But Scott, I also have REX2 (TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=4096), same normal autogen and lots of traffic and that's more or less the same I can see on final and taxiing at KSFO. Looks to me those fermis start to shine aloft, away from busy airports, and then my frames are 25-40 anyway, which I can live with. I agree FSX is quite smooth even at 17-20 frames, but anything below 15 feels awfull to me. Of course if it happens for just a couple of seconds then it's no big deal at all.But then again, please don't get me wrong, I have no reason to not believe that there's a smoothness leap at the same frames with the new cards & drivers, but I really think I should just come to terms with this performance crap and just fly. After all nothing keeps us from flying to smaller airports, or even better, in IVAO / VATSIM where ingame traffic is disabled and frames are always 20+Thanks so much for the feedback, very much appreciated

Dazz, I totally agree. If I never saw the performance with a 480, I would be happy with the 275 - it works

Phil,This is an easy answer for me.Go with the gtx 480.

You got it the other way around Scott :( I meant to say that I'm not questioning the fact that fermis provide smoother animation frame 4 frame. It's just that I'm not sure it justifies the expense itself, to each his own, you're right.

Thanks for the input guys.Looks like a no-brainer here, Im going with the 480.Can anyone confirm if the noise and heat from this thing are as bad a some say?If so, could be an ebayer in time for the new 485...

Thanks for the input guys.Looks like a no-brainer here, Im going with the 480.Can anyone confirm if the noise and heat from this thing are as bad a some say?If so, could be an ebayer in time for the new 485...

In my case, with an "official model" from "Point of View", with both FS9 and FSX, noise is like my "old" GTX285; is not very stressed and is not annoying at all. FPS and IQ are amazing.Best.Miquel.

Sounds like a no brainer if you are going with one monitor, but I plan to use three and that's where Eyefinity would shine. But at what cost to overall visual quality?

You might want to check this out before you make a decisionhttp://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtop...=fermi&st=0

Thanks for the input guys.Looks like a no-brainer here, Im going with the 480.Can anyone confirm if the noise and heat from this thing are as bad a some say?If so, could be an ebayer in time for the new 485...

Thanks for the input guys.Looks like a no-brainer here, Im going with the 480.Can anyone confirm if the noise and heat from this thing are as bad a some say?If so, could be an ebayer in time for the new 485...

Phil, my case has a side fan directing incoming cool air right at the heat pipes on my 480oc. While running fsx, EVGS Precision shows the Temp is approx 67c with a fan speed of 55% and very quiet. The fan at 70%starts to get loud according to my ears and case acoustics.The interesting thing is that the GPU usage with fsx is 35% max! (1920x1200) so overclocking it might not be necessary on the 480 with fsx. This is why I think the 470 is likely the best value for fsx. But if you run other apps/games or want future head room then the 480 is the beast to have. No regrets here for sure!!

I'd suggest gtx480, atleast when looking at benchmarks its performing really good with latest drivers and performance in fsx is also amazing.About your case, Fractal Design R2 is really great case, i have it myself, but the included fans are bad at doing what they should. Yes, they are really quiet, but their RPM is max 1000, which i have seen once to achieve, and when i open my case the inside air is really heated. I recommend getting better fans for the case, also another fan in the front (1 front 1 back by default). I'm having heat issues with HD4870, i can't imagine what it will be with GTX480. Tho when i can afford, im getting Watercooling for CPU & GPU.

GTX 470, best bang for the buck.

I have one machine with a triple-head setup and 2 5870s in Crossfire, and another with the GTX 480, unless you want a widescreen display I would recommend against the ATI cards, the visual quality is simply not up to par with Nvidia, also the cards drop frames terribly in dense clouds and autogen. Nvidia makes the best cards for an FSX machine, if you want to do other things then obviously the story is a little different.

If you used the SM3 mod you will have no slowdowns in clouds at all.My single 5870 rivals any 470/480 framerates I have seen. Granted without the SM3 mod it does slow down in heavy cloud but 30 seconds work fixes that.Bufferpools=0 also works well and the sheer number of stream processors ensures it won't crash.Any other games ATi well and truly beats Nvidia. The 5970 makes the 480 look silly. For the same price.

If you used the SM3 mod you will have no slowdowns in clouds at all.My single 5870 rivals any 470/480 framerates I have seen. Granted without the SM3 mod it does slow down in heavy cloud but 30 seconds work fixes that.Bufferpools=0 also works well and the sheer number of stream processors ensures it won't crash.Any other games ATi well and truly beats Nvidia. The 5970 makes the 480 look silly. For the same price.

A 5970 is a dual GPU card and is close to $700, while a GTX 480 is a single GPU card and is about $500. The 5970 better outperform a 480. Now if you compare the 5870 to the 480, which is a fair comparison, the 480 outperforms it. The fact is, the GTX 480 is currently the fastest single GPU card available. I was interested in a 5870 for FSX, but the image quality does not compare with the 480.

A 5970 is a dual GPU card and is close to $700, while a GTX 480 is a single GPU card and is about $500. The 5970 better outperform a 480.

I just paid $364 for an EVGA gtx480 from Dell. Don't know if that was a one off, or preview of things to come, but that's a significant price disparity between the two cards.Plus, based on feedback I read on this forum from 5970 owners, the 5970 doesn't really outperform the 5870 or the GTX 480 in FS9/FSX. That was rather old feedback though. Has there been any progress in getting FS9/FSX to utilize multiple graphic solutions (5970, crossfire, SLI)?

I just paid $364 for an EVGA gtx480 from Dell. Don't know if that was a one off, or preview of things to come, but that's a significant price disparity between the two cards.Plus, based on feedback I read on this forum from 5970 owners, the 5970 doesn't really outperform the 5870 or the GTX 480 in FS9/FSX. That was rather old feedback though. Has there been any progress in getting FS9/FSX to utilize multiple graphic solutions (5970, crossfire, SLI)?

At $364, the GTX 480 smokes the competition. I heard about that deal, definitely a great price.

At $364, the GTX 480 smokes the competition. I heard about that deal, definitely a great price.

That's for sure, my last non-ATI card for a desktop machine was a Hercules Dynamite 128 circa 1998. I was looking for an upgrade from my 4890. I still think a 5870 is a great card for FS9/FSX.I had my 4890 crossfired with a 4870, so ironically I'm experiencing less heat and power consumption with the (th)ermi.Just did the NickN Nhancer mod for the 257 drivers with great results (only tested FS9).