Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
JesC

Informed Graphics Card Decision

Recommended Posts

I've actually ordered from both Newegg and Tiger Direct. One nice thing about shopping online with Tiger Direct is that should there be a problem, I can carry it straight over to Orland Park's Tiger Direct outlet store and exchange it immediately. :Whistle:


Fr. Bill    

AOPA Member: 07141481 AARP Member: 3209010556


     Avsim Board of Directors | Avsim Forums Moderator

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

After three hours discussing my options (or lack of) with Tiger Direct this morning it is probably best there was not a TD store near by.....hehe...I might have gone all postal. Kidding I always stay calm and polite but they were pushing me close.

 

I ordered the exact same product from a different vendor on Black Friday (a week post TD) and had it n three days. Odd. Unfortunately it was my first order with TD and my last.

 

But like I say it must be an isolated instance.


Rob

"Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm another soon-to-be owner of a GTX770 4GB. Mine is on its way from NewEgg, and will be here tomorrow. It's replacing a GTX660Ti 2GB, which has been a good card for FSX, but which has hit the VRAM "wall" a couple of times in my new P3DV2 installation.

 


Jim Barrett

Licensed Airframe & Powerplant Mechanic, Avionics, Electrical & Air Data Systems Specialist. Qualified on: Falcon 900, CRJ-200, Dornier 328-100, Hawker 850XP and 1000, Lear 35, 45, 55 and 60, Gulfstream IV and 550, Embraer 135, Beech Premiere and 400A, MD-80.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think for the money, the OC 770 with 4GB is 'the call' for XP10 (and possibly Prepar3D).  It's less than $400 after rebate, and that's a lot more palatable than the Titan.  Yes, it would be 'ideal' to have 3 titans, but $3000 for 3 video cards is nudging the 'nutty' button just a tad.

 

I was lucky to obtain a Titan as an in-warranty replacement from EVGA for the second failed GTX690.  When I bought the 690, I was thinking "buy the best", never even dawned on me that VRAM was so important.  It is VERY important as simulation platforms evolve, and more of the 'rendering' work is pushed to the graphics card and off the CPU.

 

This means much nicer frames, more complex graphics, and a flight experience we've all been waiting for.  We all want max eye-candy, and the juggling between what's on screen and what the frames counter is telling us has taken a lot of the joy out of our hobby (at least for me it did).

 

That's why when I went to triple-screens, I didn't ask ONE video card to render three times the work in the same amount of time.  It simply stands to reason that frames would radically suffer.

 

So the pc-per-monitor solution, while costly, is the one that will ultimately reward your investment.  X-Plane can split the image across a gigabit network and render to 3 (or more) pc's all at the same time.  It's simply incredible what that looks like during flight.

 

+1 for AMAZON.  I buy only direct from them, and generally AVOID their 'trusted partners' so I can rely on a 'no quibble' return policy in the first 30 days.  That is GOLDEN.  So much so I have discontinued purchases from other online electronic vendors (e.g. "new egg" or "tiger direct").  New Egg will only replace a defective video card, they won't take it back for refund (as stated on their website).

 

The loyalty I have for Amazon has rewarded them with a significant number of purchases.  My main flight deck PC components almost exclusively came from the Jungle River website.


 R. Scott McDonald  B738/L   Information is anecdotal only-without guarantee & user assumes all risks of use thereof.                                               

RQbrZCm.jpg

KqRTzMZ.jpg

Click here for my YouTube channel

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you for reminding me about Amazon! For some reason I forgot about them. I buy a LOT of book from there, but tend to forget they also carry electronics.

 

I placed my order from them because of the return policy. Only $399.99 plus 2 day shipping $13.96.

 

  EVGA GeForce GTX 770 Superclocked with ACX Cooler 4 GB GDDR5 256-Bit Dual-Link DVI-I/DVI-D HDMI DP SLI Ready Graphics Card 04G-P4-3774-KR

 


Fr. Bill    

AOPA Member: 07141481 AARP Member: 3209010556


     Avsim Board of Directors | Avsim Forums Moderator

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I just got my new build, which includes a 660ti, but I also have a nice 770 4GB sitting in a box right next to it.  My intent is to try out the 660ti and if it does not perform like I want it to, I will install the 770/4gb.  The likely scenario is I will return the 660ti and keep the better card.


spacer.png

REX AccuSeason Developer

REX Simulations

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I just got my new build, which includes a 660ti, but I also have a nice 770 4GB sitting in a box right next to it.  My intent is to try out the 660ti and if it does not perform like I want it to, I will install the 770/4gb.  The likely scenario is I will return the 660ti and keep the better card.

 

[stepping up onto podium]

 

Get as much VRAM on your video card as you can afford - it will serve you well.  I regard the VRAM as more critical than the cores, or the clockspeed... for XPlane 10, it is of SUPREME importance. 

 

As XP develops, the 'burden' of rendering the overall image (airplane, terrain mesh, textures, roads, cars, boats, clouds, etc) 30 or more times a second becomes harder and harder.

 

If you have increased your graphics slider settings, you'll desperately NEED as much VRAM as you can get... especially as you pile ever more-demanding tasks on your sim.

 

I particularly like the Msi "Twin Frozr" cooling pipes with twin cooling fans.  Whisper-quiet, and extremely effective.  I also like EVGA, for their USA-based aftercare.  As I previously wrote, consider buying a warranty on the video card.  The EVGA GTX690 I purchased less than 2 years ago had 'issues' and was replaced twice in two years.  I am gratified that EVGA took it upon themselves to 'do the right thing' and did an in-warranty swap to the TITAN in lieu of the 690.  

 

I can't help noticing that the '690' card did not regenerate in the 7-series product lineup.  It's either too hot (temp wise) or some other issue suggests that nVidia is de-emphasing the card.

 

Currently, none of the major sim platforms support SLI-technology, so the on-card SLI on the 690 was useless.   Worse, the "4GB VRAM" they advertise is split in half (2GB per GPU), so only 2GB of VRAM was available at any given time.

 

In my mind, 6GB is 'just right' for XPlane, but if that's not doable or realistic (and let's face it, paying so much more for 2 more than a 4GB card is just crazy), then I think 4GB is 'the sweet spot', for now.

 

I highly recommend you keep the 4GB 770.  You will NOT regret doing so!  Also, be sure you have a good quality and sufficient watt rated power supply.  They are reasonable- I recommend Corsair.


 R. Scott McDonald  B738/L   Information is anecdotal only-without guarantee & user assumes all risks of use thereof.                                               

RQbrZCm.jpg

KqRTzMZ.jpg

Click here for my YouTube channel

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The 4GB card you really only see the value of a lot of VRAM when you get into higher resolution multi-display sort of setups. Even with 2 monitors at high resolution, 2 GB will likely be enough.


Mo45

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The 4GB card you really only see the value of a lot of VRAM when you get into higher resolution multi-display sort of setups. Even with 2 monitors at high resolution, 2 GB will likely be enough.

 

Hi Mo, It's my understanding that while 2gb may be enough for FSX, as that is the amount of Vram that is allocated for FSX, where P3Dv2 and XP are concerned, additional Vram is of huge benefit.


Howard
MSI Mag B650 Tomahawk MB, Ryzen7-7800X3D CPU@5ghz, Arctic AIO II 360 cooler, Nvidia RTX3090 GPU, 32gb DDR5@6000Mhz, SSD/2Tb+SSD/500Gb+OS, Corsair 1000W PSU, Philips BDM4350UC 43" 4K IPS, MFG Crosswinds, TQ6 Throttle, Fulcrum One Yoke
My FlightSim YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@skyhigh776

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

That EVGA ACX 770 is the way to go.

It has 1GB of VRAM more and just as good of clock speeds as my ACX 780.

 

As far as a single 1080P display needing more than 3GB I don't know any sim/game that takes full advantage. Until you dabble in things like 3DVision.


Asus Maximus X Hero Z370/ Windows 10
MSI Gaming X 1080Ti (2100 mhz OC Watercooled)
8700k (4.7ghz OC Watercooled)
32GB DDR4 3000 Ram
500GB SAMSUNG 860 EVO SERIES SSD M.2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Mo, It's my understanding that while 2gb may be enough for FSX, as that is the amount of Vram that is allocated for FSX, where P3Dv2 and XP are concerned, additional Vram is of huge benefit.

 

Hi Howard

Not sure about P3D.

 

Best Regards,


Mo45

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The 4GB card you really only see the value of a lot of VRAM when you get into higher resolution multi-display sort of setups. Even with 2 monitors at high resolution, 2 GB will likely be enough.

 

If you are flying in XPlane 10.25 and you want to push the eye candy sliders to their highest, 2GB is NOT enough. Then if you add the donation-ware HD Mesh V2 or other very-complex scenery, you can encounter momentary freezes or hard-stutters caused by scenery tiles overloading the buffers in the VRAM!  Yes, it can and has happened to me.  Now in FSX, 2GB is fine, because more VRAM doesn't directly benefit you due to the way FSX is programmed.


 R. Scott McDonald  B738/L   Information is anecdotal only-without guarantee & user assumes all risks of use thereof.                                               

RQbrZCm.jpg

KqRTzMZ.jpg

Click here for my YouTube channel

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Howard

Not sure about P3D.

 

Best Regards,

 

P3Dv2 has been recoded for the engine to take more advantage of the GPU by reducing the strain on the CPU, thus meaning that in P3Dv2 a card with additional Vram is useful. I think a lot of the issues some users are having with P3Dv2 is that they simply have not upgraded their cards to take advantage of the newly coded sim. This is my understanding of things...


Howard
MSI Mag B650 Tomahawk MB, Ryzen7-7800X3D CPU@5ghz, Arctic AIO II 360 cooler, Nvidia RTX3090 GPU, 32gb DDR5@6000Mhz, SSD/2Tb+SSD/500Gb+OS, Corsair 1000W PSU, Philips BDM4350UC 43" 4K IPS, MFG Crosswinds, TQ6 Throttle, Fulcrum One Yoke
My FlightSim YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@skyhigh776

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

P3Dv2 has been recoded for the engine to take more advantage of the GPU by reducing the strain on the CPU, thus meaning that in P3Dv2 a card with additional Vram is useful. I think a lot of the issues some users are having with P3Dv2 is that they simply have not upgraded their cards to take advantage of the newly coded sim. This is my understanding of things...

 

Many thanks for the info Howard.

 

Regards,

Mo


Mo45

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

  • Tom Allensworth,
    Founder of AVSIM Online


  • Flight Simulation's Premier Resource!

    AVSIM is a free service to the flight simulation community. AVSIM is staffed completely by volunteers and all funds donated to AVSIM go directly back to supporting the community. Your donation here helps to pay our bandwidth costs, emergency funding, and other general costs that crop up from time to time. Thank you for your support!

    Click here for more information and to see all donations year to date.
×
×
  • Create New...