HCBPshenanigans

Got it. So now, at this point, I've got some ideas of what to get. Now to wait for EDGE to arrive and reevaluate. Still, this early research will be beneficial, and I can't actually buy it right now anyways as I've been laid off. I've heard that EDGE will take some stress off the CPU and pass it on to the GPU? Obviously nobody knows for sure yet, but is this the case? Anywho, here is the rig I've come up with. (May change to CPU to a k version and overclock, I'll decide later.) http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/ Thoughts? Particularly on the mobo, ram and case? I've no experience with buying these items whatsoever. From what I understand, as long as the mobo holds what you need it to, it isn't usually worth it for the cost benefit to spend more than a little on it. And from what I've read, 2x4gb RAM cards is better than 1x8gb because the CPU can access both at once? Is this correct?

Actually, now I'm also considering an i5 4590 after looking at this: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

Thanks! I'm torn between the i5 4690k and the i5 4460. I know that the k means overclockable, but I dont want to have to buy any extra cooling stuff, so if I can't safely overclock without doing that, I'm not worried about it. I know CPU is typically the bottleneck in DCS due to single core performance and the 4460 is definitely slower than the 4690k, but will the 4460 deliver acceptable performance, or should I spend the extra money for the upgrade?

It's still a while until I build, but I've researched a little and found the EVGA GTX 960 (the 4gb gddr5 version) for $230 (little more than I wanted to spend, but still reasonable). First of all, is the 4gb vram necessary, or can I afford to bump that down to two? (I don't plan on any multimonitor use.) For a cpu, I'm pretty sure I want to go with an i5, and I'd like to spend around 200. Any suggestions on which i5? What about ram? I'm pretty sure I want to go with 6 or 8 gb. I don't really know much about buying ram. How critical is it for dcs (in terms of performance, not just amount). Is ddr3 sufficient? What is the cheapest ram I can get that wont become a bottleneck? Additionally, I got a handmedown 600w corsair power supply. I'm hoping to save most of my money on things like hdd, case, ram, os, etc, to focus my money on cpu and gpu. Thanks for all of the input so far, and your continued patience.

I was under the impression that comparable Intel cards had the advantage of better overall performance, and cooler operation, but at a higher cost for the same power compared to AMD, meaning that someone on a tight budget would generally prefer an AMD setup. In other words, 200 dollars toward an AMD card may be better spent than 200 towards an NVIDIA card, but a high end NVIDIA card will almost always perform a comparable AMD card. Is this not accurate?

I've been following this game for a loooong, looong time (lurking around here for 5+ years) but I've never really had the spare change to consider jumping in and buying a suitable rig to run it. I think that sometime around this x-mas I am going to have to find a way, what with the bug and the tomcat likely coming around then. I'm on a very tight budget. 600 dollars is my sweet spot, definitely no more than 700. I've been doing a little research (xmas is a long way away still, and I know edge is still to come, but I want to start getting some ideas.) I found this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ncCB7P How far would this get me in DCS? I don't need 4k 3 monitor max ultra death-star or anything like that, but I want something that can run the game on medium to high setting at no less than 720 (preferably a little higher, possibly 9 or 1080.) at no less than 30fps (45-60) preffered. Again, cost is a huge issue here, and I'll still need a flight stick and possibly an OS and certainly not least, DCS! I'm certainly not in the know in this field of PC building, this will be my first build. Is this going to be a sufficiently powerful build to enjoy DCS on? Something that I wont regret or feel like I'm not getting the full experience? Upgrading in the future is always an option, but I want to come out swinging while not ending up on the streets. I can't fight the urges to fly much longer!