E8400 or Q6600? For FSX

[vouslavous]

Which CPU should i go for for Playing FSX at Maxed out settings. Pairing one of these with a 4850. Will the 4850 be able to handle maxed setting.

 

[jumpman]

Well after a quick google search I found that FSX supports 4+ cores, therefore the Q6600 will be the better choice. And I couldn't tell you if the 4850 will allow you to run the game on max settings, though I do know that FSX depends much more upon the CPU than the graphics card. So if you haven't thought about overclocking yet you might want to look into that too.

 

[plodgeface]

fsx will use all four cores of the quad. but the e8400 has higher clock speed. get a q6600 and overclock it to e8400 speed (3ghz). the 4850 should be good. consider getting another one later on if you have a crossfire compatable mobo

 

[vouslavous]

Yeah i plan on pairing 2 4850's on a Gigabyte P45. I will overclock the Q6600. Hoping to reach 3.2

 

[PCnut]

Q6600 Will reach 3.2 with no problem with a decent CPU cooler and the mother board you are getting.

 

[jimmysmitty]

^Get either a Zalman 9700, TR Ultra 120 or the Tuniq tower. 3.2GHz will be easy with a slight voltage bump. I got to 3GHz at lower than stock. Oh Q6600. Go Q6600.

 

[aevm]

Q6600 is definitely the smarter choice for FSX.

I'd get a GA-X48-DS4, rather than a P45, for full-speed Crossfire.

 

[cjl]

FSX loves 2 things: CPU clock speed, and CPU threads.

Get the quad.

Oh, and as for maxing it out? You might be able to - it's incredibly demanding on your CPU though, so if it stutters, my bet is that it is being limited by the CPU, not the GPU.

 

[surfbum]

I'd get a GA-X48-DS4, rather than a P45, for full-speed Crossfire.

+1

 

[samuraiblade]

no no no , DFI lanparty x48! , much better overclockers board!!! , every true enthusiast knows this

(i take no responsiblity for being bias to DFI , although they are the best overclockers)

 

[aevm]

That's good too, sure. Or P5E Deluxe X48.

 

[jj463rd]

Go with the Quad Core 6600.Oh and as for the ATI Radeon 4850 graphics card if you want to run FSX in 1920 by 1200 resolution get a 1 GB graphics card like this one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102759

FSX is CPU dependent but for higher resolutions you will want a 1 GB video card.

 

[CompuTronix]

Guys,

Please refer to the following thread, so I don't have to repeat which hardware configurations work best for FSX: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/253586-33-best-graphics-card-playing-flight-1080p#t1851027

Comp

 

[jj463rd]

True but 512 megabytes on those graphics cards are inadequate for FSX in the resolution of 1920 X 1200 or WUXGA and the frame rates will start to drop at over around a resolution of 1680×1050 or WSXGA.
So really the ideal amount of video memory required for 1920 X 1200 resolution is 1 gigabyte for a modern graphics card for FSX.
For 2560×1600 resolution or WQXGA the ideal graphics memory for FSX will be 2 gigabytes without frame rate drops.

 

[CompuTronix]

jj463rd,

I've reread this thread to confirm that vouslavous said "maxed out settings". He said nothing regarding resolutions. However, since you've called into question FSX frame rates and resolutions, check out the links below:

Tom's Desktop VGA Charts, FSX (1920x1200):
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/desktop-vga-charts/microsoft-flight-simulator-x,566.html?p=1601%2C1583%2C1597%2C1574%2C1602%2C1612%2C1595%2C1589%2C1642%2C1568%2C1611%2C1560%2C1639%2C1630%2C1587%2C1567%2C1608%2C1623%2C1619%2C1564%2C1621%2C1606

Tom's Dual and Quad VGA Charts, FSX (1920x1200):
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/dual-quad-vga-charts-2008/microsoft-flight-simulator-x,522.html?p=1540%2C1541%2C1542%2C1533%2C1543%2C1534%2C1539%2C1530%2C1535%2C1532%2C1538%2C1531%2C1528%2C1529%2C1547%2C1525%2C1546%2C1527%2C1537%2C1526%2C1556%2C1554%2C1553%2C1555%2C1536%2C1524%2C1552%2C1545%2C1551%2C1550%2C1548%2C1544%2C1549

Radeon HD 4870: Better Than GTX 260, FSX (1680x1050), (1920x1200), (2560x1600)
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-4870,1964-6.html


Even at the highest settings and resolutions, the following points are obvious:

(1) FSX frame rate is dominated by nVidia GPU's.

(2) FSX frame rate is little affected by multiple GPU's and memory.


Additionally, FSX frame rate is greatly affected by a highly overclocked quad CPU. As I stated in the other thread;

... I've been a Flight Simulator enthusiast since 4.0, so I've always designed my rigs especially to run Flight Simulator. No "games", just the "simulation". FSX SP1 & SP2 are coded for multiple cores, so FSX will use as much raw CPU horsepower as you can afford to throw at it.

Frame rates scale nearly 1:1 with CPU clock speed, so if you overclock from 2.4 Ghz to 3.6 Ghz, frame rate will increase nearly 50%. Additionally, I've tested FSX at 3.6 Ghz on an E6600, and at 3.6 Ghz on a Q6600. The increase in frame rate is nothing less than an astonishing 80%.

A quad with a high-end cooler and a high overclock is essential for the highest frame rates in FSX. Google the Flight Simulator websites for the best fsx.cfg file tweaks to achieve the best balance between frame rate and image quality.

For graphics, I recommend the 8800 GTS 512. It's under $200.00, has enough memory for high resolutions, and enough horsepower for running GPU bound "games" beyond running the CPU bound "simulation". Equally important, the 8800 GTS has dual slot rear exhaust which maintains low case temperatures to keep an overclocked quad running cool...

Comp

 

[jj463rd]

Thanks very much for the correction then.I guess I was wrong about my prediction.I'd like to see more benchmarks on FSX especially when the upcoming Nehalems come out.

 

[CompuTronix]

FSX uses cores and clocks, so if Nehalem can OC to mid 4's, FSX frame rates will increase accordingly.