Hi,I am looking at purchasing a new video card for my computer. Right now I am using a EVGA GTX 550TI. I was looking at GTX 570's and 580's and am wondering if it is worth the upgrade. I also need to know what I should be looking for in the shader and memory clock speed. I have an intel i7 950 that I have not overclocked at 3.0 ghz but intend to do so soon. I also have 12 gigs of ram with an Asus Sabertooth X58 Mother board.. I know this is probably a difficult question to answer but what would be my best bet if I wanted to improve playing FSX? Thanks for any advice

Hi,Overclock CPU first, then think about GPU upgrade.I wouldn't think for GPU upgrade before this.

Hi,Welcome to AVSIM.It is difficult to give you a straight definitive answer, but if personal experience is anything to go by, the 580GTX will benefit your FSX performance. The 580GTX scaled nicely with my previous machine (i7-930 @ 4.3Ghz) over and above what I had with a 480GTX. That being said, I have had an additional and substantial performance boost from the same 580GTX with the present Sandy Bridge i7-2600 @ 5.0Ghz. That means the 580GTX may be a bit of an overkill for your Bloomfield CPU, even if you overclock the way I did.I suggest that with the l7-950 @ 4.0Ghz or more, the 560 or 570 will be a better match. The 550TI is probably barely enough for your present default CPU speed, but not sufficient if you speed it up. I suggest you pour the gas to the CPU as Ghz is what makes the FSX sun shine brighter. Make sure that you provide a much better cooling system that what comes stock from Intel, then crank it up and see if the 550 can keep up or needs replacing. Hope that helps at least a bit and has not fogged things up for you even more.Please let us know how it goes as I hope it goes well whatever you decide to do.EDIT: Just saw that Greg answered before I did. He is right.Kind regards,

Hi guys,Thanks for all the quick responses. Sounds like I should just work on the CPU first. Stephen I do have a Ultra 120 Extreme made by Thermalright installed as the CPU fan so that should be able to handle me overclocking it when I do so. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for programs to use to test and see what CPU speed I could get the I7-950 up to? I'd rather not replace the CPU since it will also require to me to get a new motherboard, so at that point its almost like buying a new computer and I've only had this one for a little over 6 months. If anyone also has any suggestions for CPU' and motherboards if I were to do this feel free to let me know. Thanks for the help.Kind Regards,Chris

Hi,I am looking at purchasing a new video card for my computer. Right now I am using a EVGA GTX 550TI. I was looking at GTX 570's and 580's and am wondering if it is worth the upgrade. I also need to know what I should be looking for in the shader and memory clock speed. I have an intel i7 950 that I have not overclocked at 3.0 ghz but intend to do so soon. I also have 12 gigs of ram with an Asus Sabertooth X58 Mother board.. I know this is probably a difficult question to answer but what would be my best bet if I wanted to improve playing FSX? Thanks for any advice

OC the daylights out of the CPU and you will see a *HUGE* jump in FPS.....Now for the GPU, I'd say you should upgrade in the future to Nvidia's new Kepler lineup.Looks like that have a GTX660. -- That probably will suit your needs and not be too expensive.NOW, if you have some cash laying around, I'd definitely go for a GTX580, OR wait for the GTX680.