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dual vs quad core

Ted, txnetcop has done some testing on the AMD black..Its very good, not quite up to Intel, but still does a great job for FSX....

Many off the shelf rigs are AND cause they are cheaper to build...










I just happened to see this article on Tom's Hardware comparing various Quad Core Processors. I'm very budget minded so I'm always looking to get the most "bang for my buck". Here is a link to the article:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/quad-core-cpu,2499.html

The article does not come right out and say it, but today's 'value minded' buyers should seriously consider an AMD socket AM3 processor (like the 965 or 965 Black Edition with huge overclocking potential) coupled with an AM3 motherboard costing about $100. I've been to the $$ bleeding edge of technology in the past and I'm now comfortable that you don't need to be there to get great performance!
 
Yep but a custom built AMD/Nvidia rig zings no oc req.

Well actually this is not entirely true. An OC'd AMD Black Edition 955/965 runs FSX and many other games a little faster than a non-OC'd CPU. Also you will see mountains of evidence at many of the Tech sites showing the huge differences OCing can make in other games as well. We have verified this at TechCorp over and over...so there is benefit to OCing. Another evidence is that motheboard , memory, video card, and CPU mfgs are now producing products meant to OC without damage as long as they are kept cool.

Scott, Blade124, brought up another important truth. In FSX if your system is properly configured you will get a speed increase in all games where quad cores are meant to be utilized and FSX is definitely quad core capable...just difficult to tune. If you buy the new A2A Accusim products you will be happy you own a quad core as access and movement is so very smooth and fast when configured properly.

One more point, not all quad systems work the same, even of the same make and model components as not everyone configures their systems properly. There are even model differences in CPUs and GPUs and memory revisions, which is why you want to verify which exact CPU or GPU or memory module is being purchased. There are different revisions of motherboards and how they work with modified chips and BIOS. All of this matters which why you see some people with the same specs as others but their system runs FSX or other games badly. It matters how you configure your purchase and your final setup.

I'm sorry I have been away, I am inundated with family issues and TechCorp testing rigors right now. I will try to add where I can but no promises. Keep up the good work Harleyman!

Ted

Oh yeah by the way AMD Black Edition AM3 runs FSX very well...period!
 
Sweet Little Machine

I had some time over this past weekend for tweaking and testing my latest 'economy' build using an AMD 955 Black Edition processor with GIGABYTE GA-MA785GMT-UD2H AM3 motherboard and Win7. I threw in an ATI 4890 graphics card and an 80 gig SSD (I had it laying around). The most recent overclock on the AMD 955 is 3.7 GHz with stock components. That makes about 16% overclock and still no adverse reaction. I ran the ATI tuning program on the video card so I am also getting some o/c on the graphics processor. I moved my FSX files form my hard drive to the SSD with only one issue which was quickly corrected (once identified).

In FSX I set the FPS to 33 and I now get between 25 and 33 FPS continuously. After completing the reconfiguration (with a blue ray disk drive) I moved the installation from my shop area to my living room and hooked it to my HDTV. Now, the FPS rate is good and the scenery is rich. (The blue ray is also quite good and, if you have NetFlix, you can instantly download to your computer and watch on HDTV.)

I would rate this motherboard / processor combination as an excellent value. The Win7 rating on all the components in this rig are over 7 except for the economy hard drive I used which came in at 5.9. (I have not gotten a rating on the SSD.)

To make the long story short -- this rig has worked without a fault (meaning no BSODs, no lock ups, no glitches, no restarts and a properly functioning 'sleep mode') since I first built it 2 weeks ago and it runs FSX very well. The AMD concept of making its motherboard chipsets, graphics cards and processors work well together is --- well ---- working! It also appears Win7 works well.

Next tests: (1) Replace the ATI 4890 with an ATI 5770 (a newer, economy minded video card that I may be able to 'hybrid crossfire' with the motherboard's integrated graphics chip) and (2) test my dual core Vista machine with DDR3 memory. (If you want to know more about this inexpensive m/b go to www.newegg.com for many write-ups on this product.)

Now if I could only figure out how to get a B-52 cockpit working with the CS B-52 exterior!
 
Ever since I paid out for a now "old" Intel CPU QX6850 3ghz CPU I have never looked back with FSX, I have it o'clocked to 3.6 and it runs like silk. fsx is well known for the better cpu you have the better, it's not so much how much ram you have.

Just my two cents worth, I'm no real techy.
 
Got my new rig

Hi,
Finally got the new rig delivered and FSX is installed with SP2.

All I can say is wow.
I went for a quad core I5 on a Gigabyte motherboard with 4 GB of RAM, a 750 w power supply and a XFX GTS 250 w 512 MB. went with Windows 7 64 bit as the OS.
Using the Gigabyte tools it was dead easy to over clock to 3.0 GHz, if I have no issues in the next few days I will see if it can go any higher (the over clocking utility does have a higher setting)

Just went flying for the first time and what a difference, there is no way that my old system would manage bad weather, night lighting, and no ground blurries. And absolutely not with a steady 25 fps:applause:

Of course I haven't started messing about with it yet, that should break it good:icon_lol:
 
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