CPU or GPU Upgrade

[Flight Ace]

I am currently running FSX with an i7 920 over clocked to 4 GHz. My GPU is a GTX 285. I am looking at replacing the GTX 285 with a GTX 580. I believe at the present that my current GTX 285 is a bottleneck to the i7 920 which accounts for some random graphics spikes, and some occasional painting lags. My FSX is loaded with software, and is maxed out for the best play on a 26 inch monitor. I would rate my current overall performance with FSX as excellent.

The obvious question is what will provide the best improvement (performance and picture quality) for FSX - an upgraded CPU or an upgraded GPU? Better stated, what is the balance between CPU and GPU for best results when running FSX? When does one become a bottleneck to the other?

Will appreciate any and all comments.

Regards,

Flight Ace

[Sean Grenyer]

From what I know, the CPU is far far more important to FSX performance than the GPU. That said you have 4Ghz which is very good.

I think the GTX580 is a bit overkill for FSX considering how much they are.

I run a i2500K at 4.2Ghz using an old

[Flight Ace]

[quote]From what I know, the CPU is far far more important to FSX performance than the GPU. That said you have 4Ghz which is very good.

I think the GTX580 is a bit overkill for FSX considering how much they are.

I run a i2500K at 4.2Ghz using an old

[Slotback]

IMHO going to a 2600K would not be a massive upgrade from a 920 @ >4ghz. And neither would an i7 980. If I had to choose I would get the 2600K then sell your current CPU, motherboard, and RAM which should get some of your money back. Or you could play the waiting game and wait until Sandy Bridge-E comes out at the end of the year. It's basically a 6 core version of the 2600K but with quad channel memory. It will cost about 550-600 and add a motherboard and RAM on top of that, but it should probably be a beast.

The 2500K has very similar performance to the 2600K but is $100 cheaper with a little less cache and no ht (fsx doesn't use it).

I don't know how big the difference between a gtx 285 and gtx 570/580 would be.

[F35LightningII]

When on FSX, open the task manager and watch your CPU usage. If it's quite high, that's your bottleneck.

[bunky]

I upgraded from a 285 to a 480 and found a nice boost in performance. There is double  the processing cores between the 2 cards. A 580 might be a little better. The 285 was bottlenecking my I 975 @ 4.3.   Skip

[Flight Ace]

[quote]I upgraded from a 285 to a 480 and found a nice boost in performance. There is double