SSD: I am thinking about going for two 250 GB SSD's after all… Somehow it feels better to put P3D on a totally dedicated drive, even though these are SSD's. Or is that utter nonsense?

 

From a performance standpoint, you'll probably see very little difference between having the sim on the same SSD as the OS versus having it on a separate SSD. (Traditional drives would be a different story) From a clean, organized computer standpoint, it's always quite nice to have them separated.

 

If the funding allows, go for two drives. Other games certainly can benefit from the SSD as well. On my 250 GB gaming SSD, I've got my flight simulation installs, plus Battlefield 4 and Train Sim 2014, among many others. It helps across the board.

 

-Greg

Well, I do sometimes make music (Cakewalk Sonar, lots of samples in Kontakt, etc.) so I think that would indeed benefit from the difference. However, for P3D and OC'ing it is better to disable HT and I don't think I would like to turn HT on and off every time depending on what I would like to do.

 

I run Prepar3d v2.1 and FSX with HT enabled. Not a problem at all. Switching HT off doesn't make a difference. Why should it especially when setting the right AM? Switching off HT is one of those "miracle" tweaks out there which just does not make a difference (apart from a placebo effect) ...

 

 

 

Another important point about HT, is that it increases the CPU temperature while enabled, which again will reduce your overclocking capabilities.

That is indeed a valid point...

HT is nothing more than a wellmade Intel salespitch

 

Yeah, could well be. The only reason I went for the 4770K anyway is that it simply is a little bit better... Yes, just a little but with P3D every little bit helps, I think.

 

 

 

From a clean, organized computer standpoint, it's always quite nice to have them separated.

If the funding allows, go for two drives.

 

I like a clean and organized computer so I already decided in the meantime to go this way indeed.

 

 

 

That is indeed a valid point...

 

And that's why I thought about turning off HT. Even though I could use it for my music software, I might play other games in the future too for which I might not disable HT in a convenient way. And yes, HT doesn't do much anyway. As I said, I won't buy the 4770K for HT but for the slightly better specs.

 

 

1. The fact is that for the same CPU, 4.5GHz is only 7% faster than 4.2GHz ...

 

2. I have the Noctura NH-D14 and love it! It is very quiet and it does a good job at keeping my CPU cool.

 

3. The motherboard in your specs does not have WiFi.

 

4. My OS is Win 8.1. I considered going with Win 7, but now I'm glad that I went with the newer OS.

 

1. Good point LOL! I was sort of thinking it had to be the default speed or 4.5 but of course there are more possibilities.

 

2. Good to hear I made the right choice!

 

3.Thanks for mentioning it but I don't need WiFi or Bluetooth.

 

4. Also good to hear!

 

(I had to combine all quotes because the forum software has a maximum for the amount of quotes you can use.......)

Well, well, well... thanks to the remarks about the Intel Hasswell refresh, I started to read things about it and as it stands now this means I will most probably NOT buy the system I posted in the OP! I already took care of a few things so the need to have a new PC within a month is a thing of the past now, giving me more time to get the best possible PC. I sincerly hope you all don't feel like I have been wasting your time because you actually thought me some things and showed me the way to a better PC so your help certainly has not been in vain.

 

Here is why I probably will wait a while:

 

1. the Hasswell refresh top CPU will be the i7 4790K and the BIGGEST advantage will be the new TIM, making overclocking to insane speeds a LOT easier. Intel changed the TIM specially for overclockers so they HAVE to deliver the goods here! Since these are refresh CPU's prices will probably stay the same.

 

2. the new CPU will fit on the new Z97 motherboard which has the following advantages:

 

A. the upcoming Broadwell CPU will fit on it! So I could upgrade somewhere in the next year to an 8 core CPU (16 with HT) without having to buy a new motherboard!

 

B. Z97 supports PCIe M.2 so I can use lightning fast SSD's. Current SATA connections have a top speed of 600MB/s but M.2 has a top speed of 4GB/s... which is CRAZY fast! (M.2 SSD's seem to be a lot cheaper too but I am not sure yet if the available ones are actually that fast already.)

 

And all this may (!) be available in June already, which only is two months away. And by that time there may also be a GTX780 with 6 GB VRAM in the shops. Of course things can be delayed and maybe things won't be available until September, but the idea alone that all these awesome goodies CAN be available in two months time, makes buying my proposed setup right now a bit er... not too wise.

 

Am I making the right decision here? What do you all think?

Jeroen,

 

My Corsair 850w PSU ran out of gas with my 2700K at 4.8 and overclocked 580 SLI setup and went for a new 1,200w PSU. Since then, no problem. I'd follow suit if you are going with today's hardware.

 

Kind regards,

PS: I'm waiting for a look see...

Jeroen,

 

My Corsair 850w PSU ran out of gas with my 2700K at 4.8 and overclocked 580 SLI setup and went for a new 1,200w PSU. Since then, no problem. I'd follow suit if you are going with today's hardware.

 

Kind regards,

PS: I'm waiting for a look see...

 

 

What power supply model? I have to GTX 680 classifieds on a 2500 OC'd to 4.5 with a gold 850....

Amazon will happily sell you a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium.

 

 

Am I making the right decision here? What do you all think?

 

I think the real question Jeroen is can you control yourself and those display settings while other show off shadow distances of 80,000 and extreme vegetation with shadows and ... ha ha ha ... just teasing you.

 

My process consists of buying the best now, sell my not so old hardware because it still has retained value and keep moving along that way rather than wait 2-3 years (when my old hardware has virtually no residual value) and start all over ... it's actually pretty cost effective as I have no problem selling my old hardware at a reasonable price.

 

The only reason I haven't gone for the 4960X is due to it's overclocking limitations and it's best case performance is only 10% better with average only 5% better.  The Haswell-E extreme 8 core processor does have me intrigued with DDR4 support ... I may jump on this one (was going to wait for Broadwell, but with DDR4 in the Haswell-E that changed my mind).  It appears the Haswell-E and X99 chipset will be available to the mass market in August.

 

On the GPU front, I'm still trying to figure out why a Titan X will be better than two Titans  ($1000 price difference).

 

Anyway, it's going to be really good year for desktop hardware ... and the timing is perfect!

 

Cheers, Rob.

I think the real question Jeroen is can you control yourself and those display settings while other show off shadow distances of 80,000 and extreme vegetation with shadows and ... ha ha ha ... just teasing you.

 

 

LOL Well, I also wonder if I can...  ^_^

 

 

 

Anyway, it's going to be really good year for desktop hardware ... and the timing is perfect!

 

 

A good year indeed but I'm not sure about that perfect timing...  :rolleyes:

 

I understand the idea and advantages of buying the best now and selling other parts but in my home it has almost become a tradition that I sell a computer every 2 (well, now 3) years and then give my previous one to one of the kids (all in order). Yes, I know, this certainly is NOT cost effective LOL but I like this tradition more.  ^_^ And so do my kids. That's why I usually (have to) buy a complete new system and only keep a few components for my next PC. I could have used for instance my current HD and SSD's in my new rig but my kids 'need' them... and, truth be told, I like to buy bigger and better ones LOL!!! 

I usually buy the next best components at the time of purchase and stick with my computer for 3-5 years. The only thing I used to swap was harddrives every 1,5 year, but I now use Apple MACs for everything that isn't flight simulator related, so I don't care about swapping the harddrives anymore.

 

With the VAS limitation of P3D I have zero faith in getting much bang for buck if upgrading. If I can't fly complex aircraft with extremely detailed HD scenery and lots of AI traffic, I see no reason to upgrade. My current three year old rig does the job at medium settings quite well allready. At least it performs better than FSX, and that with more eye candy (HDR lightng, volumetric fog and some shadows enabled).

Am I making the right decision here? What do you all think?

 

 

I would say YES.. you can always be waiting for the next best thing, but in this case, it sounds like the wait will be worthwhile, and it not as if your current PC is a sloth.. I'm sure you can make do for a couple of months.

 

Anyway, whatever you finally decide, enjoy... its always really exciting getting a completely new machine.

If you can wait then it's a good decision. Let's see what you tell us next month.

Spirit

 

 

Let's see what you tell us next month.

 

LOL Yes, I am known for changing my mind sometimes... well, often. Every week or so. Or every day... Every hour... But this time I will try to stick to my decision.  :rolleyes:

While it's true that you can always get something better by waiting six months, some six month waits are more rewarding than others.  I think this one is worth waiting out, unless your current machine is dead and you need an immediate replacement.

Thanks for confirming my thoughts. I will wait for the i7 4790K and the Z97 board! And switch the SSD's for some M.2 versions. With the upcoming 2.2 patch in mind I can honestly say that the future looks brighter than ever!!!