Classic British Flight Sim

This is probably a daft question but....

I have a PC with Intel 2 Duo Processor, 2 GB DDR2 RAM and an ATi Tadeon X1600SE with avivo - 512 MB video memory.

I am reliably (?) informed that the ATi graphics card is not up to the job and that a NVIDIA 7300GT with 256 RAM would be as good or better. Am I being given a load of BS by a salesman or is he telling the true word? Would I do better with another card or should I sit tight?

My machine is almost exclusively used for FS9, FSX and photography so graphics are very important.

As ever, any advice is welcome.


Cheers


Allan

How much do you want to spend? I Personally wouldn't settle for anything other then a 7900GTX and they can be had for about £120 these days and would blitz just about anything short of an 8800. The ATi counterparts can be had for about the same price but my mate has an X1900 and it sounds like a hoover and runs a bit toasty.

Yeah dont buy an DX10 yet, learnt the hard way... And dont get a quad core they are full of problems with the CPU's etc etc. Duel cores have probs too but not as much as the quads. i find Nvidia good and easy to use.

One of this month's PC magazines (PC Format, I think) has a review of graphics cards is very enthusiastic about the Sapphire X1950GT 256mb, Dabs have it at £78 at the moment. They reckoned with DX9 games this would give most cards a real run for their money - certainly making me think about it for my upcoming rebuild, and I've always been a dedicated nVidia man!

Actually, having dug around the Dabs site, I'm giving serious consideration to the Sapphire X1950 PRO 512MB, £97 seems like silly money for a card that well specced! :o

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Qu ... 8,41590000

Andy

The consensus is usually Nvidia are ahead of ATi at the moment in terms of value for money and at the top end the tests I read show the Nvidia doing better.

But I don't know very much so someone will have to confirm or rubbish my report!

Does it also matter if you have an Nvidia or Ati motherboard? Most PC's are also Pentium + Nvidia or AMD + ATi, is there a reason for that?

Thanks for the info Jonesey. Price is not a problem so long as whatever I get does the job for the next couple of years or so. The job in question being FS9/FSX and photographs. I prefer NVIDIA to ATi purely becausue I have had markedly better results with NVIDIA in the past.

When I was living in Yorkshire I had a 'tame' IT guru who built my kit to my spec/needs. Sadly he has gone otherwise I would not have a problem. That is I don't know whether I need a PCI, PCIExpress, AGB or just old fashioned GBH! A bit thick when it comes to the innards of a PC although I can, and have, changed a HD and installed RAM without cutting the street out of the national grid.

Incidentally I have just tried Overclockers and drawn a blank when I did a search for a 7900.

Anyway thanks everyone, keep the info coming and help in my IT education.


Allan

I used to head over to OCUK for all my gear but now I avoid the place and use SCAN.

Chris Sykes wrote:Yeah dont buy an DX10 yet, learnt the hard way... And dont get a quad core they are full of problems with the CPU's etc etc. Duel cores have probs too but not as much as the quads. i find Nvidia good and easy to use.

running a quad since Jan without problems. We also have 30 Quads in work, again with no problems... but they are all intel. I'm an Nvidia man myself.

Allan,

Head over to Toms Hardware (http://www.tomshardware.co.uk) - they have regular reviews of best gaming graphics card for the money - see link http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gaming-vi ... -2379.html

Toms currently recommend the Radeon X1950 XT which you should be able to get for about £100. It's not DX10 but provides far better performance than current mid-range DX10 cards.

The site is always worth a check when considering new kit.

Regards,
Chris

Thank you everyone for your advice, much appreciated.

As a result of your advice and reading back through the forum I decided to upgrade my PSU from its rather weak 300W to a Hiper 670W. The immediate effect of this was that FS9 stopped CTD when in very dense scenery and an altogether smoother pc resulted.

My second action was to bend my plastic and get an NVIDIA XFX 8800GTS XT. It was a tight fit but I got it in and working first time. The result is that FS9 and FSX run like greased lightning. Funnily enough even after the mods, FS9 - to me at least - still beats the pants off FSX.

So one problem solved - another raises its ugly head - see Topic 'Problem with FS2004?'

Thanks again.

ATB


Allan