Appreciate your thoughts on GFX upgrade

[parxuk]

Guys/Girls

 

After a recent splurge on new hardware i had hoped to get great performance, but things arent quite what i think they should be, and i imagine my gfx card is the problem.

 

Current spec is:

 

2500k (running watercoled at 4.8ghz)

Asrock z68 extreme 4 gen 3

8GB g.skill 1600mhz

128gb crucial m4 ssd

Zotac 280gtx 1gb.

 

Have the sim set up to run dual monitor with the pit being on a 1920x1080 screen, and right mfd on a 1280x768 screen. So a total res of 3200 x 1080.

 

Settings are:

 

Textures high

Scenes high

Water medium

Visib range high

Heat blur off

Shadows medium

Cockpit diplays at 1024

Msaa 2 x

Hdr off

Clutter none

Tress 6000

Nothing else checked

 

Obvioulsy wood like to play with as many settings crancked as high as possible. At the moment i get around 25fps, with some deffinate stutters during high action events and around airports.

 

I do use a trackir.

 

Had thought my 280 gtx would be man enough, but having read a bit on the internet recently, it seems that at such high resolution the vram (??) may be the issue, with 1 gb not being enough. Would getting another 280 ( which would only cost 80 or so 2nd hand) help at all? or do i need to upgrade to maybe something like a 580 gtx with 2.5gb ram onboard - though not really sure i can stretch to that. Think i want to stick with nvidia, as i also play fsx, and ati cards always seem to have had problems, and not been so good with it.

 

Thanks in advance

[Succellus]

It seems indeed your card wont support such a beast. I ve gone dual monitor too a 37" TV + 22" for gauges etc.

I opted for a 580 but i think in your case a 560 570 will bem quite enought.

[cichlidfan]

I would agree. I am not sure about your exact model card but the 280 in general is a bit slow (GPU 6xxMHz range) and exporting MFDs definately is a hit on it as well.

 

Everything else really should run it quite well.

[PoleCat]

I think the GTX-570 is a really nice sweet spot for the current crop of Nvidia cards and seems a good fit for your system. ATI also has some nice offerings in the same price range. The world is your oyster my friend. All the best.

 

Out

[Bolt-1]

I think the GTX-570 is a really nice sweet spot for the current crop of Nvidia cards and seems a good fit for your system.

 

Out

 

 

Not only that. But now you can get the GTX 570 in a 1.28 or a 2.5 GB version.

[parxuk]

OK thx fot the help guys, i think GTX570 with 2.5GB RAM is the way to go. I was using GPUZ to monitor a mission last night and the RAM was maxed out all the time, so some must be a good thing.

 

Thx

 

Craig

[parxuk]

Guys,

 

What do you think about this card?? Would save me £100 over the 570 and looks very overclockable (enough to beat a standard 570 anyway).

 

MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti OC Twin FrozR II 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

http://overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-140-MS

[parxuk]

Just to follow up, my new 560 arrived today and was eagerly slotted in.

 

Wow what a difference, even above the 280gtx which isnt overly old, and is good spec this card simply smashes it. Have everything set to high, msaa at 16x, clutter and tress maxed out, mirrors, heat blur the works. Am now getting 50-60 fps at airport, and around 80 when up in the air, absolutely no stuttering, just really smooth. Amazing.

 

Used gpuz to monitor vram, and it used up 1529mb of the 2gb, so had a bit spare. Card didnt get above 72c either. Cant wait to overclock it!