Building a computer for FSX. Your comments and suggestions on my choices would be appreciated:Cooler Master HAF X 942 Full Tower ASUS P8Z68 Pro motherboard I5-2500K Sandy Bridge CPU Gigabyte GEForce GTX 560 8G Mushkin Enhanced DDR3 1600MHz Ram Corsair H70 CPU Cooler Corsair AX850 power supply OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SATA III SSDThanks,Wayne

Building a computer for FSX. Your comments and suggestions on my choices would be appreciated:Cooler Master HAF X 942 Full Tower ASUS P8Z68 Pro motherboard I5-2500K Sandy Bridge CPU Gigabyte GEForce GTX 560 8G Mushkin Enhanced DDR3 1600MHz Ram Corsair H70 CPU Cooler Corsair AX850 power supply OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SATA III SSDThanks,Wayne

Sort of similar to my current system. What about a secondary HD? System looks good to me otherwise. I would check on the ASUS website and bring up the Qualified Vendor List (QVL) for your RAM and make sure it is compatible with that MB.Best regards,Jim

Looks perfect. You might look into peoples thoughts on the GTX 570 or 580 - especially if you're running multiple monitors. The GTX 560 will do just fine performance wise and it's certainly the best bang for buck card, but the 570 and 580 may allow higher graphics settings in nVidia control panel... i.e. anti-aliasing and all that other stuff I don't understand yet. Also, make sure the memory timings are as low as possible. I would also recommend 2x4GB instead of 4x2GB as it's two less sticks of memory to deal with.

Yeah, go 580 its a beast

I think you could save some money by eliminating the SSD and instead going with a Cavair Black hard drive. My understanding from these forums is that you will not see any performance hit, although loading times will be lower. The advantage is you can get a much larger drive and ensure you will not run out of space as you add sceneries, etc.As for the video card I would be inclined to go with the 560Ti over the 560, yes the 570 and 580 are beasts but overkill for FSX (again based on the recomendations elsewhere on these forums).I am looking at very similar hardware, please let us know how this rig works out.Mark.

I think you could save some money by eliminating the SSD and instead going with a Cavair Black hard drive. My understanding from these forums is that you will not see any performance hit, although loading times will be lower. The advantage is you can get a much larger drive and ensure you will not run out of space as you add sceneries, etc.As for the video card I would be inclined to go with the 560Ti over the 560, yes the 570 and 580 are beasts but overkill for FSX (again based on the recomendations elsewhere on these forums).I am looking at very similar hardware, please let us know how this rig works out.Mark.

There's no such a thing as overkill for FSX. Developers are pushing FSX to places where it doesn't want to go. The results are remarkable. Those who think that SSDs and a gtx 580 are not necessarily that important, don't have the hardware to prove their claims. I can assure you that you will appreciate the additional performance when you want higher HQ settings and better performance in the most demanding situations.If I had a choice between an SSD or a GTX 570, I would opt for the better card.

Those who think that SSDs and a gtx 580 are not necessarily that important, don't have the hardware to prove their claims.

I know what you're saying here, but be careful as you're basically implying that those who can't afford to drop $500 on a GPU don't have any credibility concerning advice on a $500 GPU. Afterall, the whole point of the hardware forums is to serve as a knowledge base for those of us looking to upgrade. I don't own a GTX 580, but I know a GTX580 doesn't really increase frame rates over a GTX 560. However, the 580 is going to be capable of higher anti aliasing and texture filtering settings. If you're shooting for best bang for buck, I can tell you the GTX 560 is definitely the way to go.I'm not sure if Wayne is planning to use the SSD for FSX or not, but I do have the hardware on this subject. I would say the verdict is still out on SSDs and FSX. Both Dazz and I tested SSDs and saw absolutely no difference. Somewhere around here, Dazz showed that not only does an SSD have no impact on FPS, but he also showed that it has no impact on texture loading. I have not seen anyone who claims that an SSD improves performance actually prove those claims.

And the truth is that increasing AA to 16xS brings a GTX580 to it's knees in bad weather. The only thing that can be set in a top of the line GPU over the typical 8xS is 8xS + 2xSGSS, and it's not like the difference in IQ is huge at all. 4xSGSS looks gorgeous, but good luck at running that while facing some overcast conditions. I don't know if Jose's SLI helps there or what, but the amount of strain that increasing AA puts on a GPU is far bigger than what the extra power of a GTX580 provides (compared to a mid range 460 or 560) can cope with

Everyone has been very helpful and that is what is so great about this forum.The purpose in the SSD was to put the OS on that drive. The FSX would go on a separate hard drive. That appears, from other posts, to be the best setup.I am not convinced that going to a 580 card is the best way. Convince me!!!! :Thinking:I am considering changing to a 2 x 4 GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 ram.Thanks. Keep the suggestions coming.Wayne

There's not a damn thing the 580 can do that my 560ti cannot do through my single 1680x1050 monitor. The 580 doesn't give any more headroom and doesn't make anything any smoother than the 560ti in FSX ...period! I'd challenge anyone to show me the difference between the two in a side-by-side comparison. Oh, and I like the Corsair 2x4GB config. :-)

I am thinking of changing the case to a Cooler Master Sileo 500 as it is quiet.Will the ASUS P8Z68 Pro board fit in this case? Looking at the data for the board it is 12 inches wide and from some of the reviews there is room for an 11 1/2 inch board in the case. Or am I not reading the spec information correctly?Thanks,Wayne

The Asus P8Z68 Pro is an ATX motherboard and that case claims ATX compatibility, so it should work. That case looks a little starved for fresh air if you ask me. It's only going to be quiet until the CPU fan starts ramping up because it's overheating. If you want quiet, get something with some big slow-turning 200mm fans. The HAF series, Corsair 600T or 650D, Fractal Arc Midi, etc all have either big 200mm fans or room for several 120mm or 140mm fans.