New Powerhouse

[PilotGonzo]

G'day Gents,
After considering a return to the FS world I have been ponding a new system to run FSX. I've read up and are looking at the following components and wishing for a bit of advice.

The system possibilities are as follows:

Mobo options:
ASUS P6T or P6T-Deluxe or P6X58D Premium
ASUS Rampage II Gene 317
GigaByte EX58-UD3R or G-B EX58-UD5, i'm leaning towards the P6t Deluxe?

CPU:
Intel 1366pin Core i7-920 - I believe this has good O/C capabilities? other option is the 930...?

GPU:
Gigabyte 1GB GTX285

RAM:
6G Kit DDR3 2000 G.Skill-Trident

Monitor:
24

[Slotback]

I would go for i7 930.


It's also worth looking at Nvidia GTX 480, GTX 470 & ATi 5850, 5870.

[PilotGonzo]

Will have a look into those cards, not too much dearer... would the 5870 be a great deal better then the Nvidia cards?

I've seen good overclocking results with the i7 920. Is the 930 just as good? The 930 is actually cheaper than the 920 where I shop. Only by a few dollars tho.

[PilotGonzo]

... the other option is to go with a crossfire setup with two mid range cards but i've read before that your usually better to get one decent card...

[hhomebrewer]

Bigger power supply. Never hurts to have a big-block Chevy in a Vega...

[Slotback]

The i7 930 almost exactly the same as the i7 920, only the 930 has a higher stock clock speed from a higher multiplier (21 vs 20). The 930 is supposed to replace the 920 so I strongly suggest you get the 930. It should overclock the same if not better compared to the 920...

Apparently the 5870 and GTX 285 are about equal in FSX, but the 5870 is faster in most other applications, and has more features. I prefer the 5870 greatly.

Apparently FSX does not get a significant gain from dual videocards, better get one fast one.

The GTX 480 is usually 20% faster than Radeon 5870, but it is more expensive and I have no idea how well it performs in FSX specifically.

I am not sure if DDR3-2000 is necessary, but then again I don't know the details of overclocking the Core i7 platform.

The PSU should probably be fine IMO. But also look at Corsair HX-750 / Seasonic X-series 750 watt.

[PilotGonzo]

Thanks for the info.

The 5850 is reasonably priced and seems to be ranked higher than the 285 in benchmarking but maybe not in FSX?

The 2000 ram is only $30 dearer so I thought it'd be worth it.

[Slotback]

According to resident guru, Nick N, the 5870 is almost equal to the GTX 285 in FSX. I would presume the 5850 is slightly slower.

[idahosurge]

For your CPU cooler get a Thermalright Venemous X
http://www.acousticpc.com/thermalright_ ... ooler.html

You will need a fan, the Thermalright fan and shourd are
http://www.acousticpc.com/thermalright_ ... c_fan.html
http://www.acousticpc.com/thermalright_ ... older.html

I have a Thermalright TRUE and I changed my fan to a Delta PWM.

[Slotback]

Wouldn't the Delta @ 4000RPM be too loud?

[Mazza]

Wouldn't the Delta @ 4000RPM be too loud?

Does it really matter? 

[PilotGonzo]

Wouldn't the Delta @ 4000RPM be too loud?

Does it really matter?

[idahosurge]

Wouldn't the Delta @ 4000RPM be too loud?

It only runs at 2000 RPM unless stress testing, then I run it at 4000 RPM.  The key is to be able to control the RPM vs. temp.  I can do that with Fan Xpert and I can also do it with SpeedFan.

If your MD can not run a PWM fan then you can get the same fan that is only DC and use a Lamptron fan controller to adjust the RPM or use SpeedFan.

At 4000 it is loud, but it dropped my temps 5 degrees when stress testing so I do not mind it!

As far as 4000 RPM and reliability, Delta fans are very reliable and highly regarded over at overclock.net, you just never hear much about them since they run at such a high RPM and at a high RPM they are loud.

Rod

[Slotback]

Wouldn't the Delta @ 4000RPM be too loud?

Does it really matter?

[PilotGonzo]

Ended up with the i7 930. Asus Rampage II mobo. G.skill trident 6gb 2000mhz ram. Antec 300 case. Gigabyte GTX 285 vid card. Corsair TX750 psu. Corsair h50 water cooler, pioneer DVD-R and Windows 7 64bit. Using an existing Sata HDD (16mb cache) I had but may upgrade pending on performance...

Very happy with the purchase. Currently just "running it in" and looking foreward to some overclocking, then install FSX Gold of course