I currently run an older model i7 oc'ed to 4.4ghz and a GTX580 w/ 1.5gb vram

 

What is the best option to get better performance if you had to choose one?

 

1. New i7 overclocked to 5ghz

 

2. GTX680 w/ 4gb vram

 

Thanks

The new I7 (I only wish I could get one myself!!)

Hello,

 

Well if I was making the choice I would wait just a little bit longer. Intel will be releasing a new and more powerful chip called "Haswell" maybe as soon as this summer. In addition, Nvidia is preparing the release of its newest card called "Titan". I would think both of these options will drive prices down on current products.

 

Truth be told its never easy to wait so if I had to pick up one or the others. I think your money would be best spent on the G680 card. This is something that you can use in a new build down the road. Best of luck and I am sure some others will add their thoughts...

 

I would try the hardware forum, there are some very talented people over there...

 

Take care....

I upgraded my video card some time ago, and saw almost no improvement. It is my understanding that FSX performance is all about the computer processor chip, not the video card.

Jim

Assuming you run normal resolution and anti-aliasing settings, the CPU for sure will help more. I too would wait for Haswell, you will most likely not be happy with the small fps gain of a faster i7 cpu.

I m running the same setup as you and its absolutely flawless. I wouldn't change a thing despite new hardware releases that "supposedly/maybe" will achieve a frame or two more performance. If I truly believed they would increase performance or quality, I would buy them right now but I don't. Now if I wanted 3 monitors in surrond sound I would upgrade to a 680 but I only want two monitors. So, I spend my money on addons.

 

In fact when I heard they were discontinuing the Sandy Bridge, I purchased two spare 2700K's and are setting in the boxes so if the 2600K fails I have a replacement. No need to "POP the top" to cool them.

I can take a 2700k off your hands

If framerates are good in cruise and everywhere but big cities and with large cloud cover, it would seem to me as if the video card being upgraded would be the best option? This is the problem I am running into. I want to run 8sq and 4x sgss with 20-30 fps. Will a GTX680 let me do this?

Fsx is more CPU dependant, saying that, the increase with the CPU you talk about will probably be less than you are expecting, plus the hassle of doing it and making sure its stable. If your frames are already reasonable, then the new card should allow you to run a higher res and higher aa and af etc. it will probably benefit you in other games too. Something to think about.....

I think Hellfire is right. A better video card may allow better resolution and more filtering of the image. Your CPU is already running at 4.4 GHz, that's considered something of a sweet spot for FSX performance. How fast is your RAM running and at what latencies is it running? FSX performance is a balancing act. By the way, what sort of performance issues are you experiencing?

I think the only places you'll see improvements with a new GPU is clouds and Texture sizes, in theory, the bigger the card and memory, the more it should handle in that regards, texturing clouds is a life sucker. Also Bloom if you use that too.

I made a similar upgrade myself last summer, from an overclocked i7 950 (I think it was running around 4.0ghz) and upgraded to an i5 3570k @ 4.6ghz. The framerate difference was enormous.

OP - you said older model i7. What exactly is that model? And what RAM and mobo do you have?

 

I am sure the CPU would be the better choice of the two (keeping in mind the new CPU coming out mentioned above). FSX is CPU dependent and that's where my bottleneck is - my 570 is handling everything nicely.

My i7 975x is formidable but is left in the dust by the latest chips. I am not ready to jump to anything else for a while. I am going to invest in new RAM next so that's why I'm asking about your RAM, to see what it takes to OC to 4.4GHz. I know my chip and mobo can handle it, but my current RAM can't.

I made a similar upgrade myself last summer, from an overclocked i7 950 (I think it was running around 4.0ghz) and upgraded to an i5 3570k @ 4.6ghz. The framerate difference was enormous.

 

How much enormous difference did you expirience? I have a i7 950 OC 4Ghz and been thinking about an upgrade but wasn't sure how much I would gain and if it's worth it.

I've gone from an i7-960GTX480 to an i7-3960xGTX680 and without OC'd it runs at around 2.5-3GHz all the time and doesn't even break into a sweat when running FSX maxed out, fans don't even fuss. I'd say it's a good 1.5 x the performance of the older system. The IntelRaid10 4x2Tb disks loads FSX fresh from boot-up in around 30 seconds.

 

Before I get flamed for wasting money it's a dev system supplied for other reasons. ^_^