Hi, Is this setup a good one? 1. Processor: i7 2600k LGA1155 3,4GHz - overclocked to 5GHz2. Memory: Corsair or Kingston, 4 X 2GB or 2 X 4GB (which is the best one?), 2133MHz, CL8 or CL7 (which is the best?), dual channel?3. Videocard: Asus GTX580 1536MB DDR5 SLI4. Motherboard: Z68 LGA1155 DDRIII - Gigabyte, Asus or MSI?5. SSD 60GB for Windows and Sata III 1 TB for FSX7. Cooler: Noctua HD-14, Corsair H80, Corsair H100, Coolermaster hyper 212, any Thermaltake?8. PSU: 1000W is enough? Someone has suggestions for this setup? Thanks is advance. harpsi

Processor is fine. You could save yourself the cash and go with the 2500k as FSX doesnt use hyperthreading. Go with 2x4GB. Video Card...PERFECT. I would go the with the Gigabyte board but its up to you. SSD and HDD are fine. IF your going air cooled. watch your temps at 5.0Ghz. I heard the Coolermaster is good. 1000W is plenty. Nice build

Hi What is hyperthreading?Why 2X4GB instead of 4X2GB? I would like to know the explanation for this :)Any suggestion for these coolers? Tks harpsi

That's a great setup. 1. If you don't need hyperthreading then I'd save $100 and go with the i5 2500k.2. Both Corsair and Kingston are great. 2 X 4gb is what you want to go for. Cl7 is a bit faster than cl8 although you won't see a huge performance gain and yes dual channel.3. Great choice.4. Asus makes great quality motherboards.5.Good6. It depends if you prefer water or air cooling, but both the Noctua HD-14 and the Corsair H100 are the more higher end CPU coolers.7. 1000w is plenty. I'd go with corsair because of high quality.

Hi What is hyperthreading?Why 2X4GB instead of 4X2GB? I would like to know the explanation for this :)Any suggestion for these coolers? Tks harpsi

Hyperthreading - http://en.wikipedia....Hyper-threading- Most applications don't really use hyperthreading. 4 sticks would cause more strain on the memory controller and motherboard chipset. It would take slightly longer for the CPU to add and retrieve data from 4 sticks as opposed to 2. For this reason, 2 x 4GB would be faster than 4 x 2GB.

2x4GB is better because there's less latency between 2 sticks than between 4. Although it doesn't make much difference

Honestly, 750 watts is enough but there's nothing wrong with going overkill on an 850 unit. What's important is that you get a quality PSU. Go with a Corsair AX or Seasonic X series. I started off with a Gigabyte board and then switched to my Asus back in June. Really happy so far! My Asus board has been trouble free and while I haven't even been in the BIOS since June, I really like the EFI interface. Definitely go 2x4GB RAM modules. At 2133 MHz, CL9 is about as fast as you're going to find. All of those coolers you listed are good. The best two are the H100 and the NH-D14. The H100 will cool a little better than the NH-D14, be easier to install, give you better access to your motherboard, all at the cost of more noise. Personally, I would go H100 - but many many people would disagree. I vote for the 2500k as well - simply because I'm willing to bet you're going to want to replace it when Ivy Bridge drops next year. The 2600K does nothing for FSX that the 2500k doesn't do.

"6. It depends if you prefer water or air cooling, but both the Noctua HD-14 and the Corsair H100 are the more higher end CPU coolers." Maybe air cooling is better, no? harpsi

It will give you lower temps, so yes.

It will give you lower temps, so yes.

False

Is this going to be a pre-built system that's advertised as running at 5GHz? If so I'd be very, very wary of the voltage these guys will use to configure that overclock. Only an extremely tiny fraction of sandybridge will do 5GHz on low voltages. For that same reason, if you're building yourself don't use 5 as an aiming point, as you will be disappointed unless you are very lucky and get a great chip first time.

Wow, thanks for showing me that.

No problem. It's a very well done review IMO. I just wish he had tested the cooler on the medium setting. He only did high and low. Low fan speeds don't work so well on higher FPI (fins per inch) radiators and of course the high setting creates a lot of noise with 2500 rpm fans. At some point, increasing fan speed yields diminishing returns. I'm convinced that medium would have produced a nice compromise, possibly still beating the NH-D14. Of course, you can always plug the fans into your motherboard instead of the cooling block and define your own fan profile (another thing I love about the Asus boards).

Is this going to be a pre-built system that's advertised as running at 5GHz? If so I'd be very, very wary of the voltage these guys will use to configure that overclock. Only an extremely tiny fraction of sandybridge will do 5GHz on low voltages. For that same reason, if you're building yourself don't use 5 as an aiming point, as you will be disappointed unless you are very lucky and get a great chip first time.

Well, your system is running at 5,1GHz :D harpsi

Yes it is, but I had unlimited access to entire trays of OEM chips until I found one capable of doing so. If most chips did that speed safely, everyone would be running them at 5GHz. Aim for 4.5 and you won't be disappointed. If you end up with 5, consider it a bonus.

Yes it is, but I had unlimited access to entire trays of OEM chips until I found one capable of doing so. If most chips did that speed safely, everyone would be running them at 5GHz. Aim for 4.5 and you won't be disappointed. If you end up with 5, consider it a bonus.

Then a lot of people here have that bonus. I see a lot os specs running at 5 GHz. Let´s see if I can go to that speed as well. ;) harpsi