Question RE: Video Card

[RickButler 0]

Hey everyone, I am having an issue with FSX, where it goes into slide show mode here lately. Just for a few seconds, but enough to annoy the living bejeebers out of me. My system right now is as follows:DellIntel Core 2 CPU6700 @ 2.66 GHz2.66GHz, 3.00 GB RAM (Which is actually 4, not sure why it says 3)Windows XPVid Card is a Radeon X1300 with Dual Monitors.Wife says I can't buy a new computer, so I am wondering if a new video card will do the trick for me? I found a: eVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti DS SuperClocked 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E w/ Dual DVI, HDMIAnd just wondering if that would do the trick at getting my frames up to an acceptable (25) level and keep it there solid? Also would I have to put a new power source in to drive it?Thanks for the help guys!

[Tango Mike 0]

Well a new video card wouldn't hurt you have found a good card there. It says that you have 3GB ram because your running a 32 bit windows system even though you've got 4 GB it will only recognize 3GB max.the way to get round this is to upgrade to any windows 64 bit version.Maybe someone else can give you a bit more info.

[Roadburner426 19]

Ryan highly recommends the 560 card from EVGA as being you best bang for the buck IF you are going to get a new card. I will tell you the same thing that PMDG will though. You will get far better performance out of overclocking your CPU than getting a new video card. FSX is very CPU bound, and even I myself (I just upgraded to a GTX 580) and the only real benefit is you can run higher Anti-Aliasing. I would say to probably invest in a good water cooler (Corsair H-50 or H-70), and also as the poster above mentioned get 64 bit Windows. While this will not directly help FSX as FSX is still a 32 bit program (meaning it can only address 3GB of RAM for itself), if you run other Windows programs in the backround they at least will be able to use more RAM so you will not get the 'Memory OOL' errors. Since your PC is a Dell I would think you would need to upgrade the power supply to run a 5 series card. I have an older 850 watt SLi power supply, and the 580 takes 3 out of the 4 plugs for just the 1 card. So in summary I suggest getting one of those Corsair Hydro coolers, getting some good RAM if you do not have any, and trying to overclock your processor to say 3.0-3.2ghz. You will get more performance for your money instead of buying a 2-300 dollar video card. Feel free if you need any help to ask. As we all have quite a wealth of experience here.

[RickButler 0]

Good info guys, thanks! I was under the impression (through some research a while back) that a Dell couldn't be overclocked at all?PS: And the website I found to buy the card says I need minimum 500 Watt supply for it.

[Irishcurse65 0]

I recommend you get a new wife ;)

[RickButler 0]

I recommend you get a new wife ;)

Cheaper to get a new video card lol

[Roadburner426 19]

Good info guys, thanks! I was under the impression (through some research a while back) that a Dell couldn't be overclocked at all?PS: And the website I found to buy the card says I need minimum 500 Watt supply for it.

There are work arounds for everything.. It really depends on the type of motherboard in the Dell computer. I am going to go out on a limb and say this is not a XPS unit? All you would really have to do though is see if someone has created an unlocked version of the drivers for the mother board, and re-flash the BIOS to those drivers. Then you would be able to overclock. What you would be able to achieve is a good question, cause like you say most Dell's you cannot overclock. There are various utilities out there, and people that I am sure have tried it. Also you will need a 500 watt power supply (again that is the minimum, I would say a 650 or 750 watt PSU to have enough head room) for that video card. Plus you need to make sure it has the correct connectors as the Nvidia cards either take 2 6 pin, or 1 8 pin (they come with an adapter to make 2 6's an 8 pin) and 1 6 pin connector. Either way just trying to help you out by telling you it won't help. To get the most out of these 5 series cards you need to be running a very good overclock. You will get a lot more benefit by overclocking your processor. I saw a huge benefit going from my old 2.8ghz AMD processor to the 3.0ghz i7-950. Then another big jump going from the 3.0ghz to 3.6ghz. From there I went to 4.0ghz (which was the first time I was able to achieve 30FPS stable mind you), and this is all with the same video card (GTX 285 standard). 4.0ghz is where I started hitting the bottleneck on both my RAM, and video card which is why I upgraded to the GTX 580. There are actually quite a few threads on this very thing both here on Avsim (you have to search the general section), and over on www.sim-outhouse.com . Before I bought my parts last week I did a lot of research. Ryan's opinions weighed heavily on me since our systems are similar speed wise. I think you would be better off buying things piece by piece, and building a really nice unit. I remember when I bought my PC with the 950, and those chips were running 7-800 dollars since it was right below the 965. Now you can pick them up for $274, and they are getting cheaper by the month. Even if you needed to reutilize a lot of the parts you have in your current PC you could probably build a new one for a few hundred more than getting the card by itself. Granted I know she said no new PC, but I have utilized a lot of parts in my computer from older ones. Is one of the main ways I save money. Cause really all you need is the mother board, the processor, RAM (only 4GB, no need to go crazy with it) and a video card. Using the on board sound you don't need a sound card (is what I do). The important thing is giving yourself a good base to work from in the future. I bought my current PC 2 years ago, and hopefully with the upgrades I just did I will get 3-4 more out of it.

[RickButler 0]

Thanks for the info Steve. I have definitely gotten my money's worth out of this PC, it is 5 or 6 years old. My goal is to move up to a self-build, so if I buy a video card, and new power supply (which I need), all I will have left to do my build is a motherboard, the processor, and a case (I already have a fairly good hard drive I put in last year, as well as 4 gigs of Kingston RAM - DDR2 333 mhz). I am hesitant to overclock this unit, in case I do some damage, and am left without a computer for a week or two. I run my own business off this computer, all my billing, sending data, book keeping, etc.I am going to order up a new power supply and that video card Monday, then wait a few months after the NGX is out (once I have bought it I mean, let the wife cool down). Then I will work on obtaining the rest of my components, and build a new machine.

[Roadburner426 19]

Sounds like a good call. You could easily build my PC for about $1000 minus the video card, and like I said parts are getting cheaper all the time as the stuff I am using is going out of style. Especially since Sandy Bridge is out, and now Nvidia is about to release the (I think) 6 series video cards. Just don't let the upgrade bug bite to hard, and wind up spending a lot of money. You definately do not need a top of the line system to get FSX to its max. If you order the video card be sure you do it before the 30th as you would get a $20 rebate on that card if you order one of the EVGA ones! You also get a free copy of 3D Mark 11 from EVGA. Just figured I'd let you know, and good luck on building your system.