For power supply reviews see here:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/index.php

For GPU reviews see here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...card,2857.html

I assume that you will mostly be running this sim (iL2 or COD) on your new PC. Consequently I would advise you to buy the faster CPU you can afford, even if it means buying a lesser video card/PSU (but don't skimp to much on the PSU, cause a blown PSU can cook some of you precious hardware...)

Flight sims a veyr CPU limited, so it make more sence to drop the bis $$$$ on this item...

Regards,

The Phenom II X4 9XX is MORE than capable of handling this game. ITs as fast as most if not all i5 cpu's and some i7 when overclocked.

lots of great advice, thanks. any thoughts on the hard drives 32 v's 64 mb cache

This may not be if use if you aren't putting out the money in one go but some PC suppliers can build you a system that is overclocked and guaranteed, giving you a massive increase in processing power for the cost of a larger cooler and the build/test/guarantee fee.

I know there are a number of companies that do this and I am not promoting one company over another but here in the UK Scan.co.uk do a series called 3XS. I bought one in December and you can if you wish vary the content, e.g. a different GPU.

So you may like to think about that option. The attraction is that the overclock liberates the extra CPU power and it is at their risk. Just be aware that fully loaded (100% load on all cores - an extremely unlikely event) can lead to CPU overheat but that can be monitored and the overclock adjusted. Or you could go watercooled :)

This is a very bad time to build. Intel did a recall last month on the Sandy Bridge motherboard chipsets, and the replacements aren't going to be out until April:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4142/i...-begins-recall

On top of that AMD's Bulldozer is going to be coming out "soon", which is the CPU where AMD is finally updating its CPU architecture to be comparable to Nephalim. The Phenom line isn't much more than a multi-core Athlon 64, which was OK when they were going against Core 2, but hasn't cut the mustard for a while now.

In short, wait until the Sandy Bridge chips are back on the market, and if you can, until the X68 are hitting the market. At worst it will drive down the prices of the hardware you're looking at. At best, AMD will have come out with their next gen CPUs and we'll have a price-war on our hands, which will mean you can get an awesome box for what you're looking at now.

As for power supplies, I'd recommend one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139006

And it comes in modular for if you're willing to pay an extra $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139016

The big deal about them is they have a unified +12V rail, with 60A of power on it. The +12V is what your video cards and CPUs run on. the 3.3V and 5V are for the fans, hard drives, and other powered peripherals, so unless you have the RAID of Doom, you don't really need that much on those lines. The low volt lines are easier to add amps too, so low end manufacturers tend to add most of their power there, to pad their numbers, which is how you end up with the 3D card makers having to recommend KW PSU's.

Went digging to confirm exactly what the power requirements are on 3D cards and SLI, and it looks like the 6 pin PCIe power hookups are rated for 75W, while the 8pin ones are rated for 150W, so you can use that to get the max expected power required by your 3D cards. For the CPU, I would start with it's TDP, and add some percentage margin. I'm thinking if the two 3D cards you're looking at have an 8+6 power pin config, then 720W on the 12V rail should be fine, but if it is an 8+8 pair, you will want 800W 12V power at least.

I think everyone is going overboard with recommendations. Didnt Oleg say 2 years ago that a top of the line system in 2008-9 (2years ago) would run the sim fine??

If you don't plan on using SATA II drives in your system than there are still some P67 motherboards up on ebay. Or you could just wait until late March/April when the revised versions come around. I don't care how "overboard" you think it is, a Sandy Bridge based system will eat that Phenom II X4 in anything you throw at it. If it's performance/system longevity you want then that's the way to go. And don't waste your time with the 2600k... 2500k all the way! I hardly see 2mb L3 Cache and hyperthreading worth $100. This along with a 580 and you'll be good for several years.

Most smart builders wouldnt waste all there money on a machine like what you say as its more than needed and too much money. I can build a system for under $500 that would play CoD fine. Your idea is to spend >$1000 to get the same gameplay.

Yeah, but how long is that rig going to last these days? Sure you can throw a cheap AMD based system together for little to nothing these days, but guaranteed you're not going to get as much out of it. AMD is cheap for a reason, because they've always been a step behind. Call me a fanboy, but Intel is the way to go. And as far as price difference goes, a 2500k isn't that bad really, even right now. I say wait a few months for the price to come down a bit more and that's the way to go. If you've got the money go for it. Thats what I'm doing, and I'm sure alot of other people as well.