Atomic Systems

I'm up and running reasonably well on TS2012 but I'm tempted by a few possible upgrades/tweaks to try and get more out of the sim.

Firstly overclocking. I have an Intel Core 2 Quad Core processor at 2.4Ghz, this is good for being multi-core but not so great on the Ghz side of things. I haven't got the first idea how to overclock something, is it easy to do? can you do it yourself from home? are there any idiots guides anywhere? I believe there are possible cooling issues associated with overclocking but I'm only thinking of going up to maybe 2.7 Ghz which surely won't make that much difference?

Secondly I'm also limited by 3GB RAM because of running Vista 32bit. Is it worth my while upgrading to 64bit Windows and if so how easy is it to do and how much would it cost? Is it a DIY job or best given to a pro?

Sorry for all the questions but upgrading is an alien world to me.

I've got a Packard Bell PC similar to yours (I think it was an iPower rather than an iExtreme though).
Looked into over clocking the other day. The BIOS just does not allow it. Perhaps the motherboard can be flashed with a new BIOS?

This link might help
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1198647

I will have to try and sort out some guides about overclocking.

It is a very easy thing to do and can easily be done at home, just has to be done in small increasements.

For upgrading to 64bit. You will have to do a complete new install of Windows 7 as you can't upgrade from 32bit to 64bit. It is very straight forward though to do so by yourself, just make sure you download 64bit drivers or the operating system will yell at you.

Chris

I contemplated overclocking my stock i5-760CPU earlier this year; but the guys who built my PC they suggested, based on my usage (RW, various race and flight simulators) my biggest gain would be with the GPU and possibly overclocking that.

Overclocking might gain you 10-20%, and that's if you overclock the right bit. Ask yourself if that will make enough of a difference to your framerates before you begin. If you currently get 20fps, then 20% more gives you 24fps.

Performance improvement depends on how much you overclock. It's not like it's a 20% increase across the board. The i7 series can be overclocked a lot on stock voltages without producing too much heat. I have mine at a cool and stable 3.7 from the stock 2.6. But you do need to know what you are doing or find a good guide. And stress test after the changes to make sure you have a stable system. I use Prime95 and monitor with CPUz. Both are free.

Each game interacts with your system in different ways. FSX, for instance, is almost completely dependent on CPU speed, and big changes in GPU speed or architecture do almost nothing for it. I'm too new to TS2012 to have any idea of what area would help it's performance the most.

I have come across a defragger called ultimate defragger3 from disktrix.com which has really made a difference on my modest PC. I am running RW3 and FSX on 85% settings. I am not connected with them in any shape or form by the way.Cheers Mark