Hi everyone,Hope you're all well. While I'm about today I thought I'd pose this question to anyone out there who has actually done this. Having been so used to the Flight Sim family requiring CPU only upgrade to make noticeable difference in performance, does going up the ranks in GPU make the numbers better for FSX?To be honest I am happy with my trusty 6800XT, it runs FSX fine but when the weather gets complex or I am at Haneda it does get a bit slow.I'd be especially keen to hear from people running AMD 3700 - type setup.

"To be honest I am happy with my trusty 6800XT, it runs FSX fine but when the weather gets complex or I am at Haneda it does get a bit slow."As you state, FSX is CPU intensive and that requires more attention than the GPU. I have 2 8800GTX's running in SLI mode and my FPS drop dramatically when the weather is complex. So upgrading your GPU may not be the best thing to do unless you want to use the DX10 features (not many). You can correct the lack of FPS a little by turning down/off the amount of AI and autogen. One of the neat things about FSX is the fact you can make up as many FSX configs you want. One with flying in normal weather, one for heavy and complicated weather, one with MegaScenery, and maybe one for flying a heavily detailed payware aircraft like PMDG or LevelD. When you're flying in nasty weather like a major snowstorm, you can't see the scenery details anyway so you might as well turn off autogen and other scenery details for those type of scenarios. That should make your experience a bit more enjoyable. Have fun!Best regards,Jim

>does going up the ranks in GPU make the numbers better for FSX?Oh it sure does. I went from an ATi card comparable to an FX5200 to an 8800 GT, and it runs perfectly. I get absolutely no penalty when the weather is complex AND I'm at a complex airport IN a complex city.Yes, CPU is very much important. A 2.4 GHz single core won't really cut it for FSX. A 2.4 GHz Duo or Quad, however will. The more cores and the faster the CPU, the better performance you'll get.BoeingGuy

Can't say about the 6800, but I had an E4400 with a 7900gs. First I stepped up to an E7650, then an 8800gt and I could see alot of improvement in each step. Multi-core is a must. Even Guitar Hero III requires a duel core.Bob

wow, I was running the same box a few months agoAMD 3700 san diiiego!xfx 6800XT 256mbbut now as you can see in my specs, I have an AMD6000, but still the same video card. I'm looking into the 8800GT, but hopefully the GTS (G92) due to better cooling..

Upgrading from a 6800XT, you'll get barely any FPS increase at the low end when your weather gets complex. My son's 7900GTO, my desktop's 8800GTS and my notebook's 8600Go all pull about the same FPS (at the same 2.0GHz core speed) when the FSX going gets rough. I'd save your dollars for a CPU upgrade, where performance will increase across the board.Gary

Thank you all for your replies, very useful information in all of them. Especially as some noted that the weather engine likes CPU cycles alot more and that's interesting. I thought that the fancy shader stuff would be in the atmosphere somehow?!Well, looks like new mobo and gpu soon and theres plenty of readin on the forums about that here - having seen the upcoming Intels with upto 8MB L2 cache , that should help a bit even in the most Irish of weather :)

I still run a 3700+ cpu just like you. I run it with a 7800GT card. Your 6800 card was a top-ender in its day, whereas a card like a 7300GS never was a top-ender, even on the day it was released. So take solace in that. Having said that, you should save money for a new cpu, as that is the most important thing for FS performance, as the others said.Oh, and to whoever said the 3700+ can't handle FSX well, heheheh, you should see FSX on my box. A San Diego core ain't no child especially when overclocked. But the rig is indeed due for overhaul, as I can now say that I am missing things you Q6600 and E6850 guys are getting every day.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

Yes you're right about the 3700 Rhett , got mine running at 2.8 and so has lasted well past it's time. Very* good chip. *We can't say d@amn on AVSIM?!Happy flying