Quite a simple question (hopefully). Currently have a 580 but thinking of upgrading to a 770 - 780 is a bit too expensive for me at the moment. Performance on the 580 is pretty good, is the 770 a better card? It may be a newer card but I'll be going from an x80 series to an x70 series which in theory is a backward step.

 

Any thoughts? It's for P3D2 purely, nothing else.

Here is good breakdown from the guys that built my system:

 

http://jetlinesystems.com/performance.php

Well, as someone who made the jump from a 580 to a 7704Gb, I can say quite categorically that yes, there is a noticeable difference. However, although I have experienced an overall improvement in frames of about 8%, in clouds, I have noticed about a 25-30% increase in performance. This is particularly noticeable around airports with 8/8 cloud cover. With the 580 I used to notice the frames drop significantly in these conditions, but now with the 770, there seems to be very little hit.

I am a noob when it comes to video cards.  I currently have a GTX 460 1gb.  

 

My question for Rockliffe is, in light of Luis_KMIA's reference to jetlinesystems chart, is the GTX 770 4gb video card you are using a dual-gpu card?  Are GTX 770 4gb cards even available as dual-gpu config?  I just don't want to make a $400 mistake.

Hmm, well, you are asking a question that I'm unsure about. I don't know what a dual GPU is! If you mean is it some kind of SLI setup, or has effectively two GPU's in the same chassis (?!) then no. Perhaps someone else can drop in and clarify...

As far as GPU's, FSX runs best on a single one according to these pro's. http://jetlinesystems.com/performance.php

P3d is much more sensitive to GPU power than FSX is. A 770 is roughly equivalent in performance to a GTX 680 so you will see an improvement in performance that is noticeable.

In the Jetline system guide that Luis_KMIA shared, it states, "The Nvidia GeForce GTX 690 and other dual GPU graphics cards to be a significant performance decrease to FSX." 

 

How do you know which Nvidia cards are dual GPU and which are not?  I'm assuming the GTX 770 4gb is not, but that's a $400 assumption I don't want to make.  I want to make certain it is a single GPU card.  

 

 

How do you know which Nvidia cards are dual GPU and which are not

The dual GPU cards will  have a 9 in the name GTX590 , 690, 790.

FSX does not like Dual CPU cards or SLI in general, P3Dv2 will be getting SLI support so there may be a future for these dual GPU cards.

But if it is for FSX then a single card will be better.

I did three things yesterday:

 

Replaced GTX 650Ti with a GTX 770 card (at least double the graphic power")

Installed the "wonder driver" 355.70

Installed v 2.2

 

I see no improvement in some challenging places such as KSEA and KBFI over Orbx PNW. It still turned into a slide show occasionally. In less challenging areas, P3d is extremely smooth before and after the upgrade so I couldn't tell the improvement. Of course your mileage may vary with a new video card, I think I will return the $300+ GTX 770 and replace it with an i7 4770K at about the same price. I believe my lowly i5 4440 @3,3 Ghz is the performance bottleneck.  Anyway this is just my personal experience for your reference.

 

 

 

Replaced GTX 650Ti with a GTX 770 card

 

Did you remember to delete your shaders ?

Thanks, Mad Dog.

I did three things yesterday:

 

Replaced GTX 650Ti with a GTX 770 card (at least double the graphic power")

Installed the "wonder driver" 355.70

Installed v 2.2

 

I see no improvement in some challenging places such as KSEA and KBFI over Orbx PNW. It still turned into a slide show occasionally. In less challenging areas, P3d is extremely smooth before and after the upgrade so I couldn't tell the improvement. Of course your mileage may vary with a new video card, I think I will return the $300+ GTX 770 and replace it with an i7 4770K at about the same price. I believe my lowly i5 4440 @3,3 Ghz is the performance bottleneck.  Anyway this is just my personal experience for your reference.

I would wait till refresh comes out before upgrading your CPU they will be the same price  be 100mhz faster(base clock) and use a new TIM that will drop CPU temps by 20C which may allow overclocked Haswell's into the 5ghz club without liquid nitrogen cooling. 

Mad Dog

 

I did a full 2.2 installation after replacing the card so the shaders is not an issue here. My point is when you have some doubts about your HW spec for P3d, fast CPU probably gives you more bang for your buck than a new graphic card. 

I agree on that one - I think my 3770K helps a fair bit, along with not using payware aircraft.

 

Thanks for all your contributions people! Think I will go for a 770