i3/i5/i7?

[dvir1161]

what do you think is the best processor to fsx and how much ram i need to run fsx smoothly 2.0 will do the work?  thanks guys

[Daube]

4 Gb of fast high quality RAM with a 64 bit operating system (Windows 7 64bits)
The i7 is better because it's the most powerfull. However, an i5 with a high frequency (3GHz or more) will already work well at a more reasonnable price.

[Cessnaporsche01]

Also make sure you also have lots of video RAM. FSX doesn't need a nice video card, but it uses video RAM like a Lamborghini uses gasoline.

[dvir1161]

[quote]Also make sure you also have lots of video RAM. FSX doesn't need a nice video card, but it uses video RAM like a Lamborghini uses gasoline.

[vgbaron]

If you get an I7 you want to take advantage of the triple channel memory architecture for best operation so you will need 6GB. Any more is wasted unless you do large video editing.

using 4gb on an i7 is a waste. An I5 uses dual channel so 4gb would be ok but you get the best bang for the buck with an I7.

Vic

[dvir1161]

If you get an I7 you want to take advantage of the triple channel memory architecture for best operation so you will need 6GB. Any more is wasted unless you do large video editing.

using 4gb on an i7 is a waste. An I5 uses dual channel so 4gb would be ok but you get the best bang for the buck with an I7.

Vic

thanks man and for i3 how much will do the work?

[Daube]

I3 CPUs are dual cores. I wouldn't recommend them.

[SVMirador]

I run an i5-750 overclocked to 3.42 GHz with 4GB of not so special memory and a very old and tired eVGA 8800GTS (640GB)

Vista 32/SP2/ FSX Accel

[dvir1161]

[quote]I run an i5-750 overclocked to 3.42 GHz with 4GB of not so special memory and a very old and tired eVGA 8800GTS (640GB)

Vista 32/SP2/ FSX Accel

[zaxxon23]

Damn Intel for making their CPU models so confusing!!

Thought for sure all i5's were dual core with hyperthreading... lol silly me for thinking it would be simple like that.

So, I have an E8400 overclocked to 3.6ghz and a nVidia 8800 GTS.  4gb of ram at 900Mhz and FSX frame rates still pretty much suck at higher display settings.  Especially when flying over a big city with lots of buildings.

Anyone have any suggestions on what new setup would be the best? Do I go higher clock rate i5 or lower cpu clock, but i7?  Or is there an AMD that would work as well?

Would the higher clock rate on say an i5-680 (3.6 ghz dual core w/hyperthread) be better for FSX than an i7-870 (2.93 ghz 4-core w/hyperthread)?  Or is the quad core at less clock rate better? (yeah, I'm considering an imac)

I'd prefer to not have to mess with overclocking, but if there is a specific new gen CPU that overclocks really smoothly, then I'd consider it if it will get me decent frame rates.

I haven't been able to find any stats online that show how the latest cpus and gpus do in FSX, and seeing as how FSX is so single-thread CPU bound, I don't trust what the charts show for other games.

Thanks for the help!

[New Light]

[vgbaron]

No problem Dave - we're all friends here.

If going to 9gb made your FSX smoother then somehting else happened. The extra ram has absolutely NO effect on FSX - couldn't use it if it wanted to. It is a 32bit application and even running on a 64bit system, it can not use more than 4GB.

Going from 4gb to 6gb on a 64bit I7 system will have an effect however because it allows the OS to put itself in the >4gb address space and leaves the <4gb space for FSX.

If you only had 4gb then the OS AND FSX would share that space.

So 6gb is ideal, more than 6 is useless *for FSX*.

An oversimplification of the process but it should help.

However, if your system is running the way you want - then have at it. Individual satisfaction is the important thing.

The maximum memory for the various 64-bit version of Windows 7 are as follows, unless anything's changed recently:

Starter: 8GB
Home Basic: 8GB
Home Premium: 16GB
Professional: 192GB
Enterprise: 192GB
Ultimate: 192GB



Vic

[New Light]

Hey Vic and folks!

[Thai09]

If you have extra RAM, then try this:

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/320176-usi ... -stutters/

FSX only uses max. 4 Gb, right?

So if you have 9 Gb or more, a RAM Disk could be useful..