FSX - Weakest link? Mobo/Mem/CPU/GFX?

[Flamin_Squirrel 71]

Hi all.I'm looking to upgrade shortly, and was wondering which component(s) are stressed the most by FSX? Am I better off getting a cheaper CPU and getting more memory for example.Thanks.

[sargeski 13]

The CPU plain and simple.

[ryanbatcund 2,419]

CPU is most important. Clock speed over amount of cores.

[Flamin_Squirrel 71]

Interesting!Wait, does that mean I'm better off with my old 3.2GHz AMD 64 X2 than a new 2.66GHz Intel i5?

[Guest WarpAir]

IN this orderCPU GPUthen RAM.Dont waste money on Raptors and SSD's till youve spent some money on how to cool your system if you OC.FSX likes OC a lot, get a good CPU and give priority to how you cool the CPu Oc. Am in process of going from air cooling to koolance water cooling.Bumping up your cpu speed is the only thing that directly leads to more fps in FSX. not so simple a case for GPU RAM and everything else.So the answer to your question is 1 - CPU clock speed2 - More CPU clock speed3 - And More CPU clock speed with good cooling 4 - GPU with some OC 5 - FAster RamI am planning to upgrade to i7975 from i7920, and investing in water cooling, cuase with right cooling you can ppush cpu's some way above 4Ghz

[ryanbatcund 2,419]

Interesting!Wait, does that mean I'm better off with my old 3.2GHz AMD 64 X2 than a new 2.66GHz Intel i5?

No, the architecture is very different nowadays. What I'm saying is a dual core E8600 would yield better performance than a quad core q9550 at stock speeds.

[Flamin_Squirrel 71]

Excellent, thanks for the advice. :(