I have a 5 year old Dell XPS 730 with a liquid cooled QX9650 processor overclocked to 3.67 GHz and a GTX 280 1 Gb video card.  Recently the video card went flakey on me and needed replacement,  I figured that most cards available today would be better than my old GTX 280, and I replaced it with a GT 610 2 Gb card.  I also updated with the latest available drivers for the card.  After all this this, the performance in FSX has now decreased significantly, as also the performance in Rail Simulator 2013.

 

So, is this new card inferior to my old GTX 280, or did something else get messed up in the switch?  If the new GT 610 card is indeed inferior to my old one, which new card should I get that will give me performance at least equivalent to my old one?

 

Hoping someone can help me out here.

 

Thanks!

 

Rushad E.

This table should be helpful: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

I recommend at least a 650 ti...great bang/buck performance coming from a 280.

Thanks Rod, very useful information!

 

Earlier today I got and installed an EVGA GTX 660, which seems to work fine - can't tell if it is better than the old GTX 280 or not, but I'd like to believe it is :smile: .

 

R.E.

Two major things that matter with graphics cards in FSX: heavy weather rendering and AA (antialiasing) settings.  The better the card, the better FSX will perform in these two areas; conversely if these two are set at moderate to low settings one can get away with a less powerful GPU and still get good overall performance. I am an eye-candy freak and must have dense, details clouds and razor sharp AA performance and my 660 ti is decently adequate, though there is (always) room for improvement (though not the budget to support it).  Enjoy that new card!

Hi Rushad, what on earth were you thinking, going from a high end graphics card, to a very low end card.

 

you have to understand the sequence numbers of Nvidia cards, ie. the first number is the series, ie, 200, 400,500,600,

the second number is the performance of the card, being 10 through to 80. ( ok lets not go to the dual 90 series )

10 being the lowest and 80 being the highest. Your 280 was the highest and supported high end graphics, the 610, even though a later model was a piece of rubbish when using FSX as it is a very low end card, and hardly suited to any form of graphics or gaming.

 

Anything with 50 or 60 attached , ie 660 or 550 are mid range performance cards. Anything with 70 or 80 attached, ie. 680 or 580, or now 780,  are high performance cards.  this applies to all series of cards, whether 200 through to 700, the higher the second number the better the card.

 

Rod is correct, the 660 will maybe give slightly better performance at a lower cost, but it is still a mid range card, a 680 would be a much better upgrade. 

 

It all comes down to what you can afford,

 

Ron.

I don't switching out graphics card on that system is going to make a huge difference. You would be able to keep the level of performance you already had before the card died on you. You could get a used GTX480 very reasonably. With FSX it is the sum of the parts of the whole system not one single part that will make a significant difference in performance.

All, thank you very much for your replies.  I am better informed now.

 

Ron, I was basically clueless in thinking that since 610 >> 280, that the GT 610 would have at least the same, if not improved performance compared to the 280.  Thanks for the information.

 

The card I ended up with is the GTX660 (OC).  On my old system, would I find that much difference with the GTX660 Ti compared to the 660?  The price differential is about USD100.

 

R.E.

The card I ended up with is the GTX660 (OC). On my old system, would I find that much difference with the GTX660 Ti compared to the 660? The price differential is about USD100.

I doubt it! If I where you. I would get a used 480 for as little as possible and put what's left of your budget into a pot for a new build. checkout eBay or some local buy and sell site.

 

used 580's go for about $200 I just sold 2 of them.