Hello! I had replaced some old things in my old computer with some new budget products from Newegg. I predicted FSX to be at full power with the new things I purchased (with the exception of a video card) but my performance was still pretty laggy with fsx.cfg tweaks and some setting tweaks applied. And since I heard FSX ran mostly on CPU power and not much on GPU, I really didn't consider a new card until now. I was wondering what the problem could be and would I need a new video card? (specs below) Thanks!

 

--Specs--

Biostar 880GZ AM3+

AMD FX-4170 4.3GHz Overclocked

Some after-market fan i don't remember the name of..

8GB 1866Mhz GDDR3 Ram

Nvidia GT220 1GB GDDR3 graphics card

450 Watt PSU

500GB hard drive

 

<p>Be careful about your PSU which will limit you to the lesser cards with only one PCIe 4-pin<br />

But still most anything is better than the 220<br />

<br />

Use this calculator<br />

<a data-ipb="nomediaparse" href="http://support.asus.com/powersupply.aspx">http://support.asus.com/powersupply.aspx">http://support.asus.com/powersupply.aspx</a></p</a>><br />

<br />

to get an estimate of the load from all known videocards and your system. (oddly, the wattage calculated is on the top line, in little red numberws, hard to pick out at first<br />

<br />

Your 450W is only good for 80% at best, most likely less if it is a generic came with the type<br />

So just get the best videocard your PSU can handle. otherwise you will get a lot of crashes as it fails to meet demand</p>

<p>Be careful about your PSU which will limit you to the lesser cards with only one PCIe 4-pin<br />

But still most anything is better than the 220<br />

<br />

Use this calculator<br />

<a data-ipb="nomediaparse" href="http://support.asus.com/powersupply.aspx">http://support.asus.com/powersupply.aspx">http://support.asus.com/powersupply.aspx</a></p</a>><br />

<br />

to get an estimate of the load from all known videocards and your system. (oddly, the wattage calculated is on the top line, in little red numberws, hard to pick out at first<br />

<br />

Your 450W is only good for 80% at best, most likely less if it is a generic came with the type<br />

So just get the best videocard your PSU can handle. otherwise you will get a lot of crashes as it fails to meet demand</p>

Thanks for your reply! I really wasn't aware how much power I actually needed... What would you recommend for a budget card that would increase FSX performance?

Please take a look at the calculator I linked you to

 

Considering price, less than 180US, I would recommend the GTX 560Ti 1G ,

2G of you are in Win 64

AND make sure it is the smaller one (ZOTAC) with only ONE 4-pin connector

 

But it does take power to upgrade

 

That said....

But with :

• only one HDD, one CD/DVD
• only one USB for your joystick
• use of onboard audio (NO PCI cards)
• one monitor
• only 2 sticks of RAM

Your PSU may be OK in that case

Even a GTX 550Ti will help, and be a comfortable fit for your PSU..

...and IMHO, 2 GB is overkill, stick with 1 GB on the card.

I'd recommend a gtx 650ti boost or gtx 660 for your system.

 

Personally I wouldnt be going for a 5xx card at this point in time.

Thanks guys for the help! I think i'm gonna stick with the GTX 550 ti just to keep it within my PSU range... if not ill consider getting a new PSU and a GTX 650 ti... thanks!