New CPU which should I get

[flamer 3]

Ok guys, I want to upgrade my CPU. My current mobo supports these CPU's below so for a simple plug and go upgrade which of the following should I go for, I will be mostly playing prepar3d and a bit of FSX. currently I have the 4100+ But I feel like it hits 100% too often and causes stutters. So the question I am not sure of is, should I be going for the 8 core with slower clock speed or the 4 or 6 core with the highest clock speed possible? Lets just say for arguments sake they all cost exactly the same and price should not be a factor in this decision

 

AMD Opteron 3280 2400MHz 1MBx8 8MB Bulldozer 32nm B2 65W 5200 F9 AMD Opteron 3260 2700MHz 1MBx4 4MB Bulldozer 32nm B2 45W 5200 F11 AMD Opteron 3250 2500MHz 1MBx4 4MB Bulldozer 32nm B2 45W 5200 F11 AMD FX-8300 3300MHz 1MBx8 8MB Vishera 32nm C0 95W 5200 F11 AMD FX-8140 3200MHz 1MBx8 8MB Bulldozer 32nm B2 95W 5200 F7 AMD FX-8120 3100MHz 1MBx8 8MB Bulldozer 32nm B2 95W 5200 F7 AMD FX-8100 2800MHz 1MBx8 8MB Bulldozer 32nm B2 95W 5200 F7 AMD FX-6300 3500MHz 1MBx6 8MB Vishera 32nm C0 95W 5200 F11 AMD FX-6200 3800MHz 1MBx6 8MB Bulldozer 32nm B2 125W 5200 F8 AMD FX-6120 3500MHz 1MBx6 8MB Bulldozer 32nm B2 95W 5200 F7 AMD FX-6100 3300MHz 1MBx6 8MB Bulldozer 32nm B2 95W 5200 F7 AMD FX-4300 3800MHz 1MBx4 4MB Vishera 32nm C0 95W 5200 F11 AMD FX-4200 3300MHz 1MBx8 8MB Bulldozer 32nm B2 125W 5200 F8 AMD FX-4170 4200MHz 1MBx4 8MB Bulldozer 32nm B2 125W 5200 F7 AMD FX-4150 3900MHz 1MBx4 8MB Bulldozer 32nm B2 95W 5200 F8 AMD FX-4130 3800MHz 1MBx4 4MB Bulldozer 32nm B2 125W 5200 F8 AMD FX-4100 3600MHz 1MBx4 8MB Bulldozer 32nm B2 95W 5200 F7

 

edit: sorry it formatted horribly, see the table here: http://uk.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=3908

[magnetite 38]

I'd go fewer cores with higher clock speed. For FSX anyways. Most of the work FSX does is on the main core (eg. physics and other calculations, AI, etc), while the extra cores are used for terrain loading.

[mixen82 2]

Hi flamer,

 

I would take the Bulldozer FX 4170. But in general I would switch over to an Intel system, although that would mean that you would have to invest into a new motherboard as well. But at this time, there is no AMD CPU that can compete with it's Intel counterpart.  And I'm saying that as an former AMD fan who switched from Intel to AMD with the very first Athlon CPUs, one year ago I switched back to Intel, as their Core-I CPUS are much better and much more efficient.

 

cheers

Mike

[Flyer10 31]

If your spending money get an I7 4770K and a mid range Z87 motherboard :mellow:

There is nothing to consider!

[flamer 3]

Yikes! you guys are givimg me a hard decision now

 

I totally agree Intel would be better and if I was building now I would totally go the i7 route. hmm well in terms of my local prices, I can get an FX-4170 for $180 and that gives me a boost from 3.6 to 4.2 which is not bad bang for my buck.

 

On the other hand the cheapest z87 mobo I see is $180 then an i7 4770K 3.50GHz is another $465.

 

arrgh what to do, might need to find some way of comparing before I buy I think.

[Flyer10 31]

Well you are going to get what you pay for.

The same clock frequency on two different types of CPU

will not net the same performance!

 

For example an i7 3770k @ 5ghz is about the same

as an i7 4770k at 4.6 to 4.7ghz

 

AMD is not the way to go for FSX!

Not for the CPU and definitely not for the GPU!

 

Here is what you will get with a AMD FX-4170 @4.2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ6D35E_1AM

 

Here is what you get with an I7 4770K @4.8ghz:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt_fvEiiAy4

 

and

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUn8ttMDovI

 

For FSX I would buy a used i7 3770k or even 2700k

before I would buy the latest AMD CPU!

 

Bear in mind its about smoothness not FPS.

The stuttering is not really frame rate related!

You can have 30 to 40 FPS and still have terrible

stutters!

 

Minimizing stutters is about fast memory with

low latency and CPU cache which i7 4770K

has a whole bunch of.

 

Before you spend a penny I suggest that

you take a read through NickN's guide's

on www.simforums.com

 

The FSX Bible

and

Haswell 4.8ghz on Air

 

Stick with what you have and save

for the right hardware.

I am pretty sure that you will be disappointed

with what you are planning.

[mixen82 2]

Hi flamer,

 

you are right. Intel is quite expensive and so are motherboards for Intel CPUs. I would follow with Flyer10's advise. Wait a little bit longer and save your bucks. With the advantages that Intel CPUs have over AMD ( at this time, there was a time when AMD was better, maybe that time will come again, but at the moment, I don't see that coming ) this jsut is a no-brainer. For example, AMD CPUs have a much higher power consumption than even the fastest Intels. But the biggest advantage is the fact that even an AMD FX8350 ( 8 cores @4GHz ) has a really hard time to come close to an Intel Core I5 3570k ( 4 cores @3,4GHz ). And that with a much higher power consumption. There are more things to mention, but to make a long story short: At the moment Intel justs eats AMD for breakfast.

 

I know, it is a hell lot of money, bit it's definitely worth waiting a little bit longer to go with the Intel CPU.

 

BTW: What are you using at the moment, I mean CPU,Mainboard, RAM?

 

cheers

Mike

[untoweechja 35]

FX-6200 @ 3.8 GHz here (it's hard to say no to a free computer), so I can empathize with you regarding the stutters.  I've got my FSX affinity set to utilize all cores, and I doubt the two additional cores on my CPU yield better performance out of FSX than you get from your FX-4100.

 

If you don't already have it, you might want to consider Steve's DX10 scenery fixer.  It made a huge difference in the smoothness factor on my machine.  Before the DX10 fixer, things would get choppy around the 20fps mark, but with the DX10 fixer I can maintain smooth frames down to about 12 fps. (This is on a GTX 550Ti which is also nowhere near cutting edge). 

 

Let me emphasize that it did nothing to improve the overall frame rates, but it substantially mollifies the stuttering at lower frame rates.

 

I get the temptation to buy a faster AMD processor, too, with a hope and a prayer that I can squeeze Intel-like performance out of FSX, but there's more than enough empirical evidence out there to suggest it's a vain pursuit.

[westman 257]

Bang for buck is the I5 4670k , i replaced My 4770k to a good 4670k with slightly better performance in Fsx.

 

I do a lot benchmarking have tons of hardware:

Amd fm2+ A10 6800 nothing for fsx

AM3 FX8350 nothing for fsx only fun to bench with Ln2

Intel with mobos 1156, 1155,1150,2011

CPUs I5 760, I7 2700k , I5 3570k, I7 3770k, 3x 4670k , 3x 4770k, 3960x , 2x 4930k

[messifan10 3]

My i7 3770k 4,5 ghz is doing it fine

[Flyer10 31]

And I will just add so to make it perfectly clear for you.

For state of the art FSX performance your primary

purchases at this time should be: 

 

1. An i7 4770K (there is a caveats with this processor. It is reported that there is a broad range in OC overhead. Some chips won't go above 4.2ghz no matter how much juice you give them or how good you cooling is.

2. A good Z87 motherboard. Don't buy the cheapest or the most expensive. I recommend the Asus Sabertooth Z87.

3. A bog standard GTX 780. Forget about Ti or superclocked the premium for the tiny indiscernible performance is ridiculously huge.

4. a 2x4gb kit of 2400mhz CL9 DRAM (you can get faster but be carefull! As the speed goes up the timing usually goes up too! 2800Mhz is better than 2400Mhz but CL9 is better than CL10) I understand that if you go to 3000mhz you might have problems overclocking your cache frequency)

5. A Haswell certified at least 700watt PSU. (don't go cheap on the PSU).

6. A high Air flow gaming case for example A Coolmasters HAF-X

7. A Top shelf Air cooled CPU heat sink for example ThermalRight Something or other Arrow. Cant remember the exact name.

8. Some decent drives for performance (WD VRaptors or Samsung SSD's) and a 1 or 2TB drive for storage.

 

This just the primary stuff you need! You will also want a decent size and quality of Screen. Consider a projector.

 

Your budget for 1 to 8 above should be at least $2000.

 

If you have that go buy the parts.

If you don't do one of 2 things.

 

1. Borrow the balance! Go see your bank manager and tell him what you want the money for. Then watch him pee his pants laughing as security escorts you out of the bank. (It will be worth it for that alone) You never know he might say sure!

 

2. Bank what you have and save the rest until you have enough.

 

In the mean time if the stutters you have bother you that much and reducing the sliders for better performance doesn't cut it for you, I suggest that you uninstall FSX and all you FSX related software. Get yourself a copy of FS9, Install and enjoy. A lot of your FSX addons are like FS9 too!

 

And there is more! When you have the required budget for the state of the Art machine don't rush.

There is more to getting top shelf FSX performance than the right hardware.

You have to setup everything just right! From putting the system together, Install and preparing Window 7 64Bit performance (Not 32 bit and not windows 8). There is a lot more to this than just going into the Power Options in the Control panel and selecting high performance, an awful lot more. To properly installing FSX and addon's and then Overclocking the system!

 

that's why I referred to NickN's Guides. As I said don't spend a penny before study those guides!

 

I am pointing all of this out to you because if I don't maybe no one will.

And I hate to see enthusiastic people spend there hard earned money on an FSX system that just doesn't cut it despite spending big bucks on a great mid to high end gaming rig. FSX is not a game and it works nothing like a game. You could be running all the latest and greatest PC games at 60 FPS on a system that you paid $1000 for and FSX right in front of your very eye's will chew that system up and spit it out and then laugh in your face. If you have a $1000 for an upgrade you might a well take that $1000 and flush it down the toilet for all the difference it is going to make to your FS life.

 

If you have $1000 to spend, keep it and save at least another $1000 before you do anything it might not take you that long.

The bottom line is that with FSX a compromise on hardware will very obviously result in a loss of performance.

 

Fly with FS9, Save for real deal, Study the Guides. DONE!

[mixen82 2]

 

I get the temptation to buy a faster AMD processor, too, with a hope and a prayer that I can squeeze Intel-like performance out of FSX

 

Hi untoweechja,

 

I'm afraid there is just no way to achieve that. As I mentioned, at the moment AMD cannot stand a chance against Intel. Even with massive overclocking AMDs don't come even close to their Intel counterparts. 

 

Don't get me wrong, for more than 10 years I have been an absolute AMD fan, as they offered great performance at a very reasonable price. For a pretty long period of time, they were even better than Intel, reaching the same or more performance of their direct counterparts from Intel, but at a much lower clock speed - and a much lower price. But that has changed. Intel judt did an oustanding great job developing their Core CPUs.

I am not saying that AMDs are bad, absolutely not. They offer very good performance at a very attractive price. But fSX is one of those programs that are highly dependent on CPU power. And because of this you wanna get every little bit of CPU power you can get. And Intel delivers just that: Massive CPU power, which AMD at the moment just isn't able to deliver as well.

 

As soon as AMD offers the same amount of performance with the same low power consumption and with all the other advantages that Intel offers, I see no reason why I wouldn't switch over to AMD again. 

It's been just one year ago when I built a new rig. For the first time since the very late 1990s I chose an Intel CPU. As a matter of fact, I even had a guilty conscience taking an Intel CPU, as I was loyal to AMD for such a long time. 

 

All I wanna say is that there is absolutely nothing wrong with AMD, it's just that Intel offers the superior product at the moment, CPU-wise.

 

cheers

Mike

And I will just add so to make it perfectly clear for you.

For state of the art FSX performance your primary

purchases at this time should be: 

 

1. An i7 4770K (there is a caveats with this processor. It is reported that there is a broad range in OC overhead. Some chips won't go above 4.2ghz no matter how much juice you give them or how good you cooling is.

2. A good Z87 motherboard. Don't buy the cheapest or the most expensive. I recommend the Asus Sabertooth Z87.

3. A bog standard GTX 780. Forget about Ti or superclocked the premium for the tiny indiscernible performance is ridiculously huge.

4. a 2x4gb kit of 2400mhz CL9 DRAM (you can get faster but be carefull! As the speed goes up the timing usually goes up too! 2800Mhz is better than 2400Mhz but CL9 is better than CL10) I understand that if you go to 3000mhz you might have problems overclocking your cache frequency)

5. A Haswell certified at least 700watt PSU. (don't go cheap on the PSU).

6. A high Air flow gaming case for example A Coolmasters HAF-X

7. A Top shelf Air cooled CPU heat sink for example ThermalRight Something or other Arrow. Cant remember the exact name.

8. Some decent drives for performance (WD VRaptors or Samsung SSD's) and a 1 or 2TB drive for storage.

 

This just the primary stuff you need! You will also want a decent size and quality of Screen. Consider a projector.

 

Your budget for 1 to 8 above should be at least $2000.

 

If you have that go buy the parts.

If you don't do one of 2 things.

 

1. Borrow the balance! Go see your bank manager and tell him what you want the money for. Then watch him pee his pants laughing as security escorts you out of the bank. (It will be worth it for that alone) You never know he might say sure!

 

2. Bank what you have and save the rest until you have enough.

 

In the mean time if the stutters you have bother you that much and reducing the sliders for better performance doesn't cut it for you, I suggest that you uninstall FSX and all you FSX related software. Get yourself a copy of FS9, Install and enjoy. A lot of your FSX addons are like FS9 too!

 

And there is more! When you have the required budget for the state of the Art machine don't rush.

There is more to getting top shelf FSX performance than the right hardware.

You have to setup everything just right! From putting the system together, Install and preparing Window 7 64Bit performance (Not 32 bit and not windows 8). There is a lot more to this than just going into the Power Options in the Control panel and selecting high performance, an awful lot more. To properly installing FSX and addon's and then Overclocking the system!

 

that's why I referred to NickN's Guides. As I said don't spend a penny before study those guides!

 

I am pointing all of this out to you because if I don't maybe no one will.

And I hate to see enthusiastic people spend there hard earned money on an FSX system that just doesn't cut it despite spending big bucks on a great mid to high end gaming rig. FSX is not a game and it works nothing like a game. You could be running all the latest and greatest PC games at 60 FPS on a system that you paid $1000 for and FSX right in front of your very eye's will chew that system up and spit it out and then laugh in your face. If you have a $1000 for an upgrade you might a well take that $1000 and flush it down the toilet for all the difference it is going to make to your FS life.

 

If you have $1000 to spend, keep it and save at least another $1000 before you do anything it might not take you that long.

The bottom line is that with FSX a compromise on hardware will very obviously result in a loss of performance.

 

Fly with FS9, Save for real deal, Study the Guides. DONE!

 

Totally agree, couldn't say it better.

 

Hm maybe except for two things:

 

First, I would prefer a Corsair Case ( Graphite 600T or above ), but that is up to everyone's own taste.  :biggrin:  It's just important that the case is capable of high airflow. A standard case just won't fit.

Second, I would go for a a watercooling option. Why? Simple: Better colling capacity ( especially when extensive overclocking is made ); capable of cooling all components of your rig, not just the CPU, and last but not least: a watercooled rig just looks cool. But of course a decent watercooling is not cheap.

 

cheers

Mike

[flamer 3]

thanks for all the top replies guys!

so very helpful, because you will be pleased to know... im GOING INTEL! (haha!)

The thing is, I do have the money now, (bless the IT industry) but I just prefer it in my pocket than in anyone elses

Just a few pointers though
I am mainly playing prepar3d now, which as I believe is more GPU intensive than CPU intensive in comparsion to FSX, so perhaps its not *as* important but ill basically try and get the fatest i7 I can with the money I decide to spend. However I can say right now GTX780 is out of my price range. Local price is $880 for a standard version.

But heres the real issue, and Its making me nervous thinking about it. Currently I have win7 ultimatex64 on an SSD, there is pretty much nothing bar the OS on there so no majors with that. BUT my storage drives and where my fsx installs is a 2x2TB RAID0, im using the onboard RAID controller on the mobo. whats going to happen when I plug those into a new board. All that data could be gone burger with one wrong setting. Getting another 4tb of storage space to back it up is going to be another $250..


oh and at the moment my specs are:
mobo: AM3+ - AMD 970 - GA-970A-D3
proc: fx-4100
gpu 1: raedon 7770
gpu 2: raedon 6670
ram: 2x 4gig 1600mhz
Sim monitor: panasonic 37" FHD
PC monitor: samsung Syncmaster 22"

-nothing is over clocked, and I don't want to OC anything in the new hardware either.

[Flyer10 31]

You wont be just unplugging any of those drives and pluggin  them into the new board!

It doesn't work that way and forget about any RAID configuration in your new system.

RAID in a FS system is a pile of non-sense.

Your starting from scratch here! That's the way it is! Back up all that stuff some how

and decommission that system when your ready. What can I tell you go read NickN's

Guide on at www.simforums.com! That is essential reading for the course!!!

[untoweechja 35]

 

 

I'm afraid there is just no way to achieve that. As I mentioned, at the moment AMD cannot stand a chance against Intel. Even with massive overclocking AMDs don't come even close to their Intel counterparts. 
 
Don't get me wrong, for more than 10 years I have been an absolute AMD fan, as they offered great performance at a very reasonable price. For a pretty long period of time, they were even better than Intel, reaching the same or more performance of their direct counterparts from Intel, but at a much lower clock speed - and a much lower price. But that has changed. Intel judt did an oustanding great job developing their Core CPUs.

 

Indeed, mixen82.

 

Fortunately, the empirical evidence keeps my wishful thinking in check.  My machine is more than adequate for its primary purpose (which is work) and it cost me nothing, so I live with what I have until I can afford a beefier Intel exclusively for simming.