Seeing how the PMDG MD-11f Stretches the capabilities of my current PC, What do you guys think on this for a PC set-up for FSX:Windows 64 BitIntel Corei7-960 (3.2ghz)ATI Radeon HD5970(1GB)12GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHZANything else needed to know?

A quick reply since I am standing in a costco line up. I would get a 2500k or a 2600k and I would not buy a ati card for FSX. I would get an Nvidia card. There is lots of info on the net about this. Do some research and you will find lots of threads about the ati cards. :)

And 12GB is an overkill, no need that much. 4 to 8 GB is enough.

CPU - you want the 2500K/2600K, not the older i7 8xx or 9xx. These new ones overclock much higher - you'll get 4.5.4.8GHz easily with a good cooler (Corsair H70 is great)RAM - 12GB is overkill, FSX is a 32-bit application and could only ever access 4GB anyway. I've never seen it get higher than ~2.5GB or so, even with a ton of addons.Video - Get an Nvidia card, don't get a dual-GPU card. You want a GTX460, 560 Ti, 570, or 580 - those are all based on the latest Nvidia chipset.

And that much ram could have a negative effect on overclocking abilities. But if you're into photoshopping and video editing, 12 gb is the way to go, but OC would have to sit out.Bjorn

CPU - you want the 2500K/2600K, not the older i7 8xx or 9xx. These new ones overclock much higher - you'll get 4.5.4.8GHz easily with a good cooler (Corsair H70 is great)RAM - 12GB is overkill, FSX is a 32-bit application and could only ever access 4GB anyway. I've never seen it get higher than ~2.5GB or so, even with a ton of addons.Video - Get an Nvidia card, don't get a dual-GPU card. You want a GTX460, 560 Ti, 570, or 580 - those are all based on the latest Nvidia chipset.

Hi Ryan,What Mobo would you recommend with that CPU? I'm an Asus a really excited user and prefer an Asus Mobo to go with that setup...Thanks

I have the P67 Sabertooth from ASUS, and I like it a lot! If you don't need all of the features though, the standard P8P67 should suffice.

Any of the Asus P8P67's that are not the -M models are fine - Jason here at PMDG used the P8P67 Deluxe and likes it a lot. The Sabertooth is obviously the nicest one but it's very expensive, I'm not sure that's necessary unless you really need something it's got.

Cheers Ryan. Thanks for the direction.

What Ryan just said, I'm running an i5 2500k on an Asus P8P67 deluxe board and it's the nicest board I've ever used. Overclocking to 4.6GHz was real easy. Rock solid since 2 weeks, FSX is a beauty now that it runs really nice.My last system was an eVGA 680i board, also a nice board and I was holding out until eVGA released their P67 boards but I couldn't wait any longer and went with Asus, don't regret the switch, highly recommend their P67 boards. I'd get the deluxe or standard P67, anything else is a little overkill, sabertooth looks real nice but it won't work with the H70 cooler due to the fact the board's cooling system prefers a CPU fan that blows down towards the board in order for the air to flow through the armor shield. Also it looks like it'll get clogged with dust real easily. I'd prefer to not have to dust my board so often if that's the case.Cheers,

I have the P8P67 Deluxe......and I LOVE it. I bought the i5 2500K and once again LOVE it.I used ASUS's EFI in automode and set it to performance mode for like 30 min, it clocked the I5 2500K to a ridiculously fast 4.5+ GHz with out even breaking a sweat when playing FSX, (under normal conditions it would lower the CPU to a manageable 1.6 GHz). I quickly turned it back to "normal" mode due the the fact that I am using Intel's stock heatsink and fan......I was getting numerous CPU overhearing alarms by Asus's AI suit provided with the install cd..........when time, and finances permit I plan on getting the Corsair H70 due to the solid reviews and small size, and the fact that it will fit nicely in my case. I rather like my CPU and do not intend on melting the thing......trust me this MOBO can handle this procesor..........and kick the snot out of it.........but make sure that you keep it as cool as possible. On a side note, the AI suite II that comes with the install ASUS install cd, is something worth playing with.....It can monitor all your fan speeds, mobo temps, cpu temps, voltage, and it has various performance tweaking tools as well. This is by far one of the best motherboards I have ever owned.......and it looks really cool in the case, ( the cover of the chip set lights up.....not necessary but neat. Now I bought this during the recall and havent tried to return it. I'm utilizing the 6 Gb/s SATA ports and bought a 6Gb/s HDD, and am running my Optics drive on another 6Gb/s SATA port so im not worried. AND the deluxe version comes with a front panel USB 3.0 box........very nice addition. I can talk all day about this board..........its worth itI'm running 4 GB of ram and this is PLENTY.....trust me, I haven't had once single issue......and for me, I don't need more than this.Running Win 7 64 bit. I just bought the $99 OEM version.......which is the EXACT same thing as the $200 boxed version, minus....uh....the box, and microsoft support.....WHICH I have never in my life had to call for help.Hitachi 2 TB drive...which I will never fill up......it was just a good price at the time, and had 10 to 1 positive reviews on it. My frame-rates are very good both in air and on the ground with all 3rd party addon aircraft I own, at all airports.I cant even imagine the frame-rate boost if I actually OC this thing. During FSX play its stable at 3.5 GHzI spent a little over $700 dollars on this build. All I bought was the CPU, case, Motherboard ( Which comes with all of the necessary SATA cables), RAM, Power supply ( 650W, kinda weak, and this is something I plan on upgrading in the coming weeks to something over 1000W, due to my desire for a much better video card), and the OS. Everything else, Monitor, keyboard, mouse, videocard, etc.....I already hadThis computer is FAST FAST FAST, and isn't even close to pushing its limits. This thing is capable of SO much more. I bought everything from Newegg, or amazon.com. What I did was read reviews....If it had more bad than good then I moved on.Good luck.....if you have any questions please feel free to ask or PM me.....I am 100% confident that this thing will definitely run the NGX with no problem...........

Hi,Just wondering, would smartdefrag and ultimatedefrag work? I have the blurry issue and the flight display frozen problem and watched a tutorial and the video marker said it really help. If it does which one would be better? ThanksJoe Barton

Hi all!I am new in this forum...I would not start a new thread so i continue this one. I am thinking about a good CPU cooler for my new system. The CPU will be a Core i5-2500k. I want to overclock the CPU to approx. 4.5-4.7GHz depending on how much is possible with this production run. The cooler should be silent as possible and of course should cool the CPU down to a low temperature. I read lots of reviews and there are three coolers which come into question:1) Scythe Mugen 2 Rev. B2) Scythe Ninja 33) Scythe YasyaWhat i also should mention is the price: maximum 50 Euros. So, the Noctua coolers are too expensive for me!I also read in this forum that the Corsair A70 is hightly recommended but i do not know if this cooler can fulfill my requirements, maybe it´s not as silent as the Scythe ones?If anyone has other suggestions, please let me know and say why his or her favourite cooler is so much better than the Scythe series...Thank you!Matthew

Matthew, I actually just built my own comp with the i5 2500k. I overclocked it to 4.7 GHZ and my temps do not go over 60c in FSX (Averages around 45-55). I am using the Corsair H70 and couldn't be happier. Any P67 motherboard will do, I am using the Sabertooth and love it.@JasonBI have the Sabertooth and am using the H70. I installed a small 50x10x10 fan in the designated slot ASUS provided for the mobo and it works fine.

What's wrong with a -M board???