December 12, 201312 yr All, My existing machine is about 5 years old right now and given the PMDG 777, ASN etc. I have decided to buy a new one. I'm not qualified to build one (my old machine is a Dell XPS 730x) so I am looking at Alienware as a replacement. I am looking at the Alienware Aurora series with an i7-4960x running at 4.3 Ghz with a 15 Cache. The GPU I am considering is a GTX-780 with 3GB memory. They don't have an option for the GTX 780ti. I would greatly appreciate any thoughts on whether this set up is worthwhile or if I should consider something else. My practice is to buy the highest end components I can find about every 5 years and I seem to be getting the most longevity that way even though I recognize it comes at a price. Indeed my XPS runs great and for the most part smooth but recent advances in add-ons is starting to slow me down. I recognize that this a broad question but I would greatly value the thoughts of those who are more knowledgable about these newer components than I am as well as other builds/companies I should consider. Thank you in advance for your consideration and Happy Holidays to all!
December 14, 201312 yr If the machine is primarily for FSX or P3D, a much-cheaper i7-4770k CPU is actually a somewhat better performer than the $1000 (just for the CPU) 4960X. A hexacore IB-E CPU's strengths are pretty much wasted on a program built around a single-threaded core process like FSX/P3D. For around the same price, you might consider a 4770k and a 6Gb Titan GPU, especially if you think you might be interested in P3D at some point. Regards Bob Scott | President and CEO, AVSIM Inc ATP Gulfstream II-III-IV-V Sys1 (MSFS20+24/XPlane12+11): AMD 9800X3D, water 2x240mm, MSI MPG X670E Carbon, 64GB GSkill 6000/30, nVidia RTX4090FE Alienware AW3821DW 38" 21:9 GSync, 2x4TB Crucial T705 PCIe5 + 2x2TB Samsung 990 SSD, EVGA 1000P2 PSU, 12.9" iPad Pro Thrustmaster TCA Boeing Yoke, TCA Airbus Sidestick, Twin TCA Airbus Throttle quads, PFC Cirrus Pedals, Coolermaster HAF932 case Sys2 (P3Dv5/v4): i9-13900KS, water 2x360mm, ASUS Z790 Hero, 32GB GSkill 7800MHz CAS36, ASUS RTX4090 Samsung 55" JS8500 4K TV@60Hz, 3x 2TB WD SN850X 1x 4TB Crucial P3 M.2 NVME SSD, EVGA 1600T2 PSU Fiber link to Yamaha RX-V467 Home Theater Receiver, Polk/Klipsch 6" bookshelf speakers, Polk 12" subwoofer, 12.9" iPad Pro PFC yoke/throttle quad/pedals with custom Hall sensor retrofit, Thermaltake View 71 case, Stream Deck XL button box Sys3 (DCS/P3Dv4/ATS/ETS): AMD 7800X3D, MSI MPG X870E Carbon, Noctua NH-D15S, 64GB GSkill 6000/30, EVGA RTX3090 Alienware AW3420DW 34" 21:9 GSync, Corsair HX1000i PSU, 4TB Crucial T705 PCIe5 + 2TB Samsung 970Evo Plus, TM TCA Officer Pack, Saitek combat pedals, TM Warthog, TM RS300 FF wheel/pedals, Coolermaster HAF XB case
December 14, 201312 yr Author Thanks Bob. Very helpful advice! I will keep this in mind as I continue my research. Regards, Todd
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