From December 2008, I have

• • 1 x MSI X58 Platinum LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
  • 1 x EVGA 896-P3-1265-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
  • 1 x Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601920
  • 1 x OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1333LV6GK
  • 1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

  OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply

I have tried to OC, but cannot seem to get it stable above 2.8 to 2.9 with FSX. I suspect it's because of my Intel fan and or memory. Is it worth it to get another fan and try higher with this memory or will my video card slow me up?

If you don't have the money for a new i5 2500K build, yes, it is worth it. You may be able to get 4.2+ out of that 920. I do with my rig. Anything 4.0 or over is going to get you big results. The ram is a little slow but the CPU is your big hitter. With my rig, flying the F1 Mustang at high altitudes over normal scenery and high sliders, I can run 30+ FPS no problem.As far as cooling, I just recently switched from Xigmatic air to Corsair water. Air cooling depends a lot on your case and its air flow. Do a google search on "overclocking the i7 920". You will get lots of info.

You could be limited by the ability of your cooling system to dissipate the heat generated by your CPU, but the only way to know that would be to check the temperature of the processor when it is under load. You can use a stress testing tool for this but those tools will always heat up your CPU more than any program like FSX will, so it's not really an accurate measure of the capability of your cooler as it pertains to real-world usage. Your RAM speed could also be holding you back if you're pushing it beyond the speed for which it is rated. You could check that in the BIOS, if it's beyond 1333 then you're likely pushing too hard on the RAM and should get some faster stuff.

Hi bic,Get a $30.00 cooler with a good heatsink, that will give you better results Im sure. Its not so much the fan ( though that is part of the cooling process ) its more the heavy heatsink which will absord the heat generated by your super CPU. Good Luck, Berne

Hi bic,Get a $30.00 cooler with a good heatsink, that will give you better results Im sure. Its not so much the fan ( though that is part of the cooling process ) its more the heavy heatsink which will absord the heat generated by your super CPU. Good Luck, Berne

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065 You might want to add a second fan. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103069 I have one right now on my i5 2500k...going strong at 4.4 Ghz