Hi,Whats the latest and greatest 64 bit processor?

The QX9775 is pretty good:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115044Or the E8600 is pretty new as well:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115054

Or the Core i7 965http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/Intel-...halem,2057.htmlhttp://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel...doc.aspx?i=3382http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=205779Hopefully Nick Needham report back on how FSX runs on the Nehalem architecture.Ulf BCore2Duo X6800 3.3GHz4GB RAM Corsair XMS2-8500C5BFG 8800GTX, Creative SB X-FiFSX Acc/SP2, Vista 32

Though as of next week, "latest" and "greatest" status is likely to pass to the new Core i7 965 Extreme chip (aka Nehalem). More here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10093377-92.htmlOr google "Core i7."Or search the forum here for "Core i7" and/or "Nehalem."The Extreme Edition chip is supposed to retail for somewhat less than the QX9775, though demand may drive the price up initially.Fair warning, though, that the Core i7 uses a different socket and therefore needs a dedicated motherboard and specially-rated DDR3 RAM (to conform to lower voltage requirements). No backward compatibility to Socket 775 boards or to most of the currently available DDR3. Nick N recently estimated the price of the 965, motherboard and DDR3 at about $2,000 U.S. Could go somewhat higher according to early pricing reports.The lower-rated Core i7 chips may be overclockable toward something resembling the 965's out-of-the-box performance - however, overclocking the Core i7 requires a different approach than Core2 Duos and Quads, and everyone is in the early part of the learning curve.No official word yet on how it'll handle FSX but initial benchmark tests seem encouraging.Alan

You beat me to the post by 3 minutes...That's the price of being verbose!Good links.Alan

Never heard of the i7, interesting....

Bet you have heard of the Nehalem core though. I expect these new cpu's to be all Extreme Editions which means they could come in at about the $800-$1000 price point.By March though there should be some non-EE's out and then bargains will abound.I mainly want to see how the new memory controller scheme works with FS.RhettFS box: E8500 (@ 3.80 ghz), AC Freezer 7 Pro, ASUS P5E3 Premium, BFG 8800GTX 756 (nVidia 169 WHQL), 4gb DDR3 1600 Patriot Cas7 7-7-7-20 (2T), PC Power 750, WD 150gb 10000rpm Raptor, Seagate 500gb, Silverstone TJ09 case, Vista Ultimate 64ASX Client: AMD 3700+ (@ 2.6 ghz), 7800GT

Only the 965 is an Extreme Edition. The 920 and 940 are slower and less expensive, and will be available immediately at lower prices (see the CNET link in my previous post for list and street prices). It was originally reported that the 920 and 940 were overclock-restricted, but apparently that's easily overcome. On the other hand, if I'm reading Nick N's posts (here and elsewhere) correctly, clock speed isn't the only performance factor - on the Core i7's, the memory controller moves to the CPU and in that respect, the 965 may have performance advantages over the others, even at stock speed.A real evaluation will have to wait until someone reliable runs FSX tests on the new platform. Nick has promised a report in a few weeks' time.Another consideration is that the price of some of the Core 2 Duos and Quads will come down as Intel tries to move i7's.It's an interesting time.Alan

Ahh I have... yes ok. And I've heard of Sandy Bridge, but apparently that's two generations down? Or two away from i7?

Sandy Bridge would appear to be the next design after Nehalem/Westmere. RhettFS box: E8500 (@ 3.80 ghz), AC Freezer 7 Pro, ASUS P5E3 Premium, BFG 8800GTX 756 (nVidia 169 WHQL), 4gb DDR3 1600 Patriot Cas7 7-7-7-20 (2T), PC Power 750, WD 150gb 10000rpm Raptor, Seagate 500gb, Silverstone TJ09 case, Vista Ultimate 64ASX Client: AMD 3700+ (@ 2.6 ghz), 7800GT