A Sandy Bridge i7 2600K at 5Ghz with super fast SSD's in Raid0 and an overclocked 580 GTX sounds good to me for the next step up. Will FSX like a super fast CPU? Sure it will, a whole lot.

Isn't getting a 5Ghz overlcock on a 2600k a bit of a lottery, though? My understanding is that the overclock potential will vary by chip, with most of them hitting more in the 4.3-4.5 range.Of course, I'm sitting on a [email protected] so 4.5 sounds awesome to me, but I do wish that getting a higher overclock wasn't luck of the draw.

Now this is interesting i5 transformer . Sure you don't get the overclock potential of a 32 nm chip but this goes to show we're dealing with Intel uncrippling components instead of doing anything new. Looks like the Pentium Celeron 300 all over again...

That wasn't a yes or no question. Do it.

:crickets:No response, eh? Can't back up your boast?

I'm waiting for a FSX benchmark!!how many FPS on a big scenery ?Can't wait for a test, before buy a new sandy bridge 2600k!

Isn't getting a 5Ghz overlcock on a 2600k a bit of a lottery, though? My understanding is that the overclock potential will vary by chip, with most of them hitting more in the 4.3-4.5 range.

I think I know the review you're getting that idea from and I think either:1) motherboard manufacturers hadn't released the new BIOS revisions that enable PLL overvoltage, or2) they were using D1 stepping chips, in which case the PLL overvoltage doesn't applyWith the new BIOS revisions and a D2 stepping chip, you ought to have no trouble whatsoever hitting 4.5+ with reasonable voltages. 5Ghz will probably be another story. Supposedly, all retail chips will be D2, so you shouldn't have to worry. I think we'll just have to wait until tomorrow for any of this to be confirmed 100%.

I am going to wait six months and let the motherboards mature with a few bios updates. I am also going to let the prices come down a bit. My FSX box is already at 4ghz, so unless the benchmarks show a HUGE performance difference in FSX, I will be waiting for the prices to drop. A 5 ghz FSX box sounds interesting, but I want to see how many people can overclock to 5 and keep things stable.

I too plan to purchase the new 2600K. What slows me down is the software install, a fresh install of windows, all the OS tuning, etc. Wish there was an easier way to upgrade.How about motherboard selection? My first choice is EVGA but they seem slow to market.

I too plan to purchase the new 2600K. What slows me down is the software install, a fresh install of windows, all the OS tuning, etc. Wish there was an easier way to upgrade.

Windows 7 is so adaptable to new hardware I know of some people that have gone through 3 completely different sets of Motherboards & CPU's without a reformat...

I'm waiting for a FSX benchmark!!how many FPS on a big scenery ?Can't wait for a test, before buy a new sandy bridge 2600k!

I should have some results by mid-week. All the parts for my new 2600k, ram, mb, hd are on their way. I should have received everything by wednesday. I will certainly post results here.Here's the upcoming setup:2600k, Asus p8p67 deluxe, Corsair Vengeance 2x4gb ddr3 1600 cl8, zotac gtx580 (already on my bench), HAF932 (already received, OCZ SSD 250gb, HD sata6 1tb, Corsair hx750 (already received),liteon dvdrom, 2 win7 x64 (already received, will dual-boot: one for fsx only)

Windows 7 is so adaptable to new hardware I know of some people that have gone through 3 completely different sets of Motherboards & CPU's without a reformat...

Are you saying to just install the disk (SSD in my case) to the new mother board and boot up? No software laoding? That would be fantastic.

Are you saying to just install the disk (SSD in my case) to the new mother board and boot up? No software laoding? That would be fantastic.

Yup comes in handy if you are running say a server...

off to Fry's

I will maybe get the i7 2600K and GTX580 at middel of february..