Hello So is there any truth in the claim that FS20094 and/or FSX would work better with a Nvidia card than a ATI. Specifically sappaire 4850? http://www.yoyotech.co.uk/product_info.php...ducts_id=234559 I am thinking it is better to buy this product than spend more money buying parts and making my own PC for the first time when things could go pear shape and have agruements with suppliers about duff parts. krishan

For FS9 any latest, or even last one or two, generation video card from either camp will perform more than adequately. For FSX, this question is best posed in the hardware forum.Gary

ATI has better visual quality but the only card I would suggest is the 3870. I have one combined with the fastest dual core available and I can throw anything at it with zero stutters. Dont wanna start a NVIDIA V ATI bashing thread. check out the hardware forum :)Rob

Hey Rob,Did you mean 4870? The 3 series had horrible issues with certain 3d clouds that crushed them and brought them to there knees. It was all over the hardware forum, just do a search. The 4870 on the other hand does not suffer from those issues so if you are going to recommend anything it should be the 4870 series,. There is an entire thread in the h/w forum about the 4870 crushing the 4850, the 3870 is not even in the running...That is strictly speaking to the 3870 point, I actually think that the 8800 GTX crushes anything FS9 throws at it but that is just me...-Paulhttp://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...39860&mode=fullPrimary RigLiquid CooledIntel C2D E8500 468X9.5 @ 4.45Asus Maximus Extreme4 gigs OCZ Reaper DDR3 @1400Dual OC'd XFX 8800GTX @ 2 gigsDual VelociRaptor 10k 3gb/s RAID-0Dual WD Caviar 500 gig Raid-0Single 150Gig SATA2 Swap Drive28 inch LCD 16XAA/16XAFDual 19 inch LCD'sPCPower and Cooling 1k Quad SLISaitek Yoke, Saitek Rudders, Go-Flight Flap,Gear and Trim Controlhttp://home.comcast.net/~psolk/3monitorsa.htmlBackup RigsIntel E6600 @ 3.2Asus P5N32E-SLI Plus3 Gigs Kingston Hyper XXFX 8600 GTAMD 4000 San Diego @ 2.72 Gigs Kingston Corsair XMS CL2XFX 7900 GTX Raid-0

I thought even the latest 4870x2 suffers from the bad performance in clouds.... at least that's what a few guys have said.I think it's better than the 3870, but still existsReference this thread:http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...ing_type=search

oops sorry meant the 4870 I had the 3870 and it did have major problems. No such issues with the 4870Rob

would anyone say the new Nvidia 260 cards be better than the 8800GTX cards? and any ATi cards?krishan

I just replaced my 880G0TX for a 4870 and am the happiest I've ever been. I started to OC the 4870 last night using the factory supplied software and literally did an "Oh, WOW" climbing into the heavy clouds over Samsoft's "The Very Singapore" scenery (NOT you're most flight sim friendly scenery!). Approach into my payware VHHH Hong Kong was just as impressive.Tonight I go for Fly Tampa's Kai Tak! Beautiful card.EDIT: My VHHH is NOT payware, but an awesome free and beautiful scenery by Thomas Kwong available here: << http://library.avsim.net/search.php?Search...=root&Go=Search >>using Ricky Tam's AFCAD: << http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID...fcd&DLID=109703 >>

>I just replaced my 880G0TX for a 4870Can you tell me how long the card is? I want to make sure it will fit in my case. Thanks in advance . . . NoelQX9650 w/ Retail HSF|ASUS P5E3 Premium WiFi|4GB Muskin Ascent 7-6-6-18 1T DDR3-1600|EVGA 8800GT|Seagate SATA 2 x 2|Seagate Cheetah 15K.x|XP Pro SP2|Vista 64--maybe never to be installed

Also Chuck, can you tell me how the 4870 handles bloom in a DX9 environment? I'm curious to know how it looks IQ wise, and also what percentage of a *hit* it has on frame rate.QX9650 w/ Retail HSF|ASUS P5E3 Premium WiFi|4GB Muskin Ascent 7-6-6-18 1T DDR3-1600|EVGA 8800GT|Seagate SATA 2 x 2|Seagate Cheetah 15K.x|XP Pro SP2|Vista 64--maybe never to be installed

Noel,Bear in mind Chuck is flying FS9 not FSX. If you're looking for a card that will perform well in FSX I would still recommend a 8800GTX or Ultra. Failing that the GX280 is your next best bet.Reports elsewhere on this forum suggest ATI have still not resolved the performance dip in heavy cloud in FSX.Cheers,

Noel- As far as I can tell the 4870 is no longer than the 8800, and I don't know from bloom, nor do I care. I have upped my locked frames from 28 with the 8800 GTX to 34 with the 4700 and the ATI card is at least as good as my 8800 GTX, with a clearer picture and it handles taxiway lines and multi mon much, much better. But it's also at least $100.00 more, depending on where you buy it. I got mine at Best Buy - paid a little more, but I wanted to be able to return it immediately if it was no good.And Ray is right -- keep in mind as noted in my sig I'm "ONLY" flying FS9, but with complex add on sceneries such as all of the Fly Tampa airports (Including Kai Tak), Samsoft's Changi and Very Singapore Scneneris KEWR, etc. -- I rarely fly in to a default any more. I'm also running all Ultimate Terrain packages, Flight Environment Pro, Active Sky 6.5, Radar Contact, FS Passengers, FDC Live Cockpit, ALL sliders right and 90% traffic. Oh, yeah. And Bird's Eye View to boot.I'm using ATI's 8.8 drivers with AA set to 8X and AF to 16X. And last night I just overclocked the GPU TO 790 mhz and the core mem clock to 1080 using the software that comes with it, so I know I can go farther if I want -- but there's really no need.I'll get one or two stutters that last less than one second the first time I fly into a new scenery area, after that all seems to load fine. When I return to that scenery area in a new flight no so stutters (at least, not yet).Like I said: I'm pretty frieking happy! Finally.

>>And Ray is right -- keep in mind as noted in my sig I'm "ONLY">flying FS9, but with complex add on sceneries such as all of>the Fly Tampa airports (Including Kai Tak), Samsoft's Changi>and Very Singapore Scneneris KEWR, etc.Thanks Chuck, somehow I missed that. That is critical for sure because FS9 is just plain not comparable to FSX performance wise. I am able to fly all out sliders in a PMDG-747 with all the addons galore and lock frames at 50 and that's where it sits. I'd best seek testimony from folks who are using FSX with their new 4870. I really like ATI image quality, but I wouldn't go there if I had to take a perf hit. My sense is that ATI ends up interacting with the OS in such a way as to bog it down a bit, which can explain why the x2 version does even worse than does the 4870 in the benches posted at Toms. I'm going to keep looking for some reports on FSX and 4870 n see how it fairs.

>Noel,>>Bear in mind Chuck is flying FS9 not FSX. If you're looking>for a card that will perform well in FSX I would still>recommend a 8800GTX or Ultra. Ray, it's an odd place to be because I am going to sell of my 4 month old 8800GT to put into a machine for my brother, and I wanted to take advantage of next gen hardware, but alas the 8800GT appears STILL to be the best option, BY FAR, of anything out there (Hi Sam!). I really like the IQ in ATI. If I could get a card that could handle FSX as well (ok, little lower frames no problem provided it remains silky smooth) as this 8800GT, but could do better in other games. I was even ready to consider the 4870x2 until I saw how it just wasn't working well with FSX. If this changes with driver revisions, I would definitely reconsider the x2. Oy!

"I'm going to keep looking for some reports on FSX and 4870 n see how it fairs."Ive bounced back and forth betreen the BFG 8800GT and 4870.On my system the 8800gt is faster in FSX especially in cloudy weather or low vis.XP,SP2,Every payware addon worth having.The ATI looks better. The clarity and overall look is crisp and clean.BUT.......This means NOTHING as I cannot for the life of me get the aa/af to work.There are alot of us with simular problems. You get some and at my res of 1920x1080 looks decent, but still the runways and other straight lines look like crap.Too bad cause the ATI kills the 8800gt on every other game including Crysis but FSX.I am going to keep the ATI but if all you do is FSX, then stay with Nvidia.