Hello,

 

My old Q6600 2.4 system has died and as I was looking to upgrade anyways later this summer I am going to likely go ahead and upgrade as soon as possible. I had my system overclocked to 3.4 GHZ on air cooling and was for the most part satisfied with in non-dense areas (away from cities) however I still had sliders turned down (autogen and no car traffic). I did run my AI at almost 100% thought which taxes the system alot but for me AI aircraft are important. Anyway, I'm looking for some suggestions on what to buy as I have been looking through the forums and just don't know what to get. Getting an Ivy Bridge system is not an option as I need to get everything for around $1000. I could push this to around $1500 but I would rather not if I didn't have to. Ideally I'd like to be at the most in between these amounts. I do realize that waiting for the Ivy Bridge processors to be released may mean a drop in price for the Sandy Bridge processors but will this really happen and if so how soon? I can't wait for 2 months to build a new system...this isn't just for FSX as I also have all of my financial software on the machine as well as video and photo editing. So I really don't want to wait for very long but I'd be willing to wait a few weeks if it means saving money on a Sandy Bridge system.

 

Here is what my basic requirements are in my mind for a new system:

 

Motherboard - Have no idea here except I would like to have sometihng that is Ivy Bridge Compatible for future upgrades and also I will be overclocking so I want something that is easy to OC

 

Processor - Definately want to go with an Intel System with at least a Quad Core (cause that's what I have now) and will easily overclock on air (I'd like to get to 4.8GHZ or above on air if possible)

 

RAM - Have no idea what to get here but I would like to have at least 8GB which is what I have now and I know I need the fastest timings and compatibilty with the motherboard (is there somewhere that tells you how to match the RAM timings correctly?)

 

Video Card - Probably looking at the GeForce 570/580 series (leaning towards a 580) - I have a 260 now so whatever I get is going to be a big jump...I'm not sure there is any reason to go with a newer 600 card?

 

Hard Disks - SSDs - I know nothing about this technology other than you don't have to defrag and they're super fast. I want to get one for my OS (80GB?) and then another for FSX (250 GB)

 

I have 2 My Book external drives that I use for backups and 2 SATA drives in my old computer that will be coming out and being used for more storage. One of these drives is a 10,000 RPM VelociRaptor that FSX was installed on (I assume an SSD will be faster than this drive?)

 

Sound Card - Do I need a soundcard or is it ok to use on-board sound?

 

Just looking for some comments and maybe some suggestions or things I haven't thought about from the very knowledgable people here. I want to get the most I can out of FSX which means I'd like to turn most sliders up and achieve a smooth experience. My old system had problems with blurred textures many times especially in dense urban areas. I mostly fly fast jets including the VRS F/A-18E Super Hornet and do alot of Navy Carrier operations. I don't really fly airliners at all. Mostly military jets and I also fly the Eaglesoft Citation X regularly. I would just like to get a good overclocked system that will run FSX well and I won't have to tweak all the time so I can concentrate on flying and developing my scenery. Thanks for any help and comments!

 

Brandon

Intel Core i5 3570K or 2500K

ASUS P8Z77 Deluxe

GTX680or GTX580

Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black [Win7 and programs] AND Corsair Force 3 256GB SSD [FSX]

8GB DDR3 1600

 

You don't really need a soundcard...

Brandon,

Just finished building my new system and it is powerful and quite without overclocking, and my FSX sliders are maxed!!! I can overclock this system but why??? I get fabulous performance with this set up. Check my signature for the recipe of parts I used and look them up on your favorite reseller (mine is NewEgg). Don't wait for Ivy Bridge. If you do decide to upgrade to Ivy Bridge in the future, this motherboard will take that chip!

 

Fragmentum

An i5 2500k is what I suggest for FSX for getting the most for your $, and is only slightly slower than the much more expensive i7 2700k in FSX as hyperthreading doesn't really do anything in FSX. Overclocking is the luck of the draw on any CPU you buy. You might end up with one that can't do 4GHz stable or you might end up with one that can do 4.6GHz stable, so I don't recommend having the mindset of overclocking when buying a CPU. However, at stock speeds, an i5 2500k should be like a night and day difference coming from a Q6600, again at stock speeds, for FSX. More than 4 cores in FSX does speed up loading of flights and makes textures sharpen up faster but does not increase the frame rate. When I upgraded from an i7 2600k to an i7 3930k, I got a little faster load times and textures seemed to sharpen up quicker (but then I was slewing around very quickly from one place to another), but if actually flying in this game you most likely won't see a difference in terms of texture sharpening past 4 cores and 4 cores is enough for texture sharpening during flight.

 

For motherboard, I recommend one with the new Z77 chipset. They support the upcoming Ivy Bridge and PCI-E 3.0 out of the box.

 

For RAM, 8GB is more than enough for an FSX computer. FSX can only address up to 4GB RAM because it's a 32-bit application, so if you are at the point where FSX is nearly using 4GB RAM, you still have enough RAM for Windows background operations, and/or running a 2nd application while running FSX.

 

For the video card, if you plan to get a brand new GTX 580 1.5GB, you might as will get a GTX 680. The GTX 580 1.5GB is not much cheaper, but the GTX 680 is a much faster card and has more VRAM than the GTX 580 1.5GB.

 

You really don't need a dedicated sound card with today's onboard audio quality, IMO. I have a SB X-Fi Titanium that I bought about a year ago, and the onboard Realtek sounds almost just as good as my SB XF-i Titanium to my ears. Maybe slightly purer sounding to my ears than the onboard audio on my motherboard but not really a big deal for gaming.

 

An SSD will help out in FSX for load times, especially if you have so much addon aircraft and addon photo sceneries installed. I did comparing with my 1TB 7200 rpm hard drive and my 240GB SSD. When I had MegasceneryX on my 7200 rpm hard drive and FSX on my SSD, FSX would have lots of lag when accessing the hard drive just after opening up the application and the initial load times for flights in areas with the MegasceneryX were much longer too.

Thanks for the comments so far guys! Seems that there is alot of recommendations for the i5 2500k which is good for me to hear because I figured I needed to be looking at i7 processors. Just a little more info about my FSX flying that may or may not make a difference. I use DirectX9 mode and I don't know if ya'll are using DirectX10 or not? I do know that DX10 is faster in FSX however I have too much AI aircraft that need DX9 to work and for me this is an issue. I fly with Ultimate Traffic 2 but I have alot of add-on and custom AI including Military AI Works that only use DirectX9. So...that being said I do like to run high AI traffic levels and it would be nice to add some cars into the mix (I currently have road traffic off) - Is this going to make any difference to the above recommendations? If not it looks like I'll go for the i5 2500k and try to get it to overclock as high as I can go on air.

 

Any recommendations for a cooling fan with this processor? I'm sure the stock cooler isn't enough...

 

I'll probably get this MB - ASUS P8Z77 Deluxe as recommended and go with a GTX680 card

 

Also how do I look at the RAM when it comes to building the system? I want at least 8GB (cause this computer is more than just for FSX) and I want it to be the best for my overclocking.

 

Thanks!

 

Brandon

Definitely get an aftermarket cooler.. The stock cooler for the i5's and i7's are laughable at best. I would go with at least a H60 or H70.. H60 is cheap enough and will handle the i5 fine even over clocked. It handles my i7 just fine.. Link: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835181015 You don't mention what kind of case you're using.. A case is important for proper air circulation and expandability. I have the Antec Nine Hundred Two which is perfect for my needs and circulates air like a champion. I would really stay away from air coolers they just add more noise and the good ones are gigantic.

A corsair H60 will be an excellent choice! Although, newegg is having a sale on the H100, so you might want to consider that one.

Here is the case I am using...bought this with my last system and I plan to reuse it for the new one. Don't know if I can get away with getting a case too so hope it's still good enough...

 

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156062

 

also I hadn't thought about liquid cooling just cause I don't know much about it. Are they difficult to install? I'm all for a quiet machine for sure!

They are just as easy to install as any gigantic air cooler.. Bracket goes on the under side, heatsink/pump screws into that bracket from the top side.. Very easy and your case will be able to mount the radiator and fan fine in the back.

I noticed that the radiator and fan mount to a 120mm fan connection in the back of the case. I only have one 120mm fan in the back of the case (exhaust) and another in the front (intake). Is using this only exhaust hole for the H60 going to mess up my air flow through the case or will the radiator and fan also just act like there was a fan there?

If you are getting a new case, go for http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139008&Tpk=corsair%20400r

 

This is easily one of the best bang for buck cases around. Very inexpensive, yet great quality and lots of room for large graphics cards and radiators.

that case is likely too tall for where I keep my machine and I won't be moving it anywhere else cause it's hidden where it is and the wife likes it that way! Lol! Anyway back to my original question....if I use an H60 cooler and mount it where my 120mm exhaust fan currently is in the back will that mess up my airflow in my current case?

 

Brandon

if I use an H60 cooler and mount it where my 120mm exhaust fan currently is in the back will that mess up my airflow in my current case?

 

The H60 will work like a charm in sucking out the air in your case. Although, you do have the option of sucking the air into the case from the rear.

A corsair H60 will be an excellent choice! Although, newegg is having a sale on the H100, so you might want to consider that one.

 

I actually got rid of the H60 and replaced it with the Antec 620 and couldn't be happier. The 620 out performed my old H60 (by 5 degrees at load) in both push & pull configs and it cost less. I also prefer the 620's round pump block and non-corrugated tubes.

 

Only downside to 620 are the instructions....they are awful but that is what youtube is for. ;)

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835209049

Any issues with this RAM? The timings are better and it seems it would be better for my overclocking? I'm not very good at this technical stuff so I don't know for sure...

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820226179

 

And will it be compatible with this board? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131818

 

I checked the qualifying vendor list for the motherboard and this memory is not listed however an older model of Mushkin redline memory is listed that is 6GB (3 x 2GB) so that's confusing...hoping this memory will work

 

Brandon