PC Bottleneck...

[Guest Northy]

Hi,I'm currently running Intel Dual Core E6600 @2.42Gig of RAM DDR 1028,SATA 300 Gig hard driveAsus Mobo (cant remember which one but its about six months old)ATI X1300 series Graphics card...Its the graphics card that concerns me!I run FS9 with everything maxed out and get frames of 25 constantly,but the textures aren't always sharp.I'm running GE Pro Active sky6.5 Ultimate terrain Europe and USA.I've installed the 7.10 drivers for my card and they have improved performance in the way of smoothness,but is my card the system bottleneck?If so any advice on an upgrade?Thanks,Regards,Martin.

[Kosta 122]

Compared to E6600, pretty much in my opinion. Something in the way of X1950, or maybe the new HD series (ATI) or 8800GTS (Nvidia) would be much more appropriate.

[Guest wayupthere]

Hi Martin,Yes your 1300 is somewhat of a bottleneck.But really, before ANY, advice can be given, you need too tell what resolution you are running.. Resolution and GPU ALWAYS go together.Regards,

[Guest Northy]

Hi,Thanks for the reply,My resolution is 1280x1024x32Thanks for any help.Regards,Martin.

[Guest wayupthere]

Hey Martin,Well with your 6600 and that resolution, you have several routes you can go. If the whole DX10.0 vs. DX10.1 isn't a concern for you, and you don't want to wait and just upgrade now, then recently a new line of the 8800 has been released the GT, and it seen to be a very nice card, sitting between the GTS and GTX.Or ofcourse you could go with ATI and wander the 2900 route, ill include some links below where you can find some overviews/reports of those GPUS.One thing though, check your PSU that that is capable and has the right (and amount) of power connectors needed.8800GT: http://arstechnica.com/journals/hardware.a...quite-a-whallophttp://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=31408800 vs. 2900:http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=680After you read the above, do some research and determine if or if not DX10.1 is an issue for you.Hope this helps somewhat,Regards,

[RobdeVries 28]

Sorry to break in this topic, but why should DX10.0 vs. DX10.1 be an issue with regards to FSX/Simming? Sorry for sounding a noob but I'm trying to get a grasp of current affairs for building a budget system.Rob "Holland&Holland" de Vries http://fool.exler.ru/sm/fly2.gif"To go up, pull the stick back. To go down, pull the stick back harder"

[Guest wayupthere]

Hello Rob,It's not just for FS, its regarding upgradebility in general, getting the best value for you money... GPUs cost ALOT of money (really good ones that is), and for some people, who down the line play other things besides of FS, and possibly use programs coded to take advantage of the latest DXs will be in for a disappointment since current ones are not fully compatible with .1 . only to a certain degree.. Its just thinking ahead of time a little bit.. and to some its only a minor thing,not really caring that much (.0 vs .1 isnt a really big deal to start with, but there is a difference to take notice of) To others it can have a huge impact budget-wise if they bought a DX10.0 GPU, and find out down the line they love a new game or program, finding out they cant use it to its full potential.Regards,

[RobdeVries 28]

Hi Davis,Thanks for getting back to me. I've read your references with regard to the 8800GT. Very interesting. It made me wonder about me wanting a GTXIf I may..my proposed system (although nowhere compared to your monster setup :))MoBo: Asus P5WDG2 WS Professional, 975X (ATX, PCI-e, PCI-x, Sound, LAN, SATA II, RAID, 1394a) CPU:Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 or Q6600RAM: Mushkin 996561 (4GB, 2x2GB, PC2-6400) or is 2 Gig enough?Graphics: Asus GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB DDR3 (PCI-e, 2x DVI) EN8800GTX/HTDPPower: Seasonic M12-700, 700W (ATX12V 2.0)HDD: 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10, 250GB (7200rpm, SATA II, 16MB) Raid0Sound: Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic.First of all I would appreciate your informed opinion. I have a fixed budget. It's gonna be a system for the next 3-4 years without the possibility to upgrade the next year or so. After that upgrades are of course possible. In this light is this a good setup to run FSX/Accelerator smoothly? Or will it be better to take two 8800GT's 512 in SLI?Furthermore I have no idea to use WinXP or Vista32/64. It's meant purely as setup to run both FSX/Acc and FS2004Thanks in advance,Rob "Holland&Holland" de Vries http://fool.exler.ru/sm/fly2.gif"To go up, pull the stick back. To go down, pull the stick back harder"

[Guest baksteen33]

Hi Rob, and the resolution is...? :-) Groetjes Jaap

[RobdeVries 28]

Hallo Jaap,I have now a Videoseven L19WA 19 Wide Screen LCD which I always run at 1024/768 both WinXP and FS9.1.I know I'm rather old fashioned. In my current PC config I'm not able to run much higher without stuff getting annoyingly slower. On the other side, I'm not much used to with regard to resolution. So there's room to spare...Rob "Holland&Holland" de Vries http://fool.exler.ru/sm/fly2.gif"To go up, pull the stick back. To go down, pull the stick back harder"

[Guest baksteen33]

Hallo Rob, thanks for the additional info. I'll try to keep it short... :-) Personally, I think these are bad times for a 3-4 year FlyTendo horizon, I would go 2 years max currently. Why? Next year, AMD for sure (I hope!) and Intel maybe, will release new CPU-architectures making what we have now look ...(please fill in). :-) HD- and GPU-tech will also change rapidly, etc. So, if allowed to advise, IMHO, best would be to specify something which meets your needs. What kind of flight for example do you enjoy? Dense or Bush, or AI and no AI allow totally different approaches. For 19" displays, You don't need the latest and greatest GPUs if FS alone is important. On OSs, I would dare say most development systems are 32-bit. 64-bit is nice if you don't have compatibility issues with those apps or hardware you want to run and use. So, multiple boot might be handy? Vista is good to use but not nice to work with IMHO. Now, assuming the display won't change rapidly, we know the 1400x resolution. Now you come with your list of software, preferences and maybe what you would like to achieve. Misschien? :-) Out of curiousity, what's the rest of your current specs? Groetjes Jaap

[RobdeVries 28]

Hi Jaap,Current specs,..don't laugh ;) I bought the system in 2003MoBo:Epox 8RDA+ nForce2 CPU: AMD XP3000+ @2.1GhzGPU: NVidia geforce 6600GT 256MB (started out with the Ti4200)RAM: 1 GB (2 x 512) (started with 2 x 256)HDD: 1 Seagate 350GB 7200rpm, 1 Maxtor 40GB 7200rpmOS: WinXP Home SP2Periph: CH Throttle, Yoke, Rudder USB, TrackIR4, ButtKickerI intend to build the new PC for FS9 and FSX/Acceleration only, and the occasional FPS game (MOH4/COD4). I still intend to stay on WinXP. I hear too many mixed reports on Vista in whatever flavor it comes. Although you need Vista to experience DX10 am I right?The type of flying I'd like to do is, as real as it gets GA VFR/IFR flight. So with complex GA (Aerosoft Piper Cheyenne springs to mind), Flight planning software, AI 50-100%, real Weather from Active Sky, Radar Contact, VoxATC or online for ATC (although I haven't done it for years due to bad PC performance online) and detailed landscape scenery: UT, NL2000 v3 or Glacier Bay v2. Think Juneau rwy 8 approach with the myriad of tiny objects which makes the FPS creep to a stuttering single digit figure on my current system on a fine beautiful VFR day ;)) Well I hope to make that approach in IMC with 2 NM vis and thick low overcast ceiling...Rob "Holland&Holland" de Vries http://kewlceo.com/forums/style_emoticons/...crazy_pilot.gif"To go up, pull the stick back. To go down, pull the stick back harder"

[Guest baksteen33]

Hi Rob, thanks for the infos. IMHO, you're a perfect candidate for a modest upgrade if you like. You should be happy with almost any 200-250 Euro CPU. It's the dense areas where FSX suffers most. Had you said PMDG 747 into KJFK with incredible amounts of AI... :-) What kind of budget are you looking at? You assemble yourself I assume. Would your dealer easily upgrade components? If they do, you could probably go with a fast GF8600 or 8700 if DX9 is the main goal for the moment being. Like this, you'd only have to focus on a DX10 card, a harddrive plus Vista once you go DX10. Current mid-range DX10.0 GPUs are no good for DX10. It likely depends a bit on your update strategy. Case you intend to stay DX9 for a year or longer, you might want to look at the - yet rare - 8800GT instead? Tough call. Bedankt voor je geduld, het was een gekkenhuis in de afgelopen drie weken. Groetjes Jaap

[RobdeVries 28]

Hi Jaap,Geen enkel probleem. Hete echte leven gaat altijd voor volgens mij.This is the system I ordered already. The components are choosen with upgrading/upscaling in mind. I'd like your opinion of course. and yes of course I'd like to finally fly the Flight1/Dreamfleet ATR into a busy airport ;)Processor: Intel Core2Quad Q6600 (4x2.4 GHz) Mainboard: GigaByte P35-DS4RAM: G.E.I.L. 3GB DDR2 KIT Retail (2x 1GB + 2x 512MB 800mhz CL5) Soundcard: Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Videocard: XFX 8800 GTX/575 768 MB 1e optical drive: Samsung SH-S202H Black IDE 18x DL 2e optical drive: DVD-ROM Speler Samsung PSU: OCZ StealthXStream 600W Harddisk: 2x Seagate Barracuda ES 250GB SATA2 Harddisk mode: Raid 0Software: Windows XP Pro NLRob "Holland&Holland" de Vries http://kewlceo.com/forums/style_emoticons/...crazy_pilot.gif"To go up, pull the stick back. To go down, pull the stick back harder"

[Guest baksteen33]

Hi Rob, you'll l