Before I write my Question, I´m sorry, because my English isn´t really good; I´m from Germany ... Hello, should i buy th i5-2500k or the i7-2600k?I want to play the PMDG 737NGX (very) smoothly (I love this nice bird).I want to buy the i5, because the price isn´t as high as the i7, but is the i5 fast enough?My graphics card is the NVidia GTX460 Thanks

Before I write my Question, I´m sorry, because my English isn´t really good; I´m from Germany ... Hello, should i buy th i5-2500k or the i7-2600k?I want to play the PMDG 737NGX (very) smoothly (I love this nice bird).I want to buy the i5, because the price isn´t as high as the i7, but is the i5 fast enough?My graphics card is the NVidia GTX460 Thanks

They will both perform identically in fsx.

From what I understand, the only difference between the 2500K and 2600K... Is that the 2600K has hyper threading. Given that FSX doesn't utilise HT, I'd say the 2500K should be fine.

Wow.... thank you! you were really fast!

Don't rely 100% on anyone here though... It's your money, thus, you must do some research and check for yourself.

Don't rely 100% on anyone here though... It's your money, thus, you must do some research and check for yourself.

+1 100% ( But don't just take my word for that !!! ) Right now almost no games will take advantage of more than 3 threads. Now since the main advantage that the Intel® Core™ i7-2600K has over the Intel Core i5-2500K is hyper-threading and since the extra 4 threads from hyper-threading isn’t an advantage in gaming you might as well step down to the Intel Core i5-2500K and save about $100. If you are going to be doing any video/audio or some other heavily multi-thread application then the Intel Core i7-2600K is a great processor. Otherwise go with the Intel Core i5-2500K.

I went for the i7 when upgrading, but I should think the i5 will do the job and the i7 might be a bit of overkill for most things. Al

Hey, I personally have the i7 950 - I also do a ton of adobe photo editing which needs that power way more than fs. you will be perfect with either choice you make, fsx is so badly programmed that even if you have what i have, it doesnt utilize the full breadth of the system. if you wish to save money, by all means buy the i5.

Don't limit yourself to Intel. I have several computers. One of them has a Sandy Bridge, another has an AMD Phenom II. The AMD performs as well as the Sandy Bridge and outperforms SB when overclocking. (Temps, etc.) Take a look at the AMD. You can save yourself some money.

If it is of any help to you, I did the research before upgrading and settled on an i5 2500K which I have overclocked to 4.7ghz. The i72600k is a nice chip but, as stated already, it is lot more expensive and the only real difference between the two is that he i7 has hyperthreading (which FSX can't use) and a larger cache which may make a very minor difference but nothing that you would actually notice. I would save some money and get an unlocked i5 2500k and overclock it. It runs FSX very smoothly. I lock frames with an external frame locker at 30 fps (the human eye can't see anyting faster than this) and I get between 18-20fps with a GTX570 running NGX at complex airports with REX (4096 textures, UT2, Active Sky Evolution, UTX, GEX and various other add-ons. I disable FSX AI traffic (using UT2 only). I use the the ******* tweaks and shader 3 mod for water. Use the money you save by buying the i5 2500k over the i72600k and spend it on 'Shade' a really impressibve third partty add-on which enhances contrast and lighting, you won't regret it.

I feel so out of date and pathetic reading these posts...lol...... Sitting here with a i3-530 @ 2.93 and a 1156 MoBo..... Oh well, will start to save a few dollars out of each paycheck for a nice upgrade.....as right now.....my 1 week old it top of the food chain.... As for the topic, I have a buddy who owns FSX and the i5, and it if nice....I mean really nice...He does not own the NGX, but has just about every FSDT and or FlyTampa addon, and He is faring pretty good. Way smoother than what I game on, He can almost max out all sliders and usually only has to adjust Autogen with that chip at the huge airports, plus He tells me His traffic is usually between 40-50%, which is a processor killer that the i5 can handle very well......50% traffic would bring my FSX to its knees, and my computer would probably extend an arm out the case and slap me.

Don't limit yourself to Intel. I have several computers. One of them has a Sandy Bridge, another has an AMD Phenom II. The AMD performs as well as the Sandy Bridge and outperforms SB when overclocking. (Temps, etc.) Take a look at the AMD. You can save yourself some money.

Are you serious right now?? AMD is seriously behind. And where are you seeing this crap about AMD's killing a Sandy Bridge System? A Phenom II X6 is slightly cheaper but the I5 2500k out performs it. The ONLY thing that AMD seems to beat Intel in is the Temperatures... which on Phenom II X6's aren't even accurate. The Core I5 is probably the best bang for your buck. I went with a I7 but the i5 really is an amazing chip. And they overclock extremely well. I got a Venomous X cooler to put on my i7 and everything stays nice and cool in my CM HAF 932 Advance case. 4.6Ghz out the box with a 1.34 core voltage. if I could do it again i would go with the i5 and save some monies...

Are you serious right now?? AMD is seriously behind. And where are you seeing this crap about AMD's killing a Sandy Bridge System? A Phenom II X6 is slightly cheaper but the I5 2500k out performs it. The ONLY thing that AMD seems to beat Intel in is the Temperatures... which on Phenom II X6's aren't even accurate. The Core I5 is probably the best bang for your buck. I went with a I7 but the i5 really is an amazing chip. And they overclock extremely well. I got a Venomous X cooler to put on my i7 and everything stays nice and cool in my CM HAF 932 Advance case. 4.6Ghz out the box with a 1.34 core voltage. if I could do it again i would go with the i5 and save some monies...

Hello anonymous poster, Yes, I am serious right now and even earlier. You can read and believe anything you want. My opinion is based on ACTUAL comparisons on my computers. Intel adverts are mere puffery. AMD tells you like it is. There is nothing inherently wrong with the i5 or i7. They just didn't perform as advertised on my desktops. AMD did. YMMV

Oh my. Notice his signature, everyone. (No offense, Dennis) If you actually have had ACTUAL comparisons you'd know what you're saying is completely BS (all of it). Please, please don't make outlandish claims like this with no practical or actual experience.

Come on Zach, we've had this discussion before. No need to turn this into an Intel v AMD discussion. All I'm telling the OP is consider AMD. It's used by many on this forum, and compares more than favorably, especially with o/c temps and stability. If you actually read my post, you would have noticed that I specifically referenced my comparison with AMD and Sandy Bridge. I own both and have used FSX on both. Nothing outlandish about it. I'm not locked into an opinion just because I spent money on any particular chip. Most of the benchmarks "tested" by so called independent labs were paid for by Intel. BTW, congrats on getting a 4.8 O/C. That IS very impressive. When it boils down to it cpu speed is mostly what matters. I've achieved 4.2 with rock solid stability, save for 1 or 2 occasions with FSX probably being the culprit