FSX performance on an i7 2600

[Dave3000]

I currently own an i7 920 with a GTX 580, and 6 GB RAM. My CPU is performs well for most of my games but FSX is a very CPU bound game, especially with 100% AI traffic and some complex 3rd party aircraft installed even at 1080p res with 4x AA 8x AF. I understand that GPU's matter more in games than CPU's but FSX is not one of those game provided you have a decent video card.

I don't keep my system overclocked because I want guaranteed stability. So would upgrading from an i7 920 to a i7 2600 increase performnce in FSX by a large amount? I can sell my 920 and motherboard and would only end up being out around $200 as an estimation. I only need 1 PCI-E x16 slot as I don't SLI so I can get one of the cheaper P67 motherboards. Would it be worth getting the K version because of the better CPU cooler that comes with it even if I won't overclock?

 

[mnewsham]

If you are going to get it, go for broke, OC (without voltage change) to a 4.0 at least

Having never played FSX i have no idea the changes you will see.

 

[RussianSensation]

Core i7 920 can overclock from 2.66ghz to 4.0ghz+. Before you decide to outlay $200, overclock it first to see if this fixes your issues.

 

[Dave3000]

Core i7 920 can overclock from 2.66ghz to 4.0ghz+. Before you decide to outlay $200, overclock it first to see if this fixes your issues.

I overclock when running benchmarks sometimes. I don't overclock for anything else. I would hate to have my PC crash on me while playing FSX near the end of a flight because my CPU couldn't handle a certain amount of overclock. Overclocking makes the time for troubleshooting a PC problem longer, if it involves instability issues because instability issues can be causes by many things.

 

[betasub]

At least you can test FSX performance with your current CPU overclocked. That will give you an idea of the performance you can obtain with an upgrade to SandyBridge.

 

[JimmiG]

Something like a 4 - 4.5 GHz i7 is needed to play FSX at decent framerates with complex add-ons and max settings. A 2600 would definitely help, but it wouldn't be enough. Almost everyone who plays FSX has to compromise between scenery quality, aircraft quality, scenery quality etc

The biggest reason is because FSX is based on a graphics engine from 1999 and was developed back when Intel still thought we'd be running 15 GHz CPUs in 2010.

 

[drspek]

I have a similar system to Dave 3000, viz an i7 920 with a GTX 260, and 6 GB RAM on an Intel DX58SO Mobo. Have a 240Gb OCZ SSD ready to be installed with W7 Ultimate 64 bit. My CPU is performs well for photo and film editing run from a "normal" 1 Tb HDD. Only recently "discovered" FSX (Gold). Seeing signs of instability...
Like Dave3000 I don't keep my system overclocked because I want guaranteed stability. In terms of upgrading what are the best options?
1.) upgrading from an i7 920 to a i7 2600 or other 9 serie processor? I do not want to sell my motherboard.
2) Having two PCI-E x16 slots around put two GTX 260's or 560 in SLI mode. I would like to fit 3 or 4 monitors.
3) Put more DDR3 RAM in anyway? Have 12 Gb available.

 

[videopho]

I went from i5-760, a single 460 to 2500k and a pair of 460 SLI.
Differences are day and night.
Gaming in 3DVision, 1080p res (73" DLP), my frame rate well over 100, only goes down below 60 fps when near ground or final approach.
FYI: 3DV reduces your frame rate in half. In your case should be double in 2D gaming.
My other flight sim games, DCS B/S and A-10 also benefit big time as well, at least 70% or so.
HAWX2 is well above one hundred fps at all times.
While at it, get yourself a z68 mobo and prepare to do SSD caching, then watch your FSx load time go down in the neighborhood in matter of few seconds not minutes.
Since this a HTPC (not your typical grandma HTPC) therefore I DO NOT overclock my cpu and g/c.

EDIT:

 

[Makaveli]

If you overclock 920 at 4Ghz is roughly equal to the 2600K chip at stock.

I would suggest atleast trying.

 

[Blitzvogel]

Very few games have ever truly pissed me off about how they perform, even with top of the line hardware. FSX, is one of them. I know it's "Multicore capable" but from what I can ascertain, it tends to run on a single thread, regardless of core/thread capability of your CPU. So despite my quad-core Phenom II and Radeon 5850, it runs like horse manure. It ran the exact same way years ago on my Athlon x2 Windsor and 8800GTS 320 MB. I realize the common AMD architecture is probably to blame here for lack of performance increase, but it's ridiculous that such a CPU intensive game never got a real multicore fix.

 

[aviat72]

Not overclocking sandy bridge is like keeping a Bimmer in second gear so that the wear and tear is less.

The CPUs are meant to be overclocked and run stable. Don't disable the C states and they will go down to 1.6GHz unless they need to the juice, when max turbo kicks in. And that max-turbo is easily between 4.5-5GHz on air-cooling, 24x7 stable. Welcome to on-demand horsepower, available when you need it.

The CPUs come with a 3 year warranty. Why do you worry if you are not going to abuse it (i.e. volt it outside spec) or runs days of non-stop benchmarks. They can easily take the few hours you sill throw at it on FSX.

 

[aviat72]

Very few games have ever truly pissed me off about how they perform, even with top of the line hardware. FSX, is one of them. I know it's "Multicore capable" but from what I can ascertain, it tends to run on a single thread, regardless of core/thread capability of your CPU. So despite my quad-core Phenom II and Radeon 5850, it runs like horse manure. It ran the exact same way years ago on my Athlon x2 Windsor and 8800GTS 320 MB. I realize the common AMD architecture is probably to blame here for lack of performance increase, but it's ridiculous that such a CPU intensive game never got a real multicore fix.

http://software.intel.com/en-us/art...-x-soars-to-new-heights-with-multi-threading/

 

[Rifter]

I thought the service packs for FSX added multi threading?

 

[smakme7757]

I would seriously overclock your CPU, that would save you money and also be a bit of fun. Also, overclocking to just 3Ghz or even 3.4Ghz might give you a good enough boost. No need to go overboard.

But if you're fishing for someone to validate your purchase of a 2600k then i think you going to have a bit of trouble because the i7-920 is still a fast processor! I don't think i would have gone to SB if i was already on a 920 or 950. I'd have hoped over it and got something in 2012.

 

[sm625]

If you are dead set against even a tiny overclock then you are going to have to reduce settings, or try out the new SB-E chips next month. I have to say I dont understand the reasoning behind the fear of overclocking...