Finally - upgrade is in the air

[Kosta 122]

Hello,My probable choice:Intel Core i7-960, 4x 3.20GHz, tray €499Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5, X58 €225EVGA e-GeForce GTX 285, 1024MB GDDR3 €310Corsair XMS3 Dominator DIMM Kit 6GB PC3-12800U CL7-7-7-20 €211Total: €1245Got a good offer for my current current system (-600€):Cost me about €650 for the new system.Maybe another motherboard though, still undecided which X58 mobo.What could I expect to achieve? What OC limit could I expect? Maybe cheaper CPU, i7-920 and OC the hell out of it? What to expect from FS9 or FSX compared to my current?Thanks.

[TechguyMaxC 516]

Are you going to watercool again? If so, I'd say 4.2-4.4GHz is in reach. If on air, I wouldn't expect to go beyond 4GHz unless you get really lucky.

[Kosta 122]

Watercool of course, probably gonna get Swiftech's Apogee XT Extreme Performance, when you get something, get the best ey? It gonna be the next 2-3y machine. Probably looking to the CPU upgrade when the last 1366 CPU comes out. Usually do it like that...I first had E6600, then E8600.But what interests me, what performance am I looking at, compared to the current sys. If I managed to push to 4.2 (should be doable, since this sys is pushing 4.0 without problem).And did you mean with the 960?Right now my motherboard (P5Q) is pulling 1600FSB.

[TechguyMaxC 516]

4.2GHz on an i7 960 would yield playable frame-rates in FSX with near everything maxed out, with add-ons.

[Kosta 122]

Would I be able to reach that with an 920 too? The difference is (only) the speed, same architechture etc.

[sargeski 16]

4.2GHz on an i7 960 would yield playable frame-rates in FSX with near everything maxed out, with add-ons.

This of course is heavily dependent on the aircraft which you are flying, what area you are flying and what the weather conditions are.Word Not Allowed,The 960 will more than likely be easier to get a higher stable overclock on than the 920. I'm running my 950 at 4.2Ghz on air and did so quite easily (took only 2 hours to get it stable). My FSX experience has never been better but do not go into the upgrade thinking you will be able to run with everything maxed out its just not the case. I still have different configs for complex aircraft, scenery and weather conditions. I'm running with FSGenesis, FTX (all regions), GEX USA/CAN, GEX EU, UTX USA, UTX Can, UTX EU, ASA, REX, MyTraffic X along with too many addon aircraft to mention. I also use Air Hauler which by itself has a noticeable hit when used with FSX.Regards,Bob

[Kosta 122]

This of course is heavily dependent on the aircraft which you are flying, what area you are flying and what the weather conditions are.Word Not Allowed,The 960 will more than likely be easier to get a higher stable overclock on than the 920. I'm running my 950 at 4.2Ghz on air and did so quite easily (took only 2 hours to get it stable). My FSX experience has never been better but do not go into the upgrade thinking you will be able to run with everything maxed out its just not the case. I still have different configs for complex aircraft as well as scenery. I'm running with FSGenesis, FTX (all regions) GEX USA/CAN, GEX EU, UTX USA, UTX Can, UTX EU, ASA, REX, MyTraffic X along with too many addon aircraft to mention. I also use Air Hauler which by itself has a noticeable hit when used with FSX.Regards,Bob

I know, also from reading these forums a lot, that FSX is a beast. I don't expect to tame it to its full potential with full sliders. Though I am looking at my budget, and basically thinking if it's all in all (not only FS-wise) worth the 800€. I want a decent, and I really mean decent boost in speed, concerning FS and other games.Also expect to get something I am going to keep again for a longer time, same like it happened with my last system.

[sargeski 16]

Word Not Allowed,I went from a QX9650 at 3.8Ghz to the i7 950 at 4.2Ghz and the difference for me was was like night and day. I can finally say I have found the combination that has me satisfied when it comes to running FSX with the eye candy turned up (which is where I want it). I will not be upgrading for very a long time.

[Kosta 122]

So I decided to get the i7-920 (the double price doesn't justify the 400mhz, overclockability of the 960 won't be 5Ghz anyway...). I expect to hit 4.2 with the 920, which is within the reach I read.What I would like to know also, if running i7 at 4.0, compared to mine E8600, not depending on the GPU now, would it give my FS9 and FSX a decent speedkick at the same core speed?Also I will get the Gigabyte UD5 mainboard and some GTX 285 board.But now, I am very much unsure which RAM I should get:- 4GB or 6GB? (dual, triple) - according to tests, there is 2-3% difference. Does it justify the extra 50€?I read I should get CL7@1600Mhz (if I plan to kick the 920 up to 4Ghz, multi is 8x for the DDR, then it would already mean 1600mhz, but if I want to get even higher with the 920, then I would either have to lower the DDR speed, or lower the multi to the 6x, which would mean I would need 266mhz on the motherboard base clock to reach the nominal 1600mhz ram clock). Anyway, DDR2 Corsair Dominator XMS2 served me well in the past - my E8600 is running at 4.0 without any problem.Current choices would be:Corsair XMS3 Dominator DIMM Kit 6GB PC3-12800U CL7-7-7-20 (DDR3-1600) or here even the non-Dominator series - the question is if the extra cooler is really needed??OCZ Reaper Low-Voltage DIMM Kit 6GB PC3-12800U CL7-7-7-24 (DDR3-1600)

[Bob Scott 7,711]

So I decided to get the i7-920 (the double price doesn't justify the 400mhz, overclockability of the 960 won't be 5Ghz anyway...). I expect to hit 4.2 with the 920, which is within the reach I read.What I would like to know also, if running i7 at 4.0, compared to mine E8600, not depending on the GPU now, would it give my FS9 and FSX a decent speedkick at the same core speed?Also I will get the Gigabyte UD5 mainboard and some GTX 285 board.But now, I am very much unsure which RAM I should get:- 4GB or 6GB? (dual, triple) - according to tests, there is 2-3% difference. Does it justify the extra 50

[Kosta 122]

At 4.0 GHz my i7-975 + GTX285 absolutely eats FS9 for lunch. I only push it past 4 GHz in FS9 when I'm running heavy-hitter add-ons into heavy-hitter sceneries in heavy-hitter hi-res clouds.

Thanks for the answer. Definitely planning to do some heavy-hitter scenarios ;-) But 975 is sliiiightly out of my budget hehehe... I hope to hit the 4.0 without much fuss with the 920 and I hope that with the triple-channel, 64bit, and somewhat OCed GTX285 I hit some real performance advancement.

[Kosta 122]

One (probably) last question:600W PSU. Should be enough, no?

[TechguyMaxC 516]

One (probably) last question:600W PSU. Should be enough, no?

Depends on the quality of the unit. To which PSU do you refer?

[Bob Scott 7,711]

One (probably) last question:600W PSU. Should be enough, no?

Personally, I wouldn't build a system with a heavily overclocked 920 and a possibly overclocked 285GTX with less than a good quality single-rail 750W power supply. I always allow an ample engineering margin there, because a PS failure can smoke the entire rig.RegardsBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

[Kosta 122]

It's a Super Flower Aurora 600W. I could replace it for the 850W unit, the thing is though, as it goes, this computer is growing more and more expensive. First I wanted to keep it below 500€, incl. watercoolers, now comes the PSU, which is also around 140€...If an upgrade, the thing I would go for is Corsair HX 850W or TX 950W.