Running i7 950 @ 3.4 with 6gig 1333 RAM and GTX 470. I have clocked at 3.8 but left at 3.4.

 

Should I upgrade RAM to 1600 to hit 4ghz as 1333 is at limits when at 3.8ghz. Cost of RAM is £30 + postage.

 

-or-

 

Should I upgrade Mobo/CPU/RAM to i5 2500K? Cost approx £380. Or even i7 2700k? If performance is worth it.

 

Would the cost be worth it or should I just OC the 950 and wait for a while. If the performance improvement will only be slight then I am not forking out nearly £400.

 

This is purely for FSX as I have several previous PC builds for my games etc.

 

Should I upgrade Mobo/CPU/RAM to i5 2500K? Cost approx £380. Or even i7 2700k? If performance is worth it.

 

Would the cost be worth it or should I just OC the 950 and wait for a while. If the performance improvement will only be slight then I am not forking out nearly £400.

 

This is purely for FSX as I have several previous PC builds for my games etc.

 

I'd go for the SB setup. From your current setup, an Intel Core i7 2700K running @ 4.8GHZ will give you approx. a 40-50% jump in FPS.

Thanks Ben

 

I'm looking at something like the below but not sure about the Mobo.

 

You think the 2700K is worth the extra £70 over the i5-2500K?

 

Intel Core i7-2700K 3.50GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail

ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3 Intel Z68 (REV B3) Socket 1155 DDR3 PCI-Express Motherboard

2x 4GB Mushkin Enhanced Redline Ridgeback #992057 (1x4GB) 1600 (PC3-12800) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM CAS 7-7-7-24 1.65

 

 

You think the 2700K is worth the extra £70 over the i5-2500K?

 

If you plan to really push your CPU, then get the 2700K. Also, the 2700K will give you lower Vcore @ high voltage due to the binning.

Definitely SB. It's a huge jump over first gen i7, even when OCed.

 

You think the 2700K is worth the extra £70 over the i5-2500K?

 

Yes, if you plan to drive it up. Need decent cooling only.

 

RAM is OK.

 

Why not Z77 motherboard?

Why not get some decent cooling and clock that 950 up to at least 4.0 to 4.2? You can do that for under $100 and get 20 to 30 FPS easy.

JMHO.

Why not get some decent cooling and clock that 950 up to at least 4.0 to 4.2? You can do that for under $100 and get 20 to 30 FPS easy.

JMHO.

That is what I thought of doing as I already have cooler and can sit at 3.8ghz. I want to get above 4 which is why I was looking at increasing RAM from 1333 to 1600. I can get this for £30 vs £440 for an i7 2700K upgrade though I can sell my existing Mobo/RAM/CPU and offset the 2700K upgrade costs.

Why not Z77 motherboard?

 

They haven't been tested long enough and who knows what kind of bugs will show up with the chipset? I'd recommend he stay with the P8Z68 board.

Why not get some decent cooling and clock that 950 up to at least 4.0 to 4.2?

 

Because the performance boost is minimal compared to SB. It's a waste of money on a long run.

That is what I thought of doing as I already have cooler and can sit at 3.8ghz. I want to get above 4 which is why I was looking at increasing RAM from 1333 to 1600. I can get this for £30 vs £440 for an i7 2700K upgrade though I can sell my existing Mobo/RAM/CPU and offset the 2700K upgrade costs.

 

Have you tried loosening the timings to see if those sticks do 1600MHz?

You should not upgrade to Sandy, you should upgrade to Haswell.

You should not upgrade to Sandy, you should upgrade to Haswell.

 

Seriously? That is a total waste of time and seeing how Intel handled IB, SB might be our last hope for extreme overclocking.

We don't know that yet. SB is the right decision now.

We don't know that yet. SB is the right decision now.

 

Exactly. Maybe they'll fix the problem.

Exactly. Maybe they'll fix the problem.

 

Ehhh... I doubt it. Intel is moving to a more consumer based product line. Mult-icore is the way of the future not high clock-speed. This is already apparent in many of today's handheld devices.