Overclocked to 4.6. Still have to test for stability, etc. As this is my first overclock (I might even ask for help in another post to see if my vcores, etc. Are normal). Also, I will try the nvidia inspector. What exactly does it do? Does it decrease performance any at all?

Nvidia inspector is a tool to configure the nVidia graphics driver, and set the antialiasing mode (to smoothen the jagged edges in 3D graphics), anisotropic filtering (to increase the field of view/reduce blurry textures) vsync, etc...http://forum.avsim.net/topic/324786-nvidia-configuration-guide-inspector-2xxxx-drivers-version-20-explanations-of-all-settings/

Thanks for the informative and useful info. I'm looking for a machine with basically the same specs as yours. I'm also considering an I7 950 and will post some questions in a separate post. It sounds as though Sandy Bridge is the way to go. Howard

Would be cool if you could do some tests flying through loads of clouds and tell us what it's like compared to 8xS performance wise please :rolleyes:My 460 can handle 8xS no problem, but 8xSQ + clouds = -50% FPSI'm considering maybe a 570

With my REX HD clouds (max res.) and all the trimmings, SQ only reduces my perfomance a small bit, but does look very nice indeed. I'm still trying to compare 8xS and SQ to see if the change is worth the small performance decrease. The 580 handles it lovely. Probably a 5-10% decrease.

With my REX HD clouds (max res.) and all the trimmings, SQ only reduces my perfomance a small bit, but does look very nice indeed. I'm still trying to compare 8xS and SQ to see if the change is worth the small performance decrease. The 580 handles it lovely. Probably a 5-10% decrease.

Ok, thanks Alex A 5-10% is great in my bookI guess the 570 stands somwhere in between, probably a bit closer to the 580... I think I'll wait for the next generation's 670 or whatever anyway

Just finished getting my system stable with a 4.5 ghz overclock. I'll be doing benchmarks in fsx this weekend hopefully.