Crewecut

I think either constellation would give you good performance, a 4 gig card is wise for three screens, you could do with a 2 gigz for the panels. Concider a touch screen, makes for an awesome start-up when pulling down the OH and actually using your hands for pushing buttons.

You're not giving much to go on... Operating system? Fsx SP version? Other add-ons? Any updates for 747 installed? Complete list of hardware.

That's interesting. What are all those points of failure? Where can I read about them? I am concerned 'cause I got an H100i ready.

Check out noise levels on those cards. And ASUS have made a card that only takes up two slots, makes for a neat look. With 4 gigz you're prepared for multi screen gaming, or BF3 on single screen.

No point when that's your use. Only if you were extreme OCing both cpu and gpu, or if you love fiddling with that stuff, sure it's eye candy too.

Make sure to get the latest i-version cooler, H100i

Get single GTX 680 4 gb edition, you can Surround on that single card. As a general rule SLI decreases FSX performance, not saying you couldn´t get decent performance, I take it Clutch is happy. I haven´t tried it, but Jet Line Systems have published their results on different setups, I trust ´em so far. http://www.jetlinesystems.com/performance.php I´m getting the above, and I even plan to add a fourth, touch, screen.

For nVidia tri-screen setup I´d recommend gtx 680 4gb, and SLI for nVIdia cards decreases performance in FSX, but the GTX has four sockets, and with the Kepler card you can Surround on a single card. You´ll need two converters for the two non-DVI outputs. I´ve been on a gtx 460 OC for some time with TH2G plus a touch screen, and performance has been reasonable, my total system taken into account. But on my new build I´m going the above route, and for now I have high hopes for it.

If one always has to wait for the next great thing, one never gets to build. After Haswell there´ll be something even better and faster. And when you rush out to be the first to try new hardware you could be facing all the "teething" problems. And there´s talk of cpu´s being hardwired onto motherboards in the future, renedering all sockets as we know ´em obsolete. Too many "what-if"s. So, if you´re hands are itching like mine for some simming on a new rig, I say go for it...today :wink: The above statement is my humble opinion based on what I read out there. I´m not saying it´s the almighty truth. I respect other opinions on the matter. On the SSD side, I´d say go for Samsung 830 or 840 PRO, Samsung are not reliant on the Sandforce controller, which tends to have some issues when you read around. Intel´s 520 series seem to have come into harmony with Sandforce though. If you´re looking at a serious overclock of the cpu concider a closed loop watercooler. 3 or 4 gb memory in a gpu is good for multiple screen gaming with high AA, or for BF3 on a single screen, if you´re into that as well. Good luck with the build! Happy flying.

No, probably not. Not if it runs 70+ degr. 24/7. But with overclocking with offset mode, cpu winds down according to use. And I have great hopes for my H100i. But even if it only lasted me a year, if I got a full year of high clocks and smooth simming, I´d be happy to pay. All these years of chasing the dream...snifle hrm. back to you, Bren..

Well, I´m not keeping my cpu for seven years or so, if it lasts me two, fine, got new excuse to get something new and shiny :rolleyes: I think delidding in itself could invoke a very short life time for the cpu, it could die right there. I´ve never heard of dangerous temps. on the 3770k on a Maximus board going above 4 ghz, you can go 4.2 on the stock cooler and get decent temps. Perhaps it´s the board that allows for low voltage, thus not as hot as you have experienced, BoeingMan. Case ventilation and ambient temperatures come into play, of course.

So you can´t overclock an Ivy Bridge without destroying it? That´s interesting. Could you point me to some reviews that clarify that issue? I´m also under the impression that the Maximus BIOS has temperature control, so if your OC drives your chip over a preset temperature, it shuts down.

The AX 860 is made by Seasonic, they just smacked a Corsair label on it :cool: but that probably doesn´t make it cheaper :rolleyes: Delidding plus custom WC, that´s very ambitious, and would be for the sake of extreme OC 24/7, benchmarking stuff. Sure the chip could reach temp.s around 90 when prime95-ing your 4.8 OC, but in everyday use, the chip would reach most decent temp.s on a custom loop.

Right you are, my friend! As long as you have intel controlled SATA ports available, you´re good with regular SSD´s. And you were going for a big Caviar Black or something for storage, right, I don´t think you´ll ever need mSATA. If I ever stumble across a neat thing to use it for, I´ll make sure to let you know :wink:

The 4 gigz 680 if you´re simming with high AA on multiple screens, or play BF3. But what about video editing, could there be a benefit from 4 gigz there...?

Definitely go with Samsung PRO SSD, they´re not tied up on a Sandforce controller, which can be dodgy, if you´re unlucky. You should go 16 gigz RAM if you want to do video editing, it´ll benefit from more (perhaps even 32, but could that hamper overclock?!) But wise choice on RAM. If I can make you, take a look at Corsair´s AX 860, very high quality, very silent. Don´t go for the i-model, they got the wrong fan, too noisy. I´d say you should get identical fans for your push-pull, to ensure an even flow of air through the rad, But if you get two sets of different fans but with near identical cfm, you coud have each identical fan on each side of the rad, so each pair create an even flowing "column" of air of their own. Did that make sense...? But why on earth delid with a WC? How high are you going to clock it?

mSATA runs on a pcie lane, and is slower than regular SATA, and I haven´t quite wrapped my head around what the practical purpose of mSATA is. So, I wouldn´t install anything vital on such a device. I hear the price of mSATA drives are higher than regular SSDs.

Reinstalling win7 is made easier/faster if you do it with a usb, http://arstechnica.com/business/2009/12/the-usb-flash-drive/ http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-install-windows-7vista-from-usb-drive-detailed-100-working-guide/

When in VC, press alt to get the top bar, open new view, just select VC, do that twice, drag those windows onto other screens, drag corner for size, mark each screen and turn views left and right respectively. Go to center screen and take off!

No harm done in clocking it up a bit, Inspector will do that for you. Pass on the 8SGSS thing, I´m ign´ant on that part :rolleyes:

Just like nVidia control panel there would be a setup of collecting three screens as primary monitor and the last as 2nd monitor. If all else fails, try my afore mentioned solution, use the DVI-VGA converter, and switch connections, so the VGA monitor is connected to the DVI-I, and the DVI-monitor is in the DVI-D socket.

Try this. Start FSX, go into windowed mode, pull what ever panels, check lists, and what-not onto 2ndary monitor, go full screen in FSX again, and see if your stuff doesn´t stick on the 2ndary.

So many variables in pc components, run FSXmark, do the OC and run it again. And be sure to tell us all about it :wink:

You´d be facing a complete reinstall. There´s software that´ll let you save an "image" of your harddrives, but I doubt it´ll transpose to a different rig. http://eu.msi.com/product/mb/H61M-E33--B3-.html top section makes some reference to overclocking, if it´s just desktop overclock you may not find it very stable, but you could try it out.

Hmmm, smooth running with lots of traffic...is anyone there yet? Just kidding, but new board, cpu, ram and psu for under 200 bucks...you should scour e-bay, and I worry that you´ll be out of money before you have acquired half your hardware. That is if you want smooth FSX with lots of traffic. I´m for Intel cpu´s so I´m biased towards that, and the i7 3750k would do nicely on an Asus Maximus V GENE board, an easy overclock with the stock cooler. But you should also concider SSDs, at least one dedicated to FSX, and if you want to clock higher you´re facing a cooling issue, more money in the money pit.