Upgrading video card, worth it?

[teofilo 11]

Hey guys,Here are my current computer specs:Gigabyte E58-UD3R motherboard (socket 1366).i7 950 Quadcore chip overclocked at 4.0GHz stableThermaltake liquid cooling system6GB RAMVelociraptor hard drive 300GBNVIDIA GEFORCE 9600 GSO 512 video cardNow here is the issue that I am having.I am trying to max out all the settings and get decent framerates (from 20-25 stable) at high densiti airports such as Fsdreamteam KORD, or KLAS, etc.With that hardware and max settings I barely make it to 10 fps which is annoying.I tried using *******'s tweaks for FSX and it has to lower all the settings for it to work properly.Would replacing the current video card for a brand new GTX 580 video card have any improvement on the frame rates and performance?I know that FSX is a CPU intensive programs so I don't know if to make the expense and buy the video card or just lower my fsx settings (that I don't want to do) to compensate for frame rates.Will the video card make any difference?I am looking at the GTX 580 but if there is a cheaper card that does the same job for less I would hear you out.Thanks much in advance!Teo

Edited January 6, 2012 by teofilo

[Illegitimi non carborundum 4]

TeoIMHO that video card is throttling a very nice system. Whilst a video card may not significantly increase the fps it could help by being more responsive to the cpu. To 'balance' that system depending on number of monitors and/or screen size any of the GTX 5xx series would be good. The 560TI could handle your rig as would the 570 and 580. Drivers are important too with most gurus settling on the 275.33 as being most stable for FSX. (I have used the latest beta driver and that works OK too.)It's all to do with bandwith and speed and the 580 delivers on both counts with the other two not far behind and, again the monitor size and numbers come into play. I can't comment about equivalent ATI cards.Just an opinionPeterH

[ZachLW 37]

The 580 is a great card, though a 570 would be plenty for FSX. You'll find that heavy autogen, vsync, clouds, and higher anti-aliasing settings will not eat through frame rates with the 580/570.A GTX 560 would also be a great upgrade from your current card.

[Ben Cap 89]

Go with the GTX560ti.

[teofilo 11]

Would I get around 30fps with all settings maxed out with the GTX 560ti?What is the difference if I get one with 1GB or with 2GB? Does it make a big difference? Which one should I get?I want something good that will work but if possible not the most expensive hardware.Thanks a lot guys!

Edited January 6, 2012 by teofilo

[SpeedPilot 0]

Would I get around 30fps with all settings maxed out with the GTX 560ti?What is the difference if I get one with 1GB or with 2GB? Does it make a big difference? Which one should I get?I want something good that will work but if possible not the most expensive hardware.Thanks a lot guys!

You won't get 30 fps all the time in FSX even with a GTX 580 with all settings maxed out, however your video card is greatly bottlenecking your system and even FSX should get a good performance boot with the video card upgrade. CPU is more important than video card in FSX but there comes a point when a faster video card won't help in FSX. At 1080p with 4x AA, 8AF, 1GB of VRAM is enough.

[teofilo 11]

Ok I am getting the GTX 560TI today and hope to have better frame rates.Thanks a lot!Teo

[teofilo 11]

Wow, just upgraded to GTX 560ti and I am still getting the 10fps at a scenery like KLAS. :(Any suggestion on what might be happening?

[VirginAus737 0]

too high with your settings?

[teofilo 11]

I ran the FSX.cfg again through *******' website and started using an external FPS limiter and that seemed to help but it disabled some stuff on my settings.Seems to be around 23fps now.Regards

[cmeeks 8]

Did you delete the fsx.cfg and start up FSX after you installed the new card?

[Ben Cap 89]

Wow, just upgraded to GTX 560ti and I am still getting the 10fps at a scenery like KLAS. :sad:Any suggestion on what might be happening?

Clean install the latest video drivers?