Hello everyone, I am currently selling my old GTX 280 video card and wanted some advice on a new one. I was thinking about either getting a GTX 460 or a GTX 480. I have a wide screen monitor at 22 inches. What would be your recommendation? I am also in the process of purchasing a i7 950 chip as well. I may upgrade my monitor in the future to a 24 or possibly a 27 inch in the near future. Will I see any significant results for Flight Simulator (9) (X) having either card with those monitor sizes? Thanks in advance. This is a very informative and friendly forum and I have already learned so much in such little time.Lyndon

If you are going to upgrade to a i7 950 and plan on overclocking the chip go with the GTX 480, that will give you a lot better performance than the GTX 460. As long as you have a decent motherboard and CPU cooler the 950 can hit 4.2GHz easy.

The GTX460 if you want to save some money. But the GTX480 if you want the best.The monitor seize is irrelevant to performance, it's the resolution.

Thanks for the replies guys and responding so quickly. Yes I did plan on overclocking the i7 950 and purchasing the MSI GTX 480 as I have read good reviews compared to the EVGA 480's. The MSI appears to be the best bang for the buck, please tell me whether you disagree or not. The board I'm going to be upgrading to is the Gigabyte X58 UD5. For the cooling I will go with the Hydro H70. I'm also goint to go with 2 120GB Gskill SSD's, Corsair AX850 power supply and either mushkin or Gskill memory all in a Cooler Master HAF X case. Lyndon

If you are going to upgrade to a i7 950 and plan on overclocking the chip go with the GTX 480, that will give you a lot better performance than the GTX 460.  As long as you have a decent motherboard and CPU cooler the 950 can hit 4.2GHz easy.

I don't understand - FSX can't keep up with my 460 so the difference between a 480 and 460 is negligible IMO.  The decision also depends on if you have newer games or not.  In that case I would SLI another 460.jja

Thanks for the replies guys and responding so quickly. Yes I did plan on overclocking the i7 950 and purchasing the MSI GTX 480 as I have read good reviews compared to the EVGA 480's. The MSI appears to be the best bang for the buck, please tell me whether you disagree or not. The board I'm going to be upgrading to is the Gigabyte X58 UD5. For the cooling I will go with the Hydro H70. I'm also goint to go with 2 120GB Gskill SSD's, Corsair AX850 power supply and either mushkin or Gskill memory all in a Cooler Master HAF X case. Lyndon

Yeah the GTX480 looks great this one right here is a super deal http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127502&cm_re=GTX_480-_-14-127-502-_-Productand the H70 is a great coolign solution. You'll have a really good rig there, good luck

Thanks for the replies guys and responding so quickly. Yes I did plan on overclocking the i7 950 and purchasing the MSI GTX 480 as I have read good reviews compared to the EVGA 480's. The MSI appears to be the best bang for the buck, please tell me whether you disagree or not. The board I'm going to be upgrading to is the Gigabyte X58 UD5. For the cooling I will go with the Hydro H70. I'm also goint to go with 2 120GB Gskill SSD's, Corsair AX850 power supply and either mushkin or Gskill memory all in a Cooler Master HAF X case. Lyndon

I have your chosen Mobo, it has been great with one click overclocking up to 4.16GHZ using the Easy Tune 6 software supplied. Enjoy.

Thank you guys for all the advice. Luckyman, my resolution in FS (9) (10) will be 1680 x 1050, at least that's where it's at right now with my monitor. And John thank's, I'm looking forward to using that motherboard.Lyndon

Thank you guys for all the advice. Luckyman, my resolution in FS (9) (10) will be 1680 x 1050, at least that's where it's at right now with my monitor. And John thank's, I'm looking forward to using that motherboard.Lyndon

Yeah that's a pretty small resolution. The better the card the more it will help you when you get up there past 1920 x 1080. So a GTX460 also looks good, it all depends on how much you wanna spend.

Yeah that's a pretty small resolution. The better the card the more it will help you when you get up there past 1920 x 1080. So a GTX460 also looks good, it all depends on how much you wanna spend.

So are you saying it could go either way then with both my current monitor size and resolution. I may not upgrade the monitor for a while. I don't want to purchase something which I don't need. Thanks again for the repliy and the help.Lyndon

I don't understand - FSX can't keep up with my 460 so the difference between a 480 and 460 is negligible IMO. The decision also depends on if you have newer games or not. In that case I would SLI another 460.jja

Having flown about 30-40 hours together with a friend who has a GTX480, on pretty much same scenery/weather/airplane and FS settings, we more or less get the same performance. I've got a 460 and it seems to keep up with the GTX480 in FSX without problems. Both of us have a 24'' monitor with 1920x1080 resolution. Other games are a different story, though - I need to turn off HBAO in Battlefield to get 60FPS constant in FULL HD resolution, and he doesn't :)

I think I may just go for a gtx460 then since my only game is flightsim which is played on a 22 inch monitor. Any suggestions on the best and most powerfull GTX 460? I'm thinking one of the EVGA's superclocked. Thanks again for all the help guys. Much appreciated.

Most of the 'overclocked' editions are overclocked to 725MHz core. But, it appears that the core clock doesn't make that big of a difference in FS, since I clocked mine up to 900MHz and it made absolutely no difference in FS.

Fair enough, I'm going to purchase the card, hopefully tommorrow. I'm just waiting for some funds which should be in my hand by the end of the day. I just want the something really excellent for my monitor size and resolution.Lyndon

Fair enough, I'm going to purchase the card, hopefully tommorrow. I'm just waiting for some funds which should be in my hand by the end of the day. I just want the something really excellent for my monitor size and resolution.Lyndon

Good move!   Get the 1GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=gigabyte+460&x=0&y=0  The fan will never go over 60% which you won't hear.Cheersjja