Hello all,

 

(I'm afraid this is another one of those computer upgrade help threads...)

 

With a birthday and the holiday season coming down the road in a few months, I'm starting to do some research on some systems upgrades I may treat myself to as my system is about 4 years old.  I'm still primarily an FS9 user, dipping my toe occasionally in FSX for a few FSX-only aircraft (never got the smooth performance in FSX that I sought).

 

With that in mind, if I could upgrade 1 or 2 elements on my system, what suggestions would people have?  I'm not the biggest expert on hardware and compatibility, and I'm not a huge fan of overclocking either (*dodges thrown tomato*).  I guess I like warranties and extending the life in components.  I've modestly OC'ed my i7 975 last month to 3.5 from 3.33 with stock case/CPU fans (and average about 75ish C during stress testing, 50-55ish at close to idle).  I'd also like to keep my system on air, something about water near $3000-4000 of electronics always bothered me.

 

Obviously, I'm leaning toward upgrading the CPU (need to research what my mobo and power supply support), but maybe I'm missing something glaring.  I can't quite go overboard (maybe $300-500-600ish), I did just buy a house last month

 

Thanks!  My specs are below:

 

OS

Windows 7 Home Premium (x64) Service Pack 1

 

Processor

3.33 gigahertz Intel Core i7 975

Socket 1366 LGA
32 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache
8192 kilobyte tertiary memory cache

 

Mobo

Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. Rampage II Extreme Rev 2.xx

Bus Clock: 133 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 1704 12/30/2009

 

HDs

ST31500341AS ATA Device [Hard drive] (1500.30 GB)  - games/photos/music drive
WDC WD3000HLFS-01G6U0 ATA Device [Hard drive] (300.07 GB) - OS/system programs drive

 

Power supply

Corsair HX 1000W

 

RAM

6x2 GB DDR3

 

GPU

nVidia GTX 570 1280 MB

 

 

Thanks again.

 

Start with a i7 4770k and a good Z87 motherboard. Sell you current CPU and motherboard. Use the rest of your parts with the new build. That will set you back about $600 to $700. Then when you can afford you can it upgrade the new build and sell of the old parts as you replace them. Next get a GTX780 and 2x8gbs of 2400mhz C9 DRAM

Start with a i7 4770k and a good Z87 motherboard. Sell you current CPU and motherboard. Use the rest of your parts with the new build. That will set you back about $600 to $700. Then when you can afford you can it upgrade the new build and sell of the old parts as you replace them. Next get a GTX780 and 2x8gbs of 2400mhz C9 DRAM

 

Is this what you run?  Have you performed any kind of benchmarking?

No benchmarks yet. I am still early in the process of setting up the system. The build in complete and I am in the process of optimising Windows. I am not in a hurry Patients in the key to getting everything just right. I will probably start a thread here today chronicling the Build I will be doing some fairly creative stuff with cooling and some serious overclocking. But yes if you want to see better performance i.e. better FPS and getting rid of Blurry's and stutters I believe this is the way to go. I have dropped $3000 on this and although I would not advocate this for everybody if you have in the ball park of $600 to spend then yes upgrade your CPU and your Mother board. Help to finance it by selling your current CPU and motherboard on eBay or some local buy and sell site. I find the latter better. My build was financed entirely by selling the parts of the old system and tools I no longer required. All of your other parts will work with the i7 4770 and the Z87 motherboard. It should run just as well if not better than the current setup but don't expect miracles. But here it the thing If you just upgrade your video card to GTX 780 you wont do any better. The motherboard and the CPU is the heart of the system. You can add better matched components later when you have the disposable cash to drop.

 

 

 

I am following NickN's guide

 

 

Here is my Build:

 

 

 

• i7 4770k
• Asus Sabbertooth Z87 Bios verion 1205
• Gigabyte GTX 780
• G.SKILL Trident X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) Desktop Memory Model F3-2400C9D-8GTXD
• SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD128BW 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) For Windows 7 64 bit OS
• SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD256BW 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) For FSX plus Acceleration Pack
• SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD256BW 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) For XPX 64bit
• Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive For FSX data addons others that don't need to go in the FSX main folder.
• Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive For XPX Files and addons that don't need to go into main XPX folder.
• COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case.
• Thermal Right Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme
• Silverstone Strider ST1000 1000W Modular Power Supply ATX 20/24PIN 135mm Fan High Efficiency Black

 

Additional cables, Fans, TIM etc not on list

Thanks.

 

 

Any chance anyone else has a moment to share an opinion?

Does anyone have opinions on maybe the i7 4770K vs 4820K? Sounds like I should stick with the Haswell architecture over IB even with a higher stock frequency.

 

So for my budget, leaning toward i7 4770K and some variation of the Z87 MB (appears there are several variations with a wide variety of prices, so I guess I'll have to try and research some more....like I said, I'm no expert). Maybe an upgraded fan solution too. Unfortunately, I'll probably have to stick with my video card for now. I'm also assuming my power supply is sufficient (can anyone comment?).

 

Thanks.

Its unclear if you will be using this upgrade for FS9 or FSX?

Its unclear if you will be using this upgrade for FS9 or FSX?

Both.

I agree with Avidean, get the fastest cpu and motherboard you can afford. Add some liquid cooling so you can overclock to the max also. Your PSU is plenty fine btw.

 You shouldn't need to use liquid cooling (talking self contained) if you don't want to. A good quality air unit should overclock just fine. Some of the best overclocks on my 2500K were on air with a Cooler Master Hyper 212 and it ran great, as cool if not better than my current H80 with better fans.  Either way, I'd NEVER use the stock fan/heatsink.

Some of the best overclocks on my 2500K were on air with a Cooler Master Hyper 212 and it ran great,

 

Just bear in mind Haswell is a different beast. If the OP is looking at going Haswell and overclocking a decent amount I would suggest getting a higher end air cooler or AIO cooler at a minimum.

 

Have you thought about just buying a better CPU cooling solution and overclocking your current system further?

 

That way you could see how that performs and if you're not happy and still want to upgrade your CPU/Motherboard you can use the new CPU cooler you just bought on the new build. Otherwise if you are happy with the improvement then you've just saved yourself a heap of money.

Anthony has a good point. If you can reach mid-4 GHz with that CPU, it would be pretty decent. However keep in mind that modern CPUs are much faster at the same clock speed.

 

Most CPU cooling solution are compatible with both sockets, so if overclocking isn't enough you can re-use the same cooling with for example a 4770K. As for water vs air cooling, it's a matter of personal opinion. High-end air coolers like the Noctua NH-D14 are not far behind even the best sealed all-in-one liquid coolers.

 

The 4770K is a beast to cool, and the difference between different coolers isn't that great. The main problem is the thermal interface material within the CPU itself, which is not affected by your choice of CPU cooler. If you're brave, you can delid, in which case even a mid-range air cooler will provide great results.

Kyle I'm like you ... predominately FS9 but some FSX.

 

Last month I purchased 4770K, Swiftech H220 water cooler, 8 megs 2400 and MSI 45 gamer Z87 motherboard. (most reviewers have concluded you run out of Haswell before you run out of even a cheap Z87 motherboard  and I can confirm this.)

 

Of course the cpu at stock is overkill for FS9 except when running clouds. My cpu runs stock most often but is stable at 4.4 ... don't want/need to go higher. FSX is cpu limited so Haswell IS current best solution. In future who knows. Now Haswell is a strange beast. Temps are fine TO A CERTAIN POINT and then they rise incredibly. Be very careful with voltages if you intend to overclock. Stay just shy of that point (silicon lottery) with a good aircooler eg Noctua D14 and you're good to go. Many people advise 16 meg memory but unless your doing video production/rendering etc 8 megs is fine ... certainly for simming. Heck I'm even running a 3 meg Ramdisk.

 

Although your video card is fine upgrading to PCI 3 bus will bring benefits particularly to other games. Remember these sims are 10 and 6 years old now. Placebo effect is well known by marketers.  :lol:

 

Best of luck.

Thank you for all of the responses.

 

A few responses to some of the discussion above.

 

-I intend on avoiding water cooling, liquids and electronics unnerves me.

-I'm always hesitant to overclock at all (I know the very, very basics, nothing advanced). I know that 4.0 GHz is one of the "magic" numbers for FSX. If I can get there on air or close, maybe with a heatsink/fan combo, I'll certainly consider it. I'm not sure I see myself going to 4.5 though.

-I've heard that a 4770K over a 975 can be up to 40% faster given other variables outside of base frequency. So maybe it truly is time for the 975 to go.

-I could consider a new fan in the interim. Do any of your solutions above fit my i7 975/MB combo above AND would be compatible with a Z87 and 4770K so I can reuse it?

-I truly don't know the differences in the assorted Z87 MBs. If anyone has some more detail, I would certainly appreciate it.

 

Thank you very much again

Kyle, the majority of coolers out there will be compatible with socket 1366 aswell as socket 1150.

 

Since you'd rather avoid liquid coolers some good air coolers include Noctua NH-D14 and Thermalright Silverarrow extreme. These are on the upper end of air coolers and are quite bulky.

 

I've also heard good things about the beQuiet Darkrock CPU coolers. If you were looking at going maximum of 4.5Ghz then most decent air coolers should suffice. 

 

All of the ones I mentioned above would be compatible with both your current motherboard socket and Haswell, so yes you could reuse it. Just remember to do your research and also to check if the CPU cooler will fit in your case or will conflict with any of your ram modules due to their height etc.