Updating my rig to run the PMDG 747 in FSX

[gassa 19]

Hi, I'm thinking about a small hardware update to my machine.My goal is to be able to fly to airports like Aerosofts Heathrow in Active Sky Weather, using addon airliners, like the PMDG 747X or the LevelD 767 and the upcomming NGX of course.Right now I'm using a Core2Duo E6750 (not overclocked, running at 2.66), a ATI Radeon HD4870 1GB, and 3GB of Corsair DDR800 RAM. My harddrive is a Western DIgital Caviar Black 1TB (which is quite fast, according to several benchmarks), my soundcard is a Creative Fatality Gamer.I'm considering the following components:-Intel Core I5 750-Some good CPU Fan which gives me the ability to overclock the CPU-An Asus Socket 1156 Board (haven't decided for a specific one yet)-4GB DDR3 1600 RAMI'd like to keep the harddisk, as well as my soundcard and the ATI 4870 (just one month old). My Power supply (Thermaltake Toughpower 600W) should also be able to handle the new rig.What do you think about this hardware changes? Right now I have about 9FPS sitting at Aerosofts Heathrow in the PMDG 747X. How much will the framarate increase, if I overclock the new CPU to around 3.8GHZ?Kind reagards Martin

[Turbine777 13]

Hi Martin, Please sign your full name to your posts here, per forum rules, thanks.I don't know if you'll get 3.8 from that cpu but don't have any actual OC experience with that chip and would really vary depending on what motherboard you choose. But from knowing the specs and a little about the chip it seems a bit much. Although, you will see an improved frame rate of course but how much is impossible to tell. It depends on a bazillion things (ok not that many, but a lot).What you run for addons, what you have running in the background when running FSX, how's your OS running (tweaked, maintained). From the specs I'm guessing its ganna run you about 700 for that system if your getting the whole ball of wax, case, fans etc... I just built a really nice one for a friend and it was about 825 with an i7 920, rampage and all the bells and whistles but with 8gb of ram. If nothing else I would recommend you get more ram than 4 if you can. It's just cheaper to do it now since you'd be buying larger sticks and still have room for upgrades if need be without the need to resell or do away with what's in there.With my current over clock I actually ran a few tests to try and get a valid benchmark my last install and it's not that easy since you have to have the same exact conditions with the exception of the OC. I saw about a 15-20fps difference.Whatever you do, don't skimp on the motherboard and do as you're probably doing and read lots of OC reviews first to see what others have achieved with that board and your chip.Hope this helps some,

[gassa 19]

Hi,Thanks for your help and sorry for my late reply.What do you think about an AMD PhenomII X4 965 Black Edition, 4x 3.40GHz? As you can see, this CPU runs at 3.4GHz without overclocking and is much cheaper than a comparable I7. The PhenomII costs 155,- Euros, the I7 920 costs 219,- Euros.How are AMD CPU's dealing with FSX?Kind regardsMartin

[Turbine777 13]

Hi Martin,Please sign your full name to your posts here, per forum rules, thanks.

[gassa 19]

Oh, sorrySo, once again....Thanks for your help and sorry for my late reply.What do you think about an AMD PhenomII X4 965 Black Edition, 4x 3.40GHz? As you can see, this CPU runs at 3.4GHz without overclocking and is much cheaper than a comparable I7. The PhenomII costs 155,- Euros, the I7 920 costs 219,- Euros.How are AMD CPU's dealing with FSX?Kind regardsMartin Gasteiger

[ESzczesniak 85]

Oh, sorrySo, once again....Thanks for your help and sorry for my late reply.What do you think about an AMD PhenomII X4 965 Black Edition, 4x 3.40GHz? As you can see, this CPU runs at 3.4GHz without overclocking and is much cheaper than a comparable I7. The PhenomII costs 155,- Euros, the I7 920 costs 219,- Euros.How are AMD CPU's dealing with FSX?Kind regardsMartin Gasteiger

I don't have personal experience with the newest round of AMD CPU's (used to be a diehard AMD fan), but consensus nowdays seems to be that the Intel chips have an edge for most things, not the least of which is FSX. In particular, the higher bus speeds of the i5/7's seems to help quite a bit and I've been told that while AMD does 9 operations per cycle, Intel does 12 (don't ask me what this means other than a 33% increase in the number).I built a new rig with an i7-920. I'm a complete novice with overclocking and have the CPU running at 3.56 GHz from 2.67 GHz. At this, it is stable on 1.21V (barely over a normal CPU at 1.2V) and idles at 38C with a Megahelem cooler. Under load it hits high 40'sC. Only reason I haven't overclocked further is that I didn't know a thing about overclocking when I built the rig and based it around 1333MHz RAM. Turns out on the i7's (I imagine the i5's as well) you basically overclock the bus multiplier speed, thereby also overclocking your RAM and northbridge. This means two things 1) you need RAM that can be stable at overclock (native 1600 MHz RAM therefore be fine) and 2) you need a solid motherboard so your northbridge chipset is well constructed and cooled.

[Turbine777 13]

How are AMD CPU's dealing with FSX?Kind regardsMartin Gasteiger

I have built a couple of those systems but never did any overclocking so I won't comment on that, but as for the cpu, it's a really nice chip and having a default 3.4 is better than an overclocked to 3.4. I actually started into computers as an Intel fan, then shortly after moved to AMD and stuck with them for years. The last few rounds have gone to Intel but AMD still runs FSX fine. Going with that chip the motherboards too are cheaper and ASUS have a few solid ones (Personally I recommend ASUS when using AMD 100% or the time, and ASUS or MSI for Intel). If you're not looking to overclock then that build is a good'n. If you plan to OC, I would look at what others are getting from theirs and which motherboards they partner with that chip for what result.Check out the latest reviews on Newegg. The second post (review) down mentions great FSP with FSX.My last AMD chip was a $1000 FX60 haha. But as I mentioned have built lots of others for other people that were great, stable performers. Unfortunately I never tested FSX on them but am sure it'll do fine.

[dazz 69]

For what I know this CPU is something like the I5 from Intel. I would recomend to get the 125W better than the 140W if you go for the Phenom II x4 965, as it should be easier to overclock. I can't get mine over 3,8GHz (it's the 140W version) but then again my heatsink might not be good enough. I'm not sure OC is even helping at all, sometimes looks like it pulls 1 or 2 extra FPS, but I couldn't say if it's just a normal performance peak or what. I'm still working on my set up, now with ENBseries, to try and get the most out of it. I don't really know if I should focus get a better GPU now or it's the CPU, but I get like 15 fps in tough conditions (EGLL, clouds, traffic, JS41) and it's completely flyable, so you can run FSX with that CPU for sure.As Dan said it's more about the MOBO price if you are going for a budget set up, as the I7 MOBO's are more expensive, but looking back, I would have chosen an I7 920 + tripple channel MOBO instead if you ask me. That would be like 200-300 extra EUR though.

[aceridgey 329]

Belive me, stick to intel I cores,I would never move from it...**Note please get rid of aerosofts heathrow, it is the worse scenery ever developed for FSX, [basically].Replace it with the amazing uk2000 Heathrow Extreme [extremely high performance benefit and its cheaper and looks better].I am a nvidia man myself, but i would definetly keep to intel for an i core

[gassa 19]

Hi, I think I will stick with Intel for the moment.I decided to wait until the NGX is released (hopefully soon :( ) before I update my machine.My biggest concern is, that as soon as I buy a new computer, somebody makes a public anouncement, that a new Flightsim will be released in a few months and the new hardware is not good enough for it. Wouldn't be the first time that something like this happens to me, believe me :( .Kind regardsMartin Gasteiger

[Tabs 2,790]

Looks good, but I would swap your ATI for an Nvidia card. Even a cheap GTX260 like what I got a couple months ago is going to give you much better image quality and more consistent FPS. I did exactly this going from a 4870.

My biggest concern is, that as soon as I buy a new computer, somebody makes a public anouncement, that a new Flightsim will be released in a few months and the new hardware is not good enough for it. Wouldn't be the first time that something like this happens to me, believe me :( .

The probability of that happening is so low it might as well be zero.

[dazz 69]

If only someone could take over and optimize FSX a tad (talk about the clickspots performance issues you mentioned in some other thread, for example)I guess that's not probable either :(

The probability of that happening is so low it might as well be zero.

[gassa 19]

Hi,My ATI is just one month old, so I guess I have to stick with it for a while. The good thing is, that it was for free, because my old Nvidia 9800GT went bust, just 2 weeks before the end of the warranty period and since the 9800GT is no longer in production anymore, the sent me the HD4870.Kind regardsMartin Gasteiger

[aceridgey 329]

~I think as i said in my post,if u get an i7 now, you are future proving for at least 5years minimum,I will be selling a gtx280 very soon, if you are interested contact meAlex