Hey everyone, I am doing a full system upgrade either after Christmas or once Ivy bridge comes out.[Current SPECS in sig] Which should I wait for? Ivy bridge or Sandy? Thanks, NOTE: I am willing to spend around 1200 US Dollars

You should be able to drop an Ivy Bridge processor into current 1155 boards. I would recommend one of the most recent gen 3 boards that claims PCI-E 3.0 support - perhaps the following boards: Asus P8Z68-V Pro Gen3ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 Throw a 2500k in it for now, sell it later, and then replace it with an Ivy Bridge. Ivy Bridge should be released early to mid 2012.

I just noticed ASUS released a new Beta BIOS for compatibility with the new Ivy Bridge 22 nm die shrink CPU. Things are happening... Best regards,Jim

I wouldn't worry about PCIe 3 for another year, until PCIe 3 gets full support from MB manufacturers (as opposed to only partial implementations that allow putting the PCIe 3 logo on the box) and of course PCIe 3 video cards are available, and all the preceding is thoroughly debugged in the field (including IB). By then MS Flight ought to be available too, so Xmas 2012 ought to be very merry indeed. Cheers, - jahman.

I wouldn't worry about PCIe 3 for another year, until PCIe 3 gets full support from MB manufacturers (as opposed to only partial implementations that allow putting the PCIe 3 logo on the box) and of course PCIe 3 video cards are available, and all the preceding is thoroughly debugged in the field (including IB). By then MS Flight ought to be available too, so Xmas 2012 ought to be very merry indeed. Cheers, - jahman.

So, what is PCIe3? Will fsx benefit? Also, can anyone totally confirm that Ivy bridge will use the 1155 socket?

Yeah, it will be an 1155 socket so its really just a matter of updating the BIOS. Well there is a bit more to it but I cant explain.

So, what is PCIe3? Will fsx benefit?...

PCIe is the protocol that is used to send data from the CPU to the GPU, and PCIe 3 has twice the bandwidth of PCIe 2, so it's a big deal. Cheers, - jahman.

PCIe is the protocol that is used to send data from the CPU to the GPU, and PCIe 3 has twice the bandwidth of PCIe 2, so it's a big deal. Cheers, - jahman.

So should we see a performance increase? I remember someone saying that Phil Taylor said that PCIe2 was a bottleneck for FSX...

So should we see a performance increase? I remember someone saying that Phil Taylor said that PCIe2 was a bottleneck for FSX...

That was probably me based on PT's post. The FSX camp is divided on this issue, however. Cheers, - jahman.

The FSX camp is divided on this issue, however.

Doesn't hurt to have the ability to run PCI-E 3.0, though. Just pick up a Gen3 board and you will not have to worry about whether or not FSX will benefit. It might cost you another $20 - so what.

Doesn't hurt to have the ability to run PCI-E 3.0, though. Just pick up a Gen3 board and you will not have to worry about whether or not FSX will benefit. It might cost you another $20 - so what.

Well are there any PCIe3 native cards?

Not yet, but there should be by the time Ivy Bridge is released - so early to mid 2012.

I agree that it does no harm to have the latest stuff. But in terms of what to expect performance-wise: even the best pcie2 cards don't saturate the pcie2 bus except when combined into quite big and unusual sli configurations, which could never apply to fsx, I believe. Does anyone yet know whether the first gen pcie3 cards will be such a vast improvement that the extra bandwidth will actually make a difference?Tim

...even the best pcie2 cards don't saturate the pcie2 bus except when combined into quite big and unusual sli configurations, which could never apply to fsx, I believe...

That's not what Phil Taylor says. Cheers, - jahman.

That's not what Phil Taylor says. Cheers, - jahman.

Hi -I remember that post by Phil. It was a refreshing admission about how badly MS had been maintaining the FSX code and with hindsight it may help explain why MS simply shut down the whole Aces studio. I thought Phil was making the point that EVEN IF the GPU could handle whatever you throw at it, FSX is coded to use the available bandwidth profligately and so potentially it could saturate the bus quite quickly. That does not deal with the issue of whether the GPU would actually be capable of processing everything, if the bus were larger. I believe that the PCIE2 specification still gives more than enough bandwidth for the current generation of GPUs, except in some sli situations - I've never previously heard that there's a deficit - but of course I could be wrong!All the bestTim