65 replies to this topic

[suddste]

Hello,

I think I am going to try to upgrade my PC to the Intel i5-2500K from an AMD Phenom X4 965 3.4GHz. AMD's good but I hear the Intel i5 is better for FSX. I need also to get a motherboard, comming from an AMD system. Thats not a problem but I wonder if keeping my GPU is a good idea. It's a GTS250 512MB.


I don't really want to go over £350 for this upgrade, and since I hear FSX uses mostly the CPU, don't think that upgrading the GPU would do much. With my current processor, I did try a friends GTX480 in my system and made NO difference in performance at all.

How is performance with the i5-2500K anyway, would it be good with the NGX and high settings in a built up area such as an addon airport?

Thanks,
suddste

Edited by suddste, 04 January 2012 - 08:37 PM.

[_TW_]

The GTS 250 is going to be a big bottleneck so I would suggest to upgrade the GPU as well (down the road if need be).  The 2500K is certainly a much more powerful processor than the Phenom X4 965, so you will see a big improvement in performance just in processing power.  Since the 2500K is made to be overclocked you'll need to get a Z68 motherboard (or P67 although Z68 pretty much replaced it already).  4GB DDR3-1600 is minimum these days.  Don't know how cheap 8GB kits are in the UK but fast 4GB kits can be had for cheap these days.

Perfomance is just fine with this processor in FSX.  Like I said though, the GTS 250 is going to limit you quite heavily.

[suddste]

Toby Werner, on Jan 4 2012, 10:02 PM, said:

The GTS 250 is going to be a big bottleneck so I would suggest to upgrade the GPU as well (down the road if need be).  The 2500K is certainly a much more powerful processor than the Phenom X4 965, so you will see a big improvement in performance just in processing power.  Since the 2500K is made to be overclocked you'll need to get a Z68 motherboard (or P67 although Z68 pretty much replaced it already).  4GB DDR3-1600 is minimum these days.  Don't know how cheap 8GB kits are in the UK but fast 4GB kits can be had for cheap these days.

Perfomance is just fine with this processor in FSX.  Like I said though, the GTS 250 is going to limit you quite heavily.

Thanks,

Are you saying there won't be much of an improvement if I upgrade?

It doesnt make sense, though, I did try a GTX480 and nothing changed at all

[_TW_]

You probably did not see much of an improvement because at the moment, you are CPU limited, meaning that your processor is capping your performance.  Yes you will see a big improvement just by going with the 2500K, but then your performance will be limited to your GTS 250 graphics card.  If you try FSX with the 2500K and GTS 250 and then put in the GTX 480, you would notice the difference in performance.

[suddste]

Toby Werner, on Jan 5 2012, 09:17 AM, said:

You probably did not see much of an improvement because at the moment, you are CPU limited, meaning that your processor is capping your performance.  Yes you will see a big improvement just by going with the 2500K, but then your performance will be limited to your GTS 250 graphics card.  If you try FSX with the 2500K and GTS 250 and then put in the GTX 480, you would notice the difference in performance.

Thank you. I was planning to get a overclocked bundle but I found it to be cheaper to buy all the parts seperatly and overclock myself. Is there anything I should know before this, such as every CPU is different and I may not get to 4.6GHz?

[_TW_]

All the sandy bridge CPU's will hit 5.0GHz with voltage increase and aftermarket cooler.  The chips do vary, but the only difference is the max multiplier.  Some chips have a max multi of 51, some 53, and some even go up to 57 and higher.  Given that the base clock is 100MHz and should not be changed, you're looking at a guaranteed overclock up to 5GHz given that you have an aftermarket cooler on the processor.  Edit: 24/7 clocks will probably not be around 5.0GHz unless you're on water cooling.

This is how it works,

Multiplier x BCLK (base clock) = Operating Frequency

Edited by Toby Werner, 05 January 2012 - 09:25 AM.

[suddste]

Toby Werner, on Jan 5 2012, 09:24 AM, said:

All the sandy bridge CPU's will hit 5.0GHz with voltage increase and aftermarket cooler.  The chips do vary, but the only difference is the max multiplier.  Some chips have a max multi of 51, some 53, and some even go up to 57 and higher.  Given that the base clock is 100MHz and should not be changed, you're looking at a guaranteed overclock up to 5GHz given that you have an aftermarket cooler on the processor.  Edit: 24/7 clocks will probably not be around 5.0GHz unless you're on water cooling.

This is how it works,

Multiplier x BCLK (base clock) = Operating Frequency

thanks, I understand the basics of overclocking, I beleive you mostly raise the multiplier untill it gets unstable then you increase the voltage

[suddste]

hey toby, I got the following, does all seem good?:

Asus P8Z68-V LX Motherboard (Socket 1155, DDR3, 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16, ATX, LucidLogix Virtu)
http://www.amazon.co...duct/B005FSHIVG    £78.99

Intel Sandybridge i5-2500K Unlocked Core i5 Quad-Core Processor (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache, Socket 1155) Intel Sandybridge i5-2500K Unlocked Core i5 Quad-Core Processor (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache, Socket 1155)
http://www.amazon.co...duct/B004FA8NX2     £168.40

Corsair CWCH80 Hydro Series H80 High Performance CPU Cooler Corsair CWCH80 Hydro Series H80 High Performance CPU Cooler
http://www.amazon.co...duct/B0051U7HMI    £80.81

Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) [KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX]
https://www.overcloc...rodid=MY-094-KS    £41.90

[_BD6_]

suddste, on Jan 6 2012, 11:30 AM, said:

hey toby, I got the following, does all seem good?:

Asus P8Z68-V LX Motherboard (Socket 1155, DDR3, 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16, ATX, LucidLogix Virtu)
http://www.amazon.co...duct/B005FSHIVG    £78.99

Intel Sandybridge i5-2500K Unlocked Core i5 Quad-Core Processor (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache, Socket 1155) Intel Sandybridge i5-2500K Unlocked Core i5 Quad-Core Processor (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache, Socket 1155)
http://www.amazon.co...duct/B004FA8NX2     £168.40

Corsair CWCH80 Hydro Series H80 High Performance CPU Cooler Corsair CWCH80 Hydro Series H80 High Performance CPU Cooler
http://www.amazon.co...duct/B0051U7HMI    £80.81

Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) [KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX]
https://www.overcloc...rodid=MY-094-KS    £41.90

Looks good, it'll do the job.

[suddste]

bl00mfield, on Jan 6 2012, 11:31 AM, said:

Looks good, it'll do the job.

thank you. i know every setup is different but how high do you reckon the clocks will go [stable]

[_BD6_]

they all should average about 4.5 to 4.8ghz - heat and voltage will determine your outcome.

[suddste]

bl00mfield, on Jan 6 2012, 12:52 PM, said:

they all should average about 4.5 to 4.8ghz - heat and voltage will determine your outcome.

thanks

[162db]

Whoa whoa whoa! Have you even overclocked that 965 yet? If not, it makes no sense to go blowing money on a different setup when you haven't even reached the full potential of what you currently have.

Edited by 162db, 07 January 2012 - 07:53 PM.

[_BD6_]

162db, on Jan 7 2012, 07:50 PM, said:

Whoa whoa whoa! Have you even overclocked that 965 yet? If not, it makes no sense to go blowing money on a different setup when you haven't even reached the full potential of what you currently have.

The 965 MAY hit 3.8 or 3.9 at best .. and even against a 2500k clock for clock, it is slower. Throw in the 2500k's ability to overcloxk well past 4.2 makes it a significant upgrade in FSX

[suddste]

yes I did overclocked, got it to 3.7GHz, anything after and it got unstable, infact

[162db]

bl00mfield, on Jan 7 2012, 06:44 PM, said:

The 965 MAY hit 3.8 or 3.9 at best .. and even against a 2500k clock for clock, it is slower. Throw in the 2500k's ability to overcloxk well past 4.2 makes it a significant upgrade in FSX

I understand that but is it that big of a difference from say... an i7 920? When I was flying FSX, my i7 920 ran it just fine.

suddste, on Jan 7 2012, 07:02 PM, said:

yes I did overclocked, got it to 3.7GHz, anything after and it got unstable, infact

Ah ok just making sure.

[suddste]

162db, on Jan 8 2012, 02:13 AM, said:

I understand that but is it that big of a difference from say... an i7 920? When I was flying FSX, my i7 920 ran it just fine.
Ah ok just making sure.

You are sort of right. My PC does run FSX very well on high settings, but when I start to use the PMDG NGX, things get pretty bad

[162db]

suddste, on Jan 8 2012, 08:12 AM, said:

You are sort of right. My PC does run FSX very well on high settings, but when I start to use the PMDG NGX, things get pretty bad

I figured an X4 965 overclocked should run it fine. Switching to a 2500k may or may not help in your situation. I didn't have any experience with the NGX but I did with the 747. Back then what helped me maintain smooth frames was a more powerful gpu. I upgraded from a 9600gtx to a GTX 285 and it was smooth sailing and that system was running an i7 920. Also, I've never heard of a Phenom II 965 that was only capable of a 300 mhz overclock. That cpu should at least reach 4.0 ghz. I just saw one the other day that was at 4.5 ghz. What cooler are you using?

Here's a vid of a guy flying the NGX. He's running an X4 965 at stock clocks but he has a GTX 570 video card. Seems pretty smooth to me.

Edited by 162db, 08 January 2012 - 04:14 PM.

[suddste]

162db, on Jan 8 2012, 04:02 PM, said:

I figured an X4 965 overclocked should run it fine. Switching to a 2500k may or may not help in your situation. I didn't have any experience with the NGX but I did with the 747. Back then what helped me maintain smooth frames was a more powerful gpu. I upgraded from a 9600gtx to a GTX 285 and it was smooth sailing and that system was running an i7 920. Also, I've never heard of a Phenom II 965 that was only capable of a 300 mhz overclock. That cpu should at least reach 4.0 ghz. I just saw one the other day that was at 4.5 ghz. What cooler are you using?

Here's a vid of a guy running an X4 965 at stock clocks but he has a GTX 570 video card. Seems pretty smooth to me.

Like I said, I had a GTX480 in my system and it was exactly the same. And the system kept freezing at enything higher than 3.7GHz. Surely this isnt a temp problem?

Edited by suddste, 08 January 2012 - 04:22 PM.

[162db]

suddste, on Jan 8 2012, 02:11 PM, said:

Like I said, I had a GTX480 in my system and it was exactly the same. And the system kept freezing at enything higher than 3.7GHz. Surely this isnt a temp problem?

Oops didn't see that you tried a GTX 480. That's strange, as you can see in the vid that guy is running the same cpu pretty smooth. AMD cpus have a stricter thermal limit than Intel so it's definitely not going to like it if temps are too high for given clock. A couple things I have to ask first. What psu are you running? What cooler are you running on the cpu?

Edited by 162db, 08 January 2012 - 04:42 PM.