My current system is as follows?

 

Gigabyte gma770 am2/am2+ socket motherboard,

AMD Phenom quad core 2.7 ghz CPU (not over clocked),

XFX Nvidia GTX260 2gb graphics card,

8 Mbytes DDR2 2400 SDram.

 

I seem not to be able to get satisfactory performance with VFR Genx photo scenery + treescapes or ORBX sceneries and complex aircraft - fps 12-15 and stuttering etc.

 

I was wondering whether an upgrade of the graphics card to a GTX660 or similar would give sufficient benefits to warrant the upgrade cost?

 

If anyone has the knowledge to help it would be much appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Stuart

 

 

I was wondering whether an upgrade of the graphics card to a GTX660 or similar would give sufficient benefits to warrant the upgrade cost?

 

No ... IMHO.

 

Stuart save up and upgrade totally, including power supply.  Your present system to my eyes is not 'balanced,' possibly as a result of piecemeal upgrades in the past.

 

If you were just to upgrade the video card now the cpu doesn't have the power to drive it effectively.  Again please understand that FSX is over 6 years old designed at a time when 512mB video cards were considered advanced.  FSX is, and always will be cpu bound.  P3D and X-Plane can use as much video card performance as can throw their way, but wasted on FSX.

 

Hope this helps even though it runs counter to what you had hoped/expected.

Donor,

Thanks for your honest suggestion. I myself was of the same thought, hence my asking the question. I guess I'll just continue with my ageing system for now until I can justify a complete new machine! I shall just have to tone down various FSX options.

Cheers,

 

Stuart

Yep, your system is only as strong as it's weakest link IMO.  Overpowering it with a new GPU would not give you the benefits you hope for.  I would saves those pennies and when ready create a new, well balanced system.