I understand that but who's not overclocking his rig for FSX? When overclocking you need to make sure you'll have enough room wattage wise cause you don't want to draw power from your PSU to close to it's limit to stay stable unless the OP is welling to play FSX with all sliders to the left, as we all know FSX WILL stress a system to it's limit if you don't want to see a slide show.

You need to understand that to draw more than 700Watts would be monumental. Even with OC on EVERYTHING in his rig, that would be almost impossible to come close to the limit of the AX750.

I understand that but who's not overclocking his rig for FSX? When overclocking you need to make sure you you'll have enough room wattage wise cause you don't want to draw power from your PSU to close to it's limit to stay stable unless the OP is welling to play FSX with all sliders to the left, as we all know FSX WILL stress a system to it's limit if you don't want to see a slide show.

Not true Alain. FSX can't even get 4 cores maxed out, let alone 6. In turn you typically have your CPU at 50 - 60% and the GPU at 70% maybe in clouds

Not true Alain. FSX can't even get 4 cores maxed out, let alone 6. In turn you typically have your CPU at 50 - 60% and the GPU at 70% maybe in clouds

Very true. These power draws that we are talking about is at MAXIMUM peak which would be theoritically impossible to acheive within FSX alone.There is NO WAY that he needs anymore than AX750 for what he is building.

Guys, that's all fine with me, I may be wrong.

Guys, that's all fine with me, I may be wrong.

Thanks for being a gent on this one.. :)

Well, maybe we should focus a bit more on the OP questionsWelcome to Avsim Martin!

FIrst post - I was drawn to this forum when looking at building a new PC, mainly for running FSX. The FSXMark11 and Pictures of our FSX Computers are both interesting and informative in this respect.So, for a while now I have been wanting to upgrade my old 2004 PC (AMD Athlon64 3700+ I think) to a new one, which should be able to provide a much improved experience with FSX.I had my mind set on the i7 2700k, but after reading this post which suggests that the 3930k runs circles around the 2700k, I am confused.So now I basically have 2 options regarding the core:Option1:CPU: i7-2700k (4 cores, socket 1155)Mobo: ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-ZRAM: no idea - please adviseOption2:CPU: i7-3930k (6 cores, socket 2011)Mobo: ASUS Rampage IV Extreme (BF3 ed.)RAM: not a clue - please adviseThe following hardware would apply to both socket types:GPU: eVGA GTX580 DS Superclocked (1.5Gb)HDD 1: OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS 120Gb (OS)HDD 2: OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS 120Gb (FSX, and other games)PSU: Corsair HX750Case: Fractal Design Define XL USB 3.0 Black PearlCooling (Air): Scythe Mugen 2 rev BOS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64 UKMonitor: For now, keep current 2x Samsung 223BW's for now (22"; 1680x1050).My budget is flexible within reason (which means additional expenses must be justifiable, if only to myself), and the budget is growing as time passes. I'll be blowing my Christmas bonus on this rig. Have the wife's blessing, so everything's aaaalright!With the 2700k, I'm currently at about €1859 (approx. $2425) (total, ex OS, ex Monitors).QUESTIONS:Regarding CPU: The 3930k would mean an cost increase of 50% (+€300/$390) on CPU + Mobo alone - is this worth it? Can the performance difference be quantified? (Does it perform at least 50% better?)Re: Depends. If you have a use for all 6 cores, then yes, for FSX, no. A 3930K will be no better for FSX than a I7 2700K, 2600K or I5 2500K (read that thread entirely). Probably even slightly worse since they need more voltage to overclock to the same speeds. Note that I included the cheaper I5 2500K which performs on par with I7 2700K, 2600K & 3930K and is possibly the best option for FSX considering that HT doesn't help (or doesn't help much, there's a debate open there) FSXAlso, is the 2011 socket a 'keeper'? I'd like to be able to upgrade CPU and perhaps mem in one or two years, as prices drop. (Previously had a P4 socket 478, with RIMM memory -- all obsolete and no longer sold within 1 or 2 years... left me up the creek!)Re: both LGA2011 and LGA1155 will support Ivy Bridge for potential future upgrades. You can have up to 32GB of RAM in LGA1155 IIRC. If you think you'll need more, then you should go the LGA2011 route Regarding Motherboard: Are these good picks? Is the Z68 chipset better than the P67?Re: Overkill. Maximus IV Extreme-Z and stuff... those boards are for Tri-GPU setups. If you are not going to use the NF200 with 3 GPU's you are wasting your moneyRegarding RAM: With the 2700k, the Motherboard is capable of running 2133MHz DDR3, but most people seem to use CL7 1600MHz modules?Re: RAM speed & FSX is a controversial topic. In my experience it makes little difference. Something like a 5-6% when going from 1600 to 2133MHz Regarding GPU: I might add a 2nd of the same type for SLI in the future, when prices drop. Would this in SLI have a large positive effect on FSX? How about on First-Person Shooters?Re: No difference in FSX with SLI since it's so CPU limited, most other games will definitely benefit from SLI. Regarding Monitor: In future, I might upgrade to 2x or 3x 1920x1080.Re: for multimonitor you NEED SLI, or a single ATI card in Crossfire, or Matrox TrippleHead2Go. An overclocked 2500K + 2xGTX580 can run very close to the 750W PSU limit thoughCorey Meeks advises here to take the 2500k instead of the 2600k (the performance increase does not justify the added cost). Would this apply to the 2700k also?Re: The 2700K is a 2600K with a 100MHz higher stock clock. So yes, it also applies to the 2700K.The games I play:Note I am not (yet) running any add-ons. Just stock FSX. I will probably install PMDG-B737 in due time though. (And MS Flight ofc).I also enjoy playing FPS (GTA IV finally, BF2, BF3, Call of Duty etc) and MMORPG's from time to time (EVE online mostly), in case this matters.Sorry for the long post. Thanks for reading (or for skipping ahead). Looking forward to your thoughts and ideas!- Martin

PC Specs: Intel Core i7 [email protected]Asus P8P67 Deluxe R3 Motherboard Corsair XMS3 CL9 8GB DDR3-2000 RAM Corsair H100 Watercooling Corsair AX850 Watt Power SupplyCorsair 400R Computer CaseNvidia GeForce GTS-450180GB SSD-FSX ONLY || WD 7200RPM 500GB HDD-WIN7 64BitACER 23inch Monitor [X233H]Hilarious Quotes:"And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the very first Fokker airplane built in the world. The Dutch call it the mother Fokker." -- Custodian at the Aviodome aviation museum, Schiphol airport Amsterdam."Lady, you want me to answer you if this old airplane is safe to fly? Just how in the world do you think it got to be this old?" -Anon

I made it to the end. My eyes hurt now. Okay, back to the OP!

Thank you alainneedle1 and benorg and especially Dazz!Regarding PSU: I think I may use a bigger one, in order to be ready for SLI in the future. After all, I will be overclocking both the CPU and the GTX580, and in future, may add a second GTX580.Regarding Hyper-Threading: FSX doesn't use HT, but are there games that do? Maybe MS Flight will?I'll read the linked articles, thanks guys!

Take it easy on each other guys! It's almost Christmas. Oh, and my opinion (as if it is still needed) is that 850w would be plenty, with reserves.Kind regards,

Yeah, if you plan on getting a second 580, 850W should be plenty. I tested my 2xGXT480 SLI overclocked (820/1960) + 4.8GHz CPU with my HX850 and it run furmark + Prime95 for hours no hickups. Too bad I didn't have my killawatt

Thank you alainneedle1 and benorg and especially Dazz!Regarding PSU: I think I may use a bigger one, in order to be ready for SLI in the future. After all, I will be overclocking both the CPU and the GTX580, and in future, may add a second GTX580.Regarding Hyper-Threading: FSX doesn't use HT, but are there games that do? Maybe MS Flight will?I'll read the linked articles, thanks guys!

No problem man!I really hope you enjoy your system!FSX will "flow like butter". hahaHappy Holidays, :)

Okay, sorry for bumping this back up. Just thought I'd let you all know the outcome of my Christmas present to myself :smile:CPU: 2500K Boxed @ 4747 MHzMoBo: Asus Maximus IV Extreme-ZRAM: Corsair Vengeance 8Gb 8-8-8-24 (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C8) (2x4Gb)VGA: 2x Asus GeForce GTX 560 Ti, 1GB, DirectCU II TOP, BF3SSD: 2x OCZ Vertex 3 120GBPSU: Corsair HX750WCASE: Fractal Design Define XL USB 3.0 Black PearlCOOLING: Corsair Hydro Series H60Already had:Monitors: 2x Samsung 226BW, 22" 1680x1050Yoke: Saitek Flight Pro Yoke & Quadrant + Rudder PedalsJoystick: Logitech Extreme 3D ProAs you can see I settled for a 2500k after all, but did go for the more expensive MoBo (to allow future expansion).Also, I read in benchmarks that 2x GTX560 Ti > 1x GTX580, and the total price is comparable.Meanwhile I ran the auto-OC tool from ASUS which set CPU to 4747 MHz. Temps are stable.I had some BSOD's in the beginning, but I attribute that to XP version (which came with a Dell laptop), and/or drivers waiting to be installed or replaced. Or perhaps it was due to me denying Win7 the system recovery parition.I'm happy with the whole system, and especially regarding the Corsair Hydro. A nice product with very good cooling performance. And plug-and-play - no mess with coolant, connections etc.Now regarding FSX. I'm running FSX at max settings all across the board, with FPS varying between 25 and 60 (1680x1050x32, single screen for now). First findings are that when displaying both waves/water and clouds that FPS suffers. Anyway, for me it's a tremendous improvement, also in terms of gameplay/control (responsiveness!), and I really enjoy doing all the missions again. Plus that the virtual cockpit now works for me (I couldn't really read the buttons and info with the old PC).Now already wondering about the next upgrade. +2 monitors? Track-IR? hmmm... :Thinking:- Martin

Okay, sorry for bumping this back up. Just thought I'd let you all know the outcome of my Christmas present to myself :smile:CPU: 2500K Boxed @ 4747 MHzMoBo: Asus Maximus IV Extreme-ZRAM: Corsair Vengeance 8Gb 8-8-8-24 (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C8) (2x4Gb)VGA: 2x Asus GeForce GTX 560 Ti, 1GB, DirectCU II TOP, BF3SSD: 2x OCZ Vertex 3 120GBPSU: Corsair HX750WCASE: Fractal Design Define XL USB 3.0 Black PearlCOOLING: Corsair Hydro Series H60Already had:Monitors: 2x Samsung 226BW, 22" 1680x1050Yoke: Saitek Flight Pro Yoke & Quadrant + Rudder PedalsJoystick: Logitech Extreme 3D ProAs you can see I settled for a 2500k after all, but did go for the more expensive MoBo (to allow future expansion).Also, I read in benchmarks that 2x GTX560 Ti > 1x GTX580, and the total price is comparable.Meanwhile I ran the auto-OC tool from ASUS which set CPU to 4747 MHz. Temps are stable.I had some BSOD's in the beginning, but I attribute that to XP version (which came with a Dell laptop), and/or drivers waiting to be installed or replaced. Or perhaps it was due to me denying Win7 the system recovery parition.I'm happy with the whole system, and especially regarding the Corsair Hydro. A nice product with very good cooling performance. And plug-and-play - no mess with coolant, connections etc.Now regarding FSX. I'm running FSX at max settings all across the board, with FPS varying between 25 and 60 (1680x1050x32, single screen for now). First findings are that when displaying both waves/water and clouds that FPS suffers. Anyway, for me it's a tremendous improvement, also in terms of gameplay/control (responsiveness!), and I really enjoy doing all the missions again. Plus that the virtual cockpit now works for me (I couldn't really read the buttons and info with the old PC).Now already wondering about the next upgrade. +2 monitors? Track-IR? hmmm... :Thinking:- Martin

Awesome setup!Enjoy it! FSX probably runs like a dream on that setup! :D