GTX 980 VS GTX770 FSX and P3DV2 Comparison, a bit of a surprise!

[z06z33 763]

First let me describe my system 

I7-4790k 4.5ghz

MSI gaming 7 Mobo

8Gb ram at 1866Mhz

2, 1TB HDD's

MSI GTX 980 Gaming 4G

 

My old card was

MSI GTX 770 4GB Gaming 

 

 

 

In FSX, I gained about 7 FPS and extreme smoothness. In the PMDG 777's VC at Flight Beam's KIAD, In the middle of a major thunderstorm, using Rex clouds, and almost every slider full I was getting 35-38 FPS the whole time even during takeoff and the climb through the clouds once I got to cruise they were through the roof like as in over 60FPS. I didn't expect to really gain anything in FSX being that it is almost completely CPU limited but this surprise is quite nice.

 

 

In P3DV2, I'm very disappointed NOT in the GPU though. It appears that I'm CPU limited here since I got no gains, yep the same FPS. Well that's not exactly true If I stay outside of Orbx regions like the PNW, I gain about 10-15 FPS with this new card. So that puts me at about 50-55 FPS in the Carenado Phenom's VC at Langley. But if I go to KRNT(Seattle) I'm only getting 20-30FPS with the same settings and plane. Though these frames aren't bad by any means since I'm running near full sliders with the auto gen cranked way up. I don't think its the GPU's fault considering this bad boy nets an increase of over 30fps in BF4, when compared to the 770. I Think the coding of the auto gen is at fault as when I turned if off I was sitting at 120 FPS at KRNT vs 20-30 with it on. I know I only have a I7 4790K and not a computer from 2525, but to me some very simple buildings and trees shouldn't cost 90-100 FPS in 2014. I think LM or Orbx needs to take a look at their auto gen models or coding and see whats up. I can understand not gaining much in FSX but P3D was supposed to reduce the dependency on the CPU but it appears it hasn't, not in the PNW at least, to me this points to Orbx's auto gen models since I got a nice gain elsewhere, but what do I know I'm only a pilot  . I will say that P3DV2 does seem smoother with no stutters to be found and the only way you can tell the FPS is low is that panning in the VC it isn't as smooth as it would be at lets say, 40 FPS. If you look straight ahead or move the viewpoint slowly you'd think you had 30-40 FPS

 

A few thoughts about the card.

It looks awesome with the glowing MSI dragon logo on the card and a dark black PCB.  It stays really cool with the new Twin Frozr V GPU cooler, and its super quiet. Even with both fans at 100% you literally can't hear it. There is no coil whine like whats reported on the GTX 970, or some other manufactures GTX980's. 

 

Verdict:

Overall, if you have the money its a worthwhile upgrade. Maybe not as much for flight sims unless you want to squeeze few extra FPS, but if you play other games its a no brainier. Oh and it comes with a mouse pad that looks pretty awesome but it smells funny.

[Dash8Q4 4]

This is useful to me since i have a 770. Thanks for the reports.

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

Considering that the GTX 980 performs somewhere between a GTX 780 and a GTX 780ti, the incremental improvement over a GTX 770 isn't going to be earth-shattering.  The two new Maxwell cards are a better choice for someone either nursing along a GTX 500 series card or something below a GTX 680 in the GTX 600 series. Note that a GTX 680 and the GTX 770 perform almost identically.

[z06z33 763]

Considering that the GTX 980 performs somewhere between a GTX 780 and a GTX 780ti, the incremental improvement over a GTX 770 isn't going to be earth-shattering.  The two new Maxwell cards are a better choice for someone either nursing along a GTX 500 series card or something below a GTX 680 in the GTX 600 series. Note that a GTX 680 and the GTX 770 perform almost identically.

The 980 are faster than the 780ti's by about 10 FPS in most games. The 970 falls between the the 780 and 780 ti though.

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

http://www.overclock.net/t/1515264/gtx-980-vs-gtx-780-ti-benchmarked-1440p-performance

 

I guess it depends who you ask. I'd rather wait and see if someone with an new X99 mobo can benchmark  both a GTX 780ti and GTX 980 with P3d. In any case, the GTX 980 is only the flagship of the Maxwell line temporarily until the 20 nm Maxwells arrive next year

[wess24m 0]

I just upgraded from a GTX 580 to the GTX 980, gains in FSX, P3d as well as x-plane 10.  My old card is a lot older than yours but I have a similar setup.  I7 4790k at 4.7 12GB of 2133 RAM.  Getting between 40-60 with Orbx Northern California Gold, REX texture direct flying with both the PMDG and the new airbus a318/319.

 

The increase in x-plane was amazing, went from 32 FPS with most settings in the middle range to 35 FPS with all options maxed out, also using the HD textures v2.  I don't really play many other games but I install crysis 3 as a benchmark, and as you said, max everything you're getting crazy framerates.  Overall I'd say it was worth the price.

 

[FLAPS15 8]

Hi do you run your FSX at a set FPS or unlimited?

 

I have a 770 4gb and run with the half adaptive on so sticks as close to 30 as possible.. The one thing Indestet in sims is when taxing at a payware airport with AI at modest setting panning or turning causes stutters.... And spike the fps

 

Does the new card stop this? If so it would be a reason for me to change other than that it does the job..

 

Many thanks for the comparioson

 

All the best

[wess24m 0]

Hi do you run your FSX at a set FPS or unlimited?

 

I have a 770 4gb and run with the half adaptive on so sticks as close to 30 as possible.. The one thing Indestet in sims is when taxing at a payware airport with AI at modest setting panning or turning causes stutters.... And spike the fps

 

Does the new card stop this? If so it would be a reason for me to change other than that it does the job..

 

Many thanks for the comparioson

 

All the best

I'm still figuring out the best settings, so far i've tried running it unlimited and with the frame rate locked either by NI frame rate limiter or by locking to half refresh rate.  I haven't noticed any stutters when running unlimited.  Like I said, the card i'm coming from was older so i figured there would be a big improvement.  

 

I haven't noticed any lag spikes and i'm running orbx northern cal gold with the a2a piper.  I posted a video where i'm running unlimited frames and getting from 40-60 FPS.

 

[rjack1282 316]

 

 

I haven't noticed any lag spikes and i'm running orbx northern cal gold with the a2a piper.  I posted a video where i'm running unlimited frames and getting from 40-60 FPS.

 

Nice video, thank you for sharing.  What are your AA settings?  Would you mind trying out the DSR functionality with v2.4? I'm curious if the frame rates are playable and what it looks like with DSR and AA settings turned off.

 

Ryan

[wess24m 0]

Nice video, thank you for sharing.  What are your AA settings?  Would you mind trying out the DSR functionality with v2.4? I'm curious if the frame rates are playable and what it looks like with DSR and AA settings turned off.

 

Ryan

I believe my AA was set at 8x sparse grid sampling.  I uninstalled P3D because I normally just use FSX.  My frames with everything maxed out were in the 40-80 range with all add-on's.  Id imagine that with the settings turned down they'd be up in the triple digits.

[Guest]

If you have a GTX 770 and its on a Z87 MOBO with a Haswell CPU then you haven't by half gotten the bang for your buck out of that system yet! Its likely only a year old tops. If you upgrade your GPU everytime Nvidia release a new Series you are either rich or nuts. The performance increase will be barely noticeable and you wallet will likely end up about $300 lighter even if you get an good price for the 700 series you already have not to mention the time you will spend trying to sell the old card. I good strategy for best value and actually seeing a difference is to build a brand new system every 4 years. Definitely no less than 3 years.

[Guest]

Edit: posted in wrong thread :blush:

[spilok 1,133]

Nice, however, your scenery looks pretty non-demanding.  Should be smooth!

 

Stan

[Martinseim 0]

I need help with this guys. I just bought the Evga gtx 980, and I am getting bad frames in fsx... 

 

I upgraded from the Xfx Radeon 7870. 

 

This is my specs as it stands now: 

 

I7-4790k

GTX 980 EVGA ACX 2.0 

Msi Z97

Dominators: 16GB Ram 

 

So I really dont seem to find my problem here? I was standing at about 25-40 fps with the 7870, and now it is down at 20-30, with drops all the time, specially on big airport scenerys. Do you mind sharing your settings and CFG files? 

 

 

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

1. Did you use a driver cleaner utility before installing the nVidia card? Going  directly from AMD to nVidia can often make a mess of the Windows registry. Hold off on this until you try the next two items.

 

2. Check either FSX.cfg or Prepar3d.cfg file to make sure that you do not have any remnant references to the AMD card. 

 

3. Delete the compiled shaders folder here:

 

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\FSX\Shaders  (FSX)

 

or

 

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v2\Shaders (P3d)

 

Your sim will then recompile the shader source files.