nuke74

NBouc, Wow, thanks a lot for this detailed post. It exactly sums up what I face now, the only difference is that you own both systems and I have to decide which one to get since I have none now ;-) Right now I have a Intel Dual Core E2160 @ 1.80 MHz running together with a GeForce 8600 GTS. I always favored 3dfx/Nvidia over ATI/AMD and therefore would like to do the same now. I will most likely choose a GTX 580 or 680 since I have only space for one screen. I'll just wait for some of the GTX 680 custom designs (and price development). I still got some time since I will most likely wait for the i5-3570K and buy this CPU instead of the i5-2500K (if it's not toooo overpriced...) By the way: What about this issue with DX10 I read about? Does FSX have any issues with DX higher than 9?

Maybe also one of these myths... They said that a SB does't have any issue with a 1600MHz RAM, it just doesnt support full rate. But since I am also buying 1600MHz RAMS now all will be fine, whichever CPU I will take. The Z77 board supports them all... Now I just have to increase my budget for a decent custom GTX 580 or 680 instead of the HD 7870...

I think I'll switch to the 580W PSU and take 1600 MHz RAMs. But regarding the GPU: Would you suggest to buy a GTX 580 instead of a HD 7xxx? The 680 is still a bit expensive, but that's the case for almost any decent video card...

Thanks a lot, mad dog, these are valuable answers. - Would you suggest to go for "the big deal" and take a GTX 680 or aim a little lower? - The PSU was considered ok by other "experts" but I was also thinking about a stronger one. Can't do any harm. - I wanted to buy 1600 MHz RAM if I would by an Ivy Bridge CPU since Sandy Bridges only support 1333 MHz. But, as for the PSU, bigger can't do any harm.

I am just about to buy a new PC. I created a list of all parts, which looks like this right now: 1 x Western Digital Caviar Black 1500GB, SATA 6Gb/s (WD1502FAEX) 1 x Crucial m4 SSD 256GB, 2.5", SATA 6Gb/s (CT256M4SSD2) 1 x Intel Core i5-2500K, 4x 3.30GHz, boxed (BX80623I52500K) 1 x Kingston ValueRAM DIMM Kit 8GB PC3-10667U CL9 (DDR3-1333) (KVR1333D3N9K2/8G) 1 x Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 OC, 2GB GDDR5, DVI, HDMI, 2x mini DisplayPort, lite retail (11199-03-20G) 1 x ASRock Z77 Extreme4, Z77 (dual PC3-12800U DDR3) 1 x LG Electronics BH10LS38 schwarz, SATA, bulk 1 x Thermalright HR-02 Macho (Sockel 775/1155/1156/1366/AM2/AM3/AM3+/FM1) 1 x Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced Black & White Edition (RC-692A-KKN5-BW) 1 x be quiet! Straight Power E9 CM 480W ATX 2.3 (E9-CM-480W/BN197) 1 x Microsoft: Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit inkl. Service Pack 1, DSP/SB, 1er Pack (deutsch) (PC) (GFC-02054) 1 x Microsoft: Office 2010 Home and Student (deutsch) (PC) (79G-01904) I want to be able to play the newest games on my 24" 1920x1200 screen, which I will keep. In addition, I desperately want to play FSX with high details and high FPS. Right now, on my existing computer, i reach 6fps when on final to EHAM (Mega Airport Amsterdam), which is unbearable. I was almost about to buy my new components as listed above, when (in another forum) a user told me not to buy an AMD GPU because FSX was programmed to run on NVidia! Can anyone confirm this? Would there be any issue with the HD 7870 OC? Or is this an "issue from the past"? What would you recommend? Thanks for any reply! Nuke