2 core or more?

[Rossjackson01]

I am looking to buy a desktop computer to run FSX. I have been told by a builder that all I need is a 2 core machine. He states that fsx only uses 2 core and any more is a waste. He says that the primary concern is a large video card. Whilst I agree with the comment about the video card is he correct that only a 2 core machine is OK?

Yes I am a novice and do not know much about systems. Any advice, non technical would be appreciated.

Regards

Rossjackson01

[cecilkilmer]

It is true that FSX is not designed to use multiple cores. Also, he was incorrect about the primary concern being the video card. Really and truely, the primary concern is CPU clock speed. The faster the better. After that, i would rank video card.

Look for something with a base clock speed of over 3.0 GHz, and if it's capable of being overclocked, even better. Look for a video card with at least 512MB of RAM, preferably 1GB, and look to have at least 4GB of RAM in the system (if using a 64-bit operating system, I'd recommend 6GB at a minimum).

[bgets]

Cecil is correct. Depending on your MB, you should be able to pick up a dual core at a great price. I had a E8500 that I OC'd to 4.3 Ghz on air. Keep in mind the more cores the CPU has will make working with video, photos etc. work better. It really depends on what you can afford. Check the price difference between a dual core and perhaps a i5-2600k or i7-2600k. I built my system for approximately $1400 back in August of this year.
Good luck.
Bob G.

[ReggieF5421]

While FSX is a very old program designed for a different era of CPU, I don't think you should purchase a computer based on FSX as the maximum standard.

What is said above is correct. FSX was spec'd for an expected generation of CPU which was anticipated to be single core with CPU speeds in the 6-8ghz range for mid-range computers. Multi-core was simply expected to be too expensive to ever be common.

But as we know in the computer world, sometimes technology develops differently than expected.

The recommendations above are very good, but remember the future. At some point during that computer's life, we will see a new simulator program, almost certainly designed to use multi-core processors. While it should also be heavily CPU bound, multi-core along with CPU speed will be important.

[vgbaron]

True FSX was not designed with multicore support but it has had full multi cores support since Sp2. If you have 4 or 6 cores, FSX *WILL* use them. The main process runs on core 0 but the other cores are used for texture loading, etc. Also, as a side benefit, you can assign various add-ons to different cores to allow the main core to run FSX.

Vic

[abrussell]

Using AffinityMask=14 in Fsx config will direct Windows to core 0, fsx to core 1, and cores 3 and 4 will run scenery. Other Affinity Mask settings are also available.
Bruce

[Rossjackson01]

Thank you very much for your replies. Much appreciated. Christmas looms..... maybe...? abrussell, Will look up affininty mask. Regards to all. rossjackson01