My current build is below, built very soon after the first i7's came out.

 

Intel i7-920 @ 3.42GHz

Gigabyte EX58-UD3R Motherboard

GTX 285 VIdeo Card

3x2 GB DDR2 RAM (honestly, I don't really remmeber the speed, it was "decent" for the time)

Corsair 850 W PSU

-Aftermarket CPU cooler, this was top of the line for th etime, but I can't remember again what it was

-and 2 optical drives, 3 HDD

 

If I upgrade, I'm looking to move on to:

Intel i7 4970k (I'm thinking I'd leave it at the stock 4.4 GHz with turbo)

Asus Z87-Pro (would be open to thoughts on Asus Z97(plain) instead of this thought, it's actually a bit cheaper)

GTX 770 2 GB video card

4x2 GB DDR3/PC10666 RAM

250 GB SDD for OS

-Some good CPU air cooler (open to recommendations, not interested in water cooling though)

-and keeping the PSU, OD's and one HDD

 

With my current system, I can satisfactorily handle large add-on airports and PMDG style aircraft, but clouds, etc can bring the system to it's knee.s  I'll end up with 15-18 fps on the ground at a major airport and 25-30 at a smaller airport (3rd party add-ons in both cases).  My sliders are mostly to the right, but with LOD and autogen being middle to slightly middle of right.  I'd like to more reliably hang out near 20 fps with similar or better graphics settings.  Part of my plan for upgrades also involves being able to use DCS once EDGE with DX11 comes out.  I may also look in to P3D in the future, but for now am sticking with FSX.

 

From what I hear, there would be a substantial expected improvement in performance between my current and planned system.  I would also plan to try migrating to DX10, which as I understand will not do much performance wise, but will lower VAS.

 

Can anyone comment on the system?  And what might be coming out in the near future that could make this a poorly timed upgrade, either in terms of dropping prices on these components or offering a significant upgrade?  In particular, are there new CPU's in the line that may improve OC ability over the current i7's?  I understand the 4790k improved the TIM some, but in general this last back of i7's have not been stellar performers temperature wise.  I am more inclined to hold lower temps and preserve longevity of the CPU than to plan and running in the 80-85C window just for a higher clock.

 

 

Looks good just don't skimp on the speed of the RAM... Get the 2400mhz stuff

 

But ya, expect a large increase in performance...

+1 about the ram speed, but I would go for 2x4gb sticks, not the 4x2, that you have listed. It is less prone to stability issues, if you decide to OC your cpu.

 Jazz

That video card is lacking - might want to reconsider that choice

For FSX the GPU is fine - but if he uses P3D or XP10 I agree - I'd get the 4gb version or gtx 780

Thank you all for the replies.  Sorry I was a bit out of touch, work got busy.

 

+1 about the ram speed, but I would go for 2x4gb sticks, not the 4x2, that you have listed. It is less prone to stability issues, if you decide to OC your cpu.

 Jazz

 

That makes sense for overclocking, although I thought the concept of "quad channel" was to fill all to RAM slots to be able to feed simultaneously to multiple sticks.  Is this effect minimal or not worth it?  Or am I understanding this wrong?

You need to have a ddr4 mobo, and ddr4 ram, both of which have only recently been released, to run quad channel. The performance difference between dual channel and triple channel is negligible, and not worth the extra cost of the triple stick sets of ram.

 

  Jazz

Got it, so 2 x 4 GB it is!

 

I'm also starting to think about a Z97 vs Z87 board?  As I understand it, this would primarily be for forward compatibility with future Intel processors.  Any thoughts on this?

I would think that with the release of the ddr4 spec, most mobo maufacturers will be going that route moving forward. This will make ddr3 boards, like the z87, z97, obsolete in a short year or two, at the most. No point in trying to buy now for future upgrades, as it will be an entirely different tech. I would look at some comparisons of the 2 boards and figure out through reviews if the price difference vs performance increase is worth it.

 

   Jazz

A few thoughts:

 

I never buy PC hardware for future upgrades because in the end I never upgrade and always get new stuff... ^_^

 

Z87 vs z97: afaik the i7 4790K actually requires the z97! At least that was the idea before those boards were released: maybe Intel changed that later on. Make sure to check that out anyway. I myself went for the z97 anyway (I also have the i7 4790K) because of better options (and, I have to admit... z97 also supports the new upcoming Intel CPU's LOL).

 

For a cooler I would look at the Noctua NH-D15: on of the best air coolers around. And REALLy try to OC that CPU! That 4.4 turbo speed will only be reached if one core is used: when two cores are used the max speed is 4.3 and so on. (So I've been told.) The CPU is quite easy to OC to at least 4.5 (higher needs a lot of fine tuning and luck) and then you can be sure you always get the highest speed.

 

Video card: I think a GTX 780 would be a bit better but well... money...

 

 

 

I'd get the 4gb version or gtx 780

 

There only is a 3 GB GTX780 or a 6 GB.

 

Concerning the faster RAM: I settled for 1600 MHz RAM but CL8. I doubt if anyone will ever notice a benefit with faster RAM, specially when CL is lower.

That was in reference to the gtx 770 OR he could get the gtx 780

Well, I made the upgrade and finally have it running.  Thanks for the replies helping with this.  I ended up with:

 

Intel i7 4970k, currently at stock speeds

Noctua NH-D14

Asus Z97-Pro

Gigabyte GTX 770 OC 4 GB

Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB 2400MHz

Samsung EVO 840 250 GB (for OS)

WD 7200 RPM HDD (1x320 GB, 1 x 750 GB)

Corsair 750W PSU

 

I dumped my old sound card, as the on-board is just fine on this motherboard and kept 1 cheap DVD-R drive.

 

I'm an, as was predicted, very happy with the results.  I am running FSX with high graphic settings in DX10 mode.  Sitting on the ground at morning rush with FlightBeam's KSFO, Orbx NCA, UT2 90% traffic, and the PMDG NGX I get an average of about 27 FPS, and perfect smoothness.  With my old system with similar settings I got about 14 FPS in the same circumstances. 

 

I am even able to use light bloom now in DX10 with minimal performance impact (I'm marginal on this during day flights, but like the night look).

 

Just figured I'd drop this update for anyone in the future wondering what the difference is.

Cool!