Upgrading

[orionll]

I'm probably going to upgrade my computer in the coming weeks. Following are specs and some questions I have.

Existing specs:
AMD Phenom 9850 Quad Core (2.5 GHz)
4 GB Corsair CM2X1024-6400
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 640
Maxtor DiamondMax 21 500 GB (STM3500630AS)
ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

Reused parts:
PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W
Antec P150 (http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?Type=Mg==&id=Njcz) (discontinued)
Some Memorex DVD drive
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
Microsoft Flight Simulator X Deluxe and Acceleration

Upgraded specs:
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
mushkin XP 4 GB DDR3 1600 (Model 996657) (2 sets to make 8 GB)
EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX 285 2GB FTW (unsure)
Intel X25-M 80GB SATA2 SSD (already purchased)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s ST3750528AS
ASUS M4A79T Deluxe

Here are a few specific questions I've got:

1. Any recommendations on a good CPU cooler? I'm planning on overclocking the Phenom II X4 955 to around 3.6 or 3.8 GHz.
2. Is the EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX 285 2GB FTW overkill? Too little? My dad is thinking of getting a 3 monitor setup if that's relevant.

Then, I've got these general questions:

1. How is this setup in general? I'm mainly planning on doing stuff in and related to FSX.
2. Anyone with similar specs want to share their experiences?

If there are any other questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to reply ;).

Thanks,

Orion

[harleyman]

Is your Mobo DDR3 ?

Some Muskin DDR3 dual channel ram I have used has not faired well !

The Nvidia 275 is awsome..So is the 4890

Running threee monitors requires Matrox tripple heads To Go deal..

Make sure that your HDD is 32Mb Cache ..

FSX wants its own drive

Intel is still king of FSX (CPU) but the pheonoms 2 do very well I am told too!

Will your board run the new Chip?(CPU) ?

[orionll]

Is your Mobo DDR3 ?

Some Muskin DDR3 dual channel ram I have used has not faired well !

The Nvidia 275 is awsome..So is the 4890

Running threee monitors requires Matrox tripple heads To Go deal..

Make sure that your HDD is 32Mb Cache ..

FSX wants its own drive

Intel is still king of FSX (CPU) but the pheonoms 2 do very well I am told too!

Will your board run the new Chip?(CPU) ?

The motherboard I'm planning on upgrading to supports DDR3, but the one I currently have does not.

FSX and the OS (Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit RTM) will be on the Intel X-25M SSD. Any other files and applications will be located on the hard drive.

Both the motherboard I have and the motherboard I'm planning on upgrading to support the AMD Phenom II 955.

[harleyman]

Sounds like a plan...

You never mentioned a case..You will need good cooling for that OC ...



Forgot about the heatsink..

The freezer Pro7 revision is for the AM3 socket for that Pheonom 2

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134


Great cooler....

[orionll]

I mentioned my case under the Reused Parts section on the first post. It's an Antec P150.

And thanks for the cooler recommendation :).

[harleyman]

Oppps///Yup...You mentioned the case...

missed it..:sleep:

[txnetcop]

I'm probably going to upgrade my computer in the coming weeks. Following are specs and some questions I have.

Existing specs:
AMD Phenom 9850 Quad Core (2.5 GHz)
4 GB Corsair CM2X1024-6400
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 640
Maxtor DiamondMax 21 500 GB (STM3500630AS)
ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

Reused parts:
PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W
Antec P150 (http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?Type=Mg==&id=Njcz) (discontinued)
Some Memorex DVD drive
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
Microsoft Flight Simulator X Deluxe and Acceleration

Upgraded specs:
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
mushkin XP 4 GB DDR3 1600 (Model 996657) (2 sets to make 8 GB)
EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX 285 2GB FTW (unsure)
Intel X25-M 80GB SATA2 SSD (already purchased)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s ST3750528AS
ASUS M4A79T Deluxe

Here are a few specific questions I've got:

1. Any recommendations on a good CPU cooler? I'm planning on overclocking the Phenom II X4 955 to around 3.6 or 3.8 GHz.
2. Is the EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX 285 2GB FTW overkill? Too little? My dad is thinking of getting a 3 monitor setup if that's relevant.

Then, I've got these general questions:

1. How is this setup in general? I'm mainly planning on doing stuff in and related to FSX.
2. Anyone with similar specs want to share their experiences?

If there are any other questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to reply ;).

Thanks,

Orion

I'm gonna be dead honest with you about your build. That motherboard is one of the finest I ever tested for AMD. It compared in speed with the Gigabyte EP45T DDR3 board and a Q9650 and two Nvidia EVGA Superclocked GTX 285s.

I also used the Black Edition 965 from AMD, but I had two ASUS EAH4890 1GB video cards on it. It actually beat the rig with Nvidia in CRYSIS and FARCRY 2.0 by a 2fps and cost a whole lot less money. Both units were OC'd to 3.8GHz. There are no less than 4 PCI-E 16X slots on that motherboard for CROSSFIRE why would you mount (1) Nvidia card on a CROSSFIRE X motherboard?:confused:

I test equipment at TechCorp and I am not an ATI fanboy, but this makes absolutely no sense at all. I prefer Intel to AMD any day of the week but if you are going to use AMD stick with CROSSFIRE video support for real power on your system.
Ted