Question Need advice on new graphics card for FSX

[tfreitas 0]

I'm looking to upgrade from my GTX560 to something with more horsepower to more closely match my CPU so I can get a better experience in FSX.  See my signature for system specs.

 

I currently run the latest FSX with all upgrades in DX10 mode.  I use REX Overdrive (latest version) for my weather engine, REX 4 Texture Direct, ORBX sceneries, Carenado, Alabeo, IRIS and A2A add-on aircraft along with accu-feel.  Also use the latest DX10 Fixer from Steve.  Run on a single 24" wide screen monitor at 1920x1280 res - using an external frame rate limiter set to 30fps.  Most setting in FSX are at MAX except Autogen = Dense, Water = Low 2x, Vehicles = 7%, Ships & Boats both = 0%,

 

My system runs pretty well, but has occasional stutters and some slowly loading textures which cause occasional black flashes in the sceneries.  I'm guessing that the graphics card just can't keep up.  So, I'm thinking of upgrading to one of the newer cards, like the GTX970.  Perhaps an older card family like the 700 series may be fine if as fast or faster, like the GTX780???

 

Budget is $500 MAX

 

I'm sure that changing my memory sticks would also help, but I don't know enough about that stuff and haven't researched it yet.  Read that NVIDIA is better than ATI for running FSX so that is why I'm leaning towards NVIDIA also.

 

Any and all suggestions appreciated !

[Jim Young 2,356]

AVSIM has changed its signature policy and kindly asking everyone to please put their system specs and flight sim information in their respective "My Profile". More details can be found at the following link - http://forum.avsim.net/topic/436632-new-signature-rules or under the Forums tab above. Thanks for your cooperation.

 

The GTX 780 ti would be a bit better than just the GTX780. There really is not much difference between the GTX 970 and the 780 ti - http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-980-vs-GeForce-GTX-780-Ti (best I could find was the 980 vs the 780 ti).

 

FSX is more dependent on the CPU and not the GPU. Of course the modern GPU will help provide better graphics and power but fsx is not dependent on it (in FS9, the GPU was more dependent than the CPU). I have the GTX 780 that I use with my i7 4770K CPU. I doubt there will be much difference in price between the 780 ti and the 780 but, on the NVidia website, the 780 ti is shown as more powerful than the 780. NVidia is better than ATI because ATI refused to upgrade their drivers when the new Vista platform was released. They were going to show Microsoft they didn't like the new Windows. FSX developers used Vista for the development of FSX and had to use the NVidia GPU as ATI had no drivers. That was a major blunder by ATI as many people upgraded to Vista and wanted a video card that was compatible.

 

FSX does not like external frame rate limiters and the one built into FSX works the best.

 

I would recommend the FSX.cfg settings as shown in the AVSIM FSX Configuration Guide. Be very, very careful with changing any of the settings in REX4 Texture Direct. It brought my system to its knees when I decided to change the texture resolution and texture compression settings. I now leave them at the default and, instead, in my FSX.cfg have changed the Texture_Max_Load setting from 1024 to 4096 and the LOD_Radius from 4.5 (the default max) to 6.5. I use no tweaks as I don't believe in them. Since I use photoscenery exclusively, I do not use Autogen. Autogen will bring your system down faster if turned up above normal. You may get 2 hours of flight time per session at the most before you have an Out-of-Memory crash.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Best regards,

[tfreitas 0]

Thanks for the info, I'll look into the 780ti.

Also, I updated my sig with the requested info.

 

Cheers

[Jim Young 2,356]

Think you misunderstood my friendly request. Not to worry, I have removed it.

[tfreitas 0]

sorry - got it... fixing now.....

[HighAlpha 0]

Hi tfreitas,  I'd second what firehawk44 said.  The 780 or 780ti would be a great card.  I think you'll be able to find one well within your price range if you shop around.   If I'm not mistaken, prices on the 780 fell when the 980 was released.  I recall seeing some sales on Newegg a while back...

 

At the moment I'm runnung a GTX 670 paired with a i7-4770K Processor.  I run FSX in DirectX preview mode with Steve's DirectX Fixer.  I'm getting pretty good performance in most locations.  In some urban area's (Like ZLA) I have to dial back some graphics settings...  For the moment I have different graphics settings saved as profiles using a mod enabler that I can select prior to loading my flight.  I just ordered a GTX 980 a few days back now, so I'm hoping that might elimiate the need for my diferent graphic settings...  I plan on making a video showcasing the cards performance after I get it.  It'll be on my channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChctrDMpUdYWpm3liWofF4g

 

Hoping to have the card in the next day or two with any luck.  Might be a few days before I can get a video up. 

 

Cheers

[Jim Young 2,356]

I plan on making a video showcasing the cards performance after I get it.

I think you have posted or advertised your site on AVSIM long enough. You already have a link in your signature. AVSIM has a "Links" section where you can post your link and provide a description of your YouTube website.

 

Best regards,

[HighAlpha 0]

Sorry, I certainly didn't mean to cause any problems.  I've located that Links section you had mentions and will be sure to use that in the future.