Need your help.

[PMK]

Guys I went thru Nicks List and tried to pick out the components required to put a system togethor. Well the list and components I picked was almost 2 grand and I need to trim it back. I will be the first to tell you I have a basic (plus a little) understanding of computers. I built one system for my son so I am cofident I can make the build. But when it comes to the componits I sorta get lost on what I need and what is way over kill. So I thought I would show you my picks and see if I can get recomendation on trimming. If not well the system will have to wait. Thanks in advance for your help.

Basic Parts List

Asus P6T Deluxe v2
PKs pick - ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131614
Price-$284.99

GTX 285 video card.. fastest core and memory speed you can afford
PKs Pick BFG Tech BFGEGTX2851024OCBE GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814143190
Price-$349.99

i7 950 when they are released (975 if you want the extreme version.. much more expensive.. easier clocking)

Pks Pick-Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115211
Price-569.99

WD VelociRaptor 300GB HD dedicated to FSX
PKs pick-Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136322
Price-199.99

A good single drive for the OS
PKs pick-Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136074
Price 49.99


A decent CPU cooler to allow a 4GHz+ clock. The thermalright 120 1366 or the Scythe MUGEN-2 SCMG-2000 is starting to look good too
PKs Pick-COOLER MASTER Intel Core i7 compatible Hyper N 520 RR-920-N520-GP 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835103057
Price 44.99

DDR3 1600 memory..  lowest timing possible:
Pks Pick-Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PVS34G1600LLK
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820220285
Price 139.99


PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W
Pks Pick Antec TruePower New TP-750 Blue 750W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817371022
Price 129.99


A good tower that allows a lot of airflow.. the rest of the parts is up to you
Pks Pick-Customer Reviews for COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119137
Price 69.99

PK

[idahosurge]

You can save some money by going with the i7 920 rather than the i7 950.  I am no expert, but with that said I you can OC both to 4.0GHz, but the 950 is not going to be stressed as much as the 920 at 4.0GHz.

For the cooler I can recommend the Thermalright 120 extreme 1366RT.

I know that you want to keep your price down, but I would take another look at memory, I have this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820226050

A PSU with a +12V single rail is recommend for a GTX285, take a look at this, I have an 850W version, but 750W would be fine.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139006

This is the Cooler Master case that I have

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119160

You can look at my system in my signature, the mother board, CPU, CPU cooler, memory and GPU were recommened by NickN.  Nick did just say GTX285, I went with the fastest GTX285 that I could find at the time.

FSX is CPU hungry so you need to go with the fastest CPU that you can afford followed by the best GPU and memory. 

If you want to OC you need a really good CPU cooler and a roomy case with good air flow to put it all in.  If you want to keep your price down and go with the case you have shown then see if you can find a review to see how it is on keeping everything cool, does it have good airflow.

I have my i7 950 OC'ed to 4.2GHz and my core temps never got over 75C when stress testing with OCCT and Prime95.  When running FSX my core temps never get over 68C.

Regards,

Rod

[Speed of flight]

Well, I hope I can help you save money, although the parts you picked are almost the VERY BEST stuff one can buy! I would look at this motherboard- the Asus Rampage II @ $219:

http://www.frys.com/product/5863493?sit ... IN_RSLT_PG
There is also an "extreme series" that is $150 more, but meh, and their whole website is a great resource at your disposal. If you live in an area where they have stores,try not to get lost in there. My girlfriend hates it when we go there "just to look for a minute".

Take a look at this CPU @ $280 cheaper:

http://www.frys.com/product/5751812?sit ... IN_RSLT_PG
It's not the 950 you want, but it's new, and the wife may be easier on you for getting it...

Also, look at this combo @89.99 for 3GB:

http://www.frys.com/product/5994634?sit ... IN_RSLT_PG
With that board, you'll be able to change latency timings on these sticks, and save yourself some dough.

Go with a decent PSU, like this one for $199:

http://www.frys.com/product/5278537
It's the one I use. It's cheap, 80%+ efficient, and plenty of headroom for demanding appsand hardware. No video card and CPU combo will need more than that, unless you're running 2 5970's at MAX throttle all the time.

The case I got is the same as IdahoSurge's: the coolermaster HAF (High Air Flow). Lots of fans, vents, room for stuff, and big, goofy, dumb hands to tinker on it. Around $160+-.

Here's the big one. That video card is a great choice. However, I'd go with a newer ATi product. For example the 5850 is the same price, (+- $10) but DX11 ready, 1GB GDDR5 (not GDDR3) and that helps ATi (and their 256 bit bus-width) get around the 512 bit bus-width offered by NVidia. More calculations per second (measured in TeraFlops) and the XFX one has a "black edition" that has a stack of OC and OV options you can tweak to get a better card than you bought as advertised. At least take a look at it. It will suprise you. $359 +-

For HDDs, I would say that having FSX on it's own will help, but just defragging often enough is very adequate. You would get a performance gain, but the $ is better spent elsewhere. Here's an alternative without buying a new HDD-
If you have the original operating system disk, and you have another HDD (or partition your primary), try this (worked GREAT for me):

Save all your desirables to another HDD or partition (take a couple days, just to be sure of the stuff you use often).
Put in the OS disk.
Restart.
When it asks you to "boot from CD", do it.
Somewhere, the OS will ask you where to install, etc, and give an option to format the rest of this HDD.
Do it.
Allow it to do its thang, and when it's done, reinstall FSX and your add-ons first thing.
Then move your desirables back.

Easy and effective. No need for 2 HDDs, just a clean install. If you need to, get an extra HDD for your other stuff, but you will only need 1, really. That's all I use, and it runs VERY well for me.

So now we got a board, some RAM, a CPU, a GPU, PSU, and a new case, lets total:
$219.99-Asus Rampage 2 MoBo
$179.98-Kingston CL9 ($89.99x2 for 6 GB)
$288.99-Intel i7-920
$359.99-ATi 5850 (black edition)
$199.99-Antec 850W PSU
$169.99-Coolermaster HAF (this was the AMD red edition, newegg has the black one for +-$100)
$1418.93, plus tax in your area.

You can find these cheaper other places. I checked Frys.com for all this stuff. Newegg, Amazon, Ebay, etc. may give you better results.
Another point to ponder, if you're going to go with an entirely new build, then it's going to cost you right now. If somebody makes a new processor, then prices will start to fall. However, of course, then we're all going to want the new one, and so on...
If you're using DDR2 now, then the switch means a new MoBo, and RAM to go in it. That's not cheap. Especially building Intel. The proc you're looking at is already $100 more than AMD Ph II. Tri-channel RAM, so 6 stix, etc...

I tried to help, but looks like the price tag didn't necessarily go down that much, hmmm.
I wish you the best of luck with your build, and see you in there!

[idahosurge]

PMK,

If the main game, if not the only game that you are going to use on this PC is FSX then I would think long and hard before you went with any ATI card.  For FSX a GTX 285 is still the best choice.

There are a lot of people that have problems with ATI / FSX and Win7.  You did not say what OS you were going with.  For my new PC I went with Win7 Ult 64b and I am so glad that I took the jump from XP Home 32b.  If you do go with Win7 go with a 64b edition so that it will make the most use of the memory.

Regarding ATI / FSX and Win7 problems, here is a link for your review.

http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_p ... ?TID=32829

This is not a slam at ATI, it is just with FSX more people have better performance with Nvidia!  Some people with ATI and FSX have no problems, reading through the forums though a lot of people with ATI and FSX do have problems.

If you are going to run other CPU hungry games besides FSX then it is a tough call and one that only you can make since you are going to have to live with your choice!

If you can I really suggest going with 6GB of memory rather than 4GB.

Regards,

Rod

[Speed of flight]

[quote]PMK,

If the main game, if not the only game that you are going to use on this PC is FSX then I would think long and hard before you went with any ATI card.

[Speed of flight]

ALso, @ IdahoSurge, that is quite a powerful system you run in your signature! Good job on that CPU OC.


ZZZZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!

Bet FSX runs like no other! Surely better than mine. Corn-gratulations!

[idahosurge]

[quote]ALso, @ IdahoSurge, that is quite a powerful system you run in your signature! Good job on that CPU OC.


ZZZZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!

Thanks, I am thinking about going for 4.4GHz, but I am not sure that I want to stress the CPU that much plus the fact that I am on air cooling and do not want to go to water.

I agree with what you said, the really best advise is to get the best that you can afford of the brand that you like!

I have had Nvidia and ATI.  The only game I play is FSX and Nvidia does it for me, but no matter how good your GPU is, if you do not have a CPU to support it then it is all for nothing.

This PC is my first Intel, all others have been AMD and this is my first OC, I doubt that I will go back to AMD anytime soon.

I am so glad that I went with NickN's advise and did not cut any corners, this PC rocks and everytime I fire FSX up I am so glad that I went ahead with the PC.  Plus the fact that for the next generation of Intel 6 core CPU's all I need is a BIOS update and I am set.  Maybe a nice i7 980 in a couple of years after the price drops at least 50%.

Rod

[Speed of flight]

[quote][quote]ALso, @ IdahoSurge, that is quite a powerful system you run in your signature! Good job on that CPU OC.


ZZZZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!

Thanks, I am thinking about going for 4.4GHz, but I am not sure that I want to stress the CPU that much plus the fact that I am on air cooling and do not want to go to water.

I agree with what you said, the really best advise is to get the best that you can afford of the brand that you like!

I have had Nvidia and ATI.

[PMK]

Thanks all for your responses. This rigg is being built for FSX mainly. I will look at all the recomendations and see what I can slide by the boss  . With a few tweaks though I think Im on my way. Again thanks for all your responses. And for Frys it my fav store and yes my wife hates it to. I bring stuff home she ask "whats that for" and I reply Heck I dont even know what it is, but it looks cool and it was on sale LOL.