New Flight Sim Build

[ThinFilm]

I have a friend that is asking me to build up a new system for him. He is a Mac guy, but is heavily into flight sims that use a lot of CPU and less GPU. I don't have experience with flight sims, so the CPU vs. GPU comment is from him. I have been out of the build loop for about a year, so I am not really sure what to recommend to him. I have searched this forum and have a few ideas, but I want to ask the experts what they think the build should be. I have preferences for an Intel CPU here. I have answered the questions from the sticky in BOLD below.

Thanks in advance for any help,

TF

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Almost exclusively Flight Simulators
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$2.5k to $3.5k including monitor
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
USA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
New case, MB, HD for storage, SSD for OS and sim, RAM, CPU, vid card, DVDRW, PS, Heat Sink, Monitor.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
None
6) Will you be overclocking?
Possible in the future
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Need new monitor.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next month or so.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
USB3.0, SATA 6Gb/s, decent onboard sound
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
No license. Will be using Win7 64bit.

 

[fightingfi]

first of all i hope he not gaming on this from a mac.
I'd do this
Z68 chipset intel
i5 2500k seems to be the sweet spot less you want hyper threading then a i7 2600k its good for more threads and app's for raw speed data transfer stuff price wise 100 bucks more for slight speed increase.
8 gigs of ram ddr3 1600
The biggest argument is nvidia or amd here. id say either way id go NO less than a 2 gig card maybe even sli or crossfire them.
oh ya pci-e 3.0 boards are out so future proofing on that would be nice ( im doing it)
ssd hdd for sure 128 id say crucial M series really nice but dont come with mounting brackets in mine or sata cables fyi.
3 TB hdd for back up possibly there about 104 bucks at frys electronics unless you doing a raid config
Id go no less than a 850 watt oem seasonic power supply
DCS -a10 is teh shit for flight sims right now. google teh video its pretty much likes taht in game.it has long load times though ssd come sinto play there...
Your price \ cost is really top of teh line for anything you really want it looks liek.
Im jealous

 

[Dangman]

Multimonitor config:
$505 - Intel Core i7 2600K + Corsair HX1050 1050W Modular PSU Combo
$235 - MSI Z68A-GD55 Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard + Corsair Vengeance CML16GX3M4A1600C9B 4 x 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM Combo
$560 - 2 x XFX HD-695X-CDFC Radeon HD 6950 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$198 - Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SSD
$80 - Samsung Spinpoint F4 HD204UI 2TB 5400 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$22 - Samsung SH-222AL/BSBE SATA DVD Burner
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156
$645 - 3 x Asus VE248Q LED LCD Monitor
$13 - Nippon Labs DP-6-MM DisplayPort cable
---
Total: $2288 plus tax and shipping.

Single monitor config:
$315 - Intel Core i7-2600K CPU
$235 - MSI Z68A-GD55 Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard + Corsair Vengeance CML16GX3M4A1600C9B 4 x 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM Combo
$280 - XFX HD-695X-CDFC Radeon HD 6950 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$198 - Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SSD
$80 - Samsung Spinpoint F4 HD204UI 2TB 5400 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$22 - Samsung SH-222AL/BSBE SATA DVD Burner
$130 - Corsair 850TX V2 850W PSU
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156
$215 - Asus VE248Q LED LCD Monitor
---
Total: $1505 plus tax and shipping.

Choose your own case. I recommend these cases:
$70 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K58 ATX Case
$80 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K56W ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K56 ATX Case
$90 - Cooler Master CM690 II Advance ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case
$100 - Cooler Master CM690 II Advance nVidia Edition ATX Case
$100 - Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$100 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K58W ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$110 - Lian Li PC-60FN ATX Case
$125 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$125 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Full Tower ATX Case
$125 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-002OR Black Finish w/Orange Trim Full Tower ATX Case
$130 - Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case
$140 - Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$140 - Lian Li PC-9F ATX Case
$140 - Silverstone RV03B-W ATX case
$160 - Corsair Graphite Series 600TM ATX Case
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case
$170 - Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$178 - Silverstone RV02B-EW ATX case
$190 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B ATX Case
$270 - Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Full Tower ATX Case

 

[stephen0983]

I'd go with Danny's build, but would get a 27" Ultrasharp over the eyefiniti config. They're on ebay for $815 I think. Then I'd probably switch to crossfire 6870s.

 

[ThinFilm]

Thanks guys. I'll show him the recommendations and see how he wants to proceed. Really, for him I think money is no object, so this should be a fun build to do with him.

TF

 

[Dangman]

Thanks guys. I'll show him the recommendations and see how he wants to proceed. Really, for him I think money is no object, so this should be a fun build to do with him.

TF

Let us know if there's any changes he wants to make.