I just had a new system built with a AMD 4400 X2 processor. A friend of mine tried to upgrade his computer with a 4800 X2 chip but it will not work with his MB and does not want to change it out. So he is willing to sell me the 4800 processor for cheap. Would this upgrade even be worth my time? Most bench marks show a 5% gain in performance so probably not likely noticed in most applications. However with a program like FSX every little but counts I guess. Also would this be a simple plug and play upgrade after adjusting some motherboard settings for the faster chip? Sometimes when you upgrade the CPU you have to reformat and I am not interested in doing that. That might only be an issue for a CPU-MB upgrade and not just the CPU but I am not sure. Price for the slightly used 4800+ is $150. Not a bad buy and I would be taking my new system as high as it can go.

Well looking at this... You can see going from an AMD 4200 X2 To a 4600 gave an increase of about 5 FPS so i would imagine the same increase from a 4400 to a 4800.But because FS9 is quite CPU dependant if money is no option get it.Otherwise i would forget it!Luke Harvest

Hmm Its kind of hard to say if 5 fps increase would really help in reality. I suppose it can't hurt but then I have to ask myself just how often things dip down and what sliders are set at? Sometimes just going a bit more conservative with one of the sliders will yield far better results then what can be achieved by installing slightly faster CPU. Also I think it would be best to wait for the release version of FSX to decide. The final release might contain fixes for the stuttering but nobody really knows for sure. My current set up is silky smooth except for when lots of autogen is introduced and then its ST...ST....ST STUTTERVILE!! No CPU is going to help if its bad code causing that problem. I am going to try and resist buying that CPU and use the funds for a new LCD display. Here next year I can probably get one of the budget next generation processors and motherboards for around $150 and it will likely blow away whatever is available today anyway.

Good idea - I think the noticable performance improvement would have been neglible.Gary

"A friend of mine tried to upgrade his computer with a 4800 X2 chip but it will not work with his MB and does not want to change it out"Do you know what mb your buddy has?? It's not just a case of needing to update the bios is it??

I have a 4400 too. But at same frequency than a 4800, even more since at 2500MHz (2mb of cache in the 2 cases). So, improvement ? When you're flying at 18fps, 5 more fps is very important ! It's the case, don't exactly know how many more, but yes, i can see the difference between 2200MHz and 2500MHz (locked at 28 fps). But i would said that the x2 was useless, fs9 never took advantage of it and fsx appreciate more a core duo. So, you're right, keep your money and overclocked your x2 if possible, the mobo is important for that (my dual sata never liked this x2 and my gskill pc4000hz, my dfi ultra like them even if the oc is not very important here !). The money may be used in a dx10 card !

You didn't mention what graphics card you're using. Would be nice to know that too. Craig

I have a Geforce 7600GT 256 DDR3 video card.I am not sure what motherboard my friend had but its one of the original socket 939 boards. He installed the chip and it did not work so he flashed the bios and it still would not work. We suspect its just an old motherboard causing the problem. If I buy it we were going to install it first and burn it in before I paid. That way if the chip was faulty I don't have to pay. However I decided the upgrade was not worth the trouble. I have started overclocking my 4400+ just a little. I am up to 2.3GHz give or take and its still rock stable with stock cooling. CPU runs about 40C so still well below what the chip can handle. Can't say I notice a whole lot of difference in performance but the average frame rates might be up slightly.

You allready have a very good processor. You may want to consider upgrading your graphics card even though it is fairly new. Or just wait it out till DX10 comes out. I just installed an evga 7900GT KO and am extremley pleased with it. Once you go beyond the 256mb 7 series cards the price skyrockets so it was a comprimise for me between performance and $$$$. Craig

I think I am just going to wait until the Vista/DX10 comes out and then worry about a more advanced graphics card then. The 7600GT is supposed to be a pretty good video card and comes in at an affordable price bracket. FSX has been running pretty good on my new rig lately. It seems FSX does not run its when its first installed but after a while it really smooths out. I noticed it on my old computer and noticing it on my new machine as well.

>Well looking at this...>>>>>>You can see going from an AMD 4200 X2 To a 4600 gave an>increase of about 5 FPS so i would imagine the same increase>from a 4400 to a 4800.>>But because FS9 is quite CPU dependant if money is no option>get it.>>Otherwise i would forget it!>>Luke HarvestLuke or anyone where did you get that chart from i like to see more proformance charts if you fellas have any good links to them (regarding cpu profprmance)Cheerz Josh