ATI Cross Fire?

[BIGSKY 316]

Hi all from Jim. I am building a new system for FSX, I have the ASUS Maximus Extreme mother board,Running on Vista 64 bit OS with a Q9650 quad core FSB: 1333MHz L2 Cache: 12MB which will be over clocked with water cooling,in a Cooler master 830 case. Should I go with a single graphics card,or would dual cards be better? Also could someone recommend the best RAM? Thank's again!

[Art_P 6]

Hi all from Jim. I am building a new system for FSX, I have the ASUS Maximus Extreme mother board,Running on Vista 64 bit OS with a Q9650 quad core FSB: 1333MHz L2 Cache: 12MB which will be over clocked with water cooling,in a Cooler master 830 case. Should I go with a single graphics card,or would dual cards be better? Also could someone recommend the best RAM? Thank's again!

It appears that you are interested in the best components without regard to price, so I assume you are going with DDR3 memory. Selecting and overclocking that stuff is above my level of understanding as well as my pocket book. It is for certain though that dual graphics cards will do you no good for FSX. Get a good single Nvidia-based card if FSX is your target.

[BIGSKY 316]

I am looking at these two,http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143167 Or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814121294. For single installs. I dont know if I can get 2 of these in my case. Forgot the memory, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820145206

[Great Ozzie 101]

There is much advice on this forum about not purchasing a dual card (i.e. an ATI x2 card or say an nVidia 295) if your primary 3D interest is FSX.I have a Skulltrail oc'd to 4.0GHz... I have been using ATI cards since the Mach32 (i.e. I've been a die-hard ATI fan). But the ATI 3870x2 was a real dog in my system... the Carrier Landing IMC mission for example... I would start out with framerates 5-6fps, never above 10, just the proverbial slideshow. Weather was gorgeous but the chop / chop / chop visuals unbearable. Same thing for the PMDG-747; they have a little "Type Certificate" course: same same when working in that course: single digit chop visuals.You get into Wx with that card and expect the visual chop shop. It was very frustrating. I know you're talking about the 4870... I would do a search and look hard at what people's experience has been with it like this short thread about the GTX 295. Personally, I do have an interest with the 4870 (not the x2) or something from that series for an i7, but I definitely would spend more time first here looking for experienced comments.I decided on some upgrades for my system that included an EVGA GTX 285 SSC (core clock of 702MHz). I must say I am very pleased with it (with the ATI I was :( now am :( ). I don't see single digits. Visuals for the most part are smooth. I haven't done any serious tweaking and for the most part framerates are like glass. I just bought the Real Air Spitfire, upgraded the Texture Quality to "High"... took off from Kirkwall... instead of worrying over choppy visuals I can focus on looking for Jerry. Cumulus clouds look primo; stratus clouds at night can have an odd "hard" or well defined edge to them w/ outside view but still ok. The reduced visibility due to Fog/Rain is very much how I have seen on actual Instrument Approaches to Minimums. That is with Scenery Sliders @ Max except Mesh Res at 10m. Cloud draw distance 90mi/144km. 181.22s w/Nick_N nHancer settings, frame rates locked at 30. I don't remember offhand ATI scenery sliders but they weren't pushed like they are now and Cloud draw distance was set to minimum (60miles).With this EVGA GTX 285, there is a little room for more oc if you wish. I've pushed my Core Clock just over 750MHz and Memory Clock to ~1450MHz. I was too scared to leave it there very long, even tho I have a dedicated power supply for it and the case is airconditioned. :( For the short while I ran that way, it was stable in FSX.Hope this helps from an nVidia perspective.

[Art_P 6]

I am looking at these two,http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143167 Or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814121294. For single installs. I dont know if I can get 2 of these in my case. Forgot the memory, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820145206

As others will tell you, the GTX 295 is best for FSX. I've not tried BFG and can only vouch for EVGA and XFX. I don't know if that DDR3 memory will give you any benefit over DDR2 with lower timings/latency. There are tons of write-ups on the internet which debate what is best, so I don't feel bad about not knowing. Nick_N has posted some information in the AVSIM forums about memory as well as all other components.