Don't skimp on the MB, Look here at what is popular for overclocking the i7 4770k and look at Simforums too. Get a GTX 780 and don't skimp on the Memory. 8 to 16GB's

Spend on a Good quality open loop water cooling system and SSD's Brake the bank but take your time, do your research and make sure you get it right. Spend a couple of $2000 at least but spend it wisely and you will be in flight sim heaven for the next 5 years with no complaints and few issues. That's $400 a year. That's $8 a week.

 

I did that with my i7 920 build at least 4 years ago and I will do it again with my haswell build in a few months. A lot of mine is recyclable; my Koolance 1000w system, My Lian-Li case, My Silverstone 1000w PSU and I can still get good money toward the new build for my GTX 580 and the rest of the old parts are the wife's upgrade. This is what I got with the i7 920 rig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gseCJS3mf18

 

Not perfect but I was happy with it and will spend as much as is necessary to buy top shelf hardware for my haswell build and I would encourage you to do the same. Spending more than you can afford is better and being completely satisfied is better than spend what you can afford and being dissatisfied. Go ahead brake the bank.

 

 

Don't skimp on the MB

 

I don't think I have with my selected Asus Z 87-C.

 

 

Get a GTX 780

 

Far to expensive and the videocard does not matter as much as the CPU when it comes to FSX. For example my previous GTS250 is only half as powerful as my current GTX650. But I certainly didn't get double performance in FSX but only a slight improvement.

 

 

Spend on a Good quality open loop water cooling system

 

Why when a Noctua DH14 air cooler is better ?

Well, I am just offering you an opinion; its your build. You should have a look at what NickN is saying about this stuff on Simforum. Good luck with it!

Well, I am just offering you an opinion; its your build. You should have a look at what NickN is saying about this stuff on Simforum. Good luck with it!

 

Do you have a particular thread in mind ?

He has a thread about Overclocking the i7 4770k to at least 4.8ghz on Air.

and he is working on a new and  Complete FSX build and installation guide, its got the word bible in the title. Shouldn't be difficult to find. No disrespect to the guru's at Avsim but I think this guy is best accessible FSX guru in the world. There is also a GTX 780 thread too. If is was starting a new build now I would read everything this guy has written in the last month.

If Asus Z87-A is fine I think my suggestion Z87-C also is good. Suspect them to equal only the A has one more PCI express slot and also support for SLI and crossfire (which I don't need).

Regarding thermal limits and lifetime. How long time are we talking about here ?

 

I'm seeing fewer MOSFETs around the CPU socket on the Z87-C, but it should be fine. As you've already noticed, what you mainly pay for with more expensive boards are things like more SATA/eSATA ports, SLI-optimized PCI-E arrangement etc.

 

What I mean regarding thermal limits is that when overclocking, you will be limited by thermals, not by the amount of power the motherboard can supply to the CPU. As you increase the frequency and voltage, the CPU will simply start running too hot to be stable, and this will dictate your max overclock. So having a board the could in theory supply an even higher voltage would be of no benefit.

 

With Sandy Bridge, it used to be that you could just keep increasing the voltage (and power consumption of the CPU), as long as you had good cooling. With Haswell, you really don't want to go above 1.3V, as the temperature goes out of control even with great cooling. So temperatures will limit your overclock. At these voltages, the CPU isn't drawing a whole lot of power. My 4770K @ 4.3 GHz/1.214V draws about 130W, which is similar to my old Phenom II 955 at stock speeds.

He has a thread about Overclocking the i7 4770k to at least 4.8ghz on Air.

and he is working on a new and  Complete FSX build and installation guide, its got the word bible in the title. Shouldn't be difficult to find. No disrespect to the guru's at Avsim but I think this guy is best accessible FSX guru in the world. There is also a GTX 780 thread too. If is was starting a new build now I would read everything this guy has written in the last month.

 

I have now read some of that stuff including the part where he says a GTX780 is a given choice for  OC haswell system. First thing the prices on the 780 and even 770 makes out of the question for me. And I have read posts about people having high performance in FSX way before these card were out. It seems that advice always gives the most expensive components available.

I would ask what limitations will I have to deal with ? And is a GTX760 really a lower end card ?

Back to the SSD.. the Samsung 840 is great - that is what I have installed.

 

But I also have a 1 TB WD caviar black drive to put everything on that does not have to

be on the SSD.

 

Not a lot of extra money, but a lot of flexibility!

 

To save money, I would go with a 256 MB SSD + a 1 TB harddrive,

over a 500 MB SSD.

 

 

I'm seeing fewer MOSFETs around the CPU socket on the Z87-C, but it should be fine. As you've already noticed, what yo

 

Do you mean Z87-A somewhat better with regard to supply stable voltages when overclocking ? I might be fine bu on he other hand the Z87-A does only cost 100 SEK more

Back to the SSD.. the Samsung 840 is great - that is what I have installed.

 

But I also have a 1 TB WD caviar black drive to put everything on that does not have to

be on the SSD.

 

Not a lot of extra money, but a lot of flexibility!

 

To save money, I would go with a 256 MB SSD + a 1 TB harddrive,

over a 500 MB SSD.

 

Do you have the SSD for FSX and the mechanical drive for OS and other stuff

 

Regarding you suggestion do you mean having FSX and The OS on the 256 SSD and the rest of the stuff on mechanical drive (7200rpm ?)

I actually have the OS on the mechanical drive and only FSX on the SSD, but you can install

it whichever way works best for you..