Decided to take the Sandy Bridge plunge.. PMDG here I come!

[planechaser 16]

I think i have decided to take the Sandy Bridge plunge. Hearing so many good stories about the "chip that can finally tame FSX!"The J41 and NGX are becoming VERY tempting!!!! Combine those with ORBX PNW/Nrm/CRM and REX Overdrive i am really looking forward to a great simming experience. Here is the plan: i5 2500K ( planning an overclock to 4.5 GHZ) Noctua NH-D14 coolerCorsair Vengeance DDR 1600 8GBAntec 750 PSUAnted DF-35 Case ( i confirmed that this wil fit the Noctua)FSX on seperate HD ( non SSD) Now the only thing that might be a slight weak link is the video card . I have a GTX 460 ( i bought this card 7 months ago to use with FS9 ) which i hope will not bottle neck the system too much. I have used this card to try out FSX( with my current I5 Lynnfield CPU) and with Nick's Inpector settings ( 8sXAA ,16X AF) seems to run fine...Plus since my monitor is only 20" , i run at 1600*1050 and rarely run heavy clouds - i like sightseeing and only run a few cumulous and cirrus clouds .Most people reccomend a 560TI but an upgrade from a 460GTX would probably yield minimal gains ( however if i wanted to run higher AA and 1900 or higher resolution + heavy REX clouds and ASE weather , an upgrade to a GTX 570 or 580 would probably be needed) - i have no desire to upgrade my monitor at this time. With this setup and keepng the FSX sliders at reasonable levels ( e.g. autogen at normal and dense ) and keeping the AI /car traffic at a good level getting 25-30 FPS on the 737NGX in CYVR, KSEA with Orbx scenery may finally be possible! Comments are much appreciated!

[ryanbatcund 4,381]

Looks good, the video card will be a fine placeholder. You'll be happy with the 2500k@4.5GHz :)

[Chock 12,486]

Actually, you can still get very good performance if you have a Sandy Bridge processor even with a crappy graphics card. Those processors eat FSX for breakfast, I'm not kidding! And guess what? I have an old ATI 4800 card in my i7 Sandy Bridge computer, not only that, there's only 4 gigs of ram on the motherboard LOL, it isn't even very good ram either, just bog standard DDR3. Nevertheless, I get 35 FPS at JFK with the PMDG NGX, smooth as silk and FSX loads in about 20 seconds, and that's with all of the scenery sliders over on the right and the airliner traffic on 50 percent. And I've not even overclocked the i7 either. You won't be sorry if you get a shiny new Sandy Bridge processor and want to run FSX, that's for sure. Here it is if you don't believe it: Al

[VirginAus737 0]

Its GPU intensive app. The way I look at it is the GPU basically just sits there and the CPU uses its VRam, probably wrong but its what I think.

[ryanbatcund 4,381]

Its GPU intensive app. The way I look at it is the GPU basically just sits there and the CPU uses its VRam, probably wrong but its what I think.

That would mean it's a CPU intensive program hehe.... if the GPU isn't doing hardly any work (I know mine doesnt unless I really crank the MSAA etc), then the software reacts more to CPU power.

[VirginAus737 0]

Hehe, whoops. Mean't CPU.

[planechaser 16]

I have been watching some Youtube videos of the NGX with modest cards such as the GTX 285 and >4GHZ Sandy Bridges and the FPS seem very good ( airporst such as LAX, JFK ) I figure if you want 16XAA and supersampling , sparse grid supersampling to get rid of mild shimmers , then a 570/580 would really help in that area But with ORBX scenery ,everthing is so "high res" and visually stuninng, mild shimmers here and there ( using 8XAA or 8sQ) without supersampling are not an issue.

[ryanbatcund 4,381]

I have a 570 and still use 8xSQ.... can't handle 16x... I already get OOM's as it is lol.

[snpower 15]

How much did this system set you back? Looking at something similar.

[DJJose 3,669]

With the Sandy Bridge motherboard, the system OCs itself. The way to tell is by opening FSX then CPUZ in order to see the clock speed. I can assure you that SB is a step above previous systems. However, I have never seen 35fps flying at night into FSDream KJFK, with UTX Night Lighting, Manhattan X, AI at 50%, cars on, and poor weather. More like the teens. I have to lower my HQ settings in order for my system to perform acceptably. Kudos to Chock. I wish my system could do the same.