Hello All,

 

I am currently running an i7 920 (2.6Ghz) overclocked to 4.0 Ghz and an EVGA GTX 285 FTW Graphics adapter. It runs well in the air but the Aerosoft airports with Ultimate Traffic 2 and Active Sky 2012 choke her back to around 10 fps. I am about to upgrade to an i7 2700K or 3770K overclocked to 4.8-5.0 Ghz and a GTX 680 2GB. Can anybody please estimate the perfomance gain this will give me? Is it worth the $1200 Australian?

 

Secondly, the more I read regarding Sandy Bridge V Ivy Bridge, the more confused I get. So many posts seem to refute and contradict each other. Does the Ivy B really overheat at 4.8-5.0 GHz? Has anybody out there successfully overclocked the Ivy B to these speeds without overheating?

 

Finally, my current RAM is the Mushkin Redline DDR3-1600 6-7-6-18. When I built my current system 3 years ago this was the ants-pants of RAM. Is there any need to upgrade this RAM?

 

Thanks,

 

Steve.

Does the Ivy B really overheat at 4.8-5.0 GHz? Has anybody out there successfully overclocked the Ivy B to these speeds without overheating?

 

Yes it would Over heat at that OC.... unless you do extreme overclocking by cracking open the IB CPU.

 

But you can OC to 4.5 Ghz without overheating issue (at around 1.26v) that would be the equivalent of Sandy Bridge at 4.7-4.8.

 

So yeah.. I see some folks are using the ASRock z77 MB or the ASUS P8z77-V sub $200 MB and the i5-3750K CPU for around $230.

 

And you should be able to keep the memory that you have..otherwise for around $80 you can get the 2 X 4 GSkill Tirdent 2400 memory

 

So for around $400-$500 you can upgrade your system to get very good FPS on your FSX

 

Manny

Hello All,

I am currently running an i7 920 (2.6Ghz) overclocked to 4.0 Ghz and an EVGA GTX 285 FTW Graphics adapter. It runs well in the air but the Aerosoft airports with Ultimate Traffic 2 and Active Sky 2012 choke her back to around 10 fps.

 

Boy oh boy, this seems odd to me. You've already got a bunch more horsepower than do I, and yet I just took off from FSDT's KJAC, using ORBX CRM in the QW757, all sliders (except autogen which was at Dense) hard right, using Essentials weather and am sitting there watching GSX people milling about the 6 or so aircraft parked nearby, and FPS is at 30 locked. Perfect smoothness and visual quality. Now I understand I'm in the QW757 which is a bit easier to handle over the NGX, but still. Is your machine not set up well, do you have 3 screens you're running? I'm at 1920x1200 using some stiff AF/AA settings on a slightly weaker GPU (I assume). I cope w/ less than perfect performance by tailoring the aircraft to the scenario, so in this regard I have to be mindful not to bite off more than my similarly dated machine can handle. But this is not enough to get me to upgrade...yet! I'm hanging on til Haswell, which intel appears to be allowing the TDP to go up hopefully to cope w/ better clock speeds, though this is not quite confirmed yet.

 

Noel

Temps have nothing to do with the overclock you put on them. It's the volts that heat everything up. So if you get a great chip that overclocks with a low voltage you'll be fine on temps, but that'd be more like a 1:10/20 shot. Some people say if you de-lid the CPU and reapply some nice thermal paste you can lower temps on the Ivy Bridge chips, its real hit or miss, though. Your best option is watercooling, or an H100 with a quad fan push-pull setup on the radiator (I'm cooling my radiator with 4 corsair high performance high CFM fans).

 

Also not sure if a 5ghz clock on a S bridge vs. a 5ghz on an i bridge will show a major difference. If someone can send me proof I'd like to see that, as it would persuade me to buy one as well. If it isn't giving you better performance, than a 2xxxk cpu would do fine with more supported mobos and options for you to choose from.

 

RAM, not super important, atleast not as much as people think it is. 6 - 8gb of any high performance ram over 1600ghz really won't make a difference in fps. Maybe in stutters though. Hard to say.

 

Some people say you would be better going off with the 580. I went from the 580 to the 690 and found no real difference in FPS. I think I should be able to bump up.

A GTX680 4GB FTW edition might be your best option because of the additional v ram. The 680 only has 2gb. The 580 has 3gb.

Can anybody please estimate the perfomance gain this will give me?

about a 40%

Finally, my current RAM is the Mushkin Redline DDR3-1600 6-7-6-18. When I built my current system 3 years ago this was the ants-pants of RAM. Is there any need to upgrade this RAM?

You can use that RAM no problem. But you would have 2GB in single channel. No big deal really, but another option is to get that 2400Mhz kit Manny mentioned for some $100 and another 5-10% perf boost

 

Boy oh boy, this seems odd to me. You've already got a bunch more horsepower than do I, and yet I just took off from FSDT's KJAC, using ORBX CRM in the QW757, all sliders (except autogen which was at Dense) hard right, using Essentials weather and am sitting there watching GSX people milling about the 6 or so aircraft parked nearby, and FPS is at 30 locked. Perfect smoothness and visual quality. Now I understand I'm in the QW757 which is a bit easier to handle over the NGX, but still. Is your machine not set up well, do you have 3 screens you're running? I'm at 1920x1200 using some stiff AF/AA settings on a slightly weaker GPU (I assume). I cope w/ less than perfect performance by tailoring the aircraft to the scenario, so in this regard I have to be mindful not to bite off more than my similarly dated machine can handle. But this is not enough to get me to upgrade...yet! I'm hanging on til Haswell, which intel appears to be allowing the TDP to go up hopefully to cope w/ better clock speeds, though this is not quite confirmed yet.

 

Noel

 

Oh no, these sorts of posts ruin my social life. Ive tweaked my config file every which way, run the specs shown in my profile and still dont get 30fps locked in all areas with add-on planes, only in the defaults. Seattle, for instance, absolutely kills my frames. I feel a tweaking session coming on....

 

Sent from my HTC One S using Tapatalk 2

Oh no, these sorts of posts ruin my social life. Ive tweaked my config file every which way, run the specs shown in my profile and still dont get 30fps locked in all areas with add-on planes, only in the defaults. Seattle, for instance, absolutely kills my frames. I feel a tweaking session coming on....

 

Sent from my HTC One S using Tapatalk 2

 

I don't think there is much in the way of magic here. I do have to be mindful to avoid places like Seattle when I'm flying add ons beyond the Turbine Duke & Super MD80 Pro. It's the price I'm paying for NOT upgrading since about 3.5y ago. I bought the lovely FSDT Hawaiian airports, and so here I can have lovely flights in the NGX w/ great frames & smoothness by avoiding all of the scenery the oceans take up. Coming in to KLAS in the QW757 caused my machine to choke a little for sure, but frames stayed up in the 22-24 range the entire way in. I think because I'm running buffer pools=0 this can happen, but when it's not stressed it's a good thing all around I believe.

 

If you just look at raw CPU power (measured by different indicators), you have to wonder just what sort of raw gains you'll get when applied to FSX. If you go research CPU charts on Tom's I come away believing a new SB/IB will give me around 60+% more CPU horsepower over my old Yorkie depending on the benchmark you're using. That's a lot! But I've never noticed true proportional scaling when it comes to FSX. So let's say I have a 100% increase in raw CPU power moving up to IB/SB. This might get me 60-70% increase in FSX performance, provided the rest of my components don't get in the way. Here's where it gets dicey: I load up the NGX at KSEA/PNW ORBX in my current rig. I'm struggling along at a whopping 12FPS, right? Sure--it's why I don't go there in that plane! So, 12x1.6 = 19.2 Well, that's not too bad, but it ain't great either. I'd rather jump west by about 2100nm and take off from PHKO towards PHLI and enjoy 25FPS on 3.5y old hardware--for now! As I say, I'm holding out for Haswell in the hopes there might be another 30% over IB systems, but that of course remains to be seen. Or, alternatively, if my current platform dies before Haswell, I'll have to upgrade then.

 

I've always argued FSX is not always 'cpu bound' like the conventional wisdom over oversimplistically states, but is really relative to the sorts of demands you have on it and the components in your specific rig. Put a really weak GPU in your IB system, and see how things go then on your high end large screen high res panel(s). Oops, your FSX rig is now 'GPU bound'.

Also not sure if a 5ghz clock on a S bridge vs. a 5ghz on an i bridge will show a major difference. If someone can send me proof I'd like to see that, as it would persuade me to buy one as well. If it isn't giving you better performance, than a 2xxxk cpu would do fine with more supported mobos and options for you to choose from.

 

RAM, not super important, atleast not as much as people think it is. 6 - 8gb of any high performance ram over 1600ghz really won't make a difference in fps. Maybe in stutters though. Hard to say.

 

The dif is 250mhz a have test it on same Mobo , IB @4.8 is slightly faster than SB @5 .

 

Ram is important, in fsmark11 1.5-2 fps from fast 1600 cl7 to 2133 cl9.

 

Kind Regards / Hasse

 

The dif is 250mhz a have test it on same Mobo , IB @4.8 is slightly faster than SB @5 .

 

Ram is important, in fsmark11 1.5-2 fps from fast 1600 cl7 to 2133 cl9.

 

Kind Regards / Hasse

 

Listen to Hasse. He has both Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge and has tested both extensively. Much of the other commentary in this thread is opinion and simply not accurate. Ivy Bridge with fast RAM is faster than Sandy in FSX, and that's fact.

While all you guys in the know are coming to this post, I won't start another one. I just starting buying the pieces for a new PC last night. I got the 8 GB fast memory on the way. I need to decide on a specific PSU and Case. I am looking at the

PC Power and Cooling Silencer MkII 750W and the

Cooler Master GX 750 ATX

 

I have seen where some prefer the Corsair . .

 

Would someone recommend a specific PSU or tell me which ones to avoid (and why)?

 

I see some are modular, semi-modular, single rail. Is this something that is crucial?

 

About the Case . . .

 

The case prices seem to be all over the place. Anyone like the Corsair Carbide 500R? any others I should be looking at?

I would like to lock in a specific model or two and watch the prices for a good sale.

 

Thanks.

 

Ray