Well I am kinda on a roll for upgrading my PC for FSX. This is currently what I have:Q6600 STOCK - Can't overclcok, have a Dell Dimension E520 4 GB of RAM @ 800MHz 4-4-4Dell Generic MOBOand finally a GeForce 8600GT 256MBI am maxed out on the CPU/RAM. I am getting pretty good results for the system I have but I was wondering if upgrading the video card to lets say a 9800GT with 1GB of RAM or an 8800GT with 512MB of RAM would help? I was thinking of getting used one from eBay. I would have to upgrade my PSU as well.Do you think the video card upgrade is worth it? Is my GPU the bottle neck?Thanks in advance for your time,F.K.

The 8600 GT is a rather weak card, for FSX at least. Replacing it will definitely help, if not with frame rates at least with image quality by allowing you to use higher levels of AA. You may not need to upgrade your PSU, Dell PSU's are under-rated whereas most aftermarket PSU's are over-rated. Check the amperage on the +12V rail(s). If this number is 30A or greater then you can run a 9800 GT with no worries (assuming you have the appropriate power connectors).

Well I am kinda on a roll for upgrading my PC for FSX. This is currently what I have:Q6600 STOCK - Can't overclcok, have a Dell Dimension E520 4 GB of RAM @ 800MHz 4-4-4Dell Generic MOBOand finally a GeForce 8600GT 256MBI am maxed out on the CPU/RAM. I am getting pretty good results for the system I have but I was wondering if upgrading the video card to lets say a 9800GT with 1GB of RAM or an 8800GT with 512MB of RAM would help? I was thinking of getting used one from eBay. I would have to upgrade my PSU as well.Do you think the video card upgrade is worth it? Is my GPU the bottle neck?Thanks in advance for your time,F.K.

A 9600GT 512M would help and will not tax your power supply all that much..

Thank you both for your comments! I gotta check my PSU and see what the deal is with 12 rails. After doing some research, I will go with one of these cards:9600GTor9800GTAnd one more question I had is regarding stuttering. I am getting a little bit of stuttering when on the ground and specially when making turns in an airport (VC), do you think the new graphics card will help that?What do you think?Thanks again in advance!EDIT: One more question, what about these "Low Power" video cards? It seems like they are pretty much the same thing as the regular one but the only difference in specs is the core clock...unless there is some other difference not mentioned.HERE

The new graphics card can help, but you may need more VRAM to alleviate that issue. I get a slight amount of stuttering in highly detailed areas with my old 8800 GT that is not present with my GTX 285.

I went from a 8800gts 320mb card to a HD 4870 1gb card and it sure helped me on my e7300 system. It seems to not have scenery blurring or buildings popping up like before.I thought about going with the GTX260 but was worried it would not fit in my case it being a miniATX.So I'm sure the bigger card will help you some in smoothness and texture loading.

Thanks again...I will be looking for deals in the coming days on eBay and see what I can find.

Thanks again...I will be looking for deals in the coming days on eBay and see what I can find.

I have a Q6600 overclocked to 3.5Ghz. While my 8800GT is OK, I've decided to go GTX275 1792MB. Why? Well the right card at the right price just came up and I fly 2560x1600. Not really expecting too much in terms of FPS, but perhaps improvements in smoothness and blurries. Curious to use the mega buffer pool tweeks too, as panning left/right is always a hugh problem on my system.It arrived today, will report back in a few days!RegardsSimon

Looking forward to see what the results will be. What are your other specs? Were you getting acceptable results with your 8800GT?

Looking forward to see what the results will be. What are your other specs? Were you getting acceptable results with your 8800GT?

Funny,I have dual 8800 GTX on liquid and I just ordered a GTX285OC with a liquid block for delivery tomorrow. Same reasoning as stated above, don't really need anymore FPS but hoping to crank AA to 32XS or 4x4 to finally eliminate the rest of this damn Nvidia shimmering...I am primarily FS9 btw so this card with my current CPU at 32xs or 4X4 should crush it... Right now I can push 16xs (sometimes) and run 3X3 no problem but still have some shimmering that goes away when I go to 32xsAA but my FPS literally drop in half :( I am hoping :( this will do the trick. I wonder if the 182.50 are still the best driver for the GTX285 as well as the 8800 GTX's...Eventually when the price of the i975 drops and I can finally bring myself to replace the rig I have now I will take the plunge and do the mobo, cpu and memory too but until there is a good payware KEWR for FSX me and my heavies have no reason to make the switch ;)I will also report back on my results. BTW, anyone want an 8800 GTX with a liquid block on it LOL... I will do the pair of 8800's with an SLI liquid block if someone wants and then I will grab a second GTX285 if I have too :( BTW, I also have my old external liquid system which is ideal for the cards if you need LOLCheers,-Paul

Looking forward to see what the results will be. What are your other specs? Were you getting acceptable results with your 8800GT?

I updated my signature with the essential information. I should have said I fly 1680x1050, but am looking to move to the higher res. The 8800GT has been fine, apart from the occasional stutters and the problem with panning. That is as long as you don't do stupid things with sliders and avoid the worlds troublespots. Quite often I'll fly from regional airports (avoiding international) with 100% traffic, dense scenery/autogen, 100% clouds and 20-25 fps is quite achievable. However if I say reduce the traffic and increase the autogen, the smoothness of the flight is much worse despite the fps remaining stable. I hope the new card can address that, fps is only a small part of the overall experience.

I updated my signature with the essential information. I should have said I fly 1680x1050, but am looking to move to the higher res. The 8800GT has been fine, apart from the occasional stutters and the problem with panning. That is as long as you don't do stupid things with sliders and avoid the worlds troublespots. Quite often I'll fly from regional airports (avoiding international) with 100% traffic, dense scenery/autogen, 100% clouds and 20-25 fps is quite achievable. However if I say reduce the traffic and increase the autogen, the smoothness of the flight is much worse despite the fps remaining stable. I hope the new card can address that, fps is only a small part of the overall experience.

Here's a brief report from 4 hours of frustration and 2 hours of joy!- On win 7, best results still achieved with the Vista 64 182.5 drivers- Use NickN's guide, and in particular TBM=70 and BufferPools=490000000- Lock frames at 25 gives a good result, but external frame limiter at 25 gives a better result. FPS drifts down a little sometimes, but overall fewer stutters than before- Panning and turning is now much improved. Not perfect particularly if near the edge, but much much more useable than before.- Can fly with 100% clouds and dense autogen in urban areas (test area is FTX Hobart) and Very Dense in rural areas (e.g. FTX Cambridge Airport or default scenery around Belfast International)- Flew the 737 out of KLGA and YSSY no problem at all, with 100% MTX traffic (and all traffic deleted at other airports using STB).- Night time experience is much better.- Able to go to Water Mid 2X, and that is just amazing.And some not so goods:- Still possible to go over the edge, just try Very Dense Autogen over FTX Hobart and it's a killer!- Not all stutters are completely eliminated, a cpu upgrade is perhaps required for that- DX10 still shows performanc troughs, sometimes dropping to 10-15 fps compared with 20-25 in the same DX9 area. Not consistently reproducable.And some to-dos:- Try some more default scenery urban areas- Try 2560x1600In summary, I'm very pleased with the new card and the pros far outweigh the cons. FSX has never been so enjoyable, I could have stayed up all night just flying! We'll see how the rest goes, but I feel a little less urgency about upgrading to i7. Perhaps even wait to see how Lynnfield and Gulftown work outSimon

Here's a brief report from 4 hours of frustration and 2 hours of joy!- On win 7, best results still achieved with the Vista 64 182.5 drivers- Use NickN's guide, and in particular TBM=70 and BufferPools=490000000- Lock frames at 25 gives a good result, but external frame limiter at 25 gives a better result. FPS drifts down a little sometimes, but overall fewer stutters than before- Panning and turning is now much improved. Not perfect particularly if near the edge, but much much more useable than before.- Can fly with 100% clouds and dense autogen in urban areas (test area is FTX Hobart) and Very Dense in rural areas (e.g. FTX Cambridge Airport or default scenery around Belfast International)- Flew the 737 out of KLGA and YSSY no problem at all, with 100% MTX traffic (and all traffic deleted at other airports using STB).- Night time experience is much better.- Able to go to Water Mid 2X, and that is just amazing.And some not so goods:- Still possible to go over the edge, just try Very Dense Autogen over FTX Hobart and it's a killer!- Not all stutters are completely eliminated, a cpu upgrade is perhaps required for that- DX10 still shows performanc troughs, sometimes dropping to 10-15 fps compared with 20-25 in the same DX9 area. Not consistently reproducable.And some to-dos:- Try some more default scenery urban areas- Try 2560x1600In summary, I'm very pleased with the new card and the pros far outweigh the cons. FSX has never been so enjoyable, I could have stayed up all night just flying! We'll see how the rest goes, but I feel a little less urgency about upgrading to i7. Perhaps even wait to see how Lynnfield and Gulftown work outSimon

Great to hear Simon, I am sitting here waiting for UPS and Fedex... UPS has my card, Fedex has my liquid block and they are both coming today :) It will be a pretty complicated install because of changing all the liquid around and removing the current liquid cooled 8800 from the system but I am very excited based on your report. I also expect a few hours of frustration followed by shear joy...I already put both my 8800's, the liquid blocks and even an external liquid unit on swap meet, that is how sure I am I will be adding the 2nd 285 very soon...Thanks for the update,-Paul

Great to hear Simon, I am sitting here waiting for UPS and Fedex... UPS has my card, Fedex has my liquid block and they are both coming today :) It will be a pretty complicated install because of changing all the liquid around and removing the current liquid cooled 8800 from the system but I am very excited based on your report. I also expect a few hours of frustration followed by shear joy...I already put both my 8800's, the liquid blocks and even an external liquid unit on swap meet, that is how sure I am I will be adding the 2nd 285 very soon...Thanks for the update,-Paul

My card arrived 7:30 yesterday morning, it was real hard to leave it behind and go to work lol.I was far too aggressive with the sliders during the first 4 hours; much better to start in the mid bands and work upwards. I'll take a few flights around KSEA, KLAX, KDEN and Kai Tak tonight, and put the tweeking hat away!RegardsSimon

My card arrived 7:30 yesterday morning, it was real hard to leave it behind and go to work lol.I was far too aggressive with the sliders during the first 4 hours; much better to start in the mid bands and work upwards. I'll take a few flights around KSEA, KLAX, KDEN and Kai Tak tonight, and put the tweeking hat away!RegardsSimon

Well my experience is off to a bad start. Apparently there are two reference models for the 285 board. The Video Block I got is for the older reference and so of course I need the other one. Now naturally I did not figure this out until I had dismantled my entire liquid setup from the PC, Dismantled the stock GTX285 fan/heatsinks and went to actually put the new liquid block on. :o :( :( :P So now I have the GTX-285N Liquid Block on order for early AM delivery tomorrow and I need to RMA the one I ordered yesterday...Worst part, My PC is in pieces on the floor my GTX 285 is half assembled and both of my 8800 cards are already out and drained. I am not going to put everything back together just to disassemble it all again in the am so she just sits there staring at me like a lonely puppy...Enjoy Simon, hopefully I will be up and running tomorrow, Just waiting on another delivery LOL... :( And btw everyone talks about how big these boards are but I slid this one in even easier than my 8800 GTX's when I was trial fitting it so they are no bigger than the 8800 GTX boards. Sigh... guess I will clean the house LOL