video card for fsx

[nichosi]

Hi

My old EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX KO 512MB card has failed & am using the previous one I had which is not very good.

Which today's inexpensive card is similar to the Evga I had for FSX? ...thanx ...nick


Home build, Asus P5K Premium WiFi,Intel,
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 95W 2.4GHz, OCZ Vendetta Cpu Cooler, 2x2GB,
240-pin DIMM, DDR2 800 (400mhz) PC2-6400, FAILED(EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX KO 512MB
GDDR3 (PCI-E)),Excelsior sata 500gb, Corsair TX750M Psu, X45, XPhome/win864

 

[Scania]

Your rig is rather ancient (as I'm sure you are aware!) FSX is FAR more CPU than GPU dependent, it's a simulator not a game and taxes the CPU much more than the GPU.

A newer board /RAM & CPU will very much improve your FSX experience (and other games) I experimented with FSX and my old 1.5Gb GTX580 compared to my then new 3Gb 780ti, the difference was negligible, where the frame rate from either card improved markedly if I heavily overclocked my CPU.

For your existing rig I'd drop either a used higher 700 or 900 series Nvidia card such as a 770 or maybe a 960 or new I'd opt for a 1050.

The reason I say Nvidia is not for fanboy reasons more it's well known in the FSX community that FSX runs better with Nvidia than AMD cards.

 

[nichosi]

Thank you for the answer Scania,

I do not doubt your recommendations one bit, so do not think I am big headed if I say that the FSX, for the demands I had of it, was sufficient enough with this old rig.

When the "EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX KO 512MB" failed' & I inserted an old one I had' the general graphics performance reduced a lot.

I would like to add that as an OAP my funds are very little & an inexpensive vc similar or marginal better in performance to the failed one, preferably new, any suggestions? I live in the UK. .......thanx ........nick

P.S. would this be any good, although a bit pricy?
Naughty.



Home build, Asus P5K Premium WiFi,Intel,
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 95W 2.4GHz, OCZ Vendetta Cpu Cooler, 2x2GB,
240-pin DIMM, DDR2 800 (400mhz) PC2-6400, FAILED(EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX KO 512MB)),.........

 

[Griffildur]

might want to remove the link to the external site before an admin does it for you

 

[nichosi]

I apologise,

I have no idea where I went wrong, is it not allowed to show an item for advise or is something else I did wrong?

How do I remove it? please explain so that I do not repeat. ...thanx ....nick

EDIT:-
is it allowed to show the name i.e "ASUS Nvidia GeForce GTX750 Ti OC 2GB GDDR5 Graphics Card" ?

 

[w3bbo]

Yes but do not link to competitors. Please familiarise yourself with the rules.

 

[Scania]

A used 750ti should be ample and not break the bank, £60 or so should bag you one from eBay I'm sure.

Certainly don't pay much more mind you, it's still an old card in the grand scheme of things and not imo worth any more.

And yes, your rig - albeit old -is indeed sufficient for FSX but a relatively small outlay on a newer (used) board/cpu/ram combination (no need to spend more than £100 or so on an early i7 setup) would reap large benefits.

I changed from a Q8300 based rig to an i7 870 based setup for less than £100 used, took a bit of searching but such an upgrade is doable on a tight budget given the early i7 itself is now old school despite performing much better than what you have now.

 

[nichosi]

Complete upheaval frightens me, let alone used staff not knowing its true condition.

Then is the deference socket types, new CPU, memory sticks etc, I am far behind new developments now.

Perhaps stick to one of the v.cards suggested at first 580/780 hoping will improve general graphics as my failed EVGA was.

Will this be an equivalent replacement do you think? Not an EVGA, whatever that is but, still Nvidia

ASUS Nvidia GeForce GTX750 Ti OC 2GB GDDR5 v.c (100) or

EVGA GeForce GTX 730 4GB DDR3 PCIe2.0 Graphics Card (£77) ...thanx ...nick

 

[PieEater]

The 730 would be a poor choice possibly not performing as well as your 9800 whilst the 750 ti should perform better than the 9800 and would be the sensible choice of the two.

Interestingly enough my experience is that although FSX is hugely CPU dependent the graphics card can make a noticeable difference in frame rates especially if you run weather add ons and fly into clouds. I went from a 680 to a 780 ti and noticed a 40% increase in FPS in certain scenarios.

 

[nichosi]

OK I got the idea for £30 more.

Thank you all, I'll start saving. ................nick

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If the OP is very budget limited,I would look for a secondhand Pentium G3258 and a budget motherboard to overclock it on:

http://pclab.pl/zdjecia/artykuly/radek/2014/pentium_g3258/charts/fsx_1920n.png

Yes,the G3258 is only a dual core,but it seems FSX does not really use HT.

It is also very CPU limited as a game.

Edit!!

Perhaps the OP can try and overclock their Q6600 a bit and see if helps first.

3GHZ should be relatively easy to do on the motherboard they have IMHO OFC as long as they have a reasonable CPU cooler.

 

[Scania]

If the OP is very budget limited,I would look for a secondhand Pentium G3258 and a budget motherboard to overclock it on:

http://pclab.pl/zdjecia/artykuly/radek/2014/pentium_g3258/charts/fsx_1920n.png

Yes,the G3258 is only a dual core,but it seems FSX does not really use HT.

It is also very CPU limited as a game.

Edit!!

Perhaps the OP can try and overclock their Q6600 a bit and see if helps first.

3GHZ should be relatively easy to do on the motherboard they have IMHO OFC as long as they have a reasonable CPU cooler.

The OP has stated that used stuff scares him,fair enough, therefore we're i him then a 1050 would be my play and perhaps with a decent cooler overclocking his CPU.

FSX was designed and written in an era where the developers thought CPU clock speeds would head north rather than split into multi cores as they did, therefore even after its service pack, FSX still loves raw MHz rather than multiple cores and hyper threading.

High end GPU's are wasted on this simulator, it's not a game it's a sim and needs cpu grunt far more than GPU grunt.


If I wang my 870 upto 4GHz FSX flies (if you pardon the pun) but the CPU temps are in the 90's(!) but it proves the point, were I the OP, I'd buy a 1050 and a quality cooler and push his existing CPU as hard as possible via overclocking, the results should be quite an improvement over his old 9800.

 

[nashathedog]

How does AMD perform in FSX?

Personally I stay with OCUK when I buy hardware and here they have r7 240's and 250's topping out at 65 pounds.

There's also Nvidia 740's and 750's with the former being at around 75 pounds.

If the OP was happy with the performance he was getting from the GTX 9800 in FSX he just needs to spend as little as he can so he can continue on, He doesn't need anything else and I doubt he wants to mess around overclocking either.

So how would a GTX740 compare to the 9800 ?

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-9800-vs-GeForce-GT-740

If you're going to go as high as 100 pounds go with a 1050 or a 460 but from looking at that I think the 740 will do as a replacement,

 

[Scania]

As a CPU AMD performance is good overall and depending on which CPU is Being used, so far as GPU's then Nvidia suits FSX better overall, always has done.

If the OP has a LONG time to sit and read, he'll find this guide from my old friend NickN a good and insightful read, it's old - as is FSX -but still valid.

NickN has a long standing in the FSX community and his guide is something of a bible, I hold him in high regard from my days when I was a forum moderator for www.simviation.com


http://www.simforums.com/forums/the-fsx-computer-system-the-bible-by-nickn_topic46211.html

Have a good read.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The OP has stated that used stuff scares him,fair enough, therefore we're i him then a 1050 would be my play and perhaps with a decent cooler overclocking his CPU.

FSX was designed and written in an era where the developers thought CPU clock speeds would head north rather than split into multi cores as they did, therefore even after its service pack, FSX still loves raw MHz rather than multiple cores and hyper threading.

High end GPU's are wasted on this simulator, it's not a game it's a sim and needs cpu grunt far more than GPU grunt.


If I wang my 870 upto 4GHz FSX flies (if you pardon the pun) but the CPU temps are in the 90's(!) but it proves the point, were I the OP, I'd buy a 1050 and a quality cooler and push his existing CPU as hard as possible via overclocking, the results should be quite an improvement over his old 9800.

You can get used CPUs with warranties from certain famous secondhand goods chains,which is ideal for these kind of situations.

Looking at a graphics card,as long as it is compatible,the GTX1050 is probably the cheapest card I would look at TBH.

 

[Purgatory]

You can get used CPUs with warranties from certain famous secondhand goods chains,which is ideal for these kind of situations.

Looking at a graphics card,as long as it is compatible,the GTX1050 is probably the cheapest card I would look at TBH.

Exactly this ^.. The highstreet computer secondhand exchange store even gives 2 years warranty and they have a online site too. Not worth buying new for that setup and you can pickup a better graphics card than the one you currently have from £10-£15 from them and with a 2 year warranty too.



Yes Nvidia is best for FSX one of the reasons I moved away from AMD back in the 5870 days as they broke the drivers for FSX. Also Nvidia inspector can be very useful for FSX too.

 

[Scania]

The only issue with the certain high St retailer is they don't sell motherboards, most likely the OP will require one (and then RAM which they do sell) but a used motherboard is most likely to be the unreliable used component out of the three.

 

[nichosi]

Thanx all again for the overwhelming response.

Just for interest, my old CPU Q6600 with the OCZ Vendetta cooler full of copper pipes everywhere never went above 40 degC (using Real Temp with the little loads I imposed on it around 21%) .............nick

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The only issue with the certain high St retailer is they don't sell motherboards, most likely the OP will require one (and then RAM which they do sell) but a used motherboard is most likely to be the unreliable used component out of the three.

You can still get the motherboards for socket 1150 brand new - the Asus H81M-PLUS is under £50 and can be used to overclock a G3258 AFAIK.

 

[Scania]

Thanx all again for the overwhelming response.

Bloody good forum this, pull up a chair and make yourself at home.

Just for interest, my old CPU Q6600 with the OCZ Vendetta cooler full of copper pipes everywhere never went above 40 degC (using Real Temp with the little loads I imposed on it around 21%) .............nick

I'd head over to the overclocking section and see how far you can push it, the Q6600 is an excellent overclocking chip (but I have no experience of it alas) I'm sure you'll get help and advice on getting the best from it, you've already got the main parameter covered - good cooling.

FSX likes GHz, the harder you push it the more FSX will benefit.