Unlike me, I guess people around here have another expectations about "performance"... I test many scenarios before I agree to use one setting in a sim.I like being done wiht tweaking for a sim. Having tested many scenarios, I believe I'm done with FSX on graphical level - 8xS+2xSGSS is my setting now.My 8800GT was great for FS9. But 8xS sucked bigtime in FSX. It drew way too much performance for me. I don't believe 460 is that much better... But I guess it's up to everyone's personal taste.

I don't believe 460 is that much better...

It is :)http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/178?vs=180

Alright, this is way better in terms of FPS. But how is it in the FSX and 8xS? I guess according to benchmarks it should be better, but we know FPS is not IQ.FSX doesn't use GPU for sheer frames, it relies on CPU. When it comes to GPU, it relies on its IQ capability and I know that a jump from 8800GT to GTX285 was rather poor when it comes to IQ, and to GTX580 was better, but still it didn't blow me out of the water. So I can't imagine 460 blowing the 8800GT... and GTX285 and 460 are way more comparable.And don't forget: you advise using 4xSGSS, which I wouldn't think of using when it comes to performance. So as said, it's way what one's personal taste is.

Alright, this is way better in terms of FPS. But how is it in the FSX and 8xS? I guess according to benchmarks it should be better, but we know FPS is not IQ.FSX doesn't use GPU for sheer frames, it relies on CPU. When it comes to GPU, it relies on its IQ capability and I know that a jump from 8800GT to GTX285 was rather poor when it comes to IQ, and to GTX580 was better, but still it didn't blow me out of the water. So I can't imagine 460 blowing the 8800GT... and GTX285 and 460 are way more comparable.And don't forget: you advise using 4xSGSS, which I wouldn't think of using when it comes to performance. So as said, it's way what one's personal taste is.

The way I see it is a matter of FPS and IQ, because as you increase IQ, FPS can drop dramatically, and then it becomes entirely an FPS issue. At 8xS even my old GTX260 was nowhere near the bottleneck in my I5 750 @ 4GHz rig, let alone the GTX460. At 8xSQ the 460 did ok, probably not good enough for you knowing how picky you are with performance, but still.The problem is that as you increase IQ (4xSGSS for example) a MUCH better card is needed, to the point that no card nowadays can handle that without a perf hit. I don't advise 4xSGSS, just suggested trying it and if you have a great card, overclock it like there's no tomorrow and don't mind lowering you AG a notch, maybe then the performance hit will be acceptable for some, but if it's not, get a 460 and it will happily run 8xS.

The way I see it is a matter of FPS and IQ, because as you increase IQ, FPS can drop dramatically, and then it becomes entirely an FPS issue. At 8xS even my old GTX260 was nowhere near the bottleneck in my I5 750 @ 4GHz rig, let alone the GTX460. At 8xSQ the 460 did ok, probably not good enough for you knowing how picky you are with performance, but still.The problem is that as you increase IQ (4xSGSS for example) a MUCH better card is needed, to the point that no card nowadays can handle that without a perf hit. I don't advise 4xSGSS, just suggested trying it and if you have a great card, overclock it like there's no tomorrow and don't mind lowering you AG a notch, maybe then the performance hit will be acceptable for some, but if it's not, get a 460 and it will happily run 8xS.

True. All true what you said. My GTX285 wasn't enough for me in FSX.Since the driver and IQ change from Nvidia (at some point Nvidia lowered the quality of 8xS mode, giving more shimmering), I was totally unhappy with 8xS and was looking for something better. Was in fact a reason for change. Now my 580 is just on this edge where I say "it's acceptable" for me.A little background story on this:I used to own ATI cards for FS (2002, 2004), and they were great until Nhancer was introduced and it's ability to influence quality on Nvidia cards.I saw the difference between ATI's AA modes and Nhancer 8xS. I was converted.Got me a 8800GT and that was it: fine lines, no more shimmering or edge lines on aircraft, everything looking great.Then Nvidia changed something, and voila... bad picture is back.Damnit I thought, why why why: so 8xSQ was introduced, but performance hit was HUGE.Then I got me a GTX285 with a hope that it will cut through like hot knife through butter - hardly, with FS9 was doable, but if you loaded it decently with heavy VC, good scenery, clouds, AI etc... you could still bring FS9 to 25fps (even with a very strong CPU), which was terrible.And now GTX580... where the setting 8xS + 2xSGSS gives me a satisfying non-shimmering result while still giving a decent 30fps performance which is not dropping on landing to some heaviest airports with some decent clouds coverage. And yes, AI is off...I guess I'm just way too picky

Can anyone tell me why my score is so low (computer in description)? I am running the latest nvidia drivers. Here is my score : http://3dmark.com/3dm11/1119690

As I mentioned in a post I started in the FSX Forum (http://forum.avsim.net/topic/333790-nvidia-stereoscopic-driver-service/), I had the same problem and similar score until I disabled the Nvidia Stereoscopic Driver Service. Even if you do not have 3d vision on your system, Nvidia installs and activates this service. My score doubled when I deactivated this service.Best regards,Jim

As I mentioned in a post I started in the FSX Forum (http://forum.avsim.net/topic/333790-nvidia-stereoscopic-driver-service/), I had the same problem and similar score until I disabled the Nvidia Stereoscopic Driver Service. Even if you do not have 3d vision on your system, Nvidia installs and activates this service. My score doubled when I deactivated this service.Best regards,Jim

Okay, I will try this and see what happens.