Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | PC Support |
Which processor for new computer? |
DVA6227
Captain, B737-800
Joined on July 28 2008
"The skys are my get away" Western United States
82 legs, 129.7 hours
53 legs,
83.5 hours online 79 legs,
125.1 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
October 22 2009 21:25 ET by Connor McLaughlin
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We are getting ready to purchase a new computer and are leaning toward the new iMac. I know I will have to partition the drive and install windows via boot camp to run fsx and per various threads this does work well.
My question is regarding the processor. I understand that it is very important for fsx. Should I get the duo core 3.33Ghz or the quad core 2.8Ghz. Gut says to go for the quad because it is the newest out there and I don't want my computer to be out of date in a year but will that run fsx best?
Also, I don't think an NVidia card is an option, would be ATI Radeon 512mb. Anyone have good experience with this card? Only other choice is ATI Radeon 256.
Any input is appreciated.
Thanks.
Connor McLaughlinCaptain, B737-800
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DVA7373
Captain, B757-200
OLP
Joined on May 31 2009
"Howdy" Southeastern United States
72 legs, 187.6 hours
32 legs,
85.4 hours online 67 legs,
153.2 hours ACARS 2 legs,
3.1 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
October 22 2009 21:34 ET by Nicholas Taylor
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"Any input is appreciated."
Be careful what you wish for, here I go!
"purchase a new computer and are leaning toward the new iMac"
Why!? It's not well suited for anything except multi-media editing, production, etc. Macs are not the way to go for gaming of any sort.
"my question is regarding the processor. I understand that it is very important for fsx. Should I get the duo core 3.33Ghz or the quad core 2.8Ghz. Gut says to go for the quad because it is the newest out there and I don't want my computer to be out of date in a year but will that run fsx best?"
If you're decided over the Mac, go for the Quad Core and overclock it.
"Also, I don't think an NVidia card is an option, would be ATI Radeon 512mb. Anyone have good experience with this card? Only other choice is ATI Radeon 256."
Don't except good FSX performance from an ATI card compared to a Nvidia card, especially only a 512mb.
Nicholas TaylorCaptain, B757-200
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DVA6695
Captain, MD-88
Joined on November 26 2008
Century Club
Online Century Club
"We are....Penn State" Phoenixville, PA USA
153 legs, 206.0 hours
108 legs,
149.6 hours online 149 legs,
200.2 hours ACARS 11 legs,
20.0 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
October 22 2009 22:31 ET by Jack Urie
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"iMac" and "choice" don't go well together in the same sentence. Nicholas and I had already gone through this once before, and we both agree--iMacs are TREMENDOUS at what they do...but gaming is not really what they do. If you are getting an iMac, you might as well go for the most powerful one out there.
BTW, I have an iMac, but I haven't bothered with Boot Camp yet (I run FSX quite nicely thank you on my homebuilt Q6600). It is a really fun computer.
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DVA6920
Senior Captain, MD-11
E-MAIL
Joined on January 24 2009
Century Club
"Another day in the office..." Parker, CO USA
163 legs, 828.1 hours
28 legs,
44.1 hours online 162 legs,
816.9 hours ACARS 5 legs,
9.0 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
October 23 2009 00:11 ET by Tom Sanders
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Conor I run a quad core and I find no problems with it. I guess people have done the benchmarks and reviews and say the Dual Core is the way to go, but I have been very happy with my quad core and would plan to buy one again when I upgrade.
Tom SandersSenior Captain, MD-11
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DVA1603
Captain, B727-200
Joined on April 02 2004
Double Century Club
Albany, GA USA
266 legs, 399.1 hours
85 legs,
131.0 hours online 93 legs,
129.4 hours ACARS 2 legs,
3.4 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
October 23 2009 00:29 ET by Michael Wilson
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If you decide against the iMac (which would definitely be my suggestion), and move into a realm where you have real options, here is your answer:
Intel - the fastest i7 you can afford, but don't go cheap around it in order to get a slightly faster i7.
AMD - a Phenom II of your choice. Personally, I recently built a rig around a Phenom II X2 550. You can get an X4 if you insist on quad-core, but neither FS9 or FSX will take full advantage of those two additional cores. The X2 550 is reasonably priced, has an unlocked multiplier, and overclocks quite well on air with a good heatsink.
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DVA7338
Captain, B747-400
E-MAIL
Joined on May 17 2009
"Thou shalt maintain thy airspeed." Faridabad, Haryana India
60 legs, 151.3 hours
49 legs,
135.1 hours online 58 legs,
145.2 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
October 23 2009 05:21 ET by Gurmeet Arora
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Go for a 64 bit Dual core with Windows 7 PC (not Mac at all) with 3-4 GB RAM.
People have reported good results with FSX on quad core but FS9 will be a little sluggish on it (or so that I have read).
Also ask yourself as to what you want to do with it beyond FS. Do you have people you share Word/Excel document with. Do you have excellent support network around you. Are you willing to pay for small little utility beyond the core OS.
Ask your neighbors/office colleagues. Then take a decision accordingly.
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DVA1603
Captain, B727-200
Joined on April 02 2004
Double Century Club
Albany, GA USA
266 legs, 399.1 hours
85 legs,
131.0 hours online 93 legs,
129.4 hours ACARS 2 legs,
3.4 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
October 23 2009 09:31 ET by Michael Wilson
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Think of multi-cores as more of a marketing strategy, and less of a necessity. When FSX was developed, they were not expecting quad-cores and beyond to become common within the next few years. They were expecting advancements in dual-core speed, which never really happened. The answer for FSX is simple since everyone is operating on a budget. A faster, modern dual-core will serve you better than a slower quad-core.
People observe improvements when switching from single, to dual, and then quad. However, look at how they are doing it. Few people are replacing a brand new dual-core with a brand new quad-core. If they are, perhaps they are changing motherboards to something with a chipset better suited to that build of processor. The only way to be able to definitively say that you see an advantage with quad-core is if nothing about the system or processor changes, except that it has four cores instead of two. Take the Pentium 4 vs. Core 2 Duo, for example. The difference that people saw going from one to the other had very little to do with dual-core, and plenty to do with architecture. Core 2 Duo vs. Core i7 is much the same.
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DVA6227
Captain, B737-800
Joined on July 28 2008
"The skys are my get away" Western United States
82 legs, 129.7 hours
53 legs,
83.5 hours online 79 legs,
125.1 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
October 23 2009 09:59 ET by Connor McLaughlin
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Thanks for responses.
Tom - if you're on here again, what is the speed of your quad core and is it a mac or pc and what is your video card?
I know a strong pc would be best for fsx but this computer is not used for gaming only and is used by my whole family for work, school, multi-media (some video editing and heavy photo stuff) and other stuff too. Can't afford to buy a pc just for gaming and actually fsx is the only game I use on the computer.....that is why we are probably going with iMac. Have experienced too many problems with pcs over last couple of years.
Right now we have a Pentium 4 2.4Ghz with 1GB Ram and NVidia GeForce FX 5200 so I figure anything I get, even if not a pc should be better than what I have and FSX runs pretty smoothly right now with most settings at or near high (I know that might be surprising)
This quad core would be Intel i7 2.8 GHz, 8GB Ram 1066MHz DDR3 SDram 4x2GB with the ATI Radeon HD4850 , the duo core would be 3.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, same RAM and same ATI card.
Since this is more than a gaming computer I am leaning toward the quad core 2.8 GHz and I just need confirmation that it will run better than what we have now, I definitely don't want to go backward.
Thanks.
Connor McLaughlinCaptain, B737-800
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DVA1603
Captain, B727-200
Joined on April 02 2004
Double Century Club
Albany, GA USA
266 legs, 399.1 hours
85 legs,
131.0 hours online 93 legs,
129.4 hours ACARS 2 legs,
3.4 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
October 23 2009 10:10 ET by Michael Wilson
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It will definitely run better than what you have now.
Perhaps you should consider getting the family their iMac, and eventually piecing together your own PC to run FSX. In the meantime, yes, the iMac (or almost anything new) should be an improvement.
I'm scratching my head on how you get that performance with your current rig, unless you're not using complex payware addons and traffic.
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DVA6227
Captain, B737-800
Joined on July 28 2008
"The skys are my get away" Western United States
82 legs, 129.7 hours
53 legs,
83.5 hours online 79 legs,
125.1 hours ACARS
|
Posted onPost created on
October 23 2009 10:25 ET by Connor McLaughlin
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Thanks Michael. Another problem is I don't have anywhere else to put another pc right now so we will be sharing.
I guess I'm going for the quad core and hoping for the best....that does seem to be the future of processors and I assume more applications will begin to utilize that aspect.
Connor McLaughlinCaptain, B737-800
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DVA364
Captain, B767-300
Joined on October 23 2001
Century Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
Everett Century Club
"COWBOY UP!" Carrollton, GA
190 legs, 366.9 hours
5 legs,
6.5 hours online 150 legs,
249.2 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
October 23 2009 13:00 ET by Ralph Templeman
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Conner, I bought last month a 750 gig-----------quad core 8gigs or ram and my machine works perfect with fs9 It is screaming compared to my 250 gig --------2gig of ram hp......my system blew up on me one morning...I think that my power unit had problems.....took my hard drive out of the old and placed in the new........the only thing I don't like is vista.........think i'm going with w7 upgrade and hope that I have no problems......but my system does good 25 frames per second......and i love it.......no lock ups...and no problems.....I have a ASUS I got a good deal on it.......it's as good or b etter than my old machine..
Ralph TemplemanCaptain, B767-300
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DVA364
Captain, B767-300
Joined on October 23 2001
Century Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
Everett Century Club
"COWBOY UP!" Carrollton, GA
190 legs, 366.9 hours
5 legs,
6.5 hours online 150 legs,
249.2 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
October 23 2009 13:04 ET by Ralph Templeman
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oh one more thing......I have a pc .....not a mac.....my choir director swears by mac....but I don't do the music and stuff that he does..with his........i'm too old to learn a new system......and barely smart enough to do the system that I have........( no snide remarks now please) lol loll llol lol lol lol i'm self taught with these computers.......still learning..........
Ralph TemplemanCaptain, B767-300
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DVA6920
Senior Captain, MD-11
E-MAIL
Joined on January 24 2009
Century Club
"Another day in the office..." Parker, CO USA
163 legs, 828.1 hours
28 legs,
44.1 hours online 162 legs,
816.9 hours ACARS 5 legs,
9.0 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
October 23 2009 17:02 ET by Tom Sanders
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Connor,
Right now I use a Q6600 Quad Core running at 2.4. I don't do the whole overclocking thing. I am running an Nvidia EVGA 8800 Ultra. The computer was great the day I got it and it still performs any function that I need to my satisfaction including FSX. I am running a PC, I would like to buy a Mac in the future, but it would be a second computer as a laptop and I wouldn't use as a primary. Go with whatever is in your price range and what you think will work best, I have always been a fan of the quad cores for the video editing and DVD authoring I do from time to time, and I don't feel like buying that dual core a few years ago would really give me so much of a performance hop that I would notice it.
Tom SandersSenior Captain, MD-11
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DVA7180
Captain, MD-88
Joined on March 17 2009
Richmond, BC Canada
59 legs, 109.5 hours
4 legs,
6.8 hours online 56 legs,
101.4 hours ACARS 2 legs,
3.2 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
October 23 2009 17:37 ET by Lindsey Wiebe
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MOst programs (including the FS series) do not support quad core which why I went dual core E8400 which is great bang for buck.
Lindsey WiebeCaptain, MD-88
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