Hi, over the years I have gathered some nice components, and have just acquired a new XFX Ati 6870 GDDR5 1GB Card - I guess I am wondering what I need to most invest in to make her fly properly.Any advice would be very much appreciated! :) I don't know jack about overclocking, so everything below is running at factory standard specs. I suspect it is a bit.. er choked...Marcel's Current BitsWindows: Windows 7 Professional 64 bitMemory (RAM): 2047 MBCPU Info: Intel® Core™2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHzCPU Speed: 2395.5 MHzMotherboard: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. EP45-DS3Motherboard: EP45-DS3Case : Lian Li Silent case (very nice!)Sound Card: Auzen X-Fi Audio Prelude 7.1Display Adapters: XFX ATI Radeon 6870 1GB GDDR5Monitors: 2x Acer X243HQ 24" LCD Screens (can go to 3, by adding another identical one for about 150) Screen Resolution: 1920 X 1080 - 32 bitCD / DVD Drives: Optiarc DVD RW AD-7200SMouse: Logitech G5Keyboard : Logitech G15Hard Disks: C: 931.5GB | D: 298.1GBHard Disks - Free: C: 543.0GB | D: 84.0GBJoystick : Logitech X3D Extreme 3DPro Obviously, I need to do something - What can I do that will balance it out right? I have not mentioned my budget, but I can't afford the i7's, and I don't want things that will add only minor performance for high cost.What do you think?EDIT : I forgot to say that I am running FSX + Expansion, and the Captain Sim 727-100 Pro Pack (FSX), plus some free scenery packs. I am choosing the parts from MSY - Here :) http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf

You don't have enough RAM and your CPU is holding back performance @ only 2.4GHz. Your motherboard has the ability to overclock your CPU, I'd say give it a shot. Otherwise you should just get a new mobo/CPU/RAM. Also, Radeons aren't that great for FSX, they have issues when flying in heavy clouds and their texture filtering algorithm produces shimmering (a visual artifact). With some tweaking you can get it to run well but still not as well as a comparable Geforce.

Hello Marcel,I lived in Australia (Perth) for three years. When I was there, I normally purchased any computer hardware from either PCCaseGear or MSY. Have a look at PCCaseGear. Their prices were normally cheaper than MSY. I just looked up MSY. They have a new sight now instead of the PDF's they used to display. In regards to your system, if you cannot/do not want to overclock your CPU, I would suggest purchasing a Q9550 or higher spec'd Quad core with a higher clock. This will most likely benefit FSX the most. I would also recommend adding another 2GB of ram.

Thanks guys!What do you think about the viability of switching to an i5-760 and a new board? A Q9550 (used) looks to be had for about $250, while an i5-760 I can buy for about $208, and a new board can be done I guess... Does anyone know what these i5-2500 processors are like in comparisonm, because they can now be had fir about the same price too.Another alternative I am thinking about is a Phenom II X6 1055ST with a Gigabyte 890FXA-UD5 Mobo.. Is a Q9550 a better idea? And with such cheap RAM Prices will I notice a difference if I buy 4 / 6 / 8 / 12 GB of RAM. I am also very confused about the exact RAM speed / etc to buy.I will definitely check out PCCaseGear too. :)

As much as I like my Q9550, I only paid $179 for mine and that was almost a year and a half ago so I can hardly recommend purchasing one now for $250. Skip the socket 1156 platform, it's already been replaced by socket 1155. I'd recommend an 1155 board and an i5/i7 2xxx chip.

Thanks, then a i5-2500 for $229 is on the menu (Locked in! :)), and that means a 1155 motherboard is essential. I forgot to add that I have bought a OSZ SSD 80GB Drive to boot from, and run some essential programs that I need fast... :) I will also be getting a Samsung 2TB Drive for storage.As far as motherboards go, I can choose from :G-B H67MA-D2H / Asus P8H67-M 111 / 135MSI P67A-C43 / Asus P8P67-M / G-B P67A-UD3R 141/159/169MSI P67A-C45 /G-B P67A-UD3P /Asus P8P67 157/187/199G-B P67A-UD4 / Asus P8P67-Pro 207 / 225 Asus P8P67-EVO / Asus P8P67-Deluxe 255 / 309Given my configuration and needs, and prior experience with GB boards (As in, the time I have used it as opposed to knowing anything about it lol) I quite like the idea of the G-B P67A-UD3P, which seems a natural next step?Is that about right?

If you plan to overclock you may want to take a step up from the UD3P model and go for the UD4.

If you plan to overclock you may want to take a step up from the UD3P model and go for the UD4.

What good is good advice if you don't follow it, lol?:) Here's my shopping list. I've upgraded the board a touch. Thanks for everyone for your good advice!Component Specific From PriceBoard GB P67A-UD4 MSY 207CPU Intel i5-2500 MSY 229Cooler FRIO MSY 119Assemble MSY 70RAM Kingston 2000 Kingston T1 MSY 106TOTAL 731

Hi Marcel and Max,Max: you just recommended for Marcel to buy a more expensive board to OC a CPU that can't be OCd. He needs a 2500k or 2600k to OC. Marcel: I would stick with the UD3P. Overclocking is not possible on the CPU you have chosen.

Hi Marcel and Max,Max: you just recommended for Marcel to buy a more expensive board to OC a CPU that can't be OCd. He needs a 2500k or 2600k to OC. Marcel: I would stick with the UD3P. Overclocking is not possible on the CPU you have chosen.

I didn't recommend a CPU that can't be OC'd, I didn't recommend a specific model. Also, all 2xxx series chips can be OC'd, only the K models have fully unlocked multipliers that allow you to push well beyond Turbo clocks, though. The 2500 (non-K) model can be clocked up to 4.1GHz, in fact (highest Turbo clock (3.7GHz) + 4 multipliers (4.1GHz)). That being said I would recommend a K SKU if you do plan on OC'ing heavily.

Hi Max,Sorry you misunderstood me. I meant that you recommended a more expensive motherboard, when the cheaper UD3P is sufficient.

Hi Max,Sorry you misunderstood me. I meant that you recommended a more expensive motherboard, when the cheaper UD3P is sufficient.

The UD4 is better for overclocking and Sandy Bridge is screaming to be overclocked, so why not?

Hi Max,He can't overclock. He is getting a 2500 with a locked multiplier which can only go so far. The small amount he can overclock will be done easily on the UD3P. An expensive overclocking board is only needed when you have a K and are looking to push it to high 4.x's.

All done, they did not have the Samsung Spinpoint anywhere due to the HDD shortage, but I managed to get a 2GB WD. The FRIO cooler was also out of stock, so I switched to a Noctua NH-C12P SE14 cooling..I ended up with a i5-2500, on a P67-UD3R and G-Skill Ripjaws DDR3-2000 RAM.I'm pretty happy, and I am going to give assembling it a go myself. Thanks everyone for your great help! Can someone point me to a thread that talks about how to get FSX optimised properly with my gear?Marcel

Hi Marcel,Look on simviation for a user called NickN. He has a complete FSX setup guide which I highly recommend. However, skip all the parts on nHancer. Use nVidia inspector instead and use these settings:http://forum.avsim.net/topic/291720-how-to-set-aa-in-fs9-and-fsx-for-nvidias-2xxxx-drivers-now-with-working-transparency-aa/Finally, Search for the User Bojote. In his signature are two links for tweaks. The first is to his FSX.cfg tweaking tool. Just follow the instructions. The second is a shader 3 mod. Just download and install.