I just read that too. So there's hope!:)-jk

>I predict a minimum 25-35% gain in a properly configued and>video card matched FSX system clock-for-clock between a>unclocked Extreme series i7 against a unclocked QX9770 Hope your right but look at Tom's numbers for Crysis.Really no difference at all with a single GTX,between the old and new CPU.http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i...ing,2061-7.html

Crysis is a shader driven game however given its design in a direct compare test there can be similarities in the result to FSX. I could care less about 1/2 Life benchmarksI am not making educated assessments from hypeand Toms is about as consistent for reliable information as the GOP I said quite clearly that even if the platform can clock out to a 40% gain the cost to perf ratio is quite high and will probably remain that way till next year. Not worth the upgrade till the cost settles for most.I will be installing to i7 in a few days.. I already have the parts which arrived yesterdayhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/194032.jpgThat

> I will be installing to i7 in a few days.. Excellent. Thanks for taking the plunge.Tim

"I will be installing to i7 in a few days.. I already have the parts which arrived yesterday"Nick, I hate you.;)-jk

Hi NickDo you perhaps have any ideas how one could at least semi-reliably benchmark FSX performance when comparing i7 and C2Q? Any way for you to gather some sort of base performance data from your current system based on a specific FSX scenario which you could then reproduce on the new i7 system? Not after anything scientific here.As you well know the data out there about FSX performance is virtually non-existant. Setting up your system is one thing - setting up FSX with all the various complex add-ons is quiet another!The idea being to see what sort of benefits one could expect to see when moving from a mid to high-end C2Q to i7 (in this case from QX9770 to i7 965).Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.Konrad

Unfortunately Intel threw out a curve with i7 which was not made public till a few weeks ago and you can not use typical DDR3 memory with it. It requires specific kitsgo figureI have not been paying close attention in the last month being dialed into GEX Eu right nowRight now that CAS latency/speed with the new product is pretty poor however with i7 its not as debilitating and the potental for lower CAS perf is mych higher. Here are the cherry values/speedDDR3 1333 CAS 5 or 6DDR3 1600 CAS 6 or 7DDR3 1800 CAS 7 or 8DDR3 2000 CAS 8 or 9In the past any higher and you lose perf per clock but the offerings right now are only CAS 9 and as I said, i7 with quickpath will be much more performant with memory tweaking but is not as affected from the base with higher CAS due to the design. Adding in another stick would typically mean losing CAS to stability.. same with going from 1x2GB to 2x2GB so the above target values would need to be increased by 1 There are plans for lower latency memory which will run between 1.65 and 1.70v however Intel has specific warnings about memory voltage and i7 which state above 1.6v is not reccomended as stated on the motherboard I have here. As for how far that will really go safe is to be seen. I expect 1.75v will probably be the max limitIt would be best to wait before purchasing i7 to give the market time to dial in support components like memoryI wont have time to build till possibly later this weekend and it will take me time to assess and set up after that. There is a learning curve for me as well as anyone else in this.On the up side the cost of DDR3 will now droptake Kingston for instanceKHX16000D3K3/3GX 3GB 2000MHz (CL9-9-9-27 @ 1.65v) kit of 3 optimized for XMP $ 334.00KHX14900D3K3/3GX 3GB 1866MHz (CL9-9-9-27 @ 1.65v) kit of 3 optimized for XMP $ 317.00KHX14400D3K3/3GX 3GB 1800MHz (CL9-9-9-27 @ 1.65v) kit of 3 optimized for XMP $ 312.00KHX12800D3LLK3/3GX 3GB 1600MHz (CL8-8-8-24 @ 1.65v) kit of 3 optimized for XMP $ 285.00KHX11000D3LLK3/3GX 3GB 1375MHz (CL7-7-7-20 @ 1.65v) kit of 3 optimized for XMP $ 192.00KVR1333D3N9K3/6G 6GB 1333MHz (CL9-9-9 @ 1.5v) ValueRAM kit of 3 $ 240.00KVR1333D3N9K3/3G 3GB 1333MHz (CL9-9-9 @ 1.5v) ValueRAM kit of 3 $ 132.00KVR1066D3N7K3/6G 6GB 1066MHz (CL7-7-7 @ 1.5v) ValueRAM kit of 3 $ 240.00KVR1066D3N7K3/3G 3GB 1066MHz (CL7-7-7 @ 1.5v) ValueRAM kit of 3 $ 132.00I have spent a few grand on different DDR3 memory purchases over the last nearly 2 years so compared to that the cost is starting to drop.. but I dont see it becoming a mainstream player for another 4-6 months in price

Nick - I know you've got a lot to work through here - and that this is something you do on your own time - so I'm a little hesitant to add a request. I'll risk it, but I'll try to make it a simple one. When you run your evaluations and report back, could you - among other points - let us know how a stock (that is, out of the box, non-optimized) Core i7 system performs against a highly optimized Core2Quad system?The reason for the request - in planning my own next moves, I'm trying to think about the time value of money. If the Core i7 system was just as good as - no better than - the optimized Core2Quad system - I might conclude that the premium for the Core i7 was worth it, because then I wouldn't have to invest a considerable amount of time in overclocking and memory tuning. I could if I wanted to but it wouldn't be mandatory. I recognize those are worthwhile things to do - and that overclocking and tuning the Core i7 would make it much better. But given lots of time demands, it might be appealing to start with a decent Core i7 that ran OK "as is" - and could still be tuned later.It sounds from your latest as though the new memory kits for Core i7 may be sub-par and may need to be replaced at some future point - if so, that would argue against the out-of-the-box machine since I'd be investing in components that won't have a long service life.Again, don't get me wrong - I'm absolutely convinced (thanks to your many posts) that clocking and tuning, done right, produce significant results. And I'd like to try to master them at some point. The question is, at what point - and what can I achieve before then if I turn out to be a slacker.Thanks again!Alan

I had to order a memory kit and I am hoping it arrives tomorrow.. if not I wont be firing it up till next weekAnd I do need to take the time to go through the system and learn the ins and outs past what I have received in emails from Intel friends so between my schedule with GEX and taking the time to set up correctly to assure accurate results it may be a few weeks. Im not going to post anything until I can confirm the results and my approach.However I will compare results between a well clocked typical 65nm quad system and the i7 which should place a reasonable expectation on a build of everything in between, and, I will be using a add-on installed sim with all the config tweaks equally for both. As my past tests have shown it is not possible to use FPS as any gauge to FSX perf. The tests I ran were quite conclusive in the only settings that were changed were memory timing and speed. In the end result a gain of 13.4% in frames did not net anywhere near the visual quality or perf of a 5.4% gain in frames after tuning.http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho..._id=37210&page=In that the frame counter is a useless as boobs on a bull as a guide in figuring out true perf increases in FSX and why anything Toms Hardware would put out in a list would not tell me anything true about the platform and the application.

Thanks - that all makes perfect sense, including in particular the points about FPS vs. overall performance. By all means take your time - I'm sure we can all wait for a report that's really thorough and well informed.Alan

Indeed there is hope! :)http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=206775Already getting over 4GHz with the 920! Looks like really high vcore though. Good. A 3.6 to 4GHz i7 should run quite well.-jk

>I had to order a memory kit and I am hoping it arrives>tomorrow.. if not I wont be firing it up till next weekNick,What motherboard are you going to use? You didn

>...>Im not going to post anything until I can confirm the results>and my approach.>>However I will compare results between a well clocked typical>65nm quad system and the i7 which should place a reasonable>expectation on a build of everything in between, and, I will>be using a add-on installed sim with all the config tweaks>equally for both. >...Any news Nick?Ulf BCore2Duo X6800 3.3GHz4GB RAM Corsair XMS2-8500C5BFG 8800GTX, Creative SB X-FiFSX Acc/SP2, Vista 32

Contrary to some popular beliefs I don

Thanks for the info, Nick :-)>The 965 i7 system is up and running and it is fully software >installed however with my GEX work I have not completely >tuned/optimized/tested it yet, and, I am still tinkering with >clocking to see how that pans out.I agree on your priorities and looking forward to the release of GEX Europe ;-)Ulf BCore2Duo X6800 3.3GHz4GB RAM Corsair XMS2-8500C5BFG 8800GTX, Creative SB X-FiFSX Acc/SP2, Vista 32