Occaisionally all 4 cores jump to 100% usage while the video card usage remains around 20%. No problems are caused when this happens but I am curious about rumors. Is there any substantiated info that P3D (next ver) will have some load transferred to the video card? Are there any LM comments? Do not need references just looking to see if I need a new CPU or if I need to overclock it. Gets hot in the summer if overclocked. Need water cooler then.

 

i5 2500 3.3ghz   16mb memory   nVidia GTX 550 1gb memory

 

try using the Bufferpools=0 tweak, but you must balance a few things as well before using it.

 

I am using it, and my GPU load goes up to 75% in heavy weather and heavy scenery. My sim is very smooth now.

You need a "K" version CPU with an unlocked multiplier to overclock. You don't have to get a water cooler for a moderate overclock. Good aftermarket air coolers are perfectly capable. The i5 2500K is known to overclock very well. Regards

Fortunately, I have the K version and it does overclock to 4ghz. Never tried beyond that. However, in the summer the upstailrs bedroom I use is ok for humans but when the PC acts like a heat pump the winter overclock goes away. I need to pull the big Zalman copper sink and blow out dust and re-lay a skim of heat grease. Then possibly a water cooler if no joy. I get nervous at the 75C point.

 

I was just curious if P3D 2 might be rumored to have a better balance of usage.

As long as you stay below 80 during benchmarks you'll be fine. FSX won't tax your system anywhere near what a stress test will do, at least as far as temps.Your CPU is known to be a very good OC'er 4.5 Ghz on air should be completely doable. You may want to investigate other possible issues such as the number and placement of case fans, cable routing, etc. If the room is comfortable for you, it should be adequate for the PC. Regards