I built my system about a year ago and I am extremely happy with it.

 

MB: ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe LGA1155

CPU: Intel Core i7 2600K @ 4.8 GHz

RAM: G. Skill Ripjaw 2X4Gb 1600 9-9-9-24 2N

GPU: EVGA GTX 570 Superclocked

HD: WD Caviar Black 2Tb HD

Cache: Intel 311 SSD 20GB

Cooling: Coolermaster H80

OS: Win7 x64 Ultimate

 

Smooth graphics with lots of addons:

 

Airbus X, Captain Sim 707/757/767/777, Level D 767, PMDG 747/JS41/MD11/NGX

 

AS2012, GEX North America, GEX Europe, GEX Africa & Middle East, Mogwaisoft Shade, Orbx FTX AU SP4, Orbx FTX PNW, Orbx FTX NA CRM, Orbx FTX NA NRM, Orbx FTX PFJ, Orbx FTX NZ South, Orbx FTX YBBN, Orbx FTX YBCS, Orbx FTX YMML, REX, UTX USA, UTX Canada, UTX Europe

 

CYYJ by Don Grovestein (Freeware), CYVR by Nigel Grant (Freeware), AMS Cancun 2012, Amsterdam Schipol X, Ben Gurion X2, FlightBeam KSFO, FlyTampa LGAV, FSDreamteam KDFW/KJFK/KLAS/KLAX/KORD/LSZH/LSGG, Mega Airport London Heathrow X,

 

http://www.scan.co.u...ucts/8gb-(2x4gb)-corsair-ddr3-vengeance-jet-black-pc3-19200-(2400)-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-10-12-12-31-xmp

 

Yes, this RAM is the correct choice.

Thanks, think I'm all but done with my shopping list now!

 

The one area I don't know about is the CPU cooler. I want to OC without delidding so I want to make sure I have the best cooler I can afford for this.

 

Happy to spend up to £70 or so on the cooler.

 

Any tips?

 

Cheers!

 

...leaning towards the Noctua NH-D14. Does this justify being twice the price of the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo?

Also final question...is it worth spending a bit extra on the GTX670 over the 660Ti OC?

Also final question...is it worth spending a bit extra on the GTX670 over the 660Ti OC?

 

There is about a 5-10% difference but, if you have the money, I would reccomend it just for the sake of headroom.

 

As for cooling, the ND14 would do a much better job than the 121 Evo.

Thanks Ben.

 

The MSI power edition OC GTX670 is about £50 more than the 660Ti OC.

 

Happy to spend another £50, was just unsure about whether it would offer any significant performance gain?

 

Well that's it!

 

After weeks of umming and ahhing, reading reviews, etc, I've finally pressed the order button, and will have all my parts tomorrow!

 

Here is what I've ordered:

 

Intel i5 3570K

Gigabyte GA-Z77X-DH3 Motherboard

8GB Corsair XMS3 2000Mhz RAM - had to compromise here to accommodate the..

...Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler (was going to get Corsair Vengeance but the large heat spreaders will get in the way of the cooler)

1TB Western Digital Caviar Black HDD

2GB EVGA GTX670 FTW Signature II GPU

Sony DVD-RW Drive

Corsair TX750 PSU

Corsair Carbide 300R Case

22" Iiyama E2278HD Monitor

Logitech MK 260 Wireless Keyboard/Mouse

Logitech X140 Speakers

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

 

EXCITED!

You've made your decision and I am excited for you, always nice to get a brand spanking new machine.

 

Make sure to keep your old plugin keyboard as the wireless may not power up in time for you to enter the BIOS.

 

Good luck and have fun.

Eek, hadn't even considered that to be honest, and either way it's irrelevant as I currently have wireless anyway! Fingers crossed, if not I think my parents may have a plug in one!

 

 

Intel i5 3570K

Gigabyte GA-Z77X-DH3 Motherboard

8GB Corsair XMS3 2000Mhz RAM - had to compromise here to accommodate the..

...Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler (was going to get Corsair Vengeance but the large heat spreaders will get in the way of the cooler)

1TB Western Digital Caviar Black HDD

2GB EVGA GTX670 FTW Signature II GPU

Sony DVD-RW Drive

Corsair TX750 PSU

Corsair Carbide 300R Case

22" Iiyama E2278HD Monitor

Logitech MK 260 Wireless Keyboard/Mouse

Logitech X140 Speakers

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

 

You are going to be stunned by the difference that this new system is going to make for your FSX performance. It is honestly night and day for me.

 

Once you get everything installed, be sure to stress test everything at stock settings. Download Prime95 and run the blend test for a few hours to make sure your mobo, RAM, and CPU are functioning correctly. After doing the testing, (if you are comfortable), de-lid that 3570K so you can achieve excellent overclocking potential. - If you don't want to de-lid, you will still be able to hit moderate overclocks.

Thanks Ben, I certainly hope so for £1200! You've been a great deal of help in helping me put together my shopping list, so thank you.

 

My friend is putting the system together for me tomorrow evening and then hopefully he'll be on hand to help me overclock it as well as he is a lot more knowledgeable about this than I am!

 

I wasn't planning on de-lidding the CPU, it's not something I feel comfortable doing. I've deliberately chosen a case that seems to perform well with regards cooling, and spent more than I had planned on a CPU cooler in the hope that I can reach moderate OC levels without delidding.

 

Ideally I'd like to get it up to 4.5. Do you think that's reasonable?

Martin, have you got or will you be purchasing any addons like landclass, Ultimate TerrainX, Ground Environment X, Real Environment X or are you just going to leave FSX as is?

Robert

 

Yes, I set aside a separate budget for some addons. I'm going to get Ultimate Terrain X Europe and Ground Environment X Europe (I mostly fly short haul European routes so seems like a sensible place to start).

 

I also have FSGlobal mesh which I purchased for FS2004 but also has FSX version on the same DVD so that's good that I don't have to repurchase this product again. I also have all of the UK2000 Extreme airports for FS9 and don't have to pay again to get these for FSX which is good.

 

I will also probably be getting the iFly 737 as I had this for FS9. I was thinking about the PMDG NGX but I am already familiar with the iFly and also includes the 600/700 variants without extra cost so think I will be going for the iFly again.

 

Is there anything else you'd recommend? I'm all about the eye-candy, so if there are any other products to look at which will increase the visual experience I'm all ears.

 

I was thinking about getting the Horizon photoreal scenery for the UK but I'm a bit reluctant to spend around ~£50 on this at the moment as I don't have much experience of photo scenery. I love how it looks from altitude but not sure about how flat everything would look on approach.

Well that's it!

 

After weeks of umming and ahhing, reading reviews, etc, I've finally pressed the order button, and will have all my parts tomorrow!

 

Here is what I've ordered:

 

Intel i5 3570K

Gigabyte GA-Z77X-DH3 Motherboard

8GB Corsair XMS3 2000Mhz RAM - had to compromise here to accommodate the..

...Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler (was going to get Corsair Vengeance but the large heat spreaders will get in the way of the cooler)

1TB Western Digital Caviar Black HDD

2GB EVGA GTX670 FTW Signature II GPU

Sony DVD-RW Drive

Corsair TX750 PSU

Corsair Carbide 300R Case

22" Iiyama E2278HD Monitor

Logitech MK 260 Wireless Keyboard/Mouse

Logitech X140 Speakers

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

 

EXCITED!

 

Hi Martin

It would be interesting if you would do a FSX Mark 11 test before you install any add ons.

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/329116-fsxmark11/

 

I think a few of us would be interested in your results.

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/329116-fsxmark11/

Paul - will take a look at that FSX Mark 11 thread.

 

Thanks