How good is my system?

[FSXRULES88]

Hey ya'll

I won't say that I'm the most computer-savy guy out there (maybe i'm a little above average) and I've just been thinking about my system the last couple of days and was wondering just how it ranks compared with other systems.  I am a big FSX junkie, and of course its all about performance to make a flight enjoyable.  I definitely want to get a new system sometime, but I am just wondering how long my current system will be good for and how long it will be able to keep up with the new addons that developers are putting out (like FTX products) and when I do get a new system what hardware should I focus on the most.  Here is my current system....

Asus Notebook G72GX Series (gaming laptop) with:

-Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 @ 2.53 GHz

-6.00 GB RAM (I think its DDR2, how can I tell?)

-GeForce GTX 260M CUDA @ 1 GB

- Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit operating system

One of the biggest things that I'm wondering is how much of a difference would it be if my processor was an i7 instead of a core 2 Duo? How much of a performance difference would I see in FSX taking into account my other specs? Is a Quad core a significant difference form a duel core in performance relating to Flight Sim? I got this computer in January and its been a good product, but if I want to extend its gaming life to the fullest what tweaks could I do to get the most out of FSX? I will appreciate your guy's input because I really want to enjoy FSX and the great sceneries FTX puts out on this computer to the fullest, because to be honest I prob. won't be getting a new computer for awhile (I'm a poor college student

Joel

[Ian Routley]

You will have DDR2 given the architecture of the motherboard.

It is hard to get a notebook platform that will keep up with desktop technology.

In particular, HDD speed is considerably slower on most notebooks (this may change with SSDs) , and RAM speeds tend to be a fair bit slower.

For a notebook, your machine sounds pretty good.  FSX at full tilt is, however, capable of stretching "supercomputers"

.....  there is no computer "too fast" for this program, IMHO.  There is always the possibility of faster ....

[lthendrix]

It is good enough.....for now .....my advice is to check peoples sigs on the bottom of the post in the hardware tech talk section.That will give you a good idea of what other peoples machines specs are and you can compare them to yours and you will glean alot of info to help in your hobby by reading ALL the post in hardware and tek talk

[Jimmy UK]

You will have DDR2 given the architecture of the motherboard.

It is hard to get a notebook platform that will keep up with desktop technology.

In particular, HDD speed is considerably slower on most notebooks (this may change with SSDs) , and RAM speeds tend to be a fair bit slower.

For a notebook, your machine sounds pretty good.  FSX at full tilt is, however, capable of stretching "supercomputers"

.....  there is no computer "too fast" for this program, IMHO.  There is always the possibility of faster ....

Totally agree, my pc spec is in my signature.  Pretty mid-range with high end graphics card, and I struggle at certain airports and have to tweak the settings a little, and adjust the eye candy down abit to achieve smooth FPS.  This app is so CPU demanding.  If you can run FSX ok, your in for a real treat with FTX scenery/airport add ons.  Good Luck Joel.

Jimmy

[alainneedle1]

You will have DDR2 given the architecture of the motherboard.

It is hard to get a notebook platform that will keep up with desktop technology.

In particular, HDD speed is considerably slower on most notebooks (this may change with SSDs) , and RAM speeds tend to be a fair bit slower.

For a notebook, your machine sounds pretty good.  FSX at full tilt is, however, capable of stretching "supercomputers"

.....  there is no computer "too fast" for this program, IMHO.  There is always the possibility of faster ....

Totally agree, my pc spec is in my signature.  Pretty mid-range with high end graphics card, and I struggle at certain airports and have to tweak the settings a little, and adjust the eye candy down abit to achieve smooth FPS.  This app is so CPU demanding.  If you can run FSX ok, your in for a real treat with FTX scenery/airport add ons.  Good Luck Joel.

Jimmy

Yeap! as I always said...there is no such thing as over kill in the pc's world.....