About to pull the trigger...

[antic81 57]

Hey guys,

 

I finally have the money - taken a good year - and am about to pull the trigger on the new rig, well the only rig really - the other one blew up about two years ago!... so anyway its obviously changed since I last mentioned it (that was about 7 months ago)

 

Any tweaks or thoughts would be good - I'd say its fairly high end - but not max as I don't have the budget for that!

 

So its now an Ivybridge I7 3770 3.5 overclocked to 4.5GHz and stress tested at that setting - spoke to overclockers and the chap said that this wasnt the max but in order for longevity of the processor they didn't go higher.

 

 

System Specification

- Case: NZXT Phantom Enthusiast Full Tower Case - Black (default choice, options available)

- Power Supply: OCZ ZX 850 Gold Rated PSU

- CPU: Intel Core i7 3770K 3.50GHz Ivybridge overclocked to 4.50GHz

- Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard

- Cooler: Prolimatech Genesis CPU Cooler w/ x3 Sharkoon Silent Eagle Fans

- RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) 1600MHz DDR3 Dual Channel Kit

- Hard Drive: 1TB HDD

- Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SLI option available)

- Sound: Onboard 7.1 Audio

- Optical Drive: Hitachi CH10N-BL Blu-Ray Reader / DVD±RW Drive - OEM

 

 

So I've also added a Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive to the mix.

 

Considering I am splashing out I've also gone with a rediculous keyboard and gaming mouse - all because I am a big kid at heart and am taking advantage of currently being single - no way I could get away with this if I had a mrs!

 

Although I am planing to run FSX with the NGX and a whole lot more - I also love my ARMA 2 and 3 is on its way, so I was thinking about that as well.

 

Anything major that anyone can see here that I should change ( I am going to go with 16GB RAM - I do know that comes with issues for FSX but I want this rig to last a while!)

 

Cheers for the thoughts!

 

Anthony

[antic81 57]

Hi guys,

 

Well I posted this in another forum but thought I'd stick it in here too.

Just be aware that I am by no means that computer savey - I mean I know what a keyboard is - thats the one with all the buttons on it right? But you guys may start using big words that I may struggle to understand - so be gentle!

 

I finally have the money - its taken a good year - but I am about to pull the trigger on the new rig, well the only rig really - the other one blew up about two years ago and it was OLD!... so anyway its obviously changed since I last mentioned it (that was about 7 months ago)

 

Any tweaks or thoughts would be good - I'd say its fairly high end - but not max as I don't have the budget for that!

 

So its now an Ivybridge I7 3770 3.5 overclocked to 4.5GHz and stress tested at that setting - spoke to overclockers and the chap said that this wasnt the max but in order for longevity of the processor they didn't go higher.

 

 

System Specification

- Case: NZXT Phantom Enthusiast Full Tower Case - Black (default choice, options available)

- Power Supply: OCZ ZX 850 Gold Rated PSU

- CPU: Intel Core i7 3770K 3.50GHz Ivybridge overclocked to 4.50GHz

- Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard

- Cooler: Prolimatech Genesis CPU Cooler w/ x3 Sharkoon Silent Eagle Fans

- RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) 1600MHz DDR3 Dual Channel Kit

- Hard Drive: 1TB HDD

- Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SLI option available)

- Sound: Onboard 7.1 Audio

- Optical Drive: Hitachi CH10N-BL Blu-Ray Reader / DVD±RW Drive - OEM

 

 

So I've also added a Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive to the mix.

 

Considering I am splashing out I've also gone with a rediculous keyboard and gaming mouse - all because I am a big kid at heart and am taking advantage of currently being single - no way I could get away with this if I had a mrs!

 

Although I am planing to run FSX with the NGX and a whole lot more - I also love my ARMA 2 and with number 3 is on its way, I need the power, so I was thinking about that as well.

 

Anything major that anyone can see here that I should change ( I am going to go with 16GB RAM - I do know that comes with issues for FSX but I want this rig to last a while!)

 

Cheers for the thoughts!

 

Anthony

[Paul_Smith 92]

I would give serious thought to why you want an i7 chip instead of an i5? What will you be doing that will benifit from hyperthreading? If you are not doing serious amounts of video encodeing etc. that you might want to spend some of the money saved on faster memory instead. The cooler you are going for has a good name and is cheap, but it is huge. Quite astonishingly huge. Consider spending an extra few quid and getting something like an Antec H2O or a Corsair Hydra. Your UD5H motherboard is a nice piece of kit, but what are you hoping it will give you that the D3H wont at a third cheaper?

[aceridgey 330]

Yeah agreed, go with an I5, [i would chose a sandy over Ivy]

 

Otherwise cool man

[El padrino 2]

Agree with the lads above about the i5 and a water cooler (Corsair H80, H100 or similar).

 

You might also consider getting two smaller SSDs rather than one of 256GB, so that OS goes to one and FSX to the other. They'll save you much of loading time both for Windows and FSX , but more importantly don't need defragging!

 

For music, movies, backups etc the old HDs are very cheap and spacious!

[FLEX1978 373]

Have to agree with the above, go for the I5. Overclockers.co.uk will set yours up stable at 4.8ghz for a lot less cash. Mine works flawlessly, FSX is nice and smooth fs9 is bliss maxed out.

[antic81 57]

Thanks guys - well I am busy looking again at everything - I really want a prebuilt machine from them as I am lazy and don't want to have to put it together myself - they don't seem to be doing it anymore with the sandybridge system - I had a great one picked out and then they pulled it for the latest kit...hmmm - I really need to make a decision and go with it by the close of play today - the next few hours - because I am off next week to get the delivery.

 

Any suggestions for the faster memory - I can call them up and change it!

 

Cheers for all the help (Next step will be the help installing and tweeking FSX - prepare yourselves!haha!)

 

Anthony

[c97019 0]

Computers really aren't that big of a chore to build, it's even fun once you got everything assembled and you know you did it yourself. Secondly, it'd save you a bunch more money that they're charging you just to build it together, you could get better components in your computer rather than settling for lower-end (not that those components are low end whatsoever) and you're in charge of what you do with the computer as well. Also, if possible, I'd get the Asus P8Z68-V Pro motherboard instead of the gigabyte one. I'm not too familiar with the Gigabyte one (but that's because I'm not too in the know) but the Asus one makes overclocking feel like child's play, you change a couple of settings in the Graphic User Interface (as compared to blah interfaces that most bios have, the one where you can't click anything and have to use the keyboard for everything) and your overclocking is free to play around with. It really isn't too hard, I read up about it in a couple of days and there are tons of guides on the internet to help you through it.

 

I also second the i5 2500k for the overclocking, it's going to give you a lot more overhead for overclocking than the Ivy bridge series will, as I read that they run a bit hotter than Sandy Bridge. Take it for what it's worth though, if your time is more valuable to you than building the computer (and you have the means to get it built up) then by all means, go for it. Either way you go, you're going to get an awesome upgrade, and FSX will run pretty darn smooth on it.

[Paul_Smith 92]

I really want a prebuilt machine from them as I am lazy

Something like this? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-213-OE&groupid=43&catid=2040&subcat=

 

And ring them to fit http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-333-CS

and this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-006-AN&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=2262

 

(or build your own...)

[Ben Cap 89]

Looks great to me! That rig will run FSX butter smooth. Also, when running other games, you will get fantastic performance. The GTX680 is a monster card and it will eat anything you throw at it.

[dazz 69]

This RAM, cheaper and faster

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-124-GL&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1387

[Paul_Smith 92]

The RAM dazz suggested is what I would go for if I was doing a build right now (because it is slightly better the the Ram I would have gone for before his post :Nerd: ), however it is only 8G and the OP was looking for 16G. If the OP doesn't have a clear and pressing need for 16G, I would suggest you follow his advice.

[antic81 57]

Thanks for all the advice guys!

 

Its been a long 2 years since the last time I was able to get on the sim - I was once a training commercial pilot but then last year I had an acantha amoeba that decided to permanently destroy my vision in my left eye and so lost my medical - so as pathetic as it sounds (and it is) FSX is all I have left.

 

Well I pulled the trigger in the end, did it over the phone and tweeked it a bit - got some fast RAM and downsized the screen - was going to get a 27" - but the one I chose is infact a 24" LED screen from Dell - wasn't too expensive - changed the mouse and keyboard too - I don't think I am going to know what hit me! HAHA!

 

Well now I have to wait until Tuesday...or Wednesday...they had better not forget a cable or something!

 

The chap said it would happilly get up to 4.8 GHz but that would have an impact on the longevity of the processor. So I'll stick with the 4.5 GHz.

 

Cheers!

 

Anthony

[antic81 57]

Thanks Ben,

 

I tweeked it a bit - got some faster RAM!(2400Mhz)

 

Now the long wait until delivery! haha!

 

Anthony

[TechguyMaxC 516]

Get faster RAM to really unleash the power of Ivy Bridge.