Hey guys, I am excited that Ivy is finally out after waiting so long and refraining from going SB that I now can finally upgrade. My system specs are below if you are curious what I was running before.

 

I just want to run the component list by you guys first before I hit buy.

 

I will only list the relevant items, Mobo, Cpu, Ram, and Gfx, everything else I can manage.

 

The PSU is a Corsair AX750 Watt.

 

CPU is the i5 3570K, unless there is justice to go for the 3770K (I doubt). (CPU Cooler is H100 with Noctua fans)

 

Mobo, I am kind of torn, I want to either go with Gigabyte or Asus. I like both of the boards features and am only going to use one graphics card. The only reason I am contemplating Gigabyte over ASUS is because I have heard some double-boot issues ASUS has been known for, I have heard nothing but great things from Gigabyte.

 

Gigabyte: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128545

 

Asus: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131820

 

The graphics card is an EVGA 560ti (2 Gig) Transferring this from my current rig.

 

Lastly is the RAM, I have no clue what FSX "Likes" or needs and if this generation of mobo's still mandate 1.5v ram sticks. Also are CAS timings still as important as they once were. I am under the impression that looser timings will allow a more friendly overclock.

 

Thanks again guys for your help, that is basically it I cannot wait to get the parts and build a new rig.

 

Angelo Cosma

Choosing between i5 or i7 depends really what kind of other things you are doing with your rig. Hyperthreading is really useful with many things. Also, in the future we may see games utilizing HT too. But you have to decide the best option based on your usage. I'd go with i7 as price difference between those options is negligible for a period of processor's usage time (my update period for CPU has been 2 to 2,5 years since 2006 or so). Of course, I do also stuff which utilizes HT.

 

Double booting is pretty common issue related to overclocks. It is small annoyance but nothing more. Both Gigabyte and Asus are good options, but I would also look Asrock Z77 mobos. My previous Asrock X58 Extreme was absolutely great board. They offer good amount of options for reasonable price are doing pretty nicely in reviews also. I'd go with the board which has those options which suits best for me. Differences may be quite small, but for example if you are going to use onboard sound chip the one which has better codec on them has edge and so on. And Gigabyte isn't without its share of problems what I've read HW forums. Both Asus and Gigabyte are major players and these two pop up frequently up with some sort of problems. In fact, the only two MBs I've had major problems ever was one Abit and one Gigabyte, although it was several years ago. Never had Gigabyte since then, not that I'd try avoid it but because I've found always better options.

 

If on limited budget I'd chose something from the DDR3-1600 line as I see pretty useless paying more from higher frequencies at least for a gaming and FSX rig. Main thing is that as K-processors are unlocked you can easily keep your memory on specifications and just rise the CPU multiplier and you won't run out of RAM specs with overclocks at all. With some earlier generations you had to rise your BCLK, which caused your memory frequency rise also. It was usually easier to achieve higher overclock wiht high frequency memory as it gave you more flexibility with dividers, but as I said that is not so much a case anymore. The performance difference between DDR3-1600 and let's say DDR3-2133 is negligible (there are memory reviews showing almost zero differences in real life apps).

 

Cas latency hasn't ever meant that much in real life performance. Yes, in DDR1 days you could make some clear difference in many benchmarks, but real life application difference was still pretty small. Also with DDR1 speeds latency times were a lot bigger with Cas 2 than todays DDR3 with Cas 9. That means that even single clock cycle latency meant a lot more compared to single clock cycle in these days. Also some DDR3-2133 or 2000 memory with rated cas 10 or 11 is faster or on par with DD3-1600 at Cas 9 (in timings, not bandwidth of course). This just shows that IMO cas latencies are meaningless today unless you are doing some extreme benchmarking.

Cas latency hasn't ever meant that much in real life performance.

 

I'm not so sure I agree with that, if you include smoothness as a parameter of performance. Since upgrading and running tighter memory timings way back when I bought this guy I must say I experience shockingly smooth performance, considering how dated the machine is, even if raw frame rate isn't up to snuff for certain heavy situations. With newer hardware and built in memory controllers this may be pretty irrelevant now.

Memory for Z77

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231587

 

Check G-skill to see if your MB you select is on their list.

I'm not so sure I agree with that, if you include smoothness as a parameter of performance. Since upgrading and running tighter memory timings way back when I bought this guy I must say I experience shockingly smooth performance, considering how dated the machine is, even if raw frame rate isn't up to snuff for certain heavy situations. With newer hardware and built in memory controllers this may be pretty irrelevant now.

Strange, because I don't remember seeing a single big real life performance improvement because of the cas timings, ever. There are numerous tests in the internet about memory timings that show this. Difference can be in gaming like two FPS between 7-7-7 and 9-9-9 memory with same speed. Rising memory speed from, let's say 1600 to 2133 can give you few frames and even more (in some other applications difference may be bigger with higher clock rate). But there is no such a measurable performance value for memory as "smoothness": you have memory latency and bandwidth which is based on memory architecture itself and clock rate and these two make out the total memory performance. In digital memory there are no other electric or any other variables to cause a difference in performance. Digital memory works with constant performance all the time too. You may of course get a bit higher FPS due the performance improvement by lower latencies and that can be the sole reason for improved smoothness, although improvement isn't that big. There may be even a placebo effect, which is not a new phenomenom for upgraders.

 

Are you sure, that no other value, such as amount of ram or clock speed didn't change with your memory upgrade and no other modifications to the system were made, such as reinstall, updated drivers, defragged HD or tweaked FSX config?

Gigabyte or Asus

 

Even though I have had issues with Asus, I'd recommend them simply because I have heard worse about Gigabyte AND because I have had my personal experience with them. - Which was awful lol

Hey guys thanks for the replies, I have almost all the parts just waiting on a few more deliveries, here is the complete list. Let me know what you think.

 

CPU: 3570K http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819116504

 

MOBO: ASUS P8Z77-V LE http://www.newegg.co...&Tpk=p8z77-v le

 

RAM: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820233144

 

Graphics: EVGA GTX 560Ti (2048mb)

 

SSD 1 (OS) http://www.newegg.co...SLD3-25SAT3-60G

 

SSD 2 (FSX) http://www.newegg.co...SSD-F120GBGT-BK

 

CPU Cooling: Corsiar H100 replacing the two fans with (2) Noctua NF-12 fans http://www.amazon.co...ils_o01_s00_i00

 

PSU Corsair AX 750 Watt Fully modular 80 plus certified.

 

Finally case is the 650D and I am also using a 1TB 7200rpm 64mb cache drive for everything else.

 

The graphics card and SSD's are from my previous machine.

 

Thanks again guys, going to put it all together Monday, I will have two whole days off work to enjoy it then. :)

 

Angelo

Hey guys thanks for the replies, I have almost all the parts just waiting on a few more deliveries, here is the complete list. Let me know what you think.

 

CPU: 3570K http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819116504

 

MOBO: ASUS P8Z77-V LE http://www.newegg.co...&Tpk=p8z77-v le

 

RAM: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820233144

 

Graphics: EVGA GTX 560Ti (2048mb)

 

SSD 1 (OS) http://www.newegg.co...SLD3-25SAT3-60G

 

SSD 2 (FSX) http://www.newegg.co...SSD-F120GBGT-BK

 

CPU Cooling: Corsiar H100 replacing the two fans with (2) Noctua NF-12 fans http://www.amazon.co...ils_o01_s00_i00

 

PSU Corsair AX 750 Watt Fully modular 80 plus certified.

 

Finally case is the 650D and I am also using a 1TB 7200rpm 64mb cache drive for everything else.

 

The graphics card and SSD's are from my previous machine.

 

Thanks again guys, going to put it all together Monday, I will have two whole days off work to enjoy it then. :)

 

Angelo

 

Excellent choices!

Upgrading myself after having waited the past year for Ivy Bridge. Replacing a five year old Core2Duo E6850 3.0Ghz (@3.6Ghz) system. Here is what I ordered:

 

MB: Asus P8Z77-V Pro

Proc: I7 2600K, water cooled

RAM: Kingston HyperX 8GB DDR3-2133

Power: Antec CP-850

Case: Antec P183 V3

Graphics: EVGA GTX580

HDs: 2 x Intel 520 120GB SSDs (one for OS/programs, other for FSX only); 1TB WD Caviar Black, 2TB WD Caviar Green

 

All of that waiting and then decided on Sandy Bridge after all. Perhaps should have waited a while longer to see how Ivy Bridge with GTX680 handled FSX but my patience finally ran out.

 

Hoping for a huge improvement from running FSX on my C2D and 8800GTS.

 

Proc: I7 2600K, water cooled

 

Any way to swap it for a 2700K?

Any way to swap it for a 2700K?

 

Too late! Didn't visit this forum in time, or may have....actually was going for 2500k and changed my mind at the last minute.

Too late! Didn't visit this forum in time, or may have....actually was going for 2500k and changed my mind at the last minute.

 

The only reason I strongly reccomend the 2700K over the 2600K is purely due to the fact that the OC potential is higher.

 

Basically, any of the "good" 2600Ks are now labeled as 2700Ks. So now the 2600Ks on the market are the lower end of the spectrum of SB chips.

Say Angelo, why are you letting the 560Ti stay? Are you planing on upgrading the GPU later, or is something else? I don't get it why you are getting an IB, then again the PCIEx2 only compatible GPU.

I am taking the 560ti out of my current rig, however I am keeping the rig intact. So yes my plan is to get a better card in the future and return the 560ti to the older machine and place that in the garage hooked up to a 42'' Samsung. :)

Even though I have had issues with Asus, I'd recommend them simply because I have heard worse about Gigabyte AND because I have had my personal experience with them. - Which was awful lol

Not arguing your cases but our house has 3 gigabyte motherboards, one is years old and never a problem with any of them.