I think you'll be happy with the 2500k over your current i3. Having 4 physical cores rather than 2 physical hyperthreaded cores will make a difference, as will the increased clock speed, so both combined will definately have a positive effect.

 

I really wouldn't mourn over not having an i7 processor - for FSX they are totally wasted - people usually end up turning them back into i5 processors by disabling hyperthreading in one way or another.

Thanks for your advice, PieEater. I found YouTube videos made by people with i5's and some look really, really great. I hope I can achieve good performance.

 

I've been using various flight sims for many years and I'm used to lag and stutter all the time. If this CPU (and eventual overclock) can change this, I shall be very happy. Some online stores offer the i5 3570k for only a few dollars more, but it seems like FSX enjoys high clock speeds, so I think the Sandy Bridge is the way to go.

 

I will probably order it soon.

Definitely the CPU - that's the biggest factor in FSX's performance. Get the 2500K with a good cooler, OC it up to 4.5+ and you'll see a major difference even without any other changes.

Hello,

 

Would you advise à Sandy bridge I5 or an Ivy bridge one for FSX?

Which one will overclock the easiest and perform the best?

 

Best regards

 

Pierre Laine

Pochi,

It would look like the Sandy Bridge overclocks better because it runs cooler. However, it's supposed to be a better performer at clock speed... I think the difference between the two is marginal with FSX.

 

One last question for everyone..

I've been looking online a lot, and all CPU upgrade guides talk about the hardware part. The explain how to open the case, blah blah.. I already know that. I'm just thinking, there isn't anything to do software-wise? You can just stick a new i5 2500k to replace the i3 and everything is okay? (Providing I have the latest motherboard BIOS update).

 

By the way, is a Windows reinstall required? And is it going to be required again when I change my motherboard in a few months?

 

Thank you,

Alright I've made my decision!

 

My shiny i5 2500k will be here on Tuesday. I'll be running off clock speeds for now, but even that should really help my framerate. Will OC within the next 2 months hopefully, when I get a new mobo.

 

Thanks again for all your advice! It was really hard choosing between the i5 2500k & the 3570k, but I think I'll prefer a very high OC. Whatever, I know it's going to beat my Pentium IV I've been using for 6 years.

Assuming your motherboard is the one you have listed in your PC specs then the 2500k should just drop straight in and work without any issues. If it were me I would clear CMOS after installing the new chip and before booting for the first time forcing BIOS to re-initialise around the new CPU. I don't know if you have an aftermarket cooler for your i3, if so you'll need to clean it up and apply some new paste before re-using for the i5, so you may want to look at ordering some TIM Cleaner and paste with the i5 if you don't already have any (Gelid GC-Extreme is excellent for the price). If you don't have an aftermarket cooler the stock Intel cooler that comes with the i5 isn't very good so if you're planning on fitting it expect high (but OK-ish) temps, you'll want to replace it once you have your new motherboard and start looking at overclocking.

 

I think you will probably be able to get away without re-installing Windows with your new motherboard, there will likely be new hardware that will require device drivers but Windows & Windows Update will take care of most of that and the driver CD will take care of anything else. Saying that if it were me I would re-install windows etc, to eliminate any chance of driver conflicts between the existing drivers from the old board and the new drivers for the new board, but you may find it works fine without a rebuild in which case you may decide not to bother, I'd keep on eye on the event logs for the first few days though.

Would you advise à Sandy bridge I5 or an Ivy bridge one for FSX?

Which one will overclock the easiest and perform the best?

 

Sandy Bridge can overclock higher ~4.8 vs ~4.6

 

Ivy Bridge performs better at the same clock speeds by ~10%

 

Assuming you will overclock there will be very little difference so it is personal choice, the OP made the same choice as I did to go with the Sandy Bridge for the higher acheiveable clock speed, but if I were to make the same choice again I'm not sure which I would pick.

 

The one proviso is that if you are brave enough to consider de-lidding an Ivy Bridge you can eliminate the inherant thermal problems which prevent the chip from overclocking as high thus getting the best possible performance.

I would change my Radeon 6990 to some good Nvidia, or alternatively I would change my motherboard to something else than this ASUS rubbish, don't know which one is causing all these jagged edges in nearly all games, only thing that seems to help is setting full anti aliasing from catalyst control center and that makes most games to have unplayable FPS.

Assuming your motherboard is the one you have listed in your PC specs then the 2500k should just drop straight in and work without any issues. If it were me I would clear CMOS after installing the new chip and before booting for the first time forcing BIOS to re-initialise around the new CPU. I don't know if you have an aftermarket cooler for your i3, if so you'll need to clean it up and apply some new paste before re-using for the i5, so you may want to look at ordering some TIM Cleaner and paste with the i5 if you don't already have any (Gelid GC-Extreme is excellent for the price). If you don't have an aftermarket cooler the stock Intel cooler that comes with the i5 isn't very good so if you're planning on fitting it expect high (but OK-ish) temps, you'll want to replace it once you have your new motherboard and start looking at overclocking.

 

I think you will probably be able to get away without re-installing Windows with your new motherboard, there will likely be new hardware that will require device drivers but Windows & Windows Update will take care of most of that and the driver CD will take care of anything else. Saying that if it were me I would re-install windows etc, to eliminate any chance of driver conflicts between the existing drivers from the old board and the new drivers for the new board, but you may find it works fine without a rebuild in which case you may decide not to bother, I'd keep on eye on the event logs for the first few days though.

 

Excellent post! Yes, I have the motherboard in my specs. I checked online and it does support the CPU, in fact it also supports the Ivy Bridge, so it surely supports Sandy. For now, I don't have an aftermarket cooler so I will use the stock one, even if it's bad. But all this will change in a few months when I upgrade to my OCable system.. Basically a new board, aftermarket cooler, thermal paste and possibly an extra 4GB of RAM. I surely won't be overclocking with Intel's stock cooler!

 

For the CPU upgrade I won't re-install, but for the mobo I might.. do you think it worth re-installing FSX in any case or will just a clean fsx.cfg do the job?

 

Thanks again, that's great advice!

do you think it worth re-installing FSX in any case or will just a clean fsx.cfg do the job?

 

 

A fresh FSX install would probably be advisable after your new motherboard install - thinking about it if you use onboard sound then your sound hardware will most likely be different and I assume (but dont know for sure) that FSX configures itself around current hardware during installation.

 

Having said that any reasons you might have for considering re-installing FSX would be the exact same reasons for re-installing Windows, i.e. you want to make sure your system is performing at it's best based on the fact that you've had a hardware change. Considering that Windows is your link between the software and the hardware, re-installing Windows would be more likely to iron out any post hardware upgrade issues than just re-installing FSX. A fresh install of windows is going to give you optimised system performance, eliminate any malware that you may have inherited, give you an opportunity to do some housekeeping (do I really need that software?) and help to make sure all your software is up to date by making you download the latest versions / patches. Re-installing FSX alone will ensure FSX is performing optimally within the constraints of your existing Windows installation but it's not going to address any overall system performance issues you may already have or that you may inadvertantly introduce with your new motherboard install through driver conflicts etc. A full system re-install might be a PITA and I can understand why some people don't want to do it, but it's something that I generally do once a year to ensure optimal system performance. To make it easy I have my user profiles & data on a seperate disk so once I've re-installed windows I can just re-link to my profiles then re-install the software that I need, it generally takes me about half a day.

 

PieEater:

Thanks once again for your great post! I'm sure I'll use it as a reference when I do finally upgrade my configuration. One last questionI have my disk partionned into 2 parts, one is used for Windows (+ a few programs), the other is used for FSX and bigger apps. If I reinstall Windows, I can't just run the apps on the other partition again, right? I must uninstall and reinstall everything?

 

I just got my i5 2500k in the mail today! What a big difference, and it's just running at stock speeds! Now the 100$ question... Although my performance is now "great", it isn't "really mega-great". Is it really worth spending around 100$ for a unlocked mobo + around 50$ for a good cooler, just to get to 4.5Ghz? Is there really a big difference between 3.3-3.6Ghz (Turbo) & 4.5?

 

Thanks to everyone!

Huge, Phil, but if you have to make a choice over cooling - a Corsair Hydro series system is quiet, very efficient, and trouble-free, while taking up minimal space in the box - and for just about the same cost! You will then have the option to move the clock higher as and when you want!

 

All the best,

Hi Paul,

Thanks, I'll look into it, if it helps performance that much. I tried prime95 for a few minutes with my stock cooler, and stock settings (turbo mode IS enabled). Is 70C normal? I feel it's high, but apparently the stock cooler sucks, and prime95 is a very big load.

 

I get around 50-53C or so while flight simming. I hope I have a good chip! Here's a screenshot with the temps and all.

 

 

I have my disk partionned into 2 parts, one is used for Windows (+ a few programs), the other is used for FSX and bigger apps. If I reinstall Windows, I can't just run the apps on the other partition again, right? I must uninstall and reinstall everything?

 

Is it really worth spending around 100$ for a unlocked mobo + around 50$ for a good cooler, just to get to 4.5Ghz? Is there really a big difference between 3.3-3.6Ghz (Turbo) & 4.5?

 

Most software will install some files within the user profiles and the main Windows working directories which you will loose when you re-install Windows. So it’s really unlikely that the programs on your second partition will work properly (though not impossible), but I would count on having to reinstall them again.

 

You will notice a big difference between 3.6 and 4.5Ghz (4.8Ghz should be achievable) and if you're planning on keeping your 2500k for the foreseeable future then a proper motherboard and cooler would definitely be advisable. However if this is just a temporary fix until you can afford an entire new rig bare in mind that the next generation of Intel Chips (Haswell) that are coming soon will require a totally different motherboard (1150) making a purchase of a soon to be redundant board questionable.