I have had four spec upgrades in the past 2 years. This will be number 5. It seems I do things in relatively minor increments only.I just ordered a i7-930, an ASUS PT6 Deluxe Motherboard, 6g of 1333 ram and a 1000g hardrive that should be here early next week. I am just going to ghost my 500g hardrive over to the new one and still use my FAtality1 700w power supply and EVGA 275GTX video card. I will of course overclock the cpu as high as practical. For those who know more than I do about such things, how much of a difference will jumping to an i7 have beyond the specs I have now (below in signature)? Thanks for the imput.Stephen

The performance difference will depend on the clockspeed you settle upon for your CPU. Minimum FPS should improve rather drastically with an i7, but FSX's built-in framerate counter has too low of a sample rate to accurately reflect this. You may not see a difference in the reported framerate due to this fact, but the sim should "feel" smoother.

The i7 930 reviews are coming out more positive than I might expect. Apparently the Intel manufacturing process maturity has yielded some significant advantages. The articles say that the 930 is an overclocker's treasure. In fact the hype is getting a little hard to swallow. Look at this comparison where it beats an overclocled 975. hmmmmmm...Bench Test ReviewsHere is a quote:We decided to review the i7-930 is because one of our contacts at Intel strongly hinted that despite its use of the same D0 stepping as the i7-920, it should be a much better overclocker. This makes a lot of sense, as Intel has been making Core i7s for more than a year, and will continue to make small revisions to the manufacturing process, even if these aren't enough to justify an entirely new stepping....The i7-930, using exactly the same voltages, but with a CPU multiplier of 21x and QPI of 205MHz, was happy to run for hours on end at 4.3GHz. This is quite frankly a fantastic overclock for a standard LGA1366 Core i7, and more in the realm of what you'd expect from a far more expensive Extreme Edition....What really sells us on the idea of the i7-930 though is it's improved overclocking potential. While there's no guarantee that every i7-930 will overclock as well as our test sample, it's very pleasing to see how much better it overclocked than any i7-920 we've played with over the 12 months at identical voltages. Any CPU, let alone one with four physical cores, four logical cores and triple-channel memory, that can run at 4.3GHz with a standard air-cooler is great news.I hope! I hope! I hope!Stephen

The 930 is a great chip, no doubt. At this point in the i7's life cycle I wouldn't hesitate to buy a 930 over a 920, given the price of each chip. The increased overclockability of 930 over 920 isn't surprising at all, either. Most 920's seem to hit about 4GHz on air whereas most other 9xx series i7s seem to exceed that fairly frequently.

I have learned to find my way around computers fairly well and FSX even a bit better. But the only overclocking I have done is with Asus software. Does anyone know of a step by step series of pictures of screenies for the new PT6 deluxe v2 bios settings for a bloomfield that I could follow to safely overclock this chip? I would like to go to 4.2 on air cooling, if possible. I have also ordered a new Prolimatech Megahalems Rev. B CPU cooler from Newegg which is rated the best for heavy overclocked units when fitted with dual high capacity fans. The intention is to ghost everything over to the new hardrive to prevent all the hassle of a fresh install. I understand that if done right, there are no problems with that. Is that true?I have read many overclockers enthusiast sites, but have not found any that take a nervous nellie like me by the hand and help them do this from start to finish.Stephen

If you're already running Vista or 7 there shouldn't be any problem, despite the change in chipset from 3/4 series to 5 series. As for OCing on your board, I know I've seen posts on that very topic at this forum. Just do a search for your board and it should come up.

Stephen...the one question I have is how you intend to configure your RAM. Assuming you get to 4.2 GHz on the CPU (21 x 200MHz BCLK) you'll only be able to run your memory at 1200 MHz (at a 6X multiplier). Bumping up the memory multiplier one step to 8X would put you right at 1600 MHz. I'd really strongly consider swapping out that 1333 MHz RAM for some 1600MHz (CAS 7 or lower) sticks.CheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Stephen...the one question I have is how you intend to configure your RAM. Assuming you get to 4.2 GHz on the CPU (21 x 200MHz BCLK) you'll only be able to run your memory at 1200 MHz (at a 6X multiplier). Bumping up the memory multiplier one step to 8X would put you right at 1600 MHz. I'd really strongly consider swapping out that 1333 MHz RAM for some 1600MHz (CAS 7 or lower) sticks.CheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Thanks Bob,I will call the shop early Monday morning and have it changed, even if they have to send it back for extra cost!Stephen

Thanks Bob,I will call the shop early Monday morning and have it changed, even if they have to send it back for extra cost!Stephen

Well I hope it doesn't cost you extra for double shipping, but I do think it's the right move.CheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Ouch,That hurt! There are shipping and restocking charges plus the extra $$ for the better ram. Oh well, I guess I can live without getting the wife's toothache fixed for another month or so if I have to. First things first. :( Stephen

Ouch,That hurt! There are shipping and restocking charges plus the extra $$ for the better ram. Oh well, I guess I can live without getting the wife's toothache fixed for another month or so if I have to. First things first. :( Stephen

Chloroform is your friend... :( CheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Chloroform is your friend... :( CheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

If anyone in my family sees this joke I am going to be in a heap of trouble with a capital T! LOLOLOL :(

All done,I just installed my earlier memory into the new machine, turned it on and flew like a bat. The i7 is much smoother and faster over the souped up Q9550 than I thought it would be.Stephen

Spirit FlyerAs far as overclocking, see the