As some know, I have just recently upgraded from a nVidia GTX285 card, to an EVGA GTX680 Signature Plus O.C./2 GB memory  unit.

 

Since replacing the 285 (had it since 2009, until three weeks ago), I have continually tweaked my .cfg file with ever more aggressive lines within the sections.

 

I simply have to say;

 

If you install a 680....and if you choose to run A.A. at:

 

32xS[combined:2x2SSA +8xMS]  Locked at 30 FPS in -sim...and staying anywhere over ORBX at 29-30 FPS!!!

 

and run:

[bUFFERPOOLS]

BP=0,....

 

....you will get smooth real-life animation, and what I now, and without hesitation, call REAL LIFE, WORLD VIEW!!!   I just came off a business flight from South Carolina, and sitting here home today, flying from KCMW (ORBX's Cushman Lake) enroute to Calgary International at 17,000 feet, my Friday afternoon 'flight memory' of the visuals, is what I see today within my sim flight.  I have NEVER experienced since the days of my Atari 800, this most incredible sight upon a computer monitor....a depiction of the world....so real, that it has finally convinced my brain, that I am in flight over world terrain.  Jeez...what a day to celebrate!

 

Buying the top tier nVidia 680, in my P.O., was the best sim hobby purchase I have EVER made.  It has transformed simulation, to depict the real world....right on my desktop.  200 series users, (and there are many still out there...), if you have a top-of-the-line CPU, I can't recommend enough, that you drop the coin, and buy outright, a 680 card.  Use the nose-bleed A.A setting within nVidia Inspector with this card, and at 1920x1200 monitor resolution, be prepared to be stunned at what your CPU/GPU system can place upon your screen when viewing ORBX-class scenery.  I am running 4096 high-definition cloud textures through REX Extreme and using High Def plane skins...and STILL...my system with this card and my i7-975 o.c.'d at 4.02 GHz is keeping FSX at 29-30 FPS constant!  Before, with the 285, I'd run a range of 18-30 FPS depending on cloudscape, and detail of terrain below the wing.  Now....yawn.....29-30 FPS.  Amazing.  Final statement:  If you are not not running with a 6xx series card, you are MASSIVELY missing out on what modern graphic files can render within FSX.  What can they render (ORBX, etc...)?   Real life, thousands of FSX feet below you............   End of post.

 

Cheers,

 

Mitch'er

Hey funny you post this I was thinking over the weekend about getting the 4gb 680 and replacing my old gtx285. Just as a way of a soft upgrade until I can get round to a full new build in the future. No time now. Your story makes great reading! I realize results vary but would love to give this old i7 rig a good jolt.

Hey funny you post this I was thinking over the weekend about getting the 4gb 680 and replacing my old gtx285. Just as a way of a soft upgrade until I can get round to a full new build in the future. No time now. Your story makes great reading! I realize results vary but would love to give this old i7 rig a good jolt.

I'd do some reading around here, regarding using a 4 GB vid card for FSX usage, rather than a 2 GB unit.  You actually get better memory performance from a 2 GB unit, and of course can keep some cash in the jeans.  Having said that, yeppers...this was the best use of money to give me true, life-like graphics, the CPU behind it, not-with-standing.  If you go for it...with a 285 to compare...I'd advise you to make sure... that you are in a sitting position.....and sufficiently oxygenated..... (wink!)  A few O.M.G!'s are allowed...   Have fun...  Oh...crank up the I.Q. and A.A. to the most insane level inside nVidia Inspector.  The 680 won't even break a slight sweat.....