Worth the money?

[Guest Doolie]

I always hated this sorta question regarding "will it be ok to run FSXXXX" but my question follows this line a little. Anyways, here goes...I'd like to upgrade my system or should I say CPU and motherboard from what I currently have which is a P4 3.2E + MSI 865PE Neo2-S (MS-6728) motherboard to an AMD based system with a matching motherboard with an AGP slot. The reason that I want the AGP is because I have an 6800 Ultra with the AGP slot that I don't want to get rid of simply because I cant afford to. I'd prefer to stick with an MSI board but I cannot find any with an AGP slot. I've been thinking of getting an AMD 64 3700+ with an Asus A8V motherboard and I'm wondering if this will help to add some extra horsepower under the hood to help smooth things out in the more troublesome areas of FS2K4. At present with my current config I get around 10 - 14 FPS in Toronto (my home airport) with 100% AI traffic, scenery complexity at Dense and an Autogen complexity at Normal . As well, I tend to get hammered with the heavy cloud cover as well.I'd appreciate any advise that I get before I go out and purchase anything.

[Guest Doolie]

Sorry, forgot to mention this is using Simflyers CYYZ scenery...

[Guest Edwin]

Hi Doolie,A couple of points:1. What scenery are you using for the Toronto airport? If you're using World Airports 2, I just recently upgraded to an AMD Athlon64 X2 4800+ with an NVIDIA 7800GTX) and I get similar FPS as you do. I'm convinced it's to do with the scenery itself being badly designed. If someone could tell me otherwise, I'd be happy to know what I could do to correct the issue. In other words, if you're using WA2, I doubt upgrading your machine would improve FPS on the ground with that scenery.2. It's hard to guesstimate any performance improvement without having tried it. My gut feel is that the improvement probably isn't worth the money. With no improvement in the graphics card (and you already have a very powerful one), going from Intel to AMD and from 3.2GHz to 3700+ aren't that big of a jump. Part of the problem is that you'd also be upgrading into a dead-end. I can understand that you want to keep your GeForce 6800 Ultra but getting a motherboard with AGP now offers you no further upgrade potential because AGP is in the process of being phased out.In sum, if I were you, I wouldn't do it. Would you get a performance improvement? Probably. Noticeable? Maybe. But worth the money? Likely not.Again, this is from educated guesses, nothing scientifically tested.Hope this helps.Edwin

[Guest CHRISH]

Hi Doolie,I would agree with Edwin. Just gone from an AMD FX-53 to a FX 57 (4000)/ 2.8Ghz processor,and to an Nvidia 7800 GTX video card. Actual FPS increase is 11-12% at best. Although image quality is far superior.As for simflyers, alot of readers are reporting sinlge figure FPS even with AMD XP2 4800's !Be wary, Caveat Emptor!Best Wishes,Chris

[Guest aihuntersandgatherer]

Hi there,I just got my Athlon 64 3700+ and came from an Athlon XP running at 2300 MHz. I combined that with an NF4 Ultra NB and a 7800GT.Like the others have said: Simflyers airports are absolute frame rate hogs and there seems to be little one could throw at them performance wise that would change that. Even when you disable trees and other details they bring any current system down.To answer your original question: Yes, the 3700+ is really good value, especially if you overclock. I always overclock my systems and I have managed to get this CPU past 2800 MHz without any issues at all. I simply stopped there for now but I'm confident that the cpu can go higher then that. This means effectively that I have a FX-57 for the price of a 3700+. Pretty cool :)That being said, here goes the usual disclaimer: Every CPU is different, overclocking takes some skill, you need components (especially the MB) that allow you to overclock, etc.FS wise things are very very smooth now and I have my AI running at 100% all of the times. In Frankfurt I get 20 fps with full AI, German Airports 2, all sliders but cloud range to the max, with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 and the card's settings maxed out (best quality settings).I'm happy with my upgrade and the cost (around 1100 $ AU). This system will see me through until MS releases the next FS version at least (and that might be as much as 2 years away).Hope this helps :)Cheers,Alex