Need advice on graphics card

[Cecil Savage 991994]

Here is my system setup and keep in mind and I am not real tech smart:

 

 

Windows XP5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 2

Internet Explorer 7.0.5730.11

Memory (RAM) 1792 MB

CPU Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 2.80GHz

CPU Speed 2788.3 MHz

Display Adapters ATI Radeon 9550 / X1050 Series | ATI Radeon 9550 / X1050 Series Secondary | NetMeeting driver | RDPDD Chained DD

AC Power Status OnLine

BIOS Info ATAT COMPATIBLE 080803 A M I 8000308

 

I currently use Fs9 and really like it but I might go FSX with the right setup and all.

 

I hope that enough info. I want to upgrade my graphics card and I have $150 to $200 to spare. Can anyone give me a review of my system and advice on a new card? Thanks!

[Aggrey Ellis 964561]

Do you have a PCI Express slot?

[Cecil Savage 991994]

I thinks it's APG

[Deven Pather 1053353]

hmmnnn well i would say you should probably start with upgrading to a PCI-E motherboard - graphic cards these days are mostly PCI-E and the AGP (good ones) are pretty expensive... just a thought

[Matt Whitenack 1052524]

Here is my system setup and keep in mind and I am not real tech smart:

 

 

Windows XP5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 2

Internet Explorer 7.0.5730.11

Memory (RAM) 1792 MB

CPU Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 2.80GHz

CPU Speed 2788.3 MHz

Display Adapters ATI Radeon 9550 / X1050 Series | ATI Radeon 9550 / X1050 Series Secondary | NetMeeting driver | RDPDD Chained DD

AC Power Status OnLine

BIOS Info ATAT COMPATIBLE 080803 A M I 8000308

 

I currently use Fs9 and really like it but I might go FSX with the right setup and all.

 

I hope that enough info. I want to upgrade my graphics card and I have $150 to $200 to spare. Can anyone give me a review of my system and advice on a new card? Thanks!

 

FSX is quite capable of being run on that system. I'm currently running FSX on a P4 2.4 GHZ with 2 gig RAM and an ATI RADEON HD2400 Pro video card (AGP bus). I've got FSX display settings set to either high or ultra high for most items, except for traffic, which I always keep turned down regardless of hardware.

 

I've been a hardcore gamer for years (even competed for a while), mostly in first-person shooters like counter-strike and day of defeat. From personal experience I'll say that with a little time and patience you can tweak your machine to deliver good to very good performance. The key is shutting down all unnecessary programs and services in Windows. You can do this manually through the Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services view (if you're using XP Pro) and shut things down one at a time to see the effect (just don't disable them completely unless you know exactly what they're for). The other option is to use something like AlacrityPC (recently mentioned at FSInsider.com) to load and unload programs and services as needed. The safest bet is to use AlacrityPC instead of manually shutting down services if you're not certain about what service or program does what.

 

For memory management, which really isn't a huge issue for FSX I like CachemanXP a lot, mostly because it does a much better job of managing memory usage and the disk cache than Windows does, and if your memory runs low in a given application, it will pull in extra memory from idle programs and services as needed. I've found that FSX really isn't a memory hog in and of itself, but you can run into problems if you've got several background applications running at the same time as your simulator. Personally, I usually have two or three firefox tabs open, plus teamspeak, vroute.info , a few pdf's of charts, and sometimes a few other apps running, so having a memory manager running helps, but if you just open up your simulator and fly, it's probably not needed.

 

As far as video cards go, I've always been a fan of ATI, but it's more of a loyalty thing for me than an actual rational decision between ATI and NVidia. When I talk to clients about video cards, I usually tell them to first figure out their price range, then go window shopping. Find out what cards fit the amount of money you're willing to spend, then go home and visit benchmarking websites like Tom's Hardware. This way you'll know you're getting the best bang for your buck.

 

The big question you have to ask yourself is what level of graphics you want to achieve. If you only want the absolute best, then it's going to be a struggle to make it happen. It can happen, but you've got to be dedicated to spending the time and effort and putting up with the frustration of finding the perfect combination of hardware and software settings that works for you. If you're willing to settle for a little less than fantabulistic graphics, and like me are more concerned with gameplay than looks, then it's not too difficult to tweak a mid to low-end machine to work comfortably well with FSX.

 

Generally, I get anywhere from 20-60 fps depending on what I've got running in the background. I'm usually happy with anything above 20 fps. One thing to keep in mind is that the human eye can only discern around 30 fps, and anything above that is just bonus.

 

As for upgrading to a PCIe mainboard, that's up to you and your wallet. In most situations, you're not going to be able to replace a video card and motherboard (which will probably include CPU and Memory at the least) for less than $200 US. You can, but you'll be buying [Mod - lovely stuff] hardware that you'll be extremely disappointed in. When buying a mainboard you've got to consider CPU sockets, bus speeds, memory sockets and bus speeds, along with countless other options that have to fit your current hardware. For $200, it's probably going to be extremely difficult, and you won't get the performance boosts you're hoping for. However, by shopping around for AGP video cards and comparing benchmarks, you can find a good card that will give you what you want.

 

I hope this helps and wasn't too much information. For tips on how to tweak your machine to get it running like a monster, I'd suggest perusing forums for first-person shooter games like Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, F.E.A.R. and so on. The games themselves aren't anything like a simulator, but the tweaks and tricks to boosting performance definitely are.

[Cecil Savage 991994]

Matt:

 

That was some great information and I'm truly thankful that you would take the time to provide all the great tips. That's what these boards are all about!

[Cecil Savage 991994]

By the way I found out my current card is using a PCI slot.

[Matt Whitenack 1052524]

By the way I found out my current card is using a PCI slot.

 

Glad I could help. I'm [Mod - Happy Thoughts]uming you mean your video card is using a PCI Express slot, not a plain PCI slot. There's a huge difference between the two. The easiest way to tell is to download and run Bellarc Advisor at http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html which will tell you all the nitty gritty details about your computer in a simple HTML output.

 

If you've got a PCIe slot on your computer, I definitely recommend going with a PCIe video card, but I still give you the same advice. Hit your local computer stores (including the major chain stores) and write down the models they have in stock, then go home, hit the web, and find out how the cards compare to one another on the benchmark tests. Then compare prices both in-store and on the web, and don't forget to look at both tigerdirect.com and newegg.com because I've found you can frequently find good deals on both sites. Personally, I like newegg.com because their customer support is outstanding, even if it costs me a couple dollars more than a local store.

 

Good luck.

[Ryan Guffey 956726]

your PSU is a major part of buying new upgrades too. You want to look into that aswhell especially when buying a new GPU