Unfortunately, just I was agout to try out another add on in Prepar3d my Graphics card gave way.  It wasn't the best, a GTX 560 that was holding me over until the future of flight simulation became more clear.  Now that there is a future again, and I'm in need of a Vid Card, I wanted to poll the community to see what those in the know think.  I'm really not looking to spend a whole lot probably $300 - $400 max.  I really don't know how to Vid Card shop so any general advice as far as brands to avoid, or other pitfalls would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you for your help.

ATI R9 290X

GTX 670 4GB.. Don't settle for anything less than 2GB of VRAM.. With your budget THIS is your best solution. You need to go over your budget which is admittedly low balling things with trying to better your 560..

 

http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-SuperClocked-Dual-Link-Graphics-04G-P4-2673-KR/dp/B007Z3HZLM/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1386384591&sr=1-1&keywords=gtx+670+4gb

EVGA 04G-P4-2768-KR GeForce GTX 760 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support SC 4GB w/ EVGA ACX Cooler Video Card

Price at NewEgg.com = $299 (free shipping)

 

If you could possibly afford to spend $90 more, you would be much better off with a GTX 770 (~30% faster than the 760):

GIGABYTE GV-N770OC-4GD GeForce GTX 770 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready WindForce 3X 450W Video Card

Price at NewEgg.com =$389 (free shipping)

 

These are the best prices I could find for ones that are in stock (unfortunately you're a bit late for Cyber Monday sales).

 

I wouldn't recommend less than 3GB of VRAM (Plus, if you ever add a second card in SLI, you'll want as much RAM as possible).

GIGABYTE GV-N770OC-4GD  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=GIGABYTE%20GV-N770OC-4GD

 

Amazon; GIGABYTE GV-N770OC-4GD   389.00 Free 2 day shipping

 

 EVGA 04G-P4-2768-KR GeForce GTX 760 http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=EVGA%2004G-P4-2768-KR%20GeForce%20GTX%20760

 

Amazon 299.00 Free 2 day shipping

 

Another option. Inow get all my computer parts from Amazon. Excellent service and usually 4 dollar next day shippin. I LIKE next day.

oh yeah forgot about those.. A slightly less powerful 680

oh yeah forgot about those.. A slightly less powerful 680

Ill take a 680 over a 770 any day. Oh, 770 a bigger number it has to be better.

 

 

A slightly less powerful 680

 

 Other way around. The GTX770 is a slightly more powerful 680.

 Other way around. The GTX770 is a slightly more powerful 680.

 

I was talking about the 760, and the 770, yes, is just barely more powerful at reference levels than a 680..  Same amount of cuda cores. My 680 Twin Frozrs GPU cores are clocked higher out of the box than a 770...  Only place a 770 really out does a 680 is the memory speed at 7GHz...  It's basically a repackaged 680 with a nice OC on the VRAM. 

 

I'm waiting for the 800 series and planning on plunking down a grand or so for two 880's for whatever they may be

Ill take a 680 over a 770 any day. Oh, 770 a bigger number it has to be better.

 

I have nearly all my sliders on maximum with my GTX780 SOC. It is a very smooth ride at a NVIDIA limited 33fps. Even got a second waiting for P3D2.1 SLI enabled.

 

 

If you could possibly afford to spend $90 more, you would be much better off with a GTX 770 (~30% faster than the 760):

 

I second this suggestion of Arwens. I upgraded to a 770 from a 580 and am very happy, getting good performance (30-40 FPS) with most sliders maxed, except that I keep autogen trees at dense and buildings at normal (using FTXG I find those are quite enough).

 

I picked mine up for $430 here in Thailand.

 

Rob

 

 

It's basically a repackaged 680

 No, you're right. I wasn't putting down the 680 by any means, they are pretty awesome cards.

I just got a 770 with 4gb vram and it runs very well on my system.  Upgraded from a 660ti and it made quite a difference.  I would definitely recommend this.