Do Ghz Really Matter?

[ShaneG_old]

I am in the market for a new AMD CPU for my board as the older higher end chips for it are becoming much cheaper now. I need to Know if a Faster duo core(3.0Ghz,3.2Ghz) would be better/worse than it's slower quad core cousin(2.4ghz,2.6Ghz). These are the fastest in each respective catagory for my board. Any help or opinions is greatly appreciated.                                    
Specs below:

[Groundbound1]

Depends. What will you be using the machine for the most? If you intend to use if for FSX, for example, a slightly slower quad core might be the way to go. If, on the other hand, FS9 is your poison of choice, a faster single core cpu would be best. (I know you said dual core, but FS9 has a hard time using more than one core, to the best of my knowledge anyway.)

If you want you machine to be up to the task of running other newer games and software, again the slower quads might be better.

Just my 2 cents.

[AMDDDA]

In FS9, a Quad core would spread out the work, at best, as I saw myself.


I saw core 1 was at 100% load, and the others were at 5-10% load, but when putting FS9 on cores 2,3, and 4 instead of all 4, the others got an equal share of the load, which did help with stuttering (this is before I got my new graphics card, which I just got!).



FSX = Get the Phenom 9950 or 9850 BE.

FS9 = Get an Athlon or a Phenom X3 8750, which are both cheap but good.

[ShaneG_old]

I'm getting 60fps(locked) on FS9 now. The upgrade is mainly for FSX.
I have it locked at 20 with everything except weather turned up all the way,(graphics card too) and I see 15-20 pretty steady depending on where I'm at. I've got the current CPU overclocked to 2.95Ghz(was 3 but stability issues started to arise after extended time in FSX) My thinking was that a faster CPU of higher quality would give me the last little push I need to get FSX to my target goal of 30Fps locked & steady, and all sliders up. I keep the weather settings at medium to avoid serious stutters.

[RiSq]

I'd go for the highest end card you can afford. Obviously not a Black edition or anything like that, but highest "Consumer" GPU going. Either that or go cheap and save the pennies and treat yourself to an Intel chipset system next spring