I have one on order, and user opinions would be welcome...

I also ordered this card, but the 670Mb "Alpha Dog" version. It seems to be the defacto standard for mid-priced video cards. I'm still rebuilding my sim system but I'll drop by in a few days with a performance update.Ray Sotkiewiczwww.EllieSystems.com

See Phils comments, he suggests for FSX the 8800's with a larger memory bus perform best.http://blogs.msdn.com/ptaylor/default.aspxGood 256 bit ... 8800 GT, 8800 GTS 512MBBetter 320 bit ... 8800 GTS 640 MBBest 384 bit ... 8800 GTX, 8800 UltraYour 8800 GTS 512 is a very nice card for many games, but the 256 bit memory bus might be an issue with FSX and with larger resolutions 1920x1200 + .I'd be interest in seeing FSX benchmarks for each of them to see just what the differences are...

He could be more sensible than that IMHO. Some of us can't afford a GTX or Ultra, 8800 GTS 512 is not worth $50 more for just 5% more performance, and actually, the 256-bit 512 MB 8800 GT...beats the 320-bit 640 MB 8800 GTS. Just check out the 8800 GT review over at Extremetech. It's a great card, well worth the great price, slightly better than an HD 2900 XT, and VERY slightly slower than a GTX.

depends on what monitor you are using / ie what res you are running atI had a 8800GTS 512MB version and it was great - but was disappointing when you came to add FSAA + AF at 1900x1200 that I run it at - even struggled with a FSAA at 1600x just upgraded to a 3870x2- which I'm very pleased with for FSX peformance

Thanks, people, for your interest - and the useful reference to Phil's blog. For what it's worth,I ordered the card from BFG on the strength of a very positive Guru 3d review. It's their OC version: Core Clock 675 MHz vs 650 MHz standard. Not much, but every little helps, and I haven't the competence or confidence to experiment with overclocking myself.

I was already to buy the same board you have on order, but opted for an evga 8800GT, which was $55 cheaper. I'm curious as to how you'll fare with it - post back with your opinion and maybe I'll go after that one instead. Hope they ship you a good one.Regards, Kendall#1: [email protected]/Coolermaster HyperTX2 Gigabyte P35-DS3L 4GB Crucial Ballistix Tracers PC6400 Seagate 250GB 7200.10 SATA2 Gigabyte X800XT -Cat 6.12's CH Yoke/Pedals/Saitek Throttle Dual Monitor: Dell 2405/1905 #2: Dell 8400 3.2 H.T. 3GB PC4200 Diamond Xtreme/Logitech X-530's

Still waiting ...but will do.

You guys do realise that the 8800GTS 512 is a whole new chip. The only relation to the 8800GTS 640 and 320 is the name GTS. The 512 performance is closer to the GTX. Hence you could run a 320 and a 640 in SLI but you must have 2 512's since the chip sets are different.

Hi, I had the chance of testing one (ASUS EN8800GTS 512) during one week. I did several test with the 8800GTS and the 8800GTX. Both cards, practically, performed (fps and IQ) the same.The setup was anASUS BLITZ Formula, Intel E6850, 2GB DDR800 OCZ, Forceware 169.21, FS9 with PMDG 747. AAX8Q, AFX16, 1600X1200X32. No overclocked at all and Thermlthake

get the GT instead. lower price, better performance in fsx

Miquel, that's very interesting [especially since I've also ordered an E6850 as well]. Your comments are mirrored in the Guru 3d review: "...bang for bucks...one of the fastest cards to date...close to 8800 GTX performance, for a lot less money...for the end user the 8800 GTS 512mb is a small step forward in the series 8 products...you get to play around with GTX performance at a lower price...skip the 8800 GTX or Ultra, just go for either a Geforce 8800 GT 512 mb or 8800 GTS 512 mb, as these two products are where the real value is to be found."

Agreed.

Miquel, I forgot to ask: [1] which drivers did you use? [2] did you have the notorious 8800 AA problems? Thanks -

Hi, I used 169.21WHQL. I have never had that problem (or that