Spec. me a ***** upgrade.

Cuchulain · 21 Oct 2009 at 12:54

On the cheap (relatively).

FSX with REX is killing my machine at the moment:

Q6600 @ 3.4ghz
ATI 4870 (512mb)
4 x 1gb Geil 6400
Gigabyte DS4 (P965, rev 1)

If you were on a budget (buying a new car so money is tight), what would you upgrade?

I was tempted by a Phenom 2 (x4) but I'd need a new motherboard, processor AND ram so that's probably out of the picture.

valdai · 21 Oct 2009 at 13:06

I don't know much about that software but it sounds like it's quite processor intensive. Upgrading from Q6600 isn't going to be too cheap, so I guess I would advise a second 4870 (if your mobo can do Xfire) but I'm not sure how much of a difference that would make.

cmndr_andi · 21 Oct 2009 at 13:14

A Q6600 @ 3.4GHz is a very powerful processor, you would probalby need to go for an i5/i7 build to get a decent boost in CPU performance, which is obviously very expensive. As for Phenom 2, this would be a sidegrade at best and cost a lot of money. But TBH, I find it difficult to believe that it is your 3.4GHz quad that is slowing things down.

Out of interest, what resolution are you playing at?

I'm not too clued up on FSX, but did I hear right that Nvidia cards play nicer with this particular game? If so, an upgrade to a second-hand GTX2xx card may be worth while. If you sell the 4870, it shouldn't cost too much.

Cuchulain · 21 Oct 2009 at 13:14

valdai said:
I don't know much about that software but it sounds like it's quite processor intensive. Upgrading from Q6600 isn't going to be too cheap, so I guess I would advise a second 4870 (if your mobo can do Xfire) but I'm not sure how much of a difference that would make.

For FSX, it's the processor that counts unfortunately.

Are you able to get I5/I7 boards that support DDR2?

HazardO · 21 Oct 2009 at 13:16

Cuchulain said:
For FSX, it's the processor that counts unfortunately.

Are you able to get I5/I7 boards that support DDR2?

The i5s and i7s do not support DDR2, they have integrated memory controllers, DDR3 only.

Cuchulain · 21 Oct 2009 at 13:19

cmndr_andi said:
A Q6600 @ 3.4GHz is a very powerful processor, you would probalby need to go for an i5/i7 build to get a decent boost in CPU performance, which is obviously very expensive. As for Phenom 2, this would be a sidegrade at best and cost a lot of money. But TBH, I find it difficult to believe that it is your 3.4GHz quad that is slowing things down.

Out of interest, what resolution are you playing at?

I'm not too clued up on FSX, but did I hear right that Nvidia cards play nicer with this particular game? If so, an upgrade to a second-hand GTX2xx card may be worth while. If you sell the 4870, it shouldn't cost too much.

I've it set at 1680x1050, no AA, minimal AF and I've not even been that over judicious with the graphics settings within the game.

Perhaps a better board for OC'ing the processor and better cooling?