so i was wondering.......i have an i7-920 system that i bought bought just under 3 years ago. running at stock speed. 2.67GHz isn't it?i am in general (still) quite happy with the system performance when it comes to FSX. however, after 3 years i am thinking a little upgrade could make me a very happy camper. when you taxi around those lovely mega airports in your PMDG NGX it can get somewhat choppy when frame rate drops to the low teens.looking around i am quite surprised to see that my old CPU is still selling for roughly the same price? am i missing something? maybe i need to realize that it is 2012 after all but thinking back to the mid 90's you did need a new system every two years. the prices dropped to a fraction over two years if you could even still find it anywhere.when i bought my 920 i thought i could upgrade to a faster CPU in a couple of years when the faster ones are loads cheaper. well it looks as if 3 years weren't enough of a wait?anyways. i understand that the newer ones (sandy bridge?) are better when it comes to overclocking. and then there is the ivy bridge underway for this spring. or whatever it's called.now here is my question before i keep going off topic more. is there any performance difference between two CPU's with different sockets? say the i7-960 at 3.2GHz compared to the i7-2500K at 3.3GHz? they are pretty much the same clock speed. do they perform similar or, since they have different architecture, is the sandy bridge CPU faster if running at the same clock speed?has anybody upgraded from an i7 of the first generation to the newer one and is happy he did it? of course i don't plan on buyng one that runs 3GHz or whatever like mine but i wonder if i'd be better off buying some new components (probably after april when the new ones are out) or if i should just put my head into overclocking and get similar performance basically for free.i would have looked into the whole overclocking thing already but having a wife and a little kid i can consider myself lucky to find enough time log 3 hours a week on FSX. i know, it is sad.any input much appreciated!

I came from an i7 960 at 4.1GHz to my signature. I was quite happy with the performance increase, especially considering the affordability of Sandy Bridge.The big advantage is the huge headroom for overclocking. Not to mention the superior IPC.EDIT: I'll mention this. My 960 (which is for sale in the classifieds here) was fast. I loved the hyperthreading if only for the macho feel.... But put beside the 2500k at stock speed, there's a noticable difference in FPS. Maybe not enough to financially justify the splurge, though. At least at this time, with Ivy Bridge approaching. Get the system at a bargain or wait.

Edited January 10, 201214 yr by ZachLW

You can get a heck of a performance boost just by overclocking that 920 you have now. The SB will be faster, yes, but not practically free.

Went from 920 @ 4.2 to 2600K @ 5.0. I was blown away, seriously. Not like 3 fps more, but more like double the performance. Enough reason? :)

Edited January 10, 201214 yr by Kosta

so this may really be worth it then!i wish i would have time to overclock but it is probably "quicker" to put some new parts together. it just seems that there is so much testing involved in overclocking...thanks for the help, gentlemen.

i wish i would have time to overclock but it is probably "quicker" to put some new parts together. it just seems that there is so much testing involved in overclocking...

That only seems like so. If you just wanna push some 4.5 or 4.6, you don't need lot of time. Only if you wish to push the limits, well, then you need lots of tweaking.

ok but from what you were saying i should still get a good performance boost just by switching to the new architecture. maybe i can overclock that one a bit since the cpu can never be fast enough. that should make for a good system.when you switched did you also upgrade the gpu?

Hi,I have two computers. One i7 960 and one i7-2600k both running FSX in a network. The last one is on avarage 30% faster in frame rate. I also upgraded from a gtx8800GT to a gtx570 card. With this one, the gpu load never exceeds 40%. I also have used a gtx560Ti in the same configuration. Same story, gpu load also never exceeded 50%.

ok but from what you were saying i should still get a good performance boost just by switching to the new architecture. maybe i can overclock that one a bit since the cpu can never be fast enough. that should make for a good system.when you switched did you also upgrade the gpu?

Yes, SB brought, beside higher clocks, also more cycles per clock, effectively boosting performance in general a lot and in FSX especially.2500/2600Ks usually OC easily to 4.5, most of them going as high as 4.8, even 5.0 in some less cases, or those who are ready to take the risk (me, running very high Vcore).Yes, basically in the same time, but I did test my old GTX285 with my new OCed CPU - performance was generally better, but not as near as when I plugged GTX580 in. It's simple: you need components that work together, Ferrari which is driven with thin tires has the same effect - a big motor and strong motor which has no use...

Hi,I have two computers. One i7 960 and one i7-2600k both running FSX in a network. The last one is on avarage 30% faster in frame rate. I also upgraded from a gtx8800GT to a gtx570 card. With this one, the gpu load never exceeds 40%. I also have used a gtx560Ti in the same configuration. Same story, gpu load also never exceeded 50%.

Come on: make a comparison with both cranking up IQ in Nvidia Inspector (4x SGSS + 8xS) and run a situation full of clouds, addon airport, lots of autogen etc...My GTX580 load does exceed 80%... even going as high as 100%.(You wanna explain that?) - EDIT: don't bother...EDIT: In the last couple of days seeming all I do is post about how GTX580 is better than 560ti, trying to prove it.I think I'll just tame and cool down a bit. All that I had to say has been said.Have fun guys.

Edited January 11, 201214 yr by Kosta

My 920 @ 4 is slower than my 2700 @ stock. My 2700 @ 4.8 is about twice as fast as my older CPU. :)

Word Not Allowed,Thanks for your remark.I always wondered why my gtx570 never exceeded 40%. Can get it now up to 50-60% with max autogen and high quality scenery and bad weather. But still no higher. I will investigate the nvidea control panel options.

Edited January 12, 201214 yr by Dolfijn

Word Not Allowed,Thanks for your remark.I always wondered why my gtx570 never exceeded 40%. Can get it now up to 50-60% with max autogen and high quality scenery and bad weather. But still no higher. I will investigate the nvidea control panel options.

Try running BP=0 tweak with high water 2.x settings.

Edited January 12, 201214 yr by Kosta

has anybody upgraded from an i7 of the first generation to the newer one and is happy he did it?

It looks like you have been answered and answered again, but I might as well add my piece. I went from a i7-930 @ 4.3 Ghz to a Sandy Bridge i7-2600K @ 4.8 GHz (was 5.0), using the same ram and video card. Frames jumped something like between 50 to 100% with any given FSX heavy load.Kind regards,

thanks alot guys! i will definately buy the ivy bridge cpu and whatever else i will need as soon as it gets released.

Try running BP=0 tweak with high water 2.x settings.

I run this tweak and it gave me a ton of FPS. But, what exactly does it actually do? (in simple terms)