I am about to order this custom built system to run FSX, but thought taking some advices. For my budget, the Sandy Bridge 2600K is the CPU I can afford with the rest of the setup. I aim to overclock the SB 2600K to about 4.6 GHZOn the other hand I am not sure about the graphic card choice, and I do not want to pay allot of money for the latest GTX, yet I need your advice on a GTX model that will not bottleneck the rest of the setupSpecs of the PC that I am ready to get:CPU : Intel Core i7 2600K Quad Core Unlocked Hyperthreading Processor LGA1155 3.4GHZ Sandy Bridge 8MB (I will OC it to 4.6 GHZ)CPU Cooler device : Coolit Systems Eco CPU Water Cooling System AUTO-REGULATED & MaintenanceMotherboard : ASUS P8P67 Pro REV3.0 ATX P67 LGA1155 DDR3 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 2PCI Sandy Bridge B3 Motherboard DDR3 Memory : Corsair Vengeance 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Dual Channel Memory Kit Video Card (Not sure about this one unless ok): GeForce GTX 550 900MHZ 1GB 4.1GHZ GDDR5 PCI-E Dual DVI Mini HDMI PC Case : Cooler Master Haf 932 Full Tower EATX Case 6X5.25 1X3.5 5X3.5INT No PSU USB eSATA 1394 Audio - Black Power Supply : Corsair TX750W 750W ATX 12V 60A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 140MM Fan OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT DVD OEM Hard Drive : Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB Cache 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM (I have another 1 TB that I will transfer from my old system so it can be a data drive coupled with the one above)Thanks for your advises and tips :)

GTX 560ti for monitors less than 1920x1080 resolution, GTX 570 for monitors at that or greater. A GTX580 is pricey but best for those larger monitors.Like you said, if only running FSX just go with a 2500k (no hyperthreading).

GTX 560ti for monitors less than 1920x1080 resolution, GTX 570 for monitors at that or greater. A GTX580 is pricey but best for those larger monitors.Like you said, if only running FSX just go with a 2500k (no hyperthreading).

Thanks for the advises, is there any reason I would choose the 2500k over the 2600k?Yes main objective is FSX max possible smoothness but I will also use the PC for other games eventualyThanks

Main reason is that 2500k is $100 cheaper and no games use hyper threading. Use that $100 to buy a nicer GPU like GTX560TI or GTX570.

Oh I see, yet I noticed in some benchmarks that the 2600k scored higher than 2500 in FS?

Oh I see, yet I noticed in some benchmarks that the 2600k scored higher than 2500 in FS?

Regarding those guys averaging 45+, it's difficult to tell whether it's the 2600k providing the extra performance or if it's the fact that they're all rocking GTX 580s... or both! What I gather is that owning both a 2600k and the GTX 580 appears to only provide approximately 2 or 3 fps over Funky's result of 44.7 FPS, and all he's running is an i5-2500k and a GTX 560. That's $300 in savings for just a 2 to 3 fps hit! The hit you're going to feel if you get much less of a GPU than a GTX560 is probably going to be much more than 2 or 3 fps! Take a look at my result to see what I mean.

Regarding those guys averaging 45+, it's difficult to tell whether it's the 2600k providing the extra performance or if it's the fact that they're all rocking GTX 580s... or both! What I gather is that owning both a 2600k and the GTX 580 appears to only provide approximately 2 or 3 fps over Funky's result of 44.7 FPS, and all he's running is an i5-2500k and a GTX 560. That's $300 in savings for just a 2 to 3 fps hit! The hit you're going to feel if you get much less of a GPU than a GTX560 is probably going to be much more than 2 or 3 fps! Take a look at my result to see what I mean.

The other large factor in this case is lack of AA and AF. (I assume you're referencing fsx mark here?) - in which case all that awesome IQ stuff is turned down because of FSX's-in game solution.Start cranking up the AA with nvidia Inspector, I run 8xSQ, and even the newer cards will bog down with the super sampling/transparency AA (tree shimmer cure). I guess I'd still go with a GTX570 if running a larger monitor (1920x1080)

I have changed to an i5-2500k a week ago and I´m highly pleased about this CPU. It´s not that expensive (Hyperthreading-who cares?) and an easy overclocker. As GFX card I would tend to the GTX560TI. Looks nice and has good looking spec´s. Performance shouldn´t be a big problem. My now mediocre GTX 260 can handle FSX with high AAF settings and frames locked on 35 with mostly no big loss. So I think a GTX 560 ti is the one to go for.

Regarding those guys averaging 45+, it's difficult to tell whether it's the 2600k providing the extra performance or if it's the fact that they're all rocking GTX 580s... or both! What I gather is that owning both a 2600k and the GTX 580 appears to only provide approximately 2 or 3 fps over Funky's result of 44.7 FPS, and all he's running is an i5-2500k and a GTX 560. That's $300 in savings for just a 2 to 3 fps hit! The hit you're going to feel if you get much less of a GPU than a GTX560 is probably going to be much more than 2 or 3 fps! Take a look at my result to see what I mean.

I like to think that with those high IQ settings more expensive cards work better. As I said in another thread, my GTX285 sucked badly in 8xSQ even in FSX, and GTX580 is chewing it through like hot knife through butter.And I must say: right now flying EGLL-LEBL, and it's a special experience. High LOD, really nice quality picture (2x SGSS + 8xS), all I can say was worth the money.It's virtually impossible to test, short of testing another GPU under the same installation.

I just built my system with:I5-2500K 3.3 GHzCoolerMaster Genesis II CPU coolerHAF 922 Mid-tower - plenty big enough, it's hugeCorsair TX750 - a beautiful package with enough cables and variations to satisfy any buildMSI GTX560Ti Golden editionIntel 128GB SSD - a key component speed-wise...OS and FSX start within seconds of launch8GB G-Skill Ripjaws Saitek yoke/throttle quadrantTrack IR Pro 5 - indispensable, flying skills are 100% improved once you can look aroundRunning FSX SP2 + REX + My TraffixX + ORBX PacNorthwest: smooth as silk. Very, very happy with my choices. I was planning to OC, not sure if I need to, everything is running smoothly, nice and cool.

I apreciate all your feedbacks. I am sure the 2500K can achieve plenty of performance with FSX when OC but then I was told that the 2600K can be a safer choice in case MS FLight or Xplane 10 use HT,... Yet these are speculations but then a 100$ difference is not very critical to me. What is sad is that I would wish to get a GTX 580 yet this is a big budget jump compared to modest GTXs... Perhaps I will settle with the GTX560