Potential Graphics Card Upgrade

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Seria17hri11er
Senior Airman
Posts: 113
Joined: 15 Sep 2009, 21:31

Potential Graphics Card Upgrade

Post by Seria17hri11er »

Hello all. I am looking for advice from someone very knowledgeable of FSX and hardware. Here is my current setup:

FSX
SP2-No Acceleration
Track IR 4 with TrackIR 5 software
MSI X58 Pro Motherboard (Bios Ver 7.3)
Intel Core i7 920 (OC’d 3.7 Ghz) CPU
3 GB G Skill Triple Channel DDR3 667 MHZ Ram (running at 722, 9-9-9-24)
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi (Drivers 2_18_0008)
EVGA Nvidia Geforce 8800 GTS 320MB Video Card (Drivers 182.05)
FSX Installed on 74GB WD Sata Raptor (40GB freespace)
Add-on Scenery Installed on Seperate 74GB WD Sata Raptor (64GB free space)
Windows XP SP3 installed on 100GB partition (82GB free space) on WD Caviar Black 720GB Drive
Nick N Tuning

I have tuned and tuned and tuned my system. I have obtained good performance. I would like to increase my performance but I am unsure if the cost of an upgrade would be worth the value. I believe the bottleneck in my system right now is my GFX card. That being said:

What is the best GFX card for FSX right now?

What is the best GFX card for FSX around $200 USD?

Would you recommend upgrading my GFX card or something else?
ASEL

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Man is the victim of an environment which refuses to understand his soul.
Bukowski Pg. 172—Purple As an Iris—Tales of Ordinary Madness

banjokit
Airman
Posts: 16
Joined: 29 Aug 2008, 12:42

Re: Potential Graphics Card Upgrade

Post by banjokit »

Yes you have a bang up to date cpu and a 2-3 year old gfx card. The biggest problem with it at a guess is the very small 320mb of memory. I have a 8800gts with 768mb and it runs fine. See if you can add memory to your existing card.
Otherwise buy the the best you can afford, Radeons are a good chipset right now, but overall you get what you pay for, so spend that little bit more and get a that little bit more speed / longer life out of your new card.

Roadburner426
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Posts: 871
Joined: 29 Jul 2008, 20:20
Location: Hampton, VA

Re: Potential Graphics Card Upgrade

Post by Roadburner426 »

I just built a new computer and went with a Nvidia GTX 285. I did a lot of research around Avsim and other forums. The issue with using a duel card like the GTX 295, or the Radeon 47XX series cards is the fact they are 2 video cards in one. FSX for whatever reason will not see the second video card (views it the same as SLi). It will give you better AA, but won't help much past that. So I went with the GTX 285. That seemed to be the consensus through all the forum topics I have read as being the best card for FSX. Is the fastest/largest single GPU card you can buy. The only downfall is if you are looking to spent $200 these are up in the $300 range. You can get them in either 1 or 2GB of memory. Mine is a 1GB. The only other things that I could suggest is you didn't specify if you are on 32 bit or 64 bit. I just made the switch to 64 bit on my new system and I highly recommend it. That has allowed me to put 6GB of RAM in the computer, even though FSX will only use up to a maximum of 2.99 of that since it is a 32 bit program. Windows and other 64 bit programs will at least be able to access the rest of it and not be fighting FSX for the bottom half. Other than that it looks like you have a solid system. Is nice to see someone else running an old WD Raptor. I thought mine was old (a 150GB 10,000 RPM drive). I never knew they made a 74GB. Hope this helped.
S. Jordan
AM; United States Navy
FSX/P3Dc4 Hours: 3100 and counting! All A2A birds in the hangar except the 172.

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Seria17hri11er
Senior Airman
Posts: 113
Joined: 15 Sep 2009, 21:31

Re: Potential Graphics Card Upgrade

Post by Seria17hri11er »

Thank you guys for the reply. Right now I am leaning towards the MSI GTX 260 because I can get it for $155. I have 32 Bit XP. I neglected to mention that the thing that really brings performance down is when I select the weather themes: Fogged In, Grey and Rainy, Major Thunderstorm, Stormy Weather; so in essence, lots of clouds. I posted this on AVSIM as well. A user stated that clouds are a GPU killer. I am happy with performance when there are not alot of clouds, but when there is alot it really brings the frames down, but it is still flyable and smooth. Therefore 64 bit OS and better/more ram doesn't seem like the right choice for me right now.

How much better is the 285 than the 260? It is twice the price of the 260; I am not sure it will be worth an additional $150 to me.
ASEL

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Man is the victim of an environment which refuses to understand his soul.
Bukowski Pg. 172—Purple As an Iris—Tales of Ordinary Madness

Roadburner426
Technical Sergeant
Posts: 871
Joined: 29 Jul 2008, 20:20
Location: Hampton, VA

Re: Potential Graphics Card Upgrade

Post by Roadburner426 »

I do not know how much better the 285 is than the 260 per say. The 285 is a 45nm chip so it is slightly more power efficient and puts out less heat. My old FSX system was a lap top with a Core 2 Duo, and a Nvidia 8700GT Mobile. I swear it was like putting your hand in front of a blow dryer when I ran FSX on that computer. I have the majority of settings cranked up on this new computer. I did do the autogen mod to get rid of trees cause that is more of a problem for me than the clouds. Now it is silky smooth. I can put my hand in the bank of the computer though, and right behind the video card outlets and the air is just slightly warm when running FSX. In my reading people have said if you get a video card that is to powerful you can actually outrun FSX's ability to supply data to the card making stutters worse. Which is why there is a lot of debate about not needing a top of the line video card to run it. Going from that laptop with the 8700GT to the GTX 285 there is no comparison though. Going from a 8800 to a GTX 260 would be a large leap to. Since the simulator is largely CPU bound I think at 3.7ghz a GTX 260 would be more than plenty. All I can say is ask around an do research. I have not looked back since getting the 285 though. I debated for awhile what all I wanted to put in it. Opting for the i7-950 was easy since it overclocks to i7-975 specs anyway. So that saved $400. The video card was the last thing I decided on and in the end it was pretty much a guessing game of taking what a bunch of other people said/recommended and going with that. If I could do it over I would probably get the GTX 285 2GB instead of 1GB. That probably would of helped.
S. Jordan
AM; United States Navy
FSX/P3Dc4 Hours: 3100 and counting! All A2A birds in the hangar except the 172.

kiwikat
Senior Airman
Posts: 167
Joined: 02 Oct 2007, 18:44
Location: Fort Worth, TX

Re: Potential Graphics Card Upgrade

Post by kiwikat »

I don't think its necessary to get a 285 if you only play FSX.

This would do fine: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814150387

A 260 (core 216 version- though I don't think they sell the old ones anymore) would be plenty too though. My friend's computer is the same as mine except he has a 260 and I've got a 280. The FPS difference is negligible in FSX.

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Seria17hri11er
Senior Airman
Posts: 113
Joined: 15 Sep 2009, 21:31

Re: Potential Graphics Card Upgrade

Post by Seria17hri11er »

Thanks guys.
ASEL

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Man is the victim of an environment which refuses to understand his soul.
Bukowski Pg. 172—Purple As an Iris—Tales of Ordinary Madness

Joachim
Unteroffizier Anwaerter
Posts: 243
Joined: 10 May 2006, 17:14
Location: Huntington Beach CA

Re: Potential Graphics Card Upgrade

Post by Joachim »

I know a higher price is an idication of better quality.
I do have a ATI Radeon HD 4350 512 MB PCI Express card in my Quad cmptr.

Question:
There are many low priced ($120 1GB PCIE ATI Radeon ) cards advertized.
What makes the higher priced ones ($500) better for gaming being same GB ?
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Joachim.
Hals und Bein Bruch,
Glider Pilot 1940 - 1942
Obergefreiter und Flugzeugfuehrer 1944[img]

kiwikat
Senior Airman
Posts: 167
Joined: 02 Oct 2007, 18:44
Location: Fort Worth, TX

Re: Potential Graphics Card Upgrade

Post by kiwikat »

That is sort of like asking why an i7 quad core at 3 GHz is better than a Pentium 4 at 3 GHz.

There are memory speeds, memory type, core speeds, bandwidth, power consumption, cooling and many other aspects besides memory quantity that make a good graphics card. Check out the other specs on review sites and even on newegg. You'll see some major differences between a 1 gig 4870 and a 1 gig GTX 285, for example.

Joachim
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Joined: 10 May 2006, 17:14
Location: Huntington Beach CA

Re: Potential Graphics Card Upgrade

Post by Joachim »

Airman, thanks.
I suspected it being so, according to quality.
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Joachim.
Hals und Bein Bruch,
Glider Pilot 1940 - 1942
Obergefreiter und Flugzeugfuehrer 1944[img]

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JJB17463rdBombGroup
Senior Master Sergeant
Posts: 2042
Joined: 24 May 2004, 22:28

Re: Potential Graphics Card Upgrade

Post by JJB17463rdBombGroup »

I think that the more graphics memory the higher the resolution capabilities.
1 gigabyte of video memory is enough for 1920 by 1080 resolution.
Tom's Hardware had an article about that recently although not specific about FSX though.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gra ... ,2428.html
Son of a U.S.A.A.F. 15th Air Force 463rd bomb group 772nd squadron B17 pilot.
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