About to settle and buy, but need an FSX expert

[SteveW 1,792]

he will ignore all of it

 

Hey no need for such harsh tones!

We'll all come round and see how well you do your laundry - find out if you ignored your mum.

:)

[HyperionXL 0]

If you want to save money, buy used parts except for the CPU. Make sure the parts all still have valid warranties. That should save you 20 - 50% on each part and if something breaks you'll still be okay.

 

Memory doesn't increase performance, at least not significantly. I've gone from 1600 ghz to 2133 ghz and have seen litle to no difference in fsx. Go with 1600 ghz timings and you'll be good.

 

Your CPU overclock will make a difference, the best chips for overclocks are the 2500k/2600k due to their ability to handle a larger heatload compared to the 3xxx chips. I've got my 2600k stable at 1.5v, 5 ghz. Some people would say thats high, but intel says its within their limits and its been run like this for nearly a year now. The 2500k can get similar results.

 

Used 480s are going for cheap. See if you can find one if you can't find a used 570/560 for cheap. Make sure its an nvidia gpu. ATIs crawl/lag when it sees clouds. My ati GPU couldn't handle flying through stormy weather in a desert with 0 autogen and half cloud density sliders. It also couldn't manage vsync.

 

Don't go cheap on a PSU. If your PSU falls apart or is rated too low, it won't be able to fuel a stable overclock.

 

Manage your sliders, set traffic low, and you'll be fine with a lower spec'd PC. You don't need the best PC in the world if you are okay with lowered settings and lower resolutions. Don't let the nay-sayers discourage you.

[6FingerSays 99]

If you want to save money, buy used parts except for the CPU. Make sure the parts all still have valid warranties. That should save you 20 - 50% on each part and if something breaks you'll still be okay.

 

Memory doesn't increase performance, at least not significantly. I've gone from 1600 ghz to 2133 ghz and have seen litle to no difference in fsx. Go with 1600 ghz timings and you'll be good.

 

Your CPU overclock will make a difference, the best chips for overclocks are the 2500k/2600k due to their ability to handle a larger heatload compared to the 3xxx chips. I've got my 2600k stable at 1.5v, 5 ghz. Some people would say thats high, but intel says its within their limits and its been run like this for nearly a year now. The 2500k can get similar results.

 

Used 480s are going for cheap. See if you can find one if you can't find a used 570/560 for cheap. Make sure its an nvidia gpu. ATIs crawl/lag when it sees clouds. My ati GPU couldn't handle flying through stormy weather in a desert with 0 autogen and half cloud density sliders. It also couldn't manage vsync.

 

Don't go cheap on a PSU. If your PSU falls apart or is rated too low, it won't be able to fuel a stable overclock.

 

Manage your sliders, set traffic low, and you'll be fine with a lower spec'd PC. You don't need the best PC in the world if you are okay with lowered settings and lower resolutions. Don't let the nay-sayers discourage you.

 

I will check out used parts and let yalls know!

[TechguyMaxC 516]

RAM speed does matter with Ivy Bridge, more than previous chips anyway. Don't expect your FPS to double, but if you do before and after measurements with FSXMark you can see something like a 10% difference. I did. For $100 or so I would say that's worthwhile.

[westman 257]

RAM speed does matter with Ivy Bridge, more than previous chips anyway. Don't expect your FPS to double, but if you do before and after measurements with FSXMark you can see something like a 10% difference. I did. For $100 or so I would say that's worthwhile.

 

Agree 100% in most cases its better to uppgrade rams , before 580 to 680 the

The rams do more fps to lower cost .

That folks missed is that in FSX you are up to 80% of à flight CPU limited.

If you run FSX wiith low or moderate overclocking IB @4.7 SB @5 its no diff in fps with 670 to 680.

 

Hyperion XL please run à GPU Mark with the 690 , would be great to see hos much faster

This card is to 680, i thinking to uppgrade but not sure want some results before Buy.

 

Kind Regards / Hasse

[dazz 69]

RAM speed does matter with Ivy Bridge, more than previous chips anyway

 

Where does this notion come from? IB scales the same with RAM speed, the same as SB and Nehalem. Yes, you can run faster RAM with IB, if that's what you mean

[HyperionXL 0]

The 680 would be faster most likely, but probably not by much. Not sure if it implements the use of SLi or going without it would be better. Going to do a couple flights. Not going to test it, but I use the 690 for other games where it really shines.

 

Not going to run FSXMark11 because it would take days just to set it up. It has provided no significant boost over my previous 580 except one more bump in AA which is hardly noticeable anyways, really.

[SAAB340 28]

The 680 would be faster most likely, but probably not by much. Not sure if it implements the use of SLi or going without it would be better. Going to do a couple flights. Not going to test it, but I use the 690 for other games where it really shines.

 

Not going to run FSXMark11 because it would take days just to set it up. It has provided no significant boost over my previous 580 except one more bump in AA which is hardly noticeable anyways, really.

It would be nice to see the 690 in GPUmark that has been designed by Dario. It is not FSXmark11 and it does not require a clean install. It is a benchmark that is a scenario that is fully GPU shader limited with a 680.

 

It would also be nice if you guys could try out my purposed FSXmarkCPU. It is a 100% CPU limited scenario and it should be able to tell how much the different cache sizes between a i5 and i7 does. It would also be good to se a AMD cpu in that benchmark as well so people could see how much slower AMDs architecture is clock for clock. It doesn't require a fresh install either.

 

To the OP,

The 2500K is the CPU that will give you most bang for the buck if you are on a tight budget. Remember that you can get FSX to work ok on old hardware as well when you lower the sliders and accept you'll have to use lower settings. But any AMD system will not yield you good bang for the buck and should be avoided for FSX. They can be good bang for the buck in other games however, but not in FSX.

 

How poor AntiAliasing are you willing to accept? The 550ti will give you acceptable performance at in game AA and possible 8xSS AA levels. But don't expect to use any SGSS AA. I can only agree that the 560 should be seen as the best bang for the buck if you are on a budget. But faster cards enables higher AA settings. Especially with clouds.

 

RAM has a small impact. But as you are on a tight budget you can't afford the price premium fast RAM adds. There is not much, if any, difference in price between 1600mhz RAM and anything slower. So get atleast that. Can you find faster RAM for a similar price, buy that. But don't by any expensive kit. 8GB is more than enough. Even 4GB would be enough. But given the price of RAM you won't save many bucks by going 4GB.

 

As for the HDD. Whatever you do, don't buy a 5400rpm for FSX. With regular HDDs you're best off having a separate drive for FSX, but as you are on a tight budget you'll have to make due with a single 7200rpm drive.

[westman 257]

Where does this notion come from? IB scales the same with RAM speed, the same as SB and Nehalem. Yes, you can run faster RAM with IB, if that's what you mean

 

CPU read write copy Latency

 

SB 2700K @5.37 25 26 27 34.9

IB 3770K @5.15 25 26 27 30.9

 

Same MoBo , Same mem, memspeed and timings if down clock the 2700 to 5.1 evry ting go down.

 

test AIDA 64 mem cach

 

Kind regards Hasse

[dazz 69]

CPU read write copy Latency

 

SB 2700K @5.37 25 26 27 34.9

IB 3770K @5.15 25 26 27 30.9

 

Same MoBo , Same mem, memspeed and timings if down clock the 2700 to 5.1 evry ting go down.

 

test AIDA 64 mem cach

 

Kind regards Hasse

 

Honestly, I'm not sure what to make of that Hasse.

All I know is that the FSmark11 results show IB scaling pretty much the same with RAM speed.

Something like a 2-3% every 300MHz maybe

 

So in practice if IB tops at 2800MHz and SB at 2133, that's like a 6% maybe, or something like that.

 

IB is the same architecture. The IMC is obviously improved since it takes more Hz, but scaling remains the same as it's always been like, even through different architectures

[westman 257]

Ok scaling is one thing to gain max performance a differnt thing.

For example overclock a SB and IB they scale very close as Dazz pointed.

 

3.9 to 5.0 aproox 1.4% 0.1 ghz +11%

1600 to 2133 approx 1% 100mhz +5%

1600 t0 2666 " 1% " +10%

and approx 1% + or - on cl unit

 

2133 to 2666 +5% thats over 0.3ghz or 4.7-5.0ghz without higher temps.

i would say that mems ar important for performance.

 

And IB SB , 5-6% + IB on mems, SB +4% on CPU clock differens ALL OUT approx 2% faster is IB with watercooling.

 

Playing with CPU and memory voltages can be 1-2%

All % is in FSMark 11

[DShimoda 0]

One question tho. How does Jon5700 run FSX so good with a q6600 @ 2.4 ghz and a GTX 470!?????????

 

Because the videos he make are edited, and NOT a true representation of how he see performance on his own screen, very, very far from it!

 

Go with Intel and Nvidia as the pro´s here advise you.

[dazz 69]

Ok scaling is one thing to gain max performance a differnt thing.

For example overclock a SB and IB they scale very close.

 

3.9 to 5.0 aproox 1.4% 0.1 ghz +11%

1600 to 2133 approx 1% 100mhz +5%

1600 t0 2666 " 1% " +10%

and approx 1% + or - on cl unit

 

2133 to 2666 +5% thats over 0.3ghz or 4.7-5.0ghz without higher temps.

i would say that mems ar important for performance.

 

And IB SB , 5-6% + IB on mems, SB +4% on CPU clock differens ALL OUT approx 2% faster IB.

 

Then we have cooling its so much parameters.

 

That's in line with every test I've done and seen, 1% every 100MHz.

I'm not saying memory is not important. That's subjective and depends on prices too.

I agree that if you're on the market now, spending 30 - 50 extra dollars/euros for 2133 Ram for SB or 2400 for IB is probably more than worth that 5-10% boost over 1600mhz kits

 

It's just that somehow the same misconceptions come back like a tide over and over again.

Things like "memory makes a *huge* difference".

"There's your problem, you're just running 1600 CL9 RAM, get some CL7 sticks"

[westman 257]

<br />It's just that somehow the same misconceptions come back like a tide over and over again.<br />Things like "memory makes a *huge* difference".<br />"There's your problem, you're just running 1600 CL9 RAM, get some CL7 sticks" :facepalm: <br />

 

Agree Man

 

[TechguyMaxC 516]

I don't recall saying RAM speed makes a huge difference, sorry if it came off that way. I just mean that it provides a measurable difference and adds minimal expense and makes sense.