On January 9, I am planning to buy a pc with the following specifications:Intel core i7 2600 or 2600k (depends on price)4gb DDR3 1600 dual channel ramNvidia 430 gt 1gb(not powerful, I know, but I've heard fsx is mainly processor hungry)Not decided on mother boardBudget is 1000-1150Please tell me what I can expect in fsx and any recommendations you might have.

Get the 2600k. Its overclockable, and will help best for FSX. There has been a lot of dicussion, and if you're planning on using heavy addons, get 8GBy RAM, it will help a lot and stop OOMs. Get an Asus P8P67 Evo or Pro, or the Gigabyte P67A-UD4/5/7 mobo. Your card will probably be a bandwidth bottleneck, as graphics cards have proven to be fairly GPU hungry too. I'd get minimum a GTX460.

I am in the same phase as you are, but waiting till someone confirms how the new SB CPUs handle FSX. I am intersted especially in i5-2500k, which gives me more space for better GPU (thinking of GTX570), if the power of i5 overclocked somewher to 4,5 GHz is enough for FSX.

You need to scrap that GT 430 or you're going to be sorely disappointed with your FSX performance. The program relies primarily on CPU performance but an entry level graphics card can't come close to satisfying FSX's rendering demands. As Chris said, you'll really want a GTX 460 or better. If you can wait a bit longer, the 560 will be out to replace the 460 and will be a good 20-30% faster on paper (FSX is another matter).

I have been looking at the 460 and I may be able to afford it if and only if sandy bridge 2600 or 2600k cost about the same as a current i7 950. Anyway if I do end up with the 430, it will be much better than the mobility radeon 3650 I currently have.

You need to scrap that GT 430 or you're going to be sorely disappointed with your FSX performance. The program relies primarily on CPU performance but an entry level graphics card can't come close to satisfying FSX's rendering demands. As Chris said, you'll really want a GTX 460 or better. If you can wait a bit longer, the 560 will be out to replace the 460 and will be a good 20-30% faster on paper (FSX is another matter).

How much longer for the 560? I am dying waiting until Jan 9 for sandy bridge as I have been Planning to get this new pc since around July.

I am in the same phase as you are, but waiting till someone confirms how the new SB CPUs handle FSX. I am intersted especially in i5-2500k, which gives me more space for better GPU (thinking of GTX570), if the power of i5 overclocked somewher to 4,5 GHz is enough for FSX.

Although with fsx nothing is certain, I am very optimistic that sandy bridge will outperform current i7 equivalents in fsx. I'll be sure to post my fsx results once my new pc is delivered.

How much longer for the 560? I am dying waiting until Jan 9 for sandy bridge as I have been Planning to get this new pc since around July.

I don't have a solid release date on the 560, other than some time this quarter. If things go well that could mean before the month is over. If they do not the launch may slip into next month or in some disastrous worst-case scenario, March. I don't have any indication that the 560 is running late though, so I'm leaning towards sooner rather than later.

I don't have a solid release date on the 560, other than some time this quarter. If things go well that could mean before the month is over. If they do not the launch may slip into next month or in some disastrous worst-case scenario, March. I don't have any indication that the 560 is running late though, so I'm leaning towards sooner rather than later.

Okay, thanks I'll take this into consideration on Jan 9. As of now, I don't completely know if I'm going to buy the computer on jan 9 because if the new p67 mobos and i7'sare too expensive compared to current x58's and i7's, then I might save up more money and wait for the nvidia 560 in the meantime.

For some reason, Cyberpower is selling 2600k sandy bridges today instead of starting tommorrow, so I bought my system and was able to get the gtx 460, 8gb of 1600 ddr3 ram, and a 700 watt powersupply, which is more than I wanted for now. I'll post the specs in my signature.

Your choice brings me to one question: What is better combination for FSX? An i7-2600K with GTX460 or i5-2500K with GTX570?

For some reason, Cyberpower is selling 2600k sandy bridges today instead of starting tommorrow, so I bought my system and was able to get the gtx 460, 8gb of 1600 ddr3 ram, and a 700 watt powersupply, which is more than I wanted for now. I'll post the specs in my signature.

Hello,I'm planning to change quickly my old config which is:- Q9400 OC @3,7- 4GB DDR- 9800GTXand I hesitate between two configuration, only the cpu and mbo changes:- i72600k or i7950. Asus P8P67-M or X58 Mobo- 6GB SSR3 1600- GTX460- SSD C300 64GB for OS. Velociraptor HDD for FSXBut I want to be sure that new sandy bridge are better for FSX that i7950....

Remember Sandy Bridge is dual core, with 4 or 8GBy being the most common setups. X58 is triple channel.

Remember Sandy Bridge is dual core, with 4 or 8GBy being the most common setups. X58 is triple channel.

??? Sandy bridge are 4core CPUs! (for 2500 and 2600)

Chris probably meant SB are dual channel, not dual core...

Woops bad. Thanks Vaclav, I meant dual channel. Don't know why I typed core?

Hello,I'm planning to change quickly my old config which is:- Q9400 OC @3,7- 4GB DDR- 9800GTXand I hesitate between two configuration, only the cpu and mbo changes:- i72600k or i7950. Asus P8P67-M or X58 Mobo- 6GB SSR3 1600- GTX460- SSD C300 64GB for OS. Velociraptor HDD for FSXBut I want to be sure that new sandy bridge are better for FSX that i7950....

The triple channel memory is one thing previous i7s have better, and although with fsx you can't be sure yet, a new sandy bridge processor outperforms it's corresponding first gen i7. Look at the results on this site: cpubenchmark.net (once again, no one is still sure how sandy bridge will work in fsx)