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Just passing on some info about i7 to clear up some things and to throw FSX data into the mix for the platform.
I am being very conservative in reporting this as to avoid hype.
I have not had time to complete all my checks and test however I do have enough information to relay a few things so those who may be on the fence about buying or wish to upgrade have good information to base their decision.
First and foremost, in making the decision to move to i7 you need to look at what you are running today and what you are willing to spend.
If you are on AMD, old Intel and/or not running modern Intel, moving to i7 will be a good boost and investment for you. Do be aware that if you intend to clock it will be easier to hit higher clocks and better latency on 940 and DDR3 1600 memory. Moving to 920 from AMD and not clocking will still provide a worthwhile boost but you should consider the 940 if clocking is not on your to-do list so you get the full monty in the upgrade over what you are use to seeing.
And do keep in mind, moving to i7 on a slower video card is going to present a bottleneck just like it does with current processors so if you are on AMD with a budget video card, you should upgrade that card too at the same time.
If you are on Intel Quad and not clocking and you run 2.8-3GHz the 940 unclocked will provide a much smoother experience with better visuals. It would not be a wise investment to buy 920 and not clock it. You could buy the 920 but do be aware you will need to clock it to be assured of good value in perf upgrade for your purchase and the video card suggestion with AMD is the same. If you are going to make that move and currently have a medium quality card you would be well served to upgrade the card at the same time.
If you are on Intel and running a 3.6-4+GHz clock on DDR3 1600+ correctly then the move to i7 should be based on:
1. At least a 940 i7
2. At least 1600MHz memory 8-8-8 timing for 6GB, 7-7-7 timing for 3GB
3. A proper HSF for clocking
4. Plan on clocking the 940 to at least 3.8-4+GHz
With those elements in place you can expect to see results I consider well worth the purchase.
Of course everyone has their own opinion about what is valuable to them in FSX cost wise. Some are statisifed with less scenery and are not willing to pay for perks.
Being conservative here... DO KEEP IN MIND that if you are currently on such a high end system properly clocked and your scenery sliders are maxed what you will be getting is less or no stutters, sharper visuals under the conditions you may typically see now where your current hardware limits are seen on the screen. It will allow higher default traffic as well as allowing bloom to be run closer to urban (major hubs can be a hit) however DO NOT expect to max every slider (water-bloom-traffic-cloud radius) and see no perf hit. Bloom and water shader passes are a 800lb gorilla on DX9 no matter what CPU is in use and clouds will always hit a system hard the way FSX is designed.
Heavy iron users will see great relief under those clocking conditions.
What I am seeing personally is worth every penney spent because I do not like stutters and lags. Flying to me is all about that floating on air feeling without interruptions in lags and blurs.
The pro clockers are getting the 920 up to 4.2-4.3GHz however they are doing so by pushing the absolute limits. They are also experimenting with engineering samples to find out how long those chips last when the memory voltage is exceeded (over 1.65v) and other voltages are pushed.
Other thoughts to consider.. there are those on 32bit OS
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NEW PC SPECS: Intel Core i7 920 - 6GB Corsair DDR3 PC12800 RAM- Intel DX58SO Mobo - Geforce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 - 3x LG1952h LCDs through Matrox's TH2Go - 640GB Seagate Barracuda 7200Rpm
