Ian Oak-Rhind Posted March 10, 2008 at 09:50 AM Posted March 10, 2008 at 09:50 AM I am new to VATSIM. Love it!! am running FS9 and SB3 The problem is.....my little Dell laptop (Wxp/CPU 2.5ghz/1.2gb RAM) is pathetically inadequate and the average FPS with SB3 is down to about 5.....if I am lucky. So....money needs to be spent on a radical upgrade. A completely new PC with all the bells and whistles. The real question is: which Graphics Card should I go for??? My local PC supplier has quoted me for a Nvidia 8800GTS with 640 mb memory.....must be an improvement on my existing GForce 4200 with 64 mb memory! However, I have been reading other threads in this Forum which seem to imply that there are several (and complicated) set-up problems with Nvidia cards. The need for nHancer etc. All a bit technical for me! Can anyone please point me in the right direction. Am I correct in my [Mod - Happy Thoughts]umptions about Nvidia?? Should I look at ATI cards?? Is the Nvidia 8800GTS a sensible/usable option? As a non-techie, I would greatly appreciate any straighttforward advice on this important (to me!) question. Many thanks in advance Regards Ian Oak-Rhind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex McGillicuddy 1001707 Posted March 11, 2008 at 07:34 PM Posted March 11, 2008 at 07:34 PM The 8800 from what I hear is a great card, and with 640mb a memory, wow with that card you may want to look at FSX. I also use a dell laptop Inspiron 6400, Intel core 2 duo, and the graphics are ATI mobility X1300 with i think 128 mb of memory and that runs fs9 preety good, fps in the 20's usually. So thats just to give you an idea of what to expect from 640mb. Those Dell XPS desktops look incredibly powerful....may get one in the far future,lol. As for the technical issues with nividia, I'm not to sure about them but thats because I use ATI which has given me no probs. Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Oak-Rhind Posted April 8, 2008 at 08:38 PM Author Posted April 8, 2008 at 08:38 PM Many thanks Alex for your helpful response. I am still not sure which way to jump. Some say nvidia and some say ATI. Ultimately, it will be my call! Anything will be better than what I am presently getting by with....... Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennart Vedin Posted April 9, 2008 at 11:09 AM Posted April 9, 2008 at 11:09 AM A Nvidia 8800GT with good clock frequency may be the best performance/cost card and in some cases told as better than 8800GTS (due to higher clock frequency ). I have XFX 8800GT, 512MB memory clock 1950 MHz, GPU clock 670MHz, and it rocks for FS9 (seams even overkill for FS9). Some optional cooler recommended to buy, since is sound like a vacuum-cleaner. / Lennart Vedin / Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chase Stigberg Posted April 10, 2008 at 11:03 PM Posted April 10, 2008 at 11:03 PM I sell PCs at Best Buy and know what Circuit City has to offer as well. The first question, what's your budget? If you looking at something between $600-800, then your really not getting an upgrade at all. At minmum, for a retail machine, your looking at something atleast $999. (Unless on sale, and even then it's only going to be a 8400M or something close to it) Are you looking at going for a laptop? Why not try a desktop? Much more power for the money, unless of course you have to be mobile. Honestly, I'm going to recommend this for you: Best Buy Gateway FX I'm not going to try to sugar coat it, yes, these machines are kind've marked up, but that's retail for you. There is also an Asus running $1349 on our site and you should give that a look too. I just think you'd probably want a 17" screen over 15.4" Also, Gateway has a new FX coming out with 4GB (64bit) and Core2Duo laptop. Might want to see what that is running. Anyways, if your trying to do it right, that's what you need. Not saying it's going to be cheap, but harware wise, especially running Vista, that's what your going to need. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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