Fellows, need some OS help for a new tower.

I don't think I'd worry too much about SSD longevity. I have an original early '09 model Kingston 64GB, and a 128GB from Dec '09. The 64GB one was originally my FSX drive, and is now used in our HTPC.
The 128GB unit is in my development rig and gets multitudes of writes and deletions on a weekly basis. No issues with either, and those don't have state of the art Flash Memory and wear leveling.
Considering that FSX doesn't write much, the 2,000-3,000 write endurance(per cell), and today's top notch wear leveling algorithms, you'd be hard pressed to wear one out before a new computer was in order.
That average 2,500 write per cell endurance would mean writing to the entire drive at least 2 times a day for the next 3 years.

I've extensively tested a multitude of Hard Drive arraingements for Windows and FSX. From 5400rpm laptop drives to 48GB RAMDisks(Blink...Loaded!).
With both Windows and FSX located on an SSD, either on one drive, or separate drives, stutter resistance is vastly improved.
No real FPS increase, but, that configuration allowed for a lot more eyecandy/graphics quality settings, before stuttering again reared it's ugly head.

If you are confined to mechanical drives, for whatever reason, then seperate drives for Windows and your Sim is best.
"Two heads are better than one", allowing virtually simultaneous operation of Windows and FSX rather than sharing the mechanical head's motion on a single drive.

Windows 7x64 whatever flavor. Note that Home Premium is limited to a max of 16GB RAM.

RAM: While 8GB is more than enough for Windows and FSX, installing 16GB, or more, will allow you to completely eliminate the page file. Every little bit helps.
Haswell CPUs love fast, fast, RAM, so, if you are building with a Z87 and i5-4670K/i7-4770K, buy the fastest, compatible, low latency, memory your wallet will stand.
On a few Z87/4770K systems, I've seen as much as 5 FPS, DDR3-1600 CAS9 vs DDR3-2400 CAS9, all else being the same rig. It does make a bigger difference than with previous chipsets and CPUs..

Sorry so windy! Just trying to dispell the SSD myth, and help you folks get better performance...Don

The SSD endurance Myth: http://www.storagesearch.com/ssdmyths-endurance.html
 
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I agree with KellyB on the OS. Unless you find an exceptional deal on Win7 Pro (and you might), or have a home network that exceeds normal parameters (have your own rack of virtualized servers and 48 port switches hiding in a closet), then my personal observation is that Win 7 Pro is simply not worth the extra expense.

So, have you committed? What did you end up with?

Send pictures!!
 
Went on recommendation of oldest son and yes teasea, we have a rather large Home Network with three young men, me and a wife connected, both Ethernet and Wi-Fi on tablets. And I did get a good deal from Tiger Direct for buying the case and guts from them.

Here's a synopsis of the system info:

View attachment 1517.

I know the 32 GB is way overkill for FSX, I got it because when doing some HDR photography and graphic design for T-shirts and run and bicycle flyers, I work in up top five programs at one time and I like smooth transitions between programs and their operations.

Caz
 
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