Just passing on some info about i7 to clear up some things and to throw FSX data into the mix for the platform.I am being very conservative in reporting this as to avoid hype. I have not had time to complete all my checks and test however I do have enough information to relay a few things so those who may be on the fence about buying or wish to upgrade have good information to base their decision.First and foremost, in making the decision to move to i7 you need to look at what you are running today and what you are willing to spend.If you are on AMD, old Intel and/or not running modern Intel, moving to i7 will be a good boost and investment for you. Do be aware that if you intend to clock it will be easier to hit higher clocks and better latency on 940 and DDR3 1600 memory. Moving to 920 from AMD and not clocking will still provide a worthwhile boost but you should consider the 940 if clocking is not on your to-do list so you get the full monty in the upgrade over what you are use to seeing.And do keep in mind, moving to i7 on a slower video card is going to present a bottleneck just like it does with current processors so if you are on AMD with a budget video card, you should upgrade that card too at the same time.If you are on Intel Quad and not clocking and you run 2.8-3GHz the 940 unclocked will provide a much smoother experience with better visuals. It would not be a wise investment to buy 920 and not clock it. You could buy the 920 but do be aware you will need to clock it to be assured of good value in perf upgrade for your purchase and the video card suggestion with AMD is the same. If you are going to make that move and currently have a medium quality card you would be well served to upgrade the card at the same time.If you are on Intel and running a 3.6-4+GHz clock on DDR3 1600+ correctly then the move to i7 should be based on:1. At least a 940 i72. At least 1600MHz memory 8-8-8 timing for 6GB, 7-7-7 timing for 3GB 3. A proper HSF for clocking4. Plan on clocking the 940 to at least 3.8-4+GHzWith those elements in place you can expect to see results I consider well worth the purchase.Of course everyone has their own opinion about what is valuable to them in FSX cost wise. Some are statisifed with less scenery and are not willing to pay for perks.Being conservative here... DO KEEP IN MIND that if you are currently on such a high end system properly clocked and your scenery sliders are maxed what you will be getting is less or no stutters, sharper visuals under the conditions you may typically see now where your current hardware limits are seen on the screen. It will allow higher default traffic as well as allowing bloom to be run closer to urban (major hubs can be a hit) however DO NOT expect to max every slider (water-bloom-traffic-cloud radius) and see no perf hit. Bloom and water shader passes are a 800lb gorilla on DX9 no matter what CPU is in use and clouds will always hit a system hard the way FSX is designed.Heavy iron users will see great relief under those clocking conditions.What I am seeing personally is worth every penney spent because I do not like stutters and lags. Flying to me is all about that floating on air feeling without interruptions in lags and blurs.The pro clockers are getting the 920 up to 4.2-4.3GHz however they are doing so by pushing the absolute limits. They are also experimenting with engineering samples to find out how long those chips last when the memory voltage is exceeded (over 1.65v) and other voltages are pushed.Other thoughts to consider.. there are those on 32bit OS

Very interesting thread Nick, thanks a lot :--)A quick question, do you call an EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX KO ACS3 Edition an "old video card"?.I am running an e8500 @4ghz with 4 gigs of DDR3 @1600 (Vista x64)

Hi DavidI updated the post...you could hold on that till later but I would plan on that upgrade down the road a bit as it will improve the experience. I see a defined confirmed positive difference in the 280GTX over the 8800GTX on the same settings with i7 where with a QX clocked the differece was there and good but not anywhere near as defined.perhaps wait and see what may come after 280 and moving to the i7 quad and clocked would improve your experience over the 8500, no question about it.:)

Thanks for the info Nick, very interesting.I'm waiting for some reports on what FS9 thinks of the i7 and I wonder if you are going to do some testing in that area?

OK Nick, thanks again.

If you have an opportunity I'd be interested in a little FS9 analysis too. Generally I can get excellent frame rates in FS9 under "heavy" scenarios, but sometimes the stutters (better described as pauses) are more severe than FSX.Maybe I'm just not looking in the right places, but after the first set of general i7 reviews I have not found much since. In particular it would be interesting to learn how the non-smackdown motherboards are working out.RegardsSimon

Thanks Nick! It is a pleasure to have someone like you around on this forum. If I plan to not clock at first (940) and buy the 1600 ram, would anything special need to be done to use it (1600 ram)? My MOBO is going to be the P6T Deluxe. BTW, that PSU can be had at MICROCENTER for 89.00 w/rebate!

Nick, while on the subject of the i7s in comparison to other processors there is a review here http://www.techspot.com/review/124-intel-c...965/page11.html with all kinds of comparisons (unfortunately none involving FSX) to many processors using a GTX 280. Just thought I would throw this out there for anyone interested.Thanks for your comments. Always very informative. I'll be getting an i7 965 to go with my P6T board in a couple of days.

Thanks, Nick - this is a tremendous help.A question. You wrote...>If you are on AMD, old Intel and/or not running modern Intel, >moving to i7 will be a good boost and investment for you. Do>be aware that if you intend to clock it will be easier to hit>higher clocks and better latency on 940 and DDR3 1600 memory.>Moving to 920 from AMD and not clocking will still provide a>worthwhile boost but you should consider the 940 if clocking>is not on your to-do list so you get the full monty in the>upgrade over what you are use to seeing.>It sounds from this and some of your other comments as though the 940 represents a price/performance sweet spot.Putting cost aside for the moment - what would be the reasons to consider the 965 over the 940? Does a clocked 940 (in a properly tuned system) roughly equal a 965? Does a clocked 965 perform dramatically better than a clocked 940? Obviously cost is the big question here so what I'm really after is a take on whether the 965 is worth the (roughly) $500 US premium or whether with some tuning, the 940 can get you into the same performance ballpark.FYI to you and everybody else that Newegg has some aggressive pricing this weekend on a variety of parts - Velociraptors at $199 after rebate, Antec 900 case at $59, and so on. Worth checking out.Thanks again!Alan

>Thanks Nick! It is a pleasure to have someone like you around>on this forum. If I plan to not clock at first (940) and buy>the 1600 ram, would anything special need to be done to use it>(1600 ram)? My MOBO is going to be the P6T Deluxe. BTW, that>PSU can be had at MICROCENTER for 89.00 w/rebate!Nope just make sure you have a good HSF and read the manual about settings.. and check the OC sites for proceedureIm not getting into 'how to's" here but you got what you need to play

>Nick, while on the subject of the i7s in comparison to other>processors there is a review here >http://www.techspot.com/review/124-intel-c...965/page11.html> with all kinds of comparisons (unfortunately none involving>FSX) to many processors using a GTX 280. Just thought I would>throw this out there for anyone interested.>>Thanks for your comments. Always very informative. I'll be>getting an i7 965 to go with my P6T board in a couple of>days.That review does not use 1333 tri-chan memory only 1066that should give you some clues about results where they are close and even show good gains

Nick, what kind of cooling for the CPU would you go with? Is the stock good or should it be replaced?Jim

>Thanks, Nick - this is a tremendous help.>>A question. You wrote...>>>If you are on AMD, old Intel and/or not running modern Intel,>>>moving to i7 will be a good boost and investment for you. Do>>be aware that if you intend to clock it will be easier to>hit>>higher clocks and better latency on 940 and DDR3 1600>memory.>>Moving to 920 from AMD and not clocking will still provide a>>worthwhile boost but you should consider the 940 if clocking>>is not on your to-do list so you get the full monty in the>>upgrade over what you are use to seeing.>>>>It sounds from this and some of your other comments as though>the 940 represents a price/performance sweet spot.>>Putting cost aside for the moment - what would be the reasons>to consider the 965 over the 940? Does a clocked 940 (in a>properly tuned system) roughly equal a 965? Does a clocked>965 perform dramatically better than a clocked 940? >>Obviously cost is the big question here so what I'm really>after is a take on whether the 965 is worth the (roughly) $500>US premium or whether with some tuning, the 940 can get you>into the same performance ballpark.>>FYI to you and everybody else that Newegg has some aggressive>pricing this weekend on a variety of parts - Velociraptors at>$199 after rebate, Antec 900 case at $59, and so on. Worth>checking out.>>Thanks again!>>>Alan>>No difference in perf between the 940 and 965 clocked except multipler and the ability to work things a bit more controlledsee the OC sites about 'how to'I paid for the 965 for the ease and access not perf as it is with all extreme procs. That access allows things in pinpoint changes the other does not... yep the market is going to chit and retail estimates for xmas is said to be in the toilet so its a good time to buy

As I said in my writeup, replaced if you intend to clock I would say replaced if above 3.5-3.6the factory HS is like any other in the past, trash for good clockingI use the Thermalright 120 Extreme 1366they are just hitting the market now... Some places may not have them for a week or 2 more.http://www.thermalright.com/new_a_page/pro...ler_1366rt.html

SorryNo FS9 on my systems for over 2 years