Hi all,Just built a new system. Being not very computer savy I am learning a ton in the process. A couple questions though.I am on a budget so I bought all the components that I could swing with the cash I had, so I used my video card from my old system (plan to upgrade in the future). It is a NVIDIA GTS 450. Will this GPU bottleneck my system?Secondly, look at the screenshot from CPU-Z, it is only reporting my processor speed at 1648.2 mhz? Is there some sort of power saving feature that is activated that is causing this?Third, I have to wait to purchase a decent cpu cooler to overclock. What could I overclock this cpu with just the stock fan and be ok with temps for now?I am currently just running FS9, until I purchase a second HDD to run FSX.Thanks to anyone that chimes in.Win 7 Home premium 64 bit, Intel I5 2500K, NVIDIA GTS 450, ASUS P8P67 (rev 3.0) MB, Corsair XMS 3 2 x 4GB 1600 mhz

That GPU would be a bottleneck for FSX but should do just fine for FS9. If you do decide to upgrade, a GTX 560 (or higher) would do well. You are correct about the power saving feature of the CPU. If you wish to overclock on the stock cooler you may be able to exceed 4GHz, you'll just need to stress test and watch the temps to find out. I recommend OCCT for stress-testing.

I agree with Techguy that you can overclock significantly with the stock cooler and that CPU. Use CoreTemp to monitor your temperatures, and just try to keep things at the low 70's or below while stress testing. I have seen lots of different opinions about what's acceptable for load temps w/ Sandy Bridge, some people say 70 is the max, others are happy below 80. I keep mine below 70 while overclocking, and they never reach above the mid 50's while running FSX. Overclock.net is a great resource for learning to oc your cpu.

Awesome guys, thanks for the advice. What do you think about what CPU-z is showing as far as the processor speed? Should I turn that power saving feature off for performance or does it matter. thanks.

What motherboard are you using? Depending on the board you MAY need to take different steps to overclock. Also, with regard to the stock cooler, you should consider buying the Cooler Master Hyper 212. This is a fantastic cooler and it is very inexpensive when compared to some of the others out there. This cooler will do significantly more for you than the stock cooler, lot of bang for the buck here.http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065Mark.

Here's the best site for o/c'ing the SB:-http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/overclocking/39184-p67-sandy-bridge-overclocking-guide-beginners.html

Hey thanks for the link. Got the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 and got the cpu overclocked to 4.2 ghz so far. Kinda afraid to go more, dont want to ruin my new purchase.BTW microcenter has a bundle deal right now Intel I5 2500K with a Asus P8P67 (Rev 3.0) Motherboard for $319.