The best GPU for FSX?

[collettnj]

Hi folks,

My current system is as follows (minus motherboard as I've RMA'd my old one with scan and am swapping it for another, most likely P45 chipset.

Intel E8500
4GB OCZ Reaper X RAM
EVGA 8800GTS 640
Thermaltake 600W PSU
2xWD Raptor 74GB
Air cooled Akasa Eclipse with sharkoon 120mm fans, and a Thermalright extreme CPU cooler
24" LCD at 1920x1200

I have been recommended the following motherboard as a replacement for my old EVGA 680i that went faulty:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?W...TA+RAID%2c+ATX

I'm looking to get a new graphics card, and would like some recommendations..

I will be looking to run Flight Simulator 10 only on this PC - no crysis etc

I've been looking at the 2GB Power Color HD4870X2 and 2GB Sapphire HD4870X2, which have a £35 price difference for seemingly identical specs. What's the reason for the price difference? Is the sapphire better in any way?

I'm also aware that such cards might be overkill, though FS10 is a very demanding game, and I will be running it at 1920x1200. Might it be better to SLI 2 GTX 260s, or get a different single card solution?

Thanks for your help!

[handscombmp]

I think that FSX is mainly limited in the CPU before the GPU so it may be worth getting a quad core and just a normal 4870 (you can always add another card on later if you feel you need to using crossfire as thats what the card is really)

If you were thinking of getting two GTX260's in SLI you'd have to get a different board and Nvidia boards aren't the best at overclocking

As for what the difference is between the two i'm not quite sure.
You'll have to see what some of the other guys say.

[jonskyline]

Youd be better off going for a 4870x2 out of that and the GTX 260 sli.

[Pob255]

not sure, step one is do some digging as to what fs10 is like with crossfire
if it performs well under crossfire then consider two 4850 in crossfire on a p45 or x48 motherboard or a 4870x2 (while the 4870x2 is one card it is basically two 4870's gpu's and memory stuck onto one board and does rely on crossfire drivers for performance)

If however fs10 is bad with crossfire then look at a gtx260 or gtx280

remember google is your friend

[collettnj]

FSX doesn't support quad core, so I'd have to be spending a lot of money to get a quad core at a speed that would match the E8500 (3.16GHz)...

I've only just bought the 8500 as well (well, I actually bought it in July but haven't used it yet due to issues I had with the motherboard), so a new CPU isn't an option for me..

EDIT: sorry Pob we posted at the same time...as far as I'm aware FSX doesn't get any great benefit from SLI. Would you therefore recommend the 280 over the 4870X2?

[Pob255]

ps what speed is that ram?

if fs10 is cpu heavy then you should probably be looking at overclocking the pants off your e8500

[collettnj]

I believe FS10 is pretty CPU heavy, so OCing might not be a bad plan. It does, however also require a lot of graphics processing power...

In answer to the RAM question: PC2-8000 at 1000MHz

http://www.ocztechnology.com/product...pc_4gb_edition

[Webby]

Personal preference on the motherboard would make me choose one of these two instead

DFI DK P45-T2SR Plus
Biostar TPower I45

Graphics card wise I do not know how FSX responds to crossfire so you better get a review to find out. If it responds well then crossfired 4850s ~£230 is the best value for money you will find. If it does not like crossfire then a GTX280 will offer the most graphical performance from a single card single GPU solution.

[Pob255]

sli vs crossfire is the same as ati vs nvidia
they both do better in some things than the other
all depends on which game

get looking at revi9ews, try to find a few reviews don't trust just one, don't think the fps they get is going to be the number you'll get and don't trust shopping/price comparsion site users reviews

"this peice of crud card is great it's so much better on my low res monitor than my old card which I got 6 years ago" - Avarage shopping comparrison website user review

Remember google is still your friend

[collettnj]

If it does not like crossfire then a GTX280 will offer the most graphical performance from a single card single GPU solution.

Even more so than the ATI 4870X2? I believe the ATI is quite a way ahead in the higher resolutions..

That said, I'll hasten to add that I know very little about today's GPUs, so I'll sooner take your ideas than mine!

[Pob255]

not sure, step one is do some digging as to what fs10 is like with crossfire
if it performs well under crossfire then consider two 4850 in crossfire on a p45 or x48 motherboard or a 4870x2 (while the 4870x2 is one card it is basically two 4870's gpu's and memory stuck onto one board and does rely on crossfire drivers for performance)

If however fs10 is bad with crossfire then look at a gtx260 or gtx280

remember google is your friend

quoteing my own threads

[collettnj]

Ahhh I hadn't seen the crossfire driver issue, my bad there.

GTX280 I guess it probably is...now I need to decide which one..I guess that search button's in order

[Webby]

He is not saying that it is bad with crossfire just to check to make sure it works well first and pointing out that the 4870X2 while a single PCB is basically still just crossfired 4870s so will suffer from any crossfire related issues that a game may have.

[collettnj]

Yup I see what he means now..makes good sense. As for deciding upon a specific GTX280, is there anything specific I need to look out for? There are some huge price differences there..have you any idea which would be my best bet?

[Pob255]

For the love of Gurd please check what fs10 is like with different cards before you get one.
You have a very specific requirement and access to the internet.
You don't have to use google but please look.

[collettnj]

For the love of Gurd please check what fs10 is like with different cards before you get one.
You have a very specific requirement and access to the internet.
You don't have to use google but please look.

Don't worry I won't be jumping into this! I'll have a snoop around..