Hello,

I'm getting a new PC, and next month I will pick up my new video card.

 

The new PC is mainly composed of:

 

i5 3570k (planning to run it as high as it gets, possibly 4.5-4.8Ghz)

Noctua NH-D14 cooler (to get it as high as possible, considering the heat it seems to deliver)

Asrock z77 extreme4

8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR 1600

Corsair VX550 PSU

 

Now, I'm picking up a new GPU for it, which I will be able to buy next month. Since the new nVidia cards are coming out I will probabily wait for them, but I know that new cards not always deliver better performances in our sims, since they rarely make use of the whole range of new features like normal videogames do.

 

I play many sims, ranging from FSX to Black Shark 2, Il-2 Sturmovik 1946 and Cliffs of Dover. I mainly play FSX right now, and I read nVidias perform better due to biased programming. Is that STILL true?

My screen is set at 1080p, so I need quite some memory since I like pumping up textures a lot. :)

 

My question is, what would be the best buy for me? Not considering the new nVidias right now, and given the fact that you can easily find close to new cards, that have just been used a few months at good prices, where should I point at? My budget is 250-300€, and seems like the solution for me would be 7950 (with some strech on the budget upper limit or an used card). Do you have any considerations on this card?

 

Thank you.

Don't get AMD first of all, they have a lot of problems because their drivers aren't focussed on FSX anymore. Whatever you do, get NVIDIA. With you budget, I would say a GTX 570 will do perfectly fine. But you could also wait and get a GTX 660Ti which will be around a similar price and perform equally to a GTX 580.

 

EDIT: 550W of power supply might not be enough. All videocard manufacturers recommend at least 600W.

Thanks for the reply. I guess there is no big choice then, I'll go nVidia. As for power supply, 550W of a good manufacturer are more than enough. Check those benchs relative to system consumption (not just GPU consumption) and consider they were using an i7 980x. As you can see they never went over 450W of total system consumption.

My question is, what would be the best buy for me? Not considering the new nVidias right now, and given the fact that you can easily find close to new cards, that have just been used a few months at good prices, where should I point at? My budget is 250-300€, and seems like the solution for me would be 7950 (with some strech on the budget upper limit or an used card). Do you have any considerations on this card?

 

Avoid AMD at ALL costs when using FSX. Go for a GTX570 or 580(if you can afford it).

i5 3570k (planning to run it as high as it gets, possibly 4.5-4.8Ghz)

I'd recommend the Intel Core i5 2500K or the 2700K. The new Ivy Bridge chips have shown to be pretty mediocre over-clockers. Stick with Sandy Bridge if you plan to OC to very high clock speeds.

 

EDIT: 550W of power supply might not be enough. All videocard manufacturers recommend at least 600W.

 

A good 550W PSU is fine for a single GPU setup. Although, this isn't the most power efficient setup, it will work without a hiccup.

Avoid AMD at ALL costs when using FSX. Go for a GTX570 or 580(if you can afford it).

 

I've read the 580 is a really inefficient card energy-wise. I guess I'll be waiting for series 6xx mid-range and check out 660Ti and 670. Thanks!

 

 

I've read the 580 is a really inefficient card energy-wise. I guess I'll be waiting for series 6xx mid-range and check out 660Ti and 670. Thanks!

 

According to rumor mill and Kyle at HardOCP mid-range NV is due next month.