I am presently running a BFG 6800GT OC 256MB AGP card on my AMD64 4000+, with 2GB PC4400 DDR System RAM.Is it worth updating the Video card to a BFG 7800GS OC 256MB AGP card? My FSX runs fairly well most of the time, but I would like to improve the performance and eye candy! Best Buy has this card on sale this week for $249 which is about a $100 under retail price.I will be updating my whole system sometimes around the middle of next year, when Vista, DX10 and hopefully FSX patch will all be a reality.Anybody have any thoughts on this? Will the upgrade/performance be worth the money, or should I just wait? Pete S.

Until someone here can report on their upgrade experience of similar hardware and how it relates to FSX performance improvements, it's very hard to say. Even when they do, if they don't do a clinical before and after, it's very hard to give credence to any qualitative performance improvement assessments.Having said that, and knowing that the FS series gains more from CPU speed increases than any other component, then the jump only one GPU generation from a 6800 to a 7800 will yield marginal performance gains at best. Personally, I'd wait until your Vista / DX10 upgrade before doing anything, as your system is otherwise pretty sweet!Gary

Gary,I did some comparisons of the 2 cards on: http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.htmlUsing some of their benchmark games, it looked like almost a two-fold performance increase going to the 7800 series card, but unfortunately they don't use FS as a one of their benchmark games.I am really sceptical on getting that much of a performance increase with FSX, so I thought I would check and see if anyone had any similar upgrades.I think you're right, I'll just wait for a few more months and see what shakes out in the industry. I can certainly live with what I have now and still enjoy flying the FSX, while I wait.Thanks for your input,Pete S.

Pete,Yes, you have to take those benchmark charts with a big grain of salt when it comes to FS. Case in point is with FS9 where I upgraded from a 9800 pro to a 6800GT then X800 XT and noticed neglible FPS boost in complex areas (ie. where a performance boost was really needed).I think you are wise in waiting it out until DX10. In the meantime, someone here may report on a similar upgrade, and if you are very lucky will do a quantitative scientific before and after comparison for you to consider.Gary

I can't give a quantitative clinical review of a 6800-->7800 upgrade, but I can say that I agree, you probably would be best off to not do that upgrade and save it for a DX10, etc. update next year.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2.5 ghz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (91.47), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian

Ok, thanks guys.Guess I'll save my $250 for the future upgrades.Pete S.