Technical Question - Recommended Video Card

[fishn_cpa 3]

Greetings,In reading most if not all the Flight Forum posts here over the past few weeks, it seems that by far the majority of users are getting good to very good performance out of their rigs with Flight. Unfortunately, I am not. I knew I was going to have some trouble since a warning comes up that my video card does not meet required specs (which it doesn't). That part was clear, but what is confusing to me is what video card should I upgrade to? and will it make a significant difference? My goal, obviously is to get the frame rates and performance that most are talking about here. My concerns are, is my system good enough to handle a newer faster video card? Anything I should be concerned about (power supply, compatibility issues with all other software, etc). If I upgrade the video card will my FSX set-up (took a year to configure it correctly) be negatively impacted?My performance in Flight on medium settings (some even on high) for the free base software seemed fine, but with the Hawaii adventure pack and new plane, I am seeing some significant reduciton in frame rates which would be expected with more detailed cockpit and more scenery. Fraps says 15 tops and down to 6-7 densely populated areas for frame rates. Any thoughts would be appreciated on the video card upgrade or any other advice on improving performance. I want to get this up and running before Alaska is released. Thanks!I purchased my desktop August 2010 and here are the specs:

Processor and Memory:

Intel® Core™ i5-650 Processor

3.20GHz 512KB L2 cache + 4MB Shared L3 cache

Intel® H57 PCH chipset

8GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM memory (4 x 2GB for ultimate performance) (expandable to 16GB)

Hard Drive and Multimedia Drives:

1TB (7200RPM) SATA hard drive

Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner with LightScribe Technology

Write: 16x max DVD±R, 4x max DVD±R DL, 8x max DVD+RW, 6x max DVD-RW, 5x max DVD-RAM, 40x max CD-R, 24x

max CD-RW Read: 8x max BD-ROM, 16x max DVD-ROM, 40x max CD-ROM

Audio, Video and Graphics:

ATI Radeon™ HD 5450 Series Graphics with 512MB DDR3 dedicated graphics memory, DVI and HDMI capabilities and

support for Blu-ray and Microsoft® DirectX®

High Definition Audio with up to 7.1 surround sound capabilities

Connectivity:

10/100/1000Base-T network interface

Wireless LAN 802.11b/g/n

Ports/Slots:

3 PCI Express x1 (3 available)

1 PCI Express x16 (occupied)

2 external 5.25" expansion bays (1 available)

1 external 3.5" expansion bay (1 available)

2 internal 3.5" expansion bays (1 available)

Front panel 15-in-1 memory card reader: supports SmartMedia, xD, MultiMedia Card, Secure Digital (SD), Mini Secure Digital,

Compact Flash I, Compact Flash II, IBM Microdrive, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick Pro

Duo, RSMMC, MMC Mobile, MMC+

6 USB 2.0 ports (back)

3 USB 2.0 ports (front)

1 FireWire® (IEEE 1394) port (back)

Headphone; microphone (front)

Optical audio out; LAN; microphone/line-in/line-out; rear speaker-out; side speaker out; center (subwoofer)

DVI and HDMI available on the graphics card

Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor:

HP USB keyboard and optical mouse

HP 2710m 27" diagonal full HD LCD monitor

Operating System:

Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit

[dburne 2]

I would think something like a GTX 460 with 1gb of ram would compliment that system nicely. Make sure you have enough PCIe power adapters from your power supply, I have the GTX 460 and it requires two power connectors.I personally am an Nvidia fan, if you want to stay with ATI I am sure others can give you good feeback on those cards. You might get other and possibly better recommendations on the Nvidia line as well.

[StarZtorm 0]

I have a AMD radeon 6950 XFX graphic card with 2 GB DDR5 ram.. There is a noticeable drop in FPS when every graphical option is set to max. Now i just run with a couple of options at max and the game runs smoothly. Throw some money in it and get the 7970 XFX card. Its expensive, but it will be 3 years until you need a new one i think. That card has 3 gb DDR5 ram, and is the most powerful singlecpu card on the market last i heard. Oh, and remember that 7970 MUST have atleast 500watts available. so make sure you have a power supply to support it.

[albaran 0]

See http://forum.avsim.net/topic/364868-optimal-configuration-for-ms-flight

[jandjfrench 3]

Hi,Not sure how important cost is to you.This may be of help.http://www.hwcompare...d-6670-oem-1gb/I ordered a "XFX ATI Radeon HD6670 1 GB DDR3 VGA/DVI/HDMI PCI-Express Video Card HD667XZHF3" from Amazon yesterday. It was $76.24 but there was a $25 rebate.Jim F.

[james_2k 36]

560TI would be a better choice than the 460 as its more powerful and still very affordable.

[dburne 2]

560TI would be a better choice than the 460 as its more powerful and still very affordable.

Hmm, I have an EVGA GTX 460 SSC 1gb card, factory overclocked - I wonder how much performance , if any, I would see in moving up to a 560TI with a little more ram?I know for FSX probably not much at all if any, but I have been tempted to go ahead and get one anyway...

[james_2k 36]

dont think its huge. around 10/15 %.probably not worth it if you already have a 460

[NismoRR 191]

Just a heads up to you guys that may not be aware, but nVidia is releasing brand new video cards in the upcoming weeks. The chip is named Kepler and the rumors are rampant. The initial cards are going to be named GTX 680 or GTX 670 Ti or something very similar. I'm eagerly waiting for these but they will be fairly pricey.

[fishn_cpa 3]

Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it!Jon

[bloefield 0]

http://www.nvidia.com/page/home.htmlNew Nvidia drivers out today,3/13/12version 296.10 WHQL

[dburne 2]

http://www.nvidia.com/page/home.htmlNew Nvidia drivers out today,3/13/12version 296.10 WHQL

Wow, that did not take long - seems like the last one just came out not long ago...

Just a heads up to you guys that may not be aware, but nVidia is releasing brand new video cards in the upcoming weeks. The chip is named Kepler and the rumors are rampant. The initial cards are going to be named GTX 680 or GTX 670 Ti or something very similar. I'm eagerly waiting for these but they will be fairly pricey.

Thanks for the info, hmm perhaps I should wait a few weeks, we will see. I normally stay about a generation behind on vide cards though, when I do purchase one, as I am just too stingy to spend 500 bucks or so for a video card. Around 300-350 is about the max I want to spend, 250 even better...

[dburne 2]

Has anyone heard, what the price point may be on say the GTX 670? Is it going to be some time before they are readily available?

[SpiritFlyer 987]

Hi,Good topic! I am going to move this thread to the video card section of the Hardware Forum. However I will leave a link that can be accessed from the Flight Forum. Please post any future hardware threads in the Hardware Forum. Thanks.Kind regards,

[VeryBumpy 272]

From my very recent experience, I would not go with ATI. But this refers to FSX, not sure how Flight is.