hi...would you recommend the i7-3770k (overclocked)....with the asus sabertooth z77 motherboard?
my present system can overclock only to about 3.6 and is unstable and crashes occasionally....
oh.....also a geforce gtx 660 ti-dc20-2gd5

I have the i7 3770, turbo boosted it runs at about 3.79 ghz while using FSX and it's very stable 8-)

I have the i7-3770K with the ASUS Z77. I get 60+FPS without overclocking. I highly recommend this combination! Just remember that FSX needs a better PROCESSOR than  RAM or VGA.

If I were you, I'd save some money and get an i5 3570K and overclock to 4.3 GHz using a CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo. Performance will be just as good as a 3770K at the same clock speed.

thanks all.....stuttering was more what i was concerned about

yancovitch wrote on Feb 9^th, 2013 at 4:37pm:

hi...would you recommend the i7-3770k (overclocked)....with the asus sabertooth z77 motherboard? my present system can overclock only to about 3.6 and is unstable and crashes occasionally.... oh.....also a geforce gtx 660 ti-dc20-2gd5

Yancovitch,

It has been a while since I have been on this forum and noticed your post on 2/10/13. In the Fall of 2012, I upgraded to an i7-3770K and the following is an overview of how it turned out,

With my i7-3770K, signature system spec below, I get the following Windows Experience Index score.

Performance Information (Windows Experience Index on a scale of 1.0 to 7.9)

1.  Processor - Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz      7.8

2.  16 GB C8 G.SKILL Low Profile RAM                  7.8

3.  Graphics - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580                  7.8

4.  Gaming graphics - 4096 MB available memory            7.8

5.  Primary Solid State Drive                        7.9

Four 7.8s and one 7.9.

Note that the highest maxed score is for the Solid State Drive. For my last three builds, this is a first for having a system hard drive being the fasted component in my PC but only by .1. Normally it was the slowest. Things keep getting better over time.

As for performance?

Currently have it over clocked to 4.7 GHz. Working on getting it to five. At 4.7 my CPU voltage is at 1.395V. Temps rarely reach 70C - mostly stay in the 50s and 60s with my case fans set to low. Putting it simply, this CPU makes FSX run beautifully anywhere in the world. In my opinion, it is the best yet with its 1.4 billion transistors and on board graphics enhancement support.

What about the i5-3570K?  Can it achieve the same performance? From what I have read,  it can and cost less. I chose the i7-3770K over it because of its higher number threads and L3 Cache,and higher base and turbo frequency, but mainly that in my opinion, it is the best of the Ivy Bridge third generation Desktop QC processors.  Couple it with a well cooled case, fast RAM, and high end video card, and FSX flies.

Good luck with your upgrade.

Flight Ace

wonderful...thanks mucho.......