Anyone up to date with going on's in the CPU biz? Seems like we've been stuck with 3.X GHz CPUs for a while now. I'm looking to build a new computer this year, but currently I don't see much benifit replacing my i7 2700K for flight simming.

 

 

You'll be waiting very long for that to happen. As long as AMD remains uncompetitive, Intel will keep releasing CPUs at speeds like that and with crap TIM.

Higher cpu core speed is then next logical progression though, barring some un-forseen archetecture innovation. Multi-core use has limitations, especially in consumer applications.

Last year AMD released a 5 Ghz cpu.

Last year AMD released a 5 Ghz cpu.

 

The FX-9590 has a base clock speed of 4.7GHz. 5GHz is the half-load turbo speed (it can achieve 5GHz on stock only when 2 modules/4 cores are used).

 

It's not anything special really. Just a heavily overclocked FX-8350, with the same module system and weak cores. Plus, not only is it extremely overpriced, it's very hot and uses lots of power because it reaches the limits of the Piledriver architecture.

 

 

It's not anything special really

 

Well I sort of agree however AMD (marketing) claimed it as a 5Ghz cpu and it was 'stock' and the OP's heading is "When will we see stock 4.5+ GHz CPUs?" 

Well I sort of agree however AMD (marketing) claimed it as a 5Ghz cpu and it was 'stock' and the OP's heading is "When will we see stock 4.5+ GHz CPUs?" 

 

It's really a 4.7GHz CPU at stock. Even though it is more than 4.5GHz, I can't see how that would be a good CPU for FSX because it has very weak cores. Only an Intel CPU at 4.5GHz and above would be something to write home about.

What difference would 5+ GHz make in terms of performance?

Frequency has crept up, but much of the advance has been in terms of more efficient architecture.

 

So yes it would be advantageous for simmerhead to upgrade his CPU. 2500k to 4770k... I'd guess a 30% improvement, depending on the application.

What difference would 5+ GHz make in terms of performance?

In my experience the scaling is linear, so easy enough to work it out. Not counting architecture improvements of course.

Frequency has crept up, but much of the advance has been in terms of more efficient architecture.

 

So yes it would be advantageous for simmerhead to upgrade his CPU. 2500k to 4770k... I'd guess a 30% improvement, depending on the application.

 

I'm talking about for FSX/P3D only.

Probably see higher than 4.5 GHz once Intel and co. switch to something other than silicon to produce CPUs. Silicon is still going to be used until around the 10nm CPUs, but will be replaced starting in 2017 as the base material for making CPUs.

I'm talking about for FSX/P3D only.

I know you are. More efficient CPU architecture benefits FSX.

 

Its up to you to decide if a 30% increase in performance is worth upgrading to Haswell.

It's highly unlikely we'll see much faster CPUs. Increasing clock speed exponentially increases the heat they generate. We've been able to increase clock speed so far because they keep going to a smaller manufacturing process (making the transistors smaller and therefore, producing less heat) and efficiency increases in the CPU architecture. But we've almost reached the limit of that. Adding more CPU cores, w/o increasing clock speed actually generates less heat. I think we'll see 6 core or 8 core processors go mainstream long before any increase in clock speed.

I know you are. More efficient CPU architecture benefits FSX.

Its up to you to decide if a 30% increase in performance is worth upgrading to Haswell.

Thanks. I'll stick to my guns a while longer then. 30% isn't good enough for me to upgrade. I'm too lazy to do the work for that kind of gain. My last jump was from an Athlon 64 C2 4400+ to the i7 2700K.

Thanks. I'll stick to my guns a while longer then. 30% isn't good enough for me to upgrade. I'm too lazy to do the work for that kind of gain. My last jump was from an Athlon 64 C2 4400+ to the i7 2700K.

 

Perhaps wait for the next big architecture change (Skylake), which should bring DDR4, PCIe 4.0 (SB has PCIe 2.0), plus it has better IPC, and essentially the performance of a CPU with more cores for less. Hard to describe, but if you had 8 cores (no HT), Skylake would have the same performance of an 8 core chip, but with only 4 cores.