Hi everyone, I currently have an nvidia geforce 9400 graphics card on my computer. Does anyone have an idea of a realative FPS increase if I upgraded to a 260 or 275 GTX graphics card? Thanks.

We'd need all the other info (rest of the computer, add-ons, resolution,etc)Having said that, 'a lot', comes to mind...as long as you're pushing FSX graphically.

Possibly very little in the way of frame rates. Graphics quality maybe.But FSX is CPU bound rather than GPU bund.IAN

Possibly very little in the way of frame rates. Graphics quality maybe.But FSX is CPU bound rather than GPU bund.IAN

Its a myth. Its a balance between CPU and GPU. If OP has an i7920 OC to 4 ghz, then for sure he is gpu bound.

Hi everyone, I currently have an nvidia geforce 9400 graphics card on my computer. Does anyone have an idea of a realative FPS increase if I upgraded to a 260 or 275 GTX graphics card? Thanks.

First of all, it depends on the CPU that is driving it all...But here are some telling specifications for the 9400GT, 9600GT (mainstream good card for FSX), and GTX260 (fast card)Texture fill rate: 4 - 19 - 37Memory bandwidth: 13 - 58 - 112As you can tell, the 9400GT is quite far behind the state of the art.. :(

You also gotta think about your power supply and heat disapation of your case. No point wacking in a monster new graphics card if there is not enough power for it or the fans can't cope with more heat.Cheers,Noel.

Hi everyone, I currently have an nvidia geforce 9400 graphics card on my computer. Does anyone have an idea of a realative FPS increase if I upgraded to a 260 or 275 GTX graphics card? Thanks.

As other have pointed out, we cant tell you the possible increases as we have no other info about your hardware and what settings you like to use.However the 9400 is woefully inadequate. If you run with medium and higher quality display settings, you are going to see a large increase, if you only display at low resolution and dont not use antialiasing or other filter settings to bring the image quality up, then the increase is likey to be only moderate in comparison.As others have pointed out FSX is CPU bound, however you still need a good Vcard to keep the FPS up while rendering at nice quality settings as well as to enjoy some of the eye candy like water reflections, bloom and so forth.So what is your hardware?

Thanks everyone for all the fast responses. My system specs are an HP m9500y with an AMD phenom 9750 quad core processor at 2.40 Ghz with vista 64 bit and 8.0 GB RAM.

So should I try to upgrade my CPU or GPU?

Both are pretty lackluster. You could upgrade your graphics card and get a decent increase in performance, but then you just shift the bottleneck over to your CPU which is already rather weak compared to a Core 2 Quad or a Core i series chip. If you believe you only need slightly more performance then a GPU upgrade would likely do the trick, though I'd question whether your OEM PSU could handle such an upgrade in the first place.

Both are pretty lackluster. You could upgrade your graphics card and get a decent increase in performance, but then you just shift the bottleneck over to your CPU which is already rather weak compared to a Core 2 Quad or a Core i series chip. If you believe you only need slightly more performance then a GPU upgrade would likely do the trick, though I'd question whether your OEM PSU could handle such an upgrade in the first place.

What's an OEM PSU? Also, hypothetically speaking, say I had $300 to spend which could get me either an Intel i7-860 processor @ 2.8 GHz or an Nvidia 275 GTX GPU. Which one would get me a better performance upgrade?

What's an OEM PSU? Also, hypothetically speaking, say I had $300 to spend which could get me either an Intel i7-860 processor @ 2.8 GHz or an Nvidia 275 GTX GPU. Which one would get me a better performance upgrade?

Original Equipment Manufacturer.You cant put that $300 Intel I7 on your AMD Mother Board.

Nor can you install a better graphics card in your existing system.Save your money for a new computer, and next time don't buy OEM.

Nor can you install a better graphics card in your existing system.Save your money for a new computer, and next time don't buy OEM.

So is there anything I can do with my present system? I really don't want to buy a new computer.

Original Equipment Manufacturer.You cant put that $300 Intel I7 on your AMD Mother Board.

Can I put a better AMD CPU on the motherboard? Like this one, for example? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/AMD+-+Black+Ed...p;cp=4&lp=3

Your motherboard only supports the original Phenom processors. These processors were uncompetitive when they were released. The Phenom II, which replaces the Phenom, is much more competitive, yet still not as fast as Intel's fastest chips. If I were you I wouldn't waste my time sinking money into your current computer. You would need a new motherboard and power supply to accommodate the new graphics card and CPU you need. That's basically an entire PC right there.