Errr... say what?? i5-2500k eats X6 in every game out there. Unless you need 6 cores for video/photo editing, I say go with an 2500k.

Again - for what would a gamer need 6 cores exactly??

X6 is more than powerful enough for any game out there yet much cheaper!!

Still, on the many tests produced by various magazines and online it is clear that currently Sandy Bridge produces results that challenge (and often beat) much more expensive core i7 processors running (more expensive) triple-channel memory.

For me the aim is to get 'powerful enough' equipment for a reasonable price - not gain bragging rights about having the best spec system.


Unfortunately, in my own case, I want to upgrade for the imminent release of COD. There is ALWAYS more advanced and faster computer technology just around the corner. Sooner or later you have to 'jump'.

This is really one of those questions that can at best be answered by a bunch of other questions. It's like asking the following question:

What is the best vehicle to buy?
a. A subcompact.
b. A sportscar.
c. A truck.
d. A helicopter.

Budget, speed, functionality, and reliability come into play. Both with vehicles and computers. What are these attributes worth to you? How would you rank their importance?

It's easy to tell someone else what your values are, but then they could get stuck with something that doesn't fit with what is important to them.

Not all games use hardware the same way. Some games are very GPU-dependant, and some are very CPU-dependant. If there is a core set of games you play, you may want to prioritize what they focus on.

My advice is to sit down & think about what you will do with the machine right away, and what you would plan on doing with it in the future. Then do research, research, and more research. Don't take the word of fanboys at face value. Look at benchmarks (especially of games you play), read reviews, and make the best imformed choice you can.

Yeah at the end of the day frame for frame you get the same results with the cheaper chipset.

The trouble with a X58 setup is its setup price compared to what you can get with a P55/P67 setup. You'd be hard pressed to max out the PCIe lanes with even Crossfire / SLI using a single monitor using P55/P67.

Unless you're running triple graphics cards with triple screens at an insane resolution the X58 option is just expensive overkill, and becoming more out of date as time goes by.

There is no info yet telling us which platform, or hardware details, will be the most beneficial to IL2:CLoDO. We can only speculate.

We don't know how many cores, or threads (Hyperthreading), that will be supported. Don't go buying a 6 or 8 core CPU and think you will make the most of it in IL2.
In terms of memory there is indication that the game hasen't used more than 2GB RAM during testing (Ilya) and that more VRAM is better as there will be alot of objects in high detail for the GPU to deal with when flying low over populated areas (again Ilya).
DX11 is not in release, so don't expect it until at least for the first game patch..

In the early days most of this will have to be found out.. We can only hope that some review sites with a good mix of hardware might do a benchmark-run on IL2:CLoDO. Possibly SimHQ might provide us a decent review with hardware concidered in the early days.. ? I think for the most part we will have to exchange with eachother how the game runs on different hardware.

If you are buying a new rig only for IL2 then I suggest to hold your horses a little longer.. There are new hardware coming out all the time; some interesting new SSD's are in the pipe, AMD Bulldozer as well, new custom models of grafix cards. Prices tend to go down ever so slightly on todays and yesterdays hardware.. If you wait a month or two the hardware landscape could be very different to what it is today. And we will know alot more how IL2 will perform on different hardware..
If you are overloaded with cash and don't mind spending fortunes on new hardware then go ahead, you can always adjust to new requirements in a heartbeat ;)

Good advice!

One of the most annoying issues with hardware reviewers is that they rarely include a flight sim let alone ours in theirs tests.

ALL these cpu's have similar gaming performance;
Phenom X6 series cost $180-240
i5 750 $280
i5 2500S $230
i5 2400S $200
i7 875,870,860 $290
phenom II X4 955 $140
phenom II X4 965 $160

Why would you want to spend $100 more for a cpu when you gain nothing??
You could almost build a whole system around an phenom II X4 955 for just the price of an i7 875!! AND have almost identical gaming performance.

Most games are gpu depended, with lower resolutions (see below) you see big differences though. (flight)sims are really happy with a fast cpu, but you almost dont see reviews on that. So you would probaly see bigger differences with flight sims then for the examples below.

I saw a very big difference with rise of flight switching from a 8400 to a i7 860, using the same graphics card.

So the best bet you could do even when paying some more is the new sandy bridge processors (when playing simulation games) IMO.

It would for me; to feel if you are on the safe side, not regretting later on, you took a cheaper cpu, and after some time feeling bad you didnt took that faster cpu in this example the current AMD instead of the new sandy i5 or i7.

Test below used an ATI 5870 card. Oh and when buying a new graphics card be sure to get a 2 gig version..

http://nl.hardware.info/productinfo/...,0000FF,0000FF

http://nl.hardware.info/productinfo/...,0000FF,0000FF