Dear Captains,I would like to make a small upgrade to the configuration below. My FSX runs decently with the MD11 in 2d cockpit (25-30 FPS) but not with the J41 (15 FPS).I dont have the money right now to upgrade to a new i7 platforms so I was thinking about upgrading the processor to a Q9650 quad. What do you guys think?Is it worth it? Is there a better upgrade I can make?I have the following configuration:Motherboard: ASUS P5Q PRO Processor: Core2Duo E6600Memory: 2 Gb RAMVideo Card: ATI X1950 OS: Windows XPThank You!Cristi

I personally don't think it's worth it, save up and get an i7 system with 4+GB of RAM, Win7 x64 and a better video card - the X1950 is pretty ancient now.

Think about an i3 system. $500 or less for a 4GHz system?

Thank You for your advise!Of course, i will get an i7 system, that's the long term plan...But until then I still want to get some boost out of the current platform. I was wandering if changing the proc to a quad would be enough to get an extra 10FPS with the J41...Cristi

Overclocked i5 may be the way to go too - I kinda wish I'd done that, I have to turn off hyperthreading to OC this 860 chip without overheating it and that effectively makes it an i5, HT is the only difference. The i5 750 is pretty cheap, get that plus a good cooler and you can hit 3.8-4.0GHz really easily.

hi!I had similar budget constraints and base line system to you. If you want a stop-gap, I suggest doing what I did and going for a 1GB 9600pro and E8600 CPU. My system flies in FSX with sliders largely toward the far right. I dont have scenery addons or AI though. See below for full specs.rm2242Win Vista 32bit (soon to be Win7 64bit)E8600 CPUASUS 9600PRO GPU4GB DDR-2 RAM (OCZ Titaium)ASUS P5QL-PRO MOBOOnboard soundX52 Pro flight stickLDS767, ASA, TopCat, FSBuild

I agree with Ryan, The i7 is really worth it. Try selling your mobo and current proc. In Romania (I assume you're from around here from the name) you can get pretty decent money on that. Then get a friend from the US to order from NewEgg.com and then ship them to you. I bought everything from there.PS. If you're from RO have you seen this? www.rovacc.org

Yes - I would hold-off on 'upgrading' your cpu - it will be worth the, hopefully, short wait to replace it all. FSX taxes every bit of a system in order to look as good as it does - it's a true balance of cpu (and cores! The more the better!), a great video card (PCIe 2.0 16x) and the bandwidth to toss all that data around (the real achilles heal with your old MoBo) - currently the X58 based mobos take the prize here (i7), but there are now other very good solutions hitting the shelves, too.I fear that if you just upgrade (to an admittedly very good cpu that would certainly give you a bit of a boost) you'd always be thinking in the back of your head "if I had only waited to have gone with up-to-date solution."My 2 cents. Regardless of your final decision - enjoy!Cheers!

What processor would you choose between these two, for which I tried to summarize the pros and cons:i7 860: 2.8GHz - 3.46 with Turbo, 2 memory channelsi7 920: 2.66GHz - 2.93 with Turbo, 3 memory channelsPlease note I don't intend to do any overclocking.So which one should work better for FSX (with PMDG, ASX and ATC addons) more clock speed or more memory channels?Thanks,Cristi

Overclocked i5 may be the way to go too - I kinda wish I'd done that, I have to turn off hyperthreading to OC this 860 chip without overheating it and that effectively makes it an i5, HT is the only difference. The i5 750 is pretty cheap, get that plus a good cooler and you can hit 3.8-4.0GHz really easily.

Hi Ryan, Not that it will exactly pertain the same to your config but I have a new overclock going that is a major improvement than my last that I found on overclocker.net. I am still running my i7 920 @ 3.80 on air cooling but the difference is I got my memory from 9-9-9-24 to 8-8-8-24 and using both Hyperthreading and Turbo for the first time (even though I thought I would never). I got well over 10 fps increase in FSX and staying cooled to mid 40c. I was running stock cooling but got a new ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 heatsink and fan which is also an improvement then stock (even though the i7 stock cooler is pretty sweet).I ran Prime95 tests and it's rock solid. Not that this will help many unless you happen to be using the same MB, CPU and 1600 rated ram, but here is what I have running and what I won't be changing any time soon:Set Bios to XMP modeMulti = 20BCLK = 190Hyperthreading = OnTurbo = OnCPU Volt = 1.35Dram freq= 1523Dram Volt = 1.64Dram timing set automatically due to bios set to XMP mode (8-8-8-24)From what I've read, Turbo will not kick in if the multiplyer is less than 20, and my last OC was Multi= 19. and BCLK = 200. Edit: Having just checked an older post to get my last OC settings that I already forgot, I see that the post from Krister here has the same settings above, so my advice in that older post to not run with Turbo appears to be incorrect :)

Dan,Turbo works differently on the 920 than it does on the 860 I have though - it's much more aggressive on the 860 and you'll pretty easily run it up too high if you leave that on while OCing.If I got a better heatsink I could probably run with Hyperthreading on. The Coolermaster Hyper 212+ that I have is cheap ($30) but it is definitely not as effective as the top heatpipe systems like the Prolimatech Megahalems, the Thermalright True 120 or Venomous-X or the Noctua NH-D14. Those are all around $70 for the heatsink itself and then you have to buy the fans separately. They're definitely the top air-coolers though, every review has those three coolers outperforming everything else by a pretty huge margin.

What processor would you choose between these two, for which I tried to summarize the pros and cons:i7 860: 2.8GHz - 3.46 with Turbo, 2 memory channelsi7 920: 2.66GHz - 2.93 with Turbo, 3 memory channelsPlease note I don't intend to do any overclocking.So which one should work better for FSX (with PMDG, ASX and ATC addons) more clock speed or more memory channels?Thanks,Cristi

If you're not going to overclock (which is honestly kind of silly, these chips both do it almost without any effort), definitely get the 860. Its turbo mode is better than the 920's is and the extra speed in FSX will far outstrip anything you'd gain from having triple channel memory. A whole bunch of benchmarks sites ran this exact test and at stock speeds the 860 came out ahead in most gaming situations. You should know though that OCing gets you a very big performance gain in FSX. Going from 2.8 to 3.8 with my 860 gave me a 15+ FPS increase in most situations.

Yeah, that's too bad about the 860's OC issues I just read about, but looks like you hit 3.8 so kudos.Your current sink & fan is more than fine I think. I looked at all of the ones you mentioned and wouldn't spend a dime on any except the Noctua NH-D14, now that one I would like to have but not sure it'll fit. That looks like some serious cooling. Your current fan looks very similar to the one I just got, the only thing different is the rpm, but almost the same design. In FSX I have yet to exceed 50c and only been above it running Prime95 and PC mark, but not by much. The main reason I picked the cooler I did was to avoid removing the motherboard for install,,, the price close to that of yours and can't see doubling the price on anything but that Noctua NH-D14!... ok, I need to look away now before I order it :(

Hi Turbine777,If you don't mind my asking, what case are you using. Your running your cpu quite cool.My spec. is Asus P6T Deluxe v2, i7 920 OC 4.0, Muskin 6gb 6-7-6-18, EVGA GTX285, Noctua NH-U12P and Antec P182.When running FSX with sliders in scenery completely to the right I'm running 70c -71c. I live in Canada so the ambient temperature at home is quite cool at the moment.At summer the cpu temperature will most likely rise.Karl

Hi Turbine777,If you don't mind my asking, what case are you using. Your running your cpu quite cool.My spec. is Asus P6T Deluxe v2, i7 920 OC 4.0, Muskin 6gb 6-7-6-18, EVGA GTX285, Noctua NH-U12P and Antec P182.When running FSX with sliders in scenery completely to the right I'm running 70c -71c. I live in Canada so the ambient temperature at home is quite cool at the moment.At summer the cpu temperature will most likely rise.Karl

Hi Karl, Funny you ask. I was going to go into detail about that because many times people have adequate cooling but have little ventilation in their case so their fans just recirulate hot air. The only case I have use in ALL my builds (and I build systems for side work) is this one. If I had the money I would stock a wharehouse full of them. I have used every Thermaltake case there is and this case is far better than them and anything else I have ever used "for ventilation". Key points are that the PSU is mounted on the bottom and there is a massive 200mm top fan, and 2 front mounted 120mm's. Toss another on the side door blowing in and one on the back blowing out, keep it at least 8" off the back wall, preferably without hiding it in a corner and your golden. One additional benefit of the fan I got was the fact that I was able to mount it facing the rear of my chasis, so it blows the heat directly to the rear fan and out. Any other heat simply rises and is blown out by the super quiet 200mm. My 2 western digital Velociraptors are mounted in the lower section opposite one of the fron 120mm fans and since I keep my comp out of the desk corner the airflow is superb.Another thing is that my lower section of the case is quite cluttered with my cables, Corsair 1000w PSU, two velociraptors, and GTX295 and GTX 260, so to help a tad more with even more flow is I use EVGA's Precision tool to run both GPU fans at 80% (That is loud) to help when simming and heavy gaming. They defauly around 40% I believe but may turn them down now since the new cooler on the CPU is what it is and facing the way it does. My system is still pretty quiet with the exception of the video card fans. This doesn't matter to me at all since I have my headphones on all the time when at the comp anyway (plus it's still quieter than my

. Before anyone asks, the case is that one is the Thermaltake Shark and the reason it is so loud is because even with liquid cooling and no fans in the chasis, you still normally have to deal with the Radiator fans. That and the maintenance and aggravation involved in liquid cooling will keep me from ever doing a liquid cooled system again. My next venture into new technology will most likely be gas :(Also, my blood has thinned over the years so my room is quite toasty at all times 70+ F. And I still am getting (knock on wood) great temps. One thing some people do is remove the rear slots for expansion cards thinking they are increasing the circulation when in fact they're killing it, and even a liquid system should have some type of fan to keep air moving out. In my liquid system, I water cooled both video cards, the CPU and north & south bridge chipset and without any internal fans it only makes my raditor fans work that much harder.Edit: Whoops, almost forgot another important mention... Arctic 5 or better for thermal grease! And the correct amount.

cheap version: i5 750 (LGA 1156) + Ati HD5850/5870expensive version (but great): i7-980X + new GF480 :( Currently, I don