory labels products at higher speeds than they are designed for.Recommended brands are Western Digital for the hard drive, OCZ for the RAM, and Gigabyte for the motherboard. For your power supply, recommended brands are Thermaltake and Silverstone.The i7 940 is a bit cheaper but I think it can be overclocked to the speed of the 965.I own a Radeon 4870x2 but I have seen threads about problems with loading 3D clouds with it so maybe the NVidia card is the way to go.I think that it is best to get a computer case with good circulation, like the Cooler Master Cosmos 1000 case. I have no experience with water cooling but many with high-end hardware choose that over air cooling.Here is a good processor overclocking tutorial. However I don't overclock, I run everything at stock or at the factory overclock. I just feel that I am playing it safe that way.

"Avoid ASUS products and Patriot Memory. I had an R2E that fried my i7"How can a motherboard fry a cpu?

How can a motherboard fry a cpu?

Flawed circuitry resulting in a short circuit.

Avoid ASUS products and Patriot Memory. I had an R2E that fried my i7, and Patriot Memory labels products at higher speeds than they are designed for.

In my experience, here is what Patriot does:They sell a stick as "DDR3 1600, CAS7"...and the stick will in fact run at that rating....however...the stick requires as much as 1.9 volts to do so.At standard voltage (1.5v) there is no way the stick will run at 1600, with CAS7Is this what you are referring to?Or are you talking about Pat sticks that fail to run at the labelled speeds with any voltage? If so, then this is all too common, and not just with Patriot sticks. But you probably know that already.

Or are you talking about Pat sticks that fail to run at the labelled speeds with any voltage? If so, then this is all too common, and not just with Patriot sticks. But you probably know that already.

Yes, that is what I'm talking about basically. I had four sticks, two failed MemTest. Replaced them, and those two failed MemTest. Then I replaced them again, and I could not get any of them to run at the advertised 1333, they would only run at 1066.I've never had a problem with OCZ, the sticks I bought from them always worked perfectly out of the box at the advertised speeds and voltages.