Hello all,

 

I working on finishing my system and am trying to decide on the GPU. I'm building it mostly for FSX and P3D and possibly for X-Plane. My current specs are:

 

Intel 4790K @ 4.4GHz

Corsair Vengeance DDR3 16GB 2133MHz

Asus Maximus VII Hero

 

I'm currently running FSX using the integrated graphics (Intel 4600) am getting pretty good performance (30fps locked in most situations) with the exception of heavy cloud cover.

 

I am trying to decide on the GPU and I'm looking at EVGA's version of the GTX970 and 980. I've done a bit of spreadsheeting and came up with the following:

 

http://s886.photobucket.com/user/chrismagnus/media/gtx970-980_zpsa6b12eb8.png.html

 

 

The number that jumps out at me is the 47% difference in cost for not that great a difference in other areas.

 

I've looked at comparisons on Youtube of these cards and the 980, in the majority of situations does not perform much better.

 

My thought process now is to go with 1 970 and add another in a couple of months in SLI.

 

I know FSX will not make use of SLI but I think X-Plane, P3D, and my other games will.

 

Any advice you can provide would be appreciated.

The two factors I tend to focus on for FSX, are Texture Fill Rate and Memory Bandwidth.

 

TFR is 109 vs 144

MBW is 224 vs 224

 

The 970 is an awesome card, I'm sure it will do the job for you.

Plus the 970 overclocks to base 980 levels.

Gentlemen,

 

Took your advice and went with the 970 and am very very pleased with the results. I'm getting mid 30's FPS in DX10 in the F1 Mustang and RealAir Legacy at KSEA with heavy clouds from Active Sky Next and REX Texture Direct. I just took off from New York in PMDG's MD-11 with my FPS locked at 60FPS with SweetFX running.

 

All I can say is I am amazed at how smooth the experience is. 

 

Thank you for the advice.  B)

 

Now I need to figure out the best tweaks for this card in NI

Have you tried using DSR in the Nvidia control panel? It makes quite a nice improvement visually, in both FSX and P3D, but with a little cost in fps. Nothing that your 970 can not handle.

 

 Jazz

 

edit, hit the enter key by mistake...  ;o(

Edited December 13, 201411 yr by Jazzfan

Have you tried using DSR in the Nvidia control panel? It makes quite a nice improvement visually, but with a little cost in fps.

 

 Jazz

Have not tried it yet. Currently on a 2.5 hour flight but will give it a try when I land.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

I've got the earlier GTX770 and love mine as well.

Gentlemen,

 

Took your advice and went with the 970 and am very very pleased with the results. I'm getting mid 30's FPS in DX10 in the F1 Mustang and RealAir Legacy at KSEA with heavy clouds from Active Sky Next and REX Texture Direct. I just took off from New York in PMDG's MD-11 with my FPS locked at 60FPS with SweetFX running.

 

All I can say is I am amazed at how smooth the experience is. 

 

Thank you for the advice.  B)

 

Now I need to figure out the best tweaks for this card in NI

Hey

 

I am happy for you that you got an amazing result with your new card! my system build is the following 

 

MOBO: G1.Sniperz.97 

i7 4790K

GPU: AMD R9 290 :(

RAM: 16Gb Corsair Vengeance DDR3 16GB 2133MHz

it is working great with FSX and I am getting really smooth flying with PMDG777 

however I decided to get the Steve's fixer for the DX10 and guess what! The AMD doesn't like it at all!!! 

everyone said I need to switch my GPU to nVidia and that's my plan at the moment, and I might go with the 970 just like you.

 

Do you think the 970 will make me happy with DX10?

Yes DX10 is gpu intensive

Yes DX10 is gpu intensive

So go with Nvidia would be  better?

Yes, especially for FSX and P3D.

What's the better GPU for an oc 2700k? I'm running 4.5 now, and thinking about upgrading from a 480 gtx?

What's the better GPU for an oc 2700k? I'm running 4.5 now, and thinking about upgrading from a 480 gtx?

 

 Upgrade to GTX580.

Upgrade to GTX580.

Would the 970 or 980 be better? Looking to prevent a bottleneck?

The 970 will do the job, and save you some serious money..