Tired of ATI, help with Nvidia options

[B777ER 2,492]

I am over ATI cards not doing the job with FSX. I got horrid performance with lots of clouds in the sim. I keep hearing about how nvidia is better with FSX so I am going to go to that card(s). I need help though. I want to know what is the best nvidia card I can get for my current setup? Very novice when it comes to this type of stuff. Do I get one card or two? How many GB and the manufacturer of the card? I only use FSX on this and no games. Running an LG 42" LCD-LED tv for a monitor at 1980x1080 and another monitor at 1600x900. I currently have this setup:

 

Chipset:

 

 

Northbridge Intel X58 rev. 13

Southbridge Intel 82801JR (ICH10R) rev. 00

Graphic Interface PCI-Express

PCI-E Link Width x16

PCI-E Max Link Width x16

Memory Type DDR3

Memory Size 6144 MBytes

Channels Triple

Memory Frequency 803.0 MHz (2:10)

CAS# latency (CL) 7.0

RAS# to CAS# delay (tRCD) 7

RAS# Precharge (tRP) 7

Cycle Time (tRAS) 20

Row Refresh Cycle Time (tRFC) 74

Command Rate (CR) 2T

Uncore Frequency 3211.9 MHz

 

 

PCI Devices:

 

PCI capability

Caps class PCI Express

Caps offset 0x90

Device type Root Port of PCI-E Root Complex

Port 0

Version 2.0

Physical slot Integrated device

Link width 4x (max 4x)

 

 

 

 

Display Adapters

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Display adapter 0

Name Radeon HD 5870

Codename RV870

Technology 40 nm

Memory size 1024 MB

Memory type GDDR5

GPU ref clock 27000

PCI device bus 2 (0x2), device 0 (0x0), function 0 (0x0)

Vendor ID 0x1002 (0x1002)

Model ID 0x6898 (0x0B00)

Performance Level 0

Core clock 400.0 MHz

Memory clock 1200.0 MHz

 

Display adapter 1

Name Radeon HD 5870

Codename RV870

Technology 40 nm

Memory size 1024 MB

Memory type GDDR5

GPU ref clock 27000

PCI device bus 3 (0x3), device 0 (0x0), function 0 (0x0)

Vendor ID 0x1002 (0x1002)

Model ID 0x6898 (0x0B00)

Performance Level 0

Core clock 850.0 MHz

Memory clock 1200.0 MHz

[Xtremme 26]

I'm using a mainstream ($125) Radeon card in my FSX box, amazing look, pretty solid FPS rate.

AMD cards can do it just fine, your problem is probably somewhere else.

[B777ER 2,492]

I'm using a mainstream ($125) Radeon card in my FSX box, amazing look, pretty solid FPS rate.

AMD cards can do it just fine, your problem is probably somewhere else.

 

My problem is clouds and how poor frames are with them. Though I just read in another topic that AMD/ATI does worse with DXT textures than it does with 32 bit. Anyone notice this?

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Do I get one card or two? How many GB and the manufacturer of the card? I only use FSX on this and no games.

 

One card only, FSX doesn't have any real benefits from SLI. GTX660, GTX660Ti, GTX670 - choice depends on your budget. 2GB of GDDR5 will be good until you change to 2D surround mode with 3 monitors. In case of surround mode you may think about 4GB card, but it isn't necessity. If you ask about manufacturer I think that ASUS has good opinion with their 600 series.

 

If you own REXE or AS2012, use theirs weather engine, especially with high resolution clouds (2048 or 4096) and you like to fly in heavy weather conditions think about GTX670.

[B777ER 2,492]

Will the GTX670 work with the main board and PCI version 2.0 and chipset that I quoted in my first post? If so a 2GB GDDR5 will be best? Budget is not an issue for me. So whatever will be the best for FSX with my specs above.

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You didn't mention brand of your mobo, but as I see it is X58 Intel chipset based with PCI-e x16 connector, so you may be sure that all graphics cards I mentioned will be able to work well. If you don't care too much about budget get GTX670 - ASUS GTX670-DC2-2GD5. There are also models OC by manufacturer as GTX670-DC2OG-2GD5 or GTX670-DC2T-2GD5, but if your goal is FSX you don't need higher frequency which will make your computer hotter only or will force you to get stronger PSU.

 

Btw. be sure you have enough powerfull your current PSU (min >550W, recomended 600-650W).

[B777ER 2,492]

Thanks, I have either a 1000 or 1200 watt power supply so I am good there. How about a 680 card? Thanks for the help!

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How about a 680 card?

 

GTX670 and GTX680 are built on the same Nvidia chip - GK104, only difference is that one of 8 computational blocks (SMX) is disabled. Rest are the same, including that what is important for FSX - memomy subsystem bandwidth - both have 256 bits wide memory bus.