I glanced at what JetLine Systems has to offer, since the "customizable" desktops produced by common manufacturers are not really customizable. I do not have the skill set to build my own, so a company like JetLine is appealing. Would you recommend another company aside from Jetline here in the USA?

Regarding the 4K question, I do not believe that I will be going to 4K for the foreseeable future.

As for add ons, I intend to use: ORBX Global, Vector, North America LC and AU. Some LatinVFR type airports and PMDG NGX, 777 and 747. Active sky and REX

Thank you again for all of your assistance, it has been educational for me in trying to find my new pc.

 

Robert

H Bob,  I can tell you I have a JetLine System that I have gradually upgraded over time.  Each time I considered an upgrade such as RAM or graphic card I contacted them for advice.  They are always there to assist you, lend advice and troubleshoot.  They are great guys and sell a great product.  It sounds like your knowledge and expertise in the area of flight sim is similar to mine.  There are many great posters on this forum that will help you and you will learn a lot by reading this forum daily.

In summary, I am a huge JetLine System fan and you cannot go wrong with those guys in my opinion.  

Ken

Thank you Ken, I appreciate the insight

3 hours ago, twojastara said:

With i7-8700k, you can also use Intel Optane Memory, which would significantly boost speeds for your magnetic drive. In such way you can have smaller SSD disk for OS.

https://www.kitguru.net/components/hard-drives/simon-crisp/intel-optane-memory-32gb-review/

But only if your HDD is the boot drive. This from Intel's Optane FAQs:

"Can I use Intel Optane memory to accelerate my secondary drive, instead of the primary boot drive?

No, Intel Optane memory can only accelerate one SATA-based boot drive. No data drive."

The bad news is that GPU prices are going one way UP, and some suppliers are running out of stock and don`t know when they will be restocked. 

Let's hope the bitcoin bubble comes to an end soon... It isn't gamers or flight simmers that are driving prices and demand, but cryptocurrency miners...

http://www.techradar.com/news/best-mining-gpu

I just built a similar system over Christmas.  8700K, 1080Ti,  250Gig SSD for the OS and some key programs.  512 for P3D v4 (Which I think is plenty but go for 1TB if you can afford it).  I would personally suggest building your own system.  Not that difficult, very rewarding, allows you to pick your own components and costs less.  I have done it twice now and really glad I took the plunge.

1 hour ago, MarkW said:

I just built a similar system over Christmas.  8700K, 1080Ti,  250Gig SSD for the OS and some key programs.  512 for P3D v4 (Which I think is plenty but go for 1TB if you can afford it).  I would personally suggest building your own system.  Not that difficult, very rewarding, allows you to pick your own components and costs less.  I have done it twice now and really glad I took the plunge.

I echo what Mark says it's alot cheaper to build your own. I did the same.  Another thing if you get the h115i cooler be warned it's loud as hell but very efficient.  If you look at my sig you'll see I can get 5 out of it when overclocking in the bios 

26 minutes ago, tooting said:

I echo what Mark says it's alot cheaper to build your own. I did the same.  Another thing if you get the h115i cooler be warned it's loud as hell but very efficient.  If you look at my sig you'll see I can get 5 out of it when overclocking in the bios 

This is the cooler I have and I don't notice it being loud at all.

I would consider building my own except that I have no technical building skills, and I have a significant hand tremor in one hand. Several years back I attempted to install additional ram, but due to tremor a actually damaged the ram piece and it could no longer be utilzed.

37 minutes ago, Bob Marton said:

I would consider building my own except that I have no technical building skills, and I have a significant hand tremor in one hand. Several years back I attempted to install additional ram, but due to tremor a actually damaged the ram piece and it could no longer be utilzed.

If you have a friend that can help you the payoff would be significant.  Like Mark, I do not hear my H115i cooler but one must be sure to set up the Corsair Link cooler controls to obtain the results you want (it rarely needs to kick into high speed fan).  Back on topic, you can often save up to 50% on the cost of a computer if you build it yourself.  At one time, a build required some knowledge of how I/O, DMA and interrrupts work because you had to assign interrupts and make settings that are not longer required.  Now days a build is basically a put stuff together and use it, the hardest part made easy by vendors is making sure you have memory that matches your board and chipset.

Find someone to help you, honest. The payoff is Huuuge.

Bear in mind if you buy the components and build it yourself you only have a warranty on those components, not the computer. If like me you're unfamiliar on how to overclock a PC and get it stable then I would always recommend buying from a reputable dealer.

I bought mine from Scan in Bolton, England back in Oct 2013 and I'm still happy with the performance. I've swapped the original graphics card for a 1080 and changed from 8Gb to 16Gb memory but otherwise the PC and its BIOS settings are unchanged.

Yes, I will have paid more but it gave me peace of mind. I have build plenty of other PCs over the years but overclocking is something I'd rather leave to the experts.

Ray, you are right on point for me. In the incident involving my attempt at adding RAM, RAM was quite expensive at that time, and I ruined the component. None of my friends are tech savvy, they may be great doctors, but they will tell you they cannot build a computer. I deeply appreciate every one's recommendations on components and their cost saving measures, but I am for now, resigned to my fate, that for me, flight simulator will remain an expensive hobby.

Hi Robert,

It’s only expensive if you don’t use it regularly.  As I’m now retired I fly most days so it’s excellent value for money. Then again if I lived in sunny Florida maybe I’d spend more time outdoors than in.