wewt!http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814127329Coming from a geforce 6800XT this will be a welcomed addition to my PC :)And I play games other than FSX, which really need more GPU power like Crysis, COD4, BF2, Half Life Ep 2 etc etcI hope it will help FSX a little, maybe a 10% improvement in performance or loading etc

You made a good choice.I have the 8800 GT Superclocked by EVGA, which is just about 10 MHz slower than this one. It very much is better than a 6800 XT: check this out!http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=544&card2=359# (OC the 8800 to 660/970.I was disappointed when they lowered the price of the GTS 512 after I bought my GT, and that too by about $60, but this GT is on par with one; it's overclocked by a large amount. The quad copper pipe cooling is impressive too. Welcome to the realm of the power of the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT! :)

Yeah, I'm excited. I too looked at the G92 (512mb GTS), but decided at the resolution I play (1280x1024), that the GT was worth it, hopefully once the rebate comes the card will only cost 200, which I think it great value!

That is a great GPU solution. It looks like it has superior cooling, and quieter too. I have the later-designed EVGA 8800GT with superior and quieter cooling that runs at 700MHz without breaking a sweat. I paid quite a bit more tho for mine, so . . . great find. Oy, I see my EVGA is down to $199 now too! So it goes. It's a great video card, esp for the $$. I do faver ATI's IQ though, and eventually I may go back to ATI if they can crank out a card that does double the GT's performance.Noel

The GTS is looking good too, at $280. These 8800 prices may have finally 'cracked.' It's 'bout time. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?sk...d=1195600207509I have an 8800GT at 710mhz core. I've pretty much given up on CPU autogen for ground detail. That GEX is magic. Thank goodness. It appears GEX depends on Vcard horsepower. That extra 100mhz Vcore to really seems to help. The GTS will goto ~ 800mhz. Note: 9800GTX 3Dmark06 scores are starting to float around. SM2 and SM3 scores are running ~ 6000. At 710, my GT is getting ~ 5000. I've seen posts of GTS cards at 775mhz getting 6500. ATM, it appears an O/Ced GTS (at $280) will beat that new GTX (at $450). To get that O/C, I initially used RivaTuner to play around with the clock settings. I found controlling fan speed was critical. I found the fan needed to spool up much more quickly at Tcore ramped up through the 70s. Tcore needed to stay in the high 70s to allow a max clock. Riva was fine for the science project, but it wouldn't stay (reliably) hooked up . . . especially the fan settings. I finally used nvFlash to extract (and backup) the Vcard's bios, then NiBiTor to modify the (extracted) bios. Once NoBiTor (and I) got it all tweeked-out, just right, I used nvFlash to load the modified bios back to the card. Worked great. Now, even if it's not exactly what I wanted, at least it's reliably wrong. Then I can go back through the sequence and re-tweak.Yea, you're right. It never ends . . . with any luck!)

yeah I did look at that one and the GTS non-OCed versionBut at 200 bucks, the GT is perfect for me....plus my wife likes the price better than 280 heh!

Sam - I have an 8800 GTS 640 o/c to 701/1620/941 with no problems - set up using RivaTuner. However, if I try to increase the core clock a smidge, it jumps to 720 and 3DMark freezes.Is there a flat spot in video card overclocking similar to the black hole in mobo o/c?Just wondering if I should try going much above 720 until I find something that might work or just be satisfied with what I have?3DMark around 11000 - SM2 & 3 around 5000.A few people have mentioned ATI tool but I have had no success it getting it to function properly.So far the RT has been working fine but I'm interested in your process for flashing the video bios.Is there something online that explains the process a bit more in detail?Thanx,VicQ6600 G0 CPU 2.4 o/c 3.65Evga 680i A1 with P31 BIOS 2G XP2-8500 DDR2 1066FSB Mushkin 996535 RAM 5-5-4-12-2T320G 7200 HD partitioned for XP/Vista/Programs 2 - 74G Raptors in RAID0 500G 7200 HD for backup SATA DVD burner Evga 8800GTS 640 PCIx 174.16XG o/c 702/1620/941Kandalf LCS case w/ built in liquid cooling 850W Thermaltake power supplyVisit the Virtual Pilot's Centerwww.flightadventures.comhttp://www.hifisim.com/banners/hifi-supporter-sigbanner.jpg

Here's the Nibitor bios editor site: http://www.mvktech.net/The download section will have the latest Nititor version (3.8?). They also have a "Guides" section. I had their Nibitor guide up as I worked through my bios tweaking adventure.http://www.mvktech.net/content/view/2069/37/Nibitor was supposed to extract my Vcard's bios, but that feature did not work, sooo, I used nvFlash to make a backup of my existing bios. I then made a second copy, opened it with Nibitor and tweaked away. I then saved the tweaked version as whatevr.rom (or somsuch.rom) and reflashed the card with the modded bios. Here's the latest nvFlash:http://www.mvktech.net/index.php?option=co...&filecatid=2491Make a bootable floppy and copy the 2 files to the disk. cwsdpminvFlashBoot off the disk. Run the command line: NvFlash -b filname.rom (Remember, only 7 prefix alpha-numerals. This is hardcore DOS)That will save a copy of your existing bios to the floppy. Boot back to windows and open filname.rom with Nibitor. Tweak away. Save it as whatevr.rom.Now copy whatevr.rom to the floppy and reboot from the floppy. Run the command:NvFlash whatevr.romYour new tweaked bios is now onboard your Vcard. Cross your fingers and reboot windows. Did it boot? (Sigh of relief). Now fire up Rivatuner. Reset everything to default. Your new clocks will popup as the new deraults. Get Riva's system monitor going on a second monitor. Run 3DMark06 on your primary monitor. Watch the drama unfold. The goal is to have the fan start to spool up early enough to catch the temp as it ramps up through the 70s and catch it at (or below) 80. I was using riva to provide this function, but it wouldn't stay engaged. I'd be immersed in a cat 3b approach and bang, freeze city. The darn fan hadn't kicked in (in time), the card OT'd and locked up. That got old. The card's been following orders perfectly lately. Works good. 700mhz may be about it with the G80. 710 is all I can get stable, even with the G92. You have better cooling, but the (shrunk) G92 runs cooler. I'm really beginning to think that 5000 SM2/3 3Dmark06 capable hardware is Plenty of Vcard horsepower for this game we call FSX. Any additional improvement we are going to get out of this game will be AG/AI related. This will be totally based on CPU clock/multicore increases/optimizations. Vcard wise, we're about there.

Thanx Sam - I have a bunch of reading to do! :)Glad you confirm my thoughts on the 8800. SInce this o/c works just fine, I'll leave it alone.VicQ6600 G0 CPU 2.4 o/c 3.65Evga 680i A1 with P31 BIOS 2G XP2-8500 DDR2 1066FSB Mushkin 996535 RAM 5-5-4-12-2T320G 7200 HD partitioned for XP/Vista/Programs 2 - 74G Raptors in RAID0 500G 7200 HD for backup SATA DVD burner Evga 8800GTS 640 PCIx 174.16 XG 701/1623/941Kandalf LCS case w/ built in liquid cooling 850W Thermaltake power supplyVisit the Virtual Pilot's Centerwww.flightadventures.comhttp://www.hifisim.com/banners/hifi-supporter-sigbanner.jpg

Sam, I can do you one better on that BFG 8800 GTS 512MB OC (675 core / 1674 shader) at Fry's/Outpost.com for $229.99 after rebate. (Shipping not included.) http://shop4.outpost.com/product/5470509It appears identical to the model BestBuy is selling for $280. However, I'm really confused by the available graphics card choices right now. Do nVidia's driver problems make their 8800-series cards a poor choice for FSX running on Vista, and do we have any assurance that nVidia will fix their drivers for Vista SP1? Apparently Aces brought the driver issues to nVidia's attention quite a while ago, yet nothing's been done. Also, I've recently upgraded to a nice Samsung 24" monitor, so I'd like enough Vcard horsepower to run reasonably high FSX settings at 1920x1200. I've read Phil Taylor's blog which seems to recommend a more expensive Vcard than I can afford right now. But that was before the latest price drops. As you've pointed out, it's very hard to benchmark Vcards in FSX because there are so many variables, and because FSX chooses its own settings, some of which (apparently) aren't user-adjustable. That means I'm having to rely on anecdotes and deduction more than I'd prefer. I'm therefore stuck in conundrum-land at the moment. I was originally going to take a chance on the MSI NX8800GT (with the fancy heatpipes) in ryanbatcund's original post, which Newegg is currently offering for just $193 shipped after MIR. However, I could afford the BFG 8800 GTS for about $50 more, IF the driver problems in Vista don't drive me crazy. For FSX, am I wasting the extra $47 it costs over the MSI card? (FSX is my most demanding graphics application.) Got any advice for me in this confuzzling situation? I'm wondering if I should just wait for Vista SP1 to come out, and see if nVidia releases adequate drivers for it. Thanks, Lee _____ Core2Duo E6850 / Abit IP35 Pro / 4GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer / 250GB and 500GB Seagate 7200.11 hard drives / Antec P182 case / Thermaltake Toughpower 750W PSU / GeForce 8600GT / Thermalright Ultima HSF

I saw that in the paper today too. A sign of things to come? Hope so.If drivers are an issue, I not even sure what that problem is . . . 'cause I haven't had any. I've been running an 8800GT before, then after Vista (64) SP1 without any issues (I'm an "early adopter"). What's going on with all this deal-breaking driver rumbling? Is AMD spiking the punch?I'm thinking that Frys 8800GTS is hard to pass up. Stock, it's not such a big deal, but it's the "GO" of the GPU world right now. It'll O/C to the moon, has additional cooling and will beat the yet to be released GTX . . . for $230? Yikes. The alternative is the ATI dual GPU at $450? Sorry, that's too much dough, for me anyway. Especially when I can come to within a knat's whisker for 1/2 the price. What's coming? Not much. The 9800 dual GPU will be out soon too. That will provide 30% additional performance for 3X the price. That's kinda the way the top end goes. For instance the Q9650 gets a 10% performance boost for 3X the price. There is not a whisper about Any new GPU breakthroughs in the next year. . . at least. What we are looking at right now will be about it for a while. The GTS will get 30% performance on the GT for 15% cost bump. Those dollars make a bit more sense . . . at least for those of us with more cents than dollars.

Here's another interesting tidbit:http://techreport.com/articles.x/14230Even up to the 19x12 level, it appears that ram memory above 512 does not help at all. Just more stuff to consider.

Sam, Thanks for all the helpful info. FYI, the $230 Outpost.com deal on that BFG 8800 GTS card didn't last long. They switched the price to $299 around midnight last night. :( Not sure whether Fry's B&M stores are still honoring it. As far as I can remember the nVidia driver problems are with Vista32 and 8800-series cards. I believe the problem replaces transparent or reflective surfaces with solids, but I'd have to search the forums to be sure. My recollection is that Aces was able to verify the problem and reported it to nVidia late last year, but a fix still hasn't emerged. I doubt it's a disinformation campaign by AMD. It's useful to know that a Vcard with 512MB should meet my needs. Now I need to decide whether to go for the MSI 8800GT deal at Newegg, or wait.Decisions, decisions!

I have no clue what's going on at Outpost.com, but the $229.99 deal (after rebate) on the BFG 8800 GTS Overclocked card is back. So I just ordered one. My final cost, after rebate and 2-day shipping, will be $239.98. That's more than $50 cheaper than any other online vendor I could find who carries the (newer) G92 version of the 8800 GTS. Hope it's everything it's cracked up to be. On paper it looks like a great card, and according to BFG's website it comes with a lifetime warranty. Ryan, I'd be really interested to know how you like your MSI NX8800GT card in FSX.