Hi guys,The last year i was buying components to build a new system, when something i was looking for was on sale i bought it.At least half a year ago i bought a MSI 8800 ultra oc video card .Last week i had all the hardware that i needed to build my dream computer.Saturday night i plugged in the power connector, turned on the pc and immediately my motherboard was peeping and my video card wasn't working.:-mad I tried my older videocard and there was no problem.I know that you have to power the card with two pci power connectors so that is not the problem and i have a 1000W psu .So now i need a new videocard because i bought the MSI videocard at least half a year ago so i have no more warranty :-mad :-mad my question is:Wich one is the best and how much memory do i need on those cards 512 Mb or 1024MB.The system is primary used to play FSX. 2x nvidia 8800 GT 512MB in sli mode or1x nvidia 8800 GTS 512MB1 nvidia GTX 280 or 1 ATI HD4870 1024MBI hope someone can help me with this.My cpu is Q6600 at 3,6 with 4 GB memory ,MS vista ultimate 64B,PSU Zalman 1000W Thanks in advance,Best regards,G

Depending on the size of your monitor and how much AA you'd like to run will determine which card you should buy. If you have a 30" 2560x1600 monitor and plan on running 8x AA or more, you'll want the GTX 280. For anything else the 8800 GTS 512 or 9800 GTX/GTX+ will suffice. If you're unaware, the 8800 GTS 512/9800 GTX/9800 GTX+ are all essentially the same card with slightly different clockspeeds so just get whichever one offers you the highest clocks at the lowest price. I do not suggest you pay a premium price for any of these cards, as they can be had very cheaply now. $200 would be my price cap were I in the market for one of these cards.

I have the HD 4870 1G and I like it.I think the GTX280 may perform a bit better but it is significantly more expensive too....I think it is noisier and delivers more heat....the HD4870 now has a fan control in 5% steps, which I turn up before usinf FSX (to 35% = less noise T=55C).... your choice. Performance is not that different so I chose to save a few bucksThe HD 4870(1G) takes 2 x 6-pin power connections, whereas the 280 takes a 6-pin AND a 8-pin (if I am not mistaken), which means more power.Also the 8-pins are hard to find if the card does not include one.Allen

The reason I got the HD 4870 was to have the videoRAM to use the high res clouds in FEX without severe jitters, which has been resolved with that 1G card. For more fps you really need a stronger CPUBTW How do you OC your Q6600 to 3,6G ???I would like to do that...maybe I should read up on the overclocking techniques.