Graphics card question... AOpen, Palit, MSI, Gigabyte ?

[Guest Captain Vala]

Ok, I'm searching on the Internet to find a new graphics card. I'm thinking NVidia Geforce 6 series. First, I know this has been asked before, but right now, is NVidia ahead or ATI? (which one's better? )Secondly, when I search for lets say Nvidia Geforce 6600, I get the Nvidia 6600, but some are AOpen, some Palit, MSI, Gigabyte, and all those brands. They also vary in price. I used to think Nvidia 6600 is Nvidia 6600, but looks like there's more into that... What are all these brands, and which one IS BETTER?ValaPS. I only have a PCI slot, not PCIe.

[Guest neeraj.pendse]

Captain Vala:NVidia and ATI are primarily CHIP companies ... other manufacturers get their chips and design their boards ("cards") and you something that can be fixed in your PCI or AGP or PCIe slot ... that's why you see those third party suppliers.Dunno which is better now, I have an older (1 year old) ATI 9800 128 MB card and I am happy with it for now. One of the things you might want to do is to read the reviews on guru3d.comHope that helps a bit,- Neeraj

[BMBANISTER 0]

I have also been researching cards for an upgrade. Tom's Hardware site is also a great resource of info about comparing different cards. http://graphics.tomshardware.com/index.html Just out of curiousity, what chip set do the PMDG folks use when making/testing the products , ATI or NVIDIA?Brad2 miles from KGRKhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/1900driver.jpg

[Guest Captain Vala]

Hi Neeraj and Brad, Fist, just call me Vala, I totally hate my login name and have no idea why I picked it that way!!! :-badteeth Also, thanks for your inputs guys, now I know the reason for the third party guys, but I still dont know which one's better... I appreciate if anybody can help me out with that. Vala

[Guest Buck Bolduc]

>Hi Neeraj and Brad,>> Fist, just call me Vala, I totally hate my login name and>have no idea why I picked it that way!!! :-badteeth > Also, thanks for your inputs guys, now I know the reason>for the third party guys, but I still dont know which one's>better... I appreciate if anybody can help me out with that.>> ValaVala. Actually they flip back and forth some times because of thr drivers.One bit of advice if I may. I purchased an MSI GT-6800 NVidia based video card. I'm satisfied. I would not pretend to say it's better/worse than ATI's XT800 series, because I dont have one to compare.If you purchase the GT-6800 be aware that at least MSI had a slightly cheaper version that was not as good as the NX version, different GPU.Make sure it's the NVidia GT-6800 NX, it must have NX designation for the better GPU.In spot view I can get up to 100 (bounces off 100) FPR if I use the hatswitch and look at the bottom of the aircraft (no back ground textures), otherwise 85-95 FPS. 2D cockpit 50-65 FPS. VC 25-30, never seen it go belowe 25.Running A64-3400, 1 Gig Corsair LLP memory, 2 Raptor 74 gig WD's RAID-0Best

[Tabs 2,790]

Ok here's the deal:Nvidia does not make cards - they make the GPU chip that another company takes and puts ON a card. That's why you see all the different brands. Good brands for Nvidia cards are BFG Technologies, eVGA, Asus, XFX, etc. Just go to www.newegg.com and look there sorting by the exact chip you want.ATI's a little more confusing because the DO make cards as well as sell their chips to other companies for their own cards.As far as Nvida vs. ATI - Nvidia just released the 7800GTX, their new 7 series, which is without a doubt the best card out right now. Problem is it's $600... The Nvidia 6800GT and the ATI Radeon X800XL are pretty much neck and neck but I'd give the edge to ATI because of the image quality and slightly lower price. You do need a PCI-express slot for the X800XL though, so if you're still on AGP you're pretty much stuck with the 6600GT or 6800GT.

[Guest kajsu1]

You do need a PCI-express slot for the X800XL>though, so if you're still on AGP you're pretty much stuck>with the 6600GT or 6800GT.Do you mean that there is no AGP version of the X800 XL?? Are you sure? :-hmmm RegardsMatthew

[flightsimmer747 0]

there is one.

[truthknown 4]

>>Hi Neeraj and Brad,>>>> Fist, just call me Vala, I totally hate my login name and>>have no idea why I picked it that way!!! :-badteeth >> Also, thanks for your inputs guys, now I know the reason>>for the third party guys, but I still dont know which one's>>better... I appreciate if anybody can help me out with that.>>>> Vala>>>Vala. Actually they flip back and forth some times because of>thr drivers.>One bit of advice if I may. I purchased an MSI GT-6800 NVidia>based video card. I'm satisfied. I would not pretend to say>it's better/worse than ATI's XT800 series, because I dont have>one to compare.>If you purchase the GT-6800 be aware that at least MSI had a>slightly cheaper version that was not as good as the NX>version, different GPU.>Make sure it's the NVidia GT-6800 NX, it must have NX>designation for the better GPU.>In spot view I can get up to 100 (bounces off 100) FPR if I>use the hatswitch and look at the bottom of the aircraft (no>back ground textures), otherwise 85-95 FPS. 2D cockpit 50-65>FPS. VC 25-30, never seen it go belowe 25.>Running A64-3400, 1 Gig Corsair LLP memory, 2 Raptor 74 gig>WD's RAID-0>>Best> >What are your fs settings that give you those frames?

[Guest brettdonahue]

Good place to also look is www.pricewatch.com, sort of like froogle.com but more geared towards electronic gadgets. As for me I have an ATI X800 on AGP. I have noticed that the more cool things I install on my FS (Active Sky, Scenerys that aren't frame friendly) that my system crunches. I am only running a AMD 2800+ with 1.5GB RAM, but the X800 is ATI's older card and still available and every true benchmark that I have used says the system is smoking. You might be able to stick with the current mo-bo. Also do make sure you have enough RAM. And good sticks at that. When flying around Paris, I have seen FS take as much as 800MB RAM. If you're running something less, your system has to write to the hard disk and you will start to see frame rates drop like my landing last night...Cheershttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/800driver.jpg

[Guest Captain Vala]

ok, thanks all you guys again for all the valuable info. Right now, I'm running a 3 year old computer that is seriously in a need of upgrade, or possibly retiring. One day she was a queen herself : P2.4, 512 Ram, 80 HD, Geforce 4 MX 128.I'll be looking around in all the links you guys provided to see what I can buy and will be best for me, at least for the time being, before I get an entirely new system. For now, I'm not even sure what kind of slot I've got, but for sure know that its not a PCIe, so I wont be able to aim too high for the GC model.Thanks again, and more comments are appreciated,Vala

[Guest Captain Vala]

wow, we posted in a matter of seconds from eachother !

[Guest Buck Bolduc]

FS settings are pretty much maxed out except for Traffic which is 60%.Extra ground texture, shadows, sun glare,Global Massive, lights-8, mip map-4, AA-4x, anox16, Aircraft best, FPS maxed.1280x1024. On my 21" monintor the guages are perfectly round.21" VeiwSonic crt.Best

[truthknown 4]

I dont know what is wrong with my system, but i just brought a new XPS Gen 5, with the P4 EE 3.2 Dual Core and an ATI X850XT PE 256 MB card and i average around 15 fps with the Level D 767, a simflyers scenery, ASV, and FS settings maxed out. At KLAX with the same setup, i go as low as 8 fps. I have yet to see anywhere near 100 fps on my system, and for one so powerful, i think something is wrong. I fly on vatsim, so i never have AI traffic loaded.Any ideas?Chris