Time to upgrade..need your opinion

[LostTrucker 0]

I just ordered the parts for my long-overdue upgrade/replacement. Alot of you out there are using i7 systems and I am curious what the i7/285GTX setup is like for FSX. Here is what I bought....feel free to tell me if I made a mistake on something as its been awhile since ordering parts.Antec Twelve Hundred CaseASUS P6T Deluxe V2 X85 MotherboardIntel Core i7 920 Nehalem12GB CORSAIR XMS3 DDR3 PC3 10600EVGA 285GTXAntec Signature Series 850W PSUZalman CNPS 9900 LED CoolerTwo WD 640GB HD in RAID 0

[Guest simjunkie]

I just ordered the parts for my long-overdue upgrade/replacement. Alot of you out there are using i7 systems and I am curious what the i7/285GTX setup is like for FSX. Here is what I bought....feel free to tell me if I made a mistake on something as its been awhile since ordering parts.Antec Twelve Hundred CaseASUS P6T Deluxe V2 X85 MotherboardIntel Core i7 920 Nehalem12GB CORSAIR XMS3 DDR3 PC3 10600EVGA 285GTXAntec Signature Series 850W PSUZalman CNPS 9900 LED CoolerTwo WD 640GB HD in RAID 0

I didn't know the X85 chipsets were out already! :( Just kidding... :( Welcome to Avsim!The case is good, the motherboard is good, the vid card is good, Those three items are top shelf HW for your simulator.The i7 920 will work but I seriously doubt it will clock very high with that Zahlman cooler without generating too much heat. The better cpu cooler would be the TRUE (Thermalright Ultra120 xtreme), or check out the Xigmatek line or similar that uses the HDT (heatpipe direct touch) design. But whatever you get it has to be near the best out there to cool that 920. An i7 940 would clock a little easier but I know how $$$ is at this time.Ditch that Antec junk power supply for a PC Power & Cooling 750 watt unit (or higher). That will be a much better psu. Among the absolute best out there.DO NOT USE MOTHERBOARD RAID FOR FSX. If you want the reason the info is posted on these and other forums. Suffice to say MB raid in FSX will demand more resources than it's worth and very likely kill your performance. The WD Velociraptor (of which I have 3) is THE BEST HDD for FSX right now. IF you go raid it has to be on a quality (expensive $320+) PCIe raid card like the 3ware 9650. But in doing so you have to set it up right and that involves a whole lot of understanding (I haven't even attempted that yet) about how to set up HW raid. Don't know what you budget is but the overclocked core i7 on DDR3 1600 or better (low latency) offers a much more visually pleasing experience because the graphics are CRYSTAL CLEAR...no more blurries, ever, anywhere! And the performance is very smooth and fluid. Regards, -jk

[LostTrucker 0]

Thank for the good info. lol...x85 was a typo...lol its a 58 as Im sure you already know. Looking into the other components that you mentioned. It is amazing how much things change when you stop reading about new products and researching them. Once again thanks

[flilotUK 0]

12GB CORSAIR XMS3 DDR3 PC3 10600

You could probably save yourself some money by going for 6Gb instead of 12gb - unless you're running apps on your rig that will make full use of all that RAM it'll just sit there looking pretty.I'm assuming you will be installing Vista64 or XP64 to take full advantage o the new system?

[LostTrucker 0]

ok....I managed to change my order before it got shipped from Newegg. Here are the changes I madePC Power & Cooling PPCT860 860W OCZ Platinum 12GB(6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)-Cas Latency 7 -Timing 7-7-7-24 Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme 1366RT

[Guest simjunkie]

You could probably save yourself some money by going for 6Gb instead of 12gb - unless you're running apps on your rig that will make full use of all that RAM it'll just sit there looking pretty.I'm assuming you will be installing Vista64 or XP64 to take full advantage o the new system?

Opps! That's right! :( 6Gb RAM, not 12Gb. 12Gb is way too much. And definitely a 64bit OS. Thanks for catching that.-jk

[Guest simjunkie]

ok....I managed to change my order before it got shipped from Newegg. Here are the changes I madePC Power & Cooling PPCT860 860W OCZ Platinum 12GB(6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)-Cas Latency 7 -Timing 7-7-7-24 Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme 1366RT

Sorry I overlooked how much ram you were getting. Can you return some of that ram and just keep 6Gb? I know how newegg can be on some items but they're customer service is excellent so they might let you just get 6Gb.I have the P6T Deluxe v.1 and it's been rock solid so far. I do know people have issues with that MB but they ALL have some issues of some sort and the P6T is really one of the best. Check on the BIOS releases because the version 2 is new and there will probably be BIOS updates:http://support.asus.com/faq/faq.aspx?SLanguage=en-usThat site's a pain sometimes being slow, but it's a good source for info. Here's another:http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/index.phpYou'll want to prepare yourself for clocking that i7 by reading up. And you won't get that full DDR3 1600 speed with the 920 until you raise the bclock high enough, so don't be suprised to see it boot up the first time to slower ram speeds. Once you get your system built and the OS installed there's a whole tuning list for XP (or Vista) and installing and tuning FSX. The links are available when your ready. Many folks here are usually happy to help.Here's another great site: http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.plThat site has much of the info you will want to read in order to tune you system right. Remember the 800lb gorrilla thing, how the sim responds is all in the HW and installing & tuning FSX.-jk

[dbrooks 0]

I have the P6T Deluxe v.1 and it's been rock solid so far. I do know people have issues with that MB but they ALL have some issues of some sort and the P6T is really one of the best. Check on the BIOS releases because the version 2 is new and there will probably be BIOS updates:http://support.asus.com/faq/faq.aspx?SLanguage=en-usThat site's a pain sometimes being slow, but it's a good source for info. Here's another:http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/index.phpYou'll want to prepare yourself for clocking that i7 by reading up. And you won't get that full DDR3 1600 speed with the 920 until you raise the bclock high enough, so don't be suprised to see it boot up the first time to slower ram speeds. Once you get your system built and the OS installed there's a whole tuning list for XP (or Vista) and installing and tuning FSX. The links are available when your ready. Many folks here are usually happy to help.Here's another great site: http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.plThat site has much of the info you will want to read in order to tune you system right. Remember the 800lb gorrilla thing, how the sim responds is all in the HW and installing & tuning FSX.-jk

I can vouch for the above. Got my new system up and running @ 4gHz with mostly the same hardware. FSX is very nice. Using a GTX260 at the moment.The advice given here is quite solid.

[kos 0]

There are:CPU: AM2+ Phenom X3 8450MB: GA-MA74GM-S2 (Socket AM2)Graphics: GF-9500 GT 512 MBDDR2 2GbWin XP sp3 HomeEd.I did change 9500GT to GTX 280 (1 Gb) and no fps increase in FSX.What can i do to increase fps?a) upgrade MB (Sock AM2) to any with Sock AM2+ (due CPU work with HyperTransport 1.0 instead 3.0)b ) upgrade CPU (as most significant component for FSX)c) other variantsOr let me "rotate" question: How influence of HyperTransport version to FSX fps is possible?Many thxs!PS: Sorry for my English