Within the next few weeks, I'm going to order a bunch of parts for a significant computer upgrade.It will be Core i7 - 920 setup.The only thing I not yet sure about is my graphics card. Originally I planned to retain my less than 1 year "old" Asus EN8800GT with 512MB RAM.The just announced new ATI Radeon 5770 with 1GB sounds very promissing.However, knowing how much FS9 and FSX depend on CPU power, I wonder if a new graphics card will give a significant improvement over the 8800GT I already have. If it is to be expected to only give me single-digit fps improvements, I'd rather save my money for some nice new FS addons.Any idea's about this?Thanks.Best regards,Frank

Within the next few weeks, I'm going to order a bunch of parts for a significant computer upgrade.It will be Core i7 - 920 setup.The only thing I not yet sure about is my graphics card. Originally I planned to retain my less than 1 year "old" Asus EN8800GT with 512MB RAM.The just announced new ATI Radeon 5770 with 1GB sounds very promissing.However, knowing how much FS9 and FSX depend on CPU power, I wonder if a new graphics card will give a significant improvement over the 8800GT I already have. If it is to be expected to only give me single-digit fps improvements, I'd rather save my money for some nice new FS addons.Any idea's about this?Thanks.Best regards,Frank

Frank,you will probably get more knowledgeable answers from other forum members, but at least I can tell you this.I just upgraded from a E6600 with 2 GB RAM and a MSI 8800 GT with 512 MB RAM running Win XP 32 bit to an i7 920 (that I overclocked from 2,66 GHz to 3,8 GHz without any kind of problems) with an Asus P6T ver 2 mobo and 6 GB Corsair Dominator . I will re-install FS9 and FSX again to see which results I get and then also after that throw in the Asus 5870 to see what further increases I will get.I realize running win xp 32 won't reveal the differences correctly and I also have a Windows 7 installed on my Vraptor but I don't know the video card driver situation for that OS right now.Also note that "will re-install" involves a time frame that is slightly compromised by a 1 year-old son and a three-year-old daughter..

I think that if you are going the i7 route, than of course, you want a better GPU. There is more to it than just frame rate. But let's think about fps for a minute. If you are landing at a big airport with lots of addons and cluods and so on, a "single-digit fps improvement" might make all the difference. If I have the choice between 15 and 20 fps in those conditions, I'll take 20. I have run an 8800gt in my rig, and now a gtx 260. There is not a huge difference in fps, but things are better over all.Bob

Within the next few weeks, I'm going to order a bunch of parts for a significant computer upgrade.It will be Core i7 - 920 setup.The only thing I not yet sure about is my graphics card. Originally I planned to retain my less than 1 year "old" Asus EN8800GT with 512MB RAM.The just announced new ATI Radeon 5770 with 1GB sounds very promissing.However, knowing how much FS9 and FSX depend on CPU power, I wonder if a new graphics card will give a significant improvement over the 8800GT I already have. If it is to be expected to only give me single-digit fps improvements, I'd rather save my money for some nice new FS addons.Any idea's about this?Thanks.Best regards,Frank

And sorry Frank, I thought you mistyped it and meant the 5870. I didn't know the 5770 was even around!

Within the next few weeks, I'm going to order a bunch of parts for a significant computer upgrade.It will be Core i7 - 920 setup.The only thing I not yet sure about is my graphics card. Originally I planned to retain my less than 1 year "old" Asus EN8800GT with 512MB RAM.The just announced new ATI Radeon 5770 with 1GB sounds very promissing.However, knowing how much FS9 and FSX depend on CPU power, I wonder if a new graphics card will give a significant improvement over the 8800GT I already have. If it is to be expected to only give me single-digit fps improvements, I'd rather save my money for some nice new FS addons.Any idea's about this?Thanks.Best regards,Frank

The 5770 doesn't beat a 4890 which can be had for cheaper now.5850 would be the sweet spot on price and performance.

It's hard to guess at the 5770's performance in FSX since it just launched today and absolutely no review sites bench with FSX on a regular basis. Anandtech and Tom's Hardware may throw the poor simmer a bone every now and then with some FSX numbers, but we don't even have that for 5770 yet.

Thanks for all the response guys.... Guess I'd better first see what performance the 920 / 8800GT combo will give me. If I'm not satisfied (will I ever be?), I'll look into the hopefully then posted figures of the 5770.Regards,Frank