Bodo

VRAM , memory on your GPU is most important, more so with higher resolution, extra screens etc. Ya should be fine with 6. 8GB is good enough for most situations so 6 should be fine, too. 4GB is starting to see itself being the bare minimum. 12/16 GB??...., well unless you run a huge sample library for audio it may help but my 8 is fine for that, video stuff I dunno about. For gaming on most systems, GPU being up to scratch, then4GB is still quite enough. Check how much RAM is being used in task manager when you're running the sim. Limit the page file on your system to 500ish MB. Windows should then use more of your RAM-- if it's been offloading a lot o stuff to the HDD/SDD page file. Tired and a bit drunk so I hope I'm makin sense.

I set my Temp directories within windows to a specific HDD, cleaning it out every now n then. I used a 128GB SSD for Windows, ARMA and DCS. Still got 52 gig left. Although larger mods for ARMA are on a separate drive.

Hmm, but surely if you keep saying this is going to be solved with EDGE and then say that you're unsure if it's actually being done is a little misleading. :(

Yup agree with the advice about the i5. Maybe up the board slightly to get a better OC platform for the future. Not sure what to recommend, see my sig for what I use. I'll chime back with a board recommendation in an hour or two. Crucial or Samsung would be best choices for SSD. My Samsung 830 is class and it is a must. RAM, yeh get the samsung stuff if ya can. Only heard good things about em. Quirk put together a nice build, unsure of the mobo but again, many people seem to say it's a gret board. I prefer ASUS atm and for audio work, chose the Pro Z77 as it's got a good stable platoform for OCing and has a low DPC latency which helps me for low latency recording. I think Hyper Threading isn't really worth the extra money considerin g an i53570K isn't far off real terms performance. Benchmarking you might find a difference and may well see a few seconds knocked off rendering times, depends on software and even then, the i5 CPUs pack enough punch for audio/video work, let alone something like DCS or other games.

Yup, I agree..Forgot to mention SSD but it won't make a huge difference with running games. Altho it makes a great general upgrade.. If you haven't got the time to build tho...well yeh, ya buy the best ya can...saves time and headaches on getting an install wrong or finding a dodgy component.

Just read Philip K Dick's Ubik.

I turned the EQ on in VLC and made everything sound worse, quieter...so I left it..Ain't played about with that for a while. When I find that the SFX are dominating the dialogue, which has happened once or twice, I normally have to play around with what source the audio is set to, I make sure it's a simple dolby/stereo setup and this often makes tings better.... Dunno how to explain how I do that, it's either using VLC or making sure the TV is set correctly, maybe by going through a few presets? I can' t remember what I did...:)

Would kick some ass, yeh.. If you really need the Hyper Threading, which only certain bits of software can make a good use of, for example I use an i5 3570K and for when I make audio and it may make a difference for rendering tracks and bouncing files about the places, same with video editing and compression and so on, if I had an HT chip. But...I really don't think it makes or would make that much difference for me and I prefer saving the 60-70 quid and just went for the 3570K. More so this is true with games let alone DCS which would barely use two of the four cores on a non HT chip like a 3570K.. If you are doing a lot of video/audio editing etc and the software you run supports HT then you may benefit from it. At some point in the future I guess I can 'upgrade' to a 3770K when prices have dropped a little and maybe get some of the benefits of that chip, maybe at a time when those benefits are more widely available. Kingston RAM have lulled a bit since I bought 3200 RAM some years ago but they seem to be stable as ever and coming out with some great performing RAM at the moment. I just stick with Corsair as they've never let me down... May well go with Kingston again soon. I really like the Samsung low profile RAM that overclocks really well according to reviews out there.. I think I put a link to them in a previous post. Maybe you could drop a bit of Wattage on the PSU, although 750W is fine and perfectly adequate but you may be able to get a more efficient PSU at a lower wattage for a slightly lesser cost. I'm fairly sure that your PC won't use much more than 300W when fully loaded and mostly it'll be idling at around 100W, this is pretty inefficient...I'm kinda in the same boat and think/know that my 850W PSU is actually charging me a lot more in electricity than I want, due to my PC not running it at its peak efficiency much more than 30-40% of the time.....So be careful here.. Other than that the other stuff seems great. However,.....I'd be tempted to wait it out in your position. The 670 would be a great addition and will last you for another year or two I'd have thought, if you bought that and that only as a temporary upgrade...this coupled with your current system might just give you a good enough boost whilst you can wait for next gen stuff to come out, lowering the price of the spec you are looking at but also giving you the option to upgrade to whatever's next at that point in time.... Another 4 GB of RAM on your system wouldn't do any harm, either...

Ya can't really say an i7 using Hyper Threading is like 2 x an i5

Ratfink, I'd swap out the mobo for something slightly better, more options and better power design to allow for more stable overclocks. Otherwise no point getting a k version o the CPU. I'd buy a Fractal Design R4 or some other case with that build. I'd also look at changing the GPU to a 670. Swap the H40 cooler for something quieter if you aren't OCing, again, if you are gonna OC then change the motherboard. If you need a hi spec cooler, add more to the cost of the case so you can compensate, nothing worse than a hoover for a PC. Still I'd get something other than the H40. I can't remember any other reasons other than noisy but I like a good quality heat sink and some Noise Blocker/Nexus/Scythe 120mm fans et cetera. Other than that I'd ask why bother buying a pre built rig since you have built before? What went wrong or why the change? Changing the mobo picked to the V Pro that I have results in a stupid price increase....The CPU to a 3770K is a justifiable increase but still... I'd recommend Samsung low profile RAM : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-017-SA A GTX 670 A 3570K or if you're using the PC for any audio/video editing or you spend a lot of time rending or converting or compressing data then a HT enabled i7 3770K would be qhat I'd go for. I would take advice about what brand to go for with a pinch of salt. I've used Giga and ASUS and altho I've had a less than desirable experience with both, mostly they've been very pleasing so I stick to em. Atm my ASUS P8Z77 V Pro bard is perfect for me. The ASROCK boards do seem to get praise but I also see them getting knocked down, too. I can't help but think it's underdog predilection, which isn't necessarily a bad thing on the whole, as to why many people are lamenting of the pros of the ASROCK boards. I was tempted to get one but for certain reasons steered clear. Mainly it was because for audio work, a low DPC latency helps me keep stutters and clicks from low latency audio recording down to a minimum. The ASUS board came near top on Anandtech. The ASROCK were close tho. Other than that, Kingston RAM should be fine. SSD wise I'd go for Samsung as it's what I use in an 830 series drive and it's great. Dunno what I'd recommend after that or what your options are.. Hope some o that helps. Again, the 3570K might be best suited when allowed to be used with a more OC friendly board. Swapping the LX for a V Pro seems to be a silly price difference, though.. Good luck

edited.

Hmm, doubt you'll need a bootable drive. Go into BIOS start the flash prog and make sure ya have your USB drive plugged in? You tried that anyway?

Really not bothered about Win8. As for Daemon Tools, why don't you use power iso? Gave up on Daemon tools years ago when it started installing loads of stuff I didn't want. PowerISO did everything Daemon tools once did for me. Isn't it working with Win8? Why is DT so important?

Yup valid points, Doveman. And yesh 8GB is really a minimum for Windows 7 64bit, any more than that I think is unnecessary, maybe not for CAD work or audio sample libs like I have, but I struggle to push my 8GB. And yeh, your point about the SSD is correct, I really meant that it could have a benefit given a worse case secnario of a slow/fragmented HDD, but even then, not a huge amount. I'd recommend not using gamebooster but then again, I've not used it and it may be fine. I'd prefer to do things manually and disable processes and services that I know I don't need. By the way, I'm one of the people who has stressed disappointment with how ED has optimised DCS. It needs to utilise CPUs more efficiently, I'm sure. I say this with a mindful awareness of just how complex DCS is, and I also see ED as a small and dedicated team who will most likely achieve what they want to do, be it based on performance, engine tweaks/updates and of course the amazing modelling.

I ain't had enough time to test it recently but on the 10 min flight I did with the shark I thought to myself, hmm, the performance is good, better than it used to be. I will hopefully get some time at the wkd. Too busy really to play this series any more...:( Anyway, for those with stutters, which I've never had or understood what could be going on, RAM isn't going to help there, SSD maybe but it must be because your CPU is being hogged at times by something other than the hog. There are options to allow the DCS processes to be ignored by AV software which may be 'realtime' monitored and could cause an impact, just a thought. Really though, I'd be willing to bet that the systems that suffer this have umpteen processes running in the background that aren't necessary and /or the system is possibly poorly configured. I just wonder what some people'd task manager is doing at the times of these stutters. How many processes are using up cycles when the game is running and which of them need disabling.

I agree. What I do is just keep the installation on a random drive and I leave it be. Haven't tried the registry option but an easy way to test is start over, and cut the BS1 folder to a new directory. If the installation still recognises BS1 is installed then it doesn't matter if its files are still present, although yu may find you can't deactivate it very easily in future. I very much doubt you'd need the files installed but I'd double check just by moving the main folder somewhere else temporarily. It should be just a different BS2 protect.exe for upgrade owners where it asks for both serials at the same time. It's a right ball ache and I get really annoyed at the typical response that we should have paid for the full version. Obviously...

Yup or an ASROCK Extreme 4, having said that I use a P8Z77 V Pro and it's a nice stable mobo. I'd recommend Gigabyte but I didn't like their choice of VIA audio chip on most of their Z77 boards. I had a Z77 D3H and it was great, cheap motherboard. It booted quicker than my ASUS, although my V Pro board has a really nice low DPC latency which helps for audio, but it has a VT2021 VIA chip and I didn't like it and it didn't work as expected. Probably a dodgy board so maybe you could give it a shot? Certainly for me, when looking for a good performing and fairly inexpensive board, it came down to that being a great budget buy. I went for the ASUS due to it using a different onboard chip and was reviewed to be a great board for DPC latency and overclocking. Although a bit extra I'm glad I got it. If I was to buy again and the D3H had worked as expected I'd easily recommend it. There are other similar versions that I didn't check out all that much, D3HX or summit can't remember.. I'd also give the ASROCK a shot but although I hear nothing but good reviews I kinda suspect underdog sorta status where the praise is heaped slightly more...enthusiastically? than need be. I've heard reports that it feels slightly flimsy but not much worse than that, other than all the usual problems you always hear about with certain users their PC builds and subsequent manufacturers of the parts used... One thing I will say, although 850W might be overkill, I know it is for me after having an HX850W PSU, I'm pleased I got a high quality PSU and for the last 10 years of building have always maintained that it is one, if not the most important parts of your build. GPU wise I'd probably stump up a bit more cash and go for a 2 or 4GB (depending on your resolution and monitor/s) GTX670 card. The EVGA FTW cards would be my choice. I wanted one but couldn't 'step up' to the FTW version at the time so went for the reference design 670, which is a great card. Step up is EVGA's way of allowing you to upgrade to a newer card and only pay the difference, all having to be done within 90 days. Their support is exceptional and their warranty is extensive. If you aren't doing a lot of audio/video rendering work then I really think Hyper Threading is a bit of a waste of money. If you do, then great. For me I managed to test my typical audio work load on my current i3570K compared to the same project run on an i7 2600K and I really couldn't tell any difference, using Cubase/Nuendo. in fact my system felt snappier....but then I would say that! Differing software may make better use, of course, but for a gaming system, especialy with DCS? No. You can overclock non K versions o these i5/i7 chips, albeit not as far as you maybe can with SB/IVB and bear in mind that IVB do run a hotter than SB chips but either way you'll want a good cooler, lots out there so if you need advice I'd come back and let you know a few I've been looking at, hydro coolers don't do it for me, though, so if you want one o those.... All reasons why you want a good quality and stable/efficient PSU so don't skimp on your choice here.

Sell it on ebay. I had experience with an IDE/SATA adapter and it was crap so I got rid. Dunno why it's not working. Maybe make sure the jumpers are on Cable Select instead of Master / Slave. No idea. I'm about to stick an old Plextor 712A IDE DVD drive on ebay. Might sell it someone for the same cost a new SATA model would cost... ya never know! :)

Thank you, ED. Hopefully you'll give back an activation. I personally think this whole system needs a rethink. I'm fairly sure people who'd download a cracked version would never buy it anyway... Looking forward to trying a few things out with these latest versions, though.

Do a fresh install. Yes it makes a difference to load times in DCS. I use a Samsung 830. Highly recommended. There is also the 840 coming soon so you may want to wait. Alternatives are the Crucial M4 and the Plextor M5 (I think it's called) My next SSD will be the Samsung 840. There are some good links out there for SSD optimisation. Have a read but take some of the advice with a pinch of salt. The SSD Magician Software that the Samsung comes with does a nice job at tuning the system. Dunno about other brands but I presume it's the same. Here is a link I generally worked through. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/70822-ssd-tweaks-optimizations-windows-7-a.html and also: http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds

Yes to SSD, no to SB versus IVB. Get some Samsung Green RAM. Overclocks great, very low profile, too. Have a look at some reviews at the overclocking and latency tests. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147096 I don't see much point in going for IVB over SB really but, if you have to, then do it or buy your Dad a cheaper SB chip that isn't aimed at OCing but has decent speeds and keep yours. PCI 3 versus 2. I don't think there is any difference. Next Gen cards like 700 Series and what not may fulfill that but by then Haswell will be out and maybe even then might not make use of the full bandwidth of PCI3. Someone else may know more about that... EDIT, ah noticed you're not yet running 1600MHz, you'll see a benefit from 1333 to 1600 I believe but any more than 1600 the benefits are negligible.

Jordan, I've given you two recommendations, 1 about overclocking and another in a post in the performance threads under DCS world about what parts you should get to make the most of your GTX670. Are you reading these answers? Haven't you found any components that you want to ask about? Going with what Ether has said, but maybe drop the 3570K to one less dedicated to overclocking considering you will most likely not be doing so. Get this RAM: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-017-SA and find a decent socket 1155 motherboard that has what you need. Again, if you don't want to to overclock and don't need SLi then you can find a board less expensive.Why not come back with some you've found and the rest of us here can have a look and give you some feedback.

Or use yumi with UBCD loaded?