Hi,I have an i7-860. If I'd overclock it, i would have to invest in a better cooler, since when I try to use the instant oc button on my mobo my pc won't boot up.My question is: A lot of people have good results with oc-ed 'older' pc's. Should I go an get into oc-ing my current cpu or just buy a whole new i7 2600 rig. They are getting cheaper. And how does i2600 at 3400 (stock) perform? I generally fly airliners like Ifly's 737, Wilco 737 etc. not as heavy as NGX. And I like a lot of AI traffic, all other sliders are medium to high.

Edited January 18, 201214 yr by CVEP

Complete specs (motherboard, PSU, case, GPU...) & budget for the upgrade please?

Hi,I have an i7-860. If I'd overclock it, i would have to invest in a better cooler, since when I try to use the instant oc button on my mobo my pc won't boot up.My question is: A lot of people have good results with oc-ed 'older' pc's. Should I go an get into oc-ing my current cpu or just buy a whole new i7 2600 rig. They are getting cheaper. And how does i2600 at 3400 (stock) perform? I generally fly airliners like Ifly's 737, Wilco 737 etc. not as heavy as NGX. And I like a lot of AI traffic, all other sliders are medium to high.

I have 'good' results w/ an older over clocked Core 2 Quad. I've had it at up to 4.2Ghz however that ended up frying the processor and I'm quite convinced it was overvolting that did it as I'm quite sure heat was not the issue, after about 2 years. Intel's data sheet on this processor made it perfectly clear running above the 'functional operational limits' in core voltage all but guarantees stable performance can no longer be assured. I replaced it w/ the same processor, and run it at 3.8Ghz. The practical difference between 3.8 and 4.2 is really less than its raw frequency change would reflect. I'd say maybe 5% better, but that as you know makes the difference in frame rates in stressed conditions from 20 to 21 fps. We all here understand frame rate is only one metric that matters. My current and prior config runs the sim very smooth, all sliders hard right except autogen at dense, water at high, traffic at 20% and airport traffic about 25% I believe. In my sig you will see the aircraft and scenery used. What I must do is to be mindful to not demand too much: when I run the NGX, it's often into mid-sized terminals versus KJFK etc. When I want to hit super dense scenery, ORBX stuff in metropolitan airports for example, I will fly the very frames friendly SuperMD . As long as I do this, I'm running always between 22 and 30, w/ frames externally locked at 30. In fact, I flew out of KSFO using high end scenery in the NGX and was no less than 18 fps w/ lots of clouds. You can see from the responses here that with today's highest end (ok, not super-cooled super clocked machines) machines, you STILL have to be mindful not to bite off more than your machine can chew. So, I can emphatically say, yes you can get 'good' results w/ older machines, over clocked. And unequivocally, I should define 'good' as 'satisfying sim experience';O) Some may say, why not just upgrade everything rather than replace my old processor? It's hugely more work and money to buy new main boards, new memory, reload the whole banana, etc. I'm trying my best to wait until Ivy Bridge debuts, probably IB-E, before even considering an upgrade. I want to see a dramatic improvement, because as I say my current dated platform still works quite well. Unfortunately IB is not necessarily going to offer a big bump in performance over SB-E's now from what I've read so far. We'll see, who knows maybe I will be pleasantly surprised. I think you have to consider maxing out your current configuration if money matters. Per $ spent, you should do the best w/ over clocking, provided the rest of your machine is strong enough where it counts--plus, what an easy thing to do, put in a new cooler. I've done this w/ air cooling only using retail HSF's, however I leave the case cover off and cool air blows directly over everything that matters at a low flow rate so static is not an issue. Noel

My rig renders FSX so well that I'll probably never have to upgrade again. Yeah, I might be flying on this rig for as long as it boots up. My puter may not be the "FSX silver bullet", but I think it's pretty damn close.

My rig renders FSX so well that I'll probably never have to upgrade again. Yeah, I might be flying on this rig for as long as it boots up. My puter may not be the "FSX silver bullet", but I think it's pretty damn close.

My SB system will maintain my FSX needs for atleast 3 more years. Of course that is if I slap in an Ivy Bridge :Big Grin:

Edited January 19, 201214 yr by benorg

Thank you for your replies. I think I will try and get more out of my current system and wait another year.