I am getting the following:1-HAFX.2--I7 2600K No experience, but will learn and oc to whatever is safe.3-Asus P8P67 Deluxe rev.34- Corsair AX850W Modular.5- Corsair Vengance 8GB ???6- Noctua NH-D14.I asked Nick, and his opinion was:"Honestly I do not see much reason to run SSD for OS. If you intend to run SSD then I would run OS and FSX on separate SSD's and install the Intel RST driver. The mechanical hard drive is fine for dead storage in that setup. Otherwise any decent WD Black drive is fine for OS and installed programs."I got confused as to what Nick meant, and do not want to keep interrupting his work as I am anxiously awaiting his next gex release.Do ssd, and hd not get along very well? Should I either do ssd's, or mechanicals exclusively?My questions are as follows:1- Should I just wait for IVY, and live with what I currently have (Q6600, 9800gtx, 4gb ddr2 ram)?I know it is way too early for this type of question, but if there is a possibility to keep the mobo and replace sandy for ivy down the road then I will not wait.2- If not, stick to corsair vengeance, and if so which one? I want one of the following:http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820226201http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820226203 but they are not available in Dubai, so I would have to have it shipped, or get the corsair.3-a: ssd 64gb for os and office and so on, ssd 256gb for fsx, 1tb wd caviar black 64mb cache for everything else including Call of duty b-ops, pictures, video and so on. b: 150gb vraptor for os, office, and so on, 300gb vraptor for fsx, and 1tb wd caviar black 64mb cache for everything else ( I could also get a 450gb vraptor to cover everything , and leave fsx on 450gb vraptor). c: 64gbssd for os, 450 vraptor for fsx, 1tb wd caviar black 64mb cache for everything else.4- Video Card: I was thinking of getting something like this:http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814500186or: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814500201Will eventually go with at least a 27inch monitor, and perhaps use my 22inch along with it. Sorry to all for the headaches I am causing, but I am trying to come up with the best solution so I can get it built, or not tomorrow.Thanks in advance,Waleed

Hi. Nick's saying SSD and HDD do work together, and if you do go the SSD route for the OS and FSX, only use a HDD for data storage I.e. Docs, Videos etc. It wouldn't be economical or practical as frequent access can wear an SSD.I've followed Nick's advice over the years, and I've benefited greatly.Personally, I'd Vrap for OS (not essential for what it does) and certainly a Vrap for FSX.Do consider the of the Vrap. Once more than 50% full performance will drop off, significantly after 75%.I use a 600gb Vrap for FSX as I out grew the 300gb. I now use that for the OS as it was surplus.Depends on how many payware sceneries you intend to use.I have 2 x 1gb in Raid 0 for my photoscenery as it wouldn't fit on a Vrap.I would spend your money on making sure you get low latency memory. Everything needs to be on Par with your clocked processor.Have you read Nick's guide for setting up FSX? A lot of info on components in there.Chris

Yup, I trust Nick blindly, and according to his ram guide 1600 is best, and for that the latency should be 6, or 7.Problem is my only option is corsair. I am not sure which type though.As far as scenery, lots and lots, but not much in the shape of mesh yet.I have Switzerland, ut Alaska.I want to get some mesh soon, but as far as photoscenery is concerned, nothing yet. I am waiting on Austria pro version.

I am getting the following:1-HAFX.2--I7 2600K No experience, but will learn and oc to whatever is safe.3-Asus P8P67 Deluxe rev.34- Corsair AX850W Modular.5- Corsair Vengance 8GB ???6- Noctua NH-D14.I asked Nick, and his opinion was:"Honestly I do not see much reason to run SSD for OS. If you intend to run SSD then I would run OS and FSX on separate SSD's and install the Intel RST driver. The mechanical hard drive is fine for dead storage in that setup. Otherwise any decent WD Black drive is fine for OS and installed programs."I got confused as to what Nick meant, and do not want to keep interrupting his work as I am anxiously awaiting his next gex release.Do ssd, and hd not get along very well? Should I either do ssd's, or mechanicals exclusively?My questions are as follows:1- Should I just wait for IVY, and live with what I currently have (Q6600, 9800gtx, 4gb ddr2 ram)?I know it is way too early for this type of question, but if there is a possibility to keep the mobo and replace sandy for ivy down the road then I will not wait.2- If not, stick to corsair vengeance, and if so which one? I want one of the following:http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820226201http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820226203 but they are not available in Dubai, so I would have to have it shipped, or get the corsair.3-a: ssd 64gb for os and office and so on, ssd 256gb for fsx, 1tb wd caviar black 64mb cache for everything else including Call of duty b-ops, pictures, video and so on. b: 150gb vraptor for os, office, and so on, 300gb vraptor for fsx, and 1tb wd caviar black 64mb cache for everything else ( I could also get a 450gb vraptor to cover everything , and leave fsx on 450gb vraptor). c: 64gbssd for os, 450 vraptor for fsx, 1tb wd caviar black 64mb cache for everything else.4- Video Card: I was thinking of getting something like this:http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814500186or: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814500201Will eventually go with at least a 27inch monitor, and perhaps use my 22inch along with it. Sorry to all for the headaches I am causing, but I am trying to come up with the best solution so I can get it built, or not tomorrow.Thanks in advance,Waleed

Hi Waleed,May I just chirp in here for a moment. I like your choices. Add in the Zotac 580 GTX and overclock it yourself and I will help you if you need it. Either RAM option would be good, but if you could get something like what I have in my signature, you would do very well. Without getting into arm wrestles with those who may disagree, I suggest you get a 120G SSD for your operating system, and another at 180g+ for FSX. You will need a good sized mechanical drive for storage. All this stuff runs well.Kind regards,

Stephen, I was hoping you would jump in.I tried to copy as much of your system as I could as I like it the most.My main issue is lack of a Mushkin dealer here in Dubai. Noctua is out too. I suppose I could look up some European stores as I am going to Rome at the end of the month.Either that or go with corsair for ram, and either the h70, or a Thermalight air fan.So given the choice between 2 600 gb raptors (1 for os, 1 for fsx, or 1 Kingston 120ssd for os, and 1 Kingston 256 ssd. you suggest ssd option?Either way I will have 1- 2 tb caviar black for the rest.Thanks for the help.

I think you should upgrade the mobo to Z68. Also, you will find that those Mushkin 6's are hard to find or discontinued now. Hopefully they will come back.Mark.

Stephen, I was hoping you would jump in.I tried to copy as much of your system as I could as I like it the most.My main issue is lack of a Mushkin dealer here in Dubai. Noctua is out too. I suppose I could look up some European stores as I am going to Rome at the end of the month.Either that or go with corsair for ram, and either the h70, or a Thermalight air fan.So given the choice between 2 600 gb raptors (1 for os, 1 for fsx, or 1 Kingston 120ssd for os, and 1 Kingston 256 ssd. you suggest ssd option?Either way I will have 1- 2 tb caviar black for the rest.Thanks for the help.

Hi Waleed,I would personally go with the SSD options. With the RAM, perhaps just go with whatever manufacturer has the fastest, lowest cas sets you can get, making sure it does not need more than 1.65v. Getting a cooler to fit over tall RAM heatsinks can be a problem. The Prolimatech Megahalems just barely fits nicely over the low slung Redline frostbites. There would not have been much room for anything higher, but since the fan sits in a slot in the fins, perhaps it might go a wee bit higher, but I am uncertain.Perhaps an H70 water solution by Corsair with push/pull twin fans might be a better answer for you if the RAM heatsink height makes an air cooler prohibitive.Kind regards,

I think you should upgrade the mobo to Z68. Also, you will find that those Mushkin 6's are hard to find or discontinued now. Hopefully they will come back.Mark.

Mark, sadly they are at least a month away here I would then just wait for ivy.As far as Mushkin, their 7's are available, but again, I would have to get them shipped.Stephen, I will opt for the h70 as it is available. I love the Noctua though, and it would have gone perfectly with Mushkin like yours. Might as well go for the ssd then. Kingston is what is available here so should I opt for the v+ series??http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820139108orhttp://www.newegg.co...N82E16820139113FSX:http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820139114Ram:http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820233147orhttp://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145344They are both at eight though, and I cannot find any 7's from them.or:-Should I just replace my hdd's with ssd's, get the h70 to oc my q6600 to 3.0 and wait it out till q1 of next year and go for broke with ivy?

or:-Should I just replace my hdd's with ssd's, get the h70 to oc my q6600 to 3.0 and wait it out till q1 of next year and go for broke with ivy?

Get the best ram you can and it will run well. There is every reason to think that the Z68 will not effect FSX either way, and Intel has said that Ivy Bridge will sit nicely on existing 1155 MBs with a BIOS flashover, so I expect that the best decision is to go for Sandy Bridge and enjoy!.Kind regards,

Wilco and thanks for the help and advice.:Applause:Nuts, I have to do my first build in around 15 years or so (remember the first celerons?) Install os and clean up as per Nicks guide, all necessary add-ons ( skype, firefox, nod32, malwarebytes, smartdefrag2 and so on) check for stability.Next comes flirting with sandy (I hope I get a home run :Praying:) and bugging you guys for help of course, and then downloading all the temp test programmes to make sure it is stable (feel free to list them for me :P)Install hardware (printer and so on along with a 1tb external backup), and then hopefully install fsx (I promise to try and be patient and reboot and allow to run for a minute in between installs this time).Once stable, install add-ons and test and restart every time. I think I will get it done in time to kick sandy out and get poison ivy along the way :P

Edited May 14, 201115 yr by waleed

I finally got the build done, and will post the specs and hardware in a day or so.Sucker is a beaut.

Hi Waleed,I would personally go with the SSD options. With the RAM, perhaps just go with whatever manufacturer has the fastest, lowest cas sets you can get, making sure it does not need more than 1.65v. Getting a cooler to fit over tall RAM heatsinks can be a problem. The Prolimatech Megahalems just barely fits nicely over the low slung Redline frostbites. There would not have been much room for anything higher, but since the fan sits in a slot in the fins, perhaps it might go a wee bit higher, but I am uncertain.Perhaps an H70 water solution by Corsair with push/pull twin fans might be a better answer for you if the RAM heatsink height makes an air cooler prohibitive.Kind regards,

Thats a damn clean case you have Stephen. Mine is already dusty as hell! Compress air is useless!