Should I upgrade my graphic card?

[LBPN]

I recently upgraded my CPU, motherboard and RAM memory. My new CPU is Quad Core Q6600. I overclocked the CPU from 2.4Ghz to 3.2 Ghz and I must say I'm very happy with it. It's a big improvement for FSX in terms of texture loading speed and gameplay smoothness. I also gained some FPS and now I can play with Autogen set to Dense and Scenery complexity to Very Dense. Anyway I still get FPS drops and my gameplay is not smooth enough. I think this is mainly due to my GPU (GeForce 8600GT 512RAM). I was tinking about upgrading it to an GTX 260 896Mb. I see this card is better even than 8800 GTX. But do you think a better card will really improve FSX gameplay? I'm not a hardcore gamer. I'm a big fan of FSX and Total War series, but these games are very demanding. What do you guys think? Is it worth upgrading?

Will it be a big hit in performance with a new GPU?

[Maurice_King]

In short I doubt it , the 8800 GTX  depending on what the Model and build date is a stout performer, the memory on the Graphics Card is but 1 link in the chain and by no means guarantee flawless performance.

FSB and actual Memory speed transfer rate from your Hard Drives all play a part.

I've heard differing reports on the later edition nVidia Cards and equally differing opinions.

Do some serious homework looking at the actual manufactures Web sit and not the Generic Cards like Palet and so on, While there will be some that will undoubtedly disagree with me I have found some generic cards using proprietary Chip set may lack the quality control of the real deal.

[Virtualwombat]

Well the 8600GT is a few steps behind the leading edge of GPUs now. You would see some difference with a better card, even in FSX. But the GTX 260 or GTX 280 wouldn't be on top of my list of best value cards. The Radeon 4870 is cheaper than the GTX 260 and very nearly as fast as the GTX 280. So right now, the Radeon 4870 is the way to go.

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=193_686

Cheers,

Noel.

[solareagle]

Here's how you find your answer.  Go into your settings and set your screen resolution way down, like 1024x768, and then turn off AA and AF.  This will completely remove any kind of GPU bottleneck, hinging your framerate on the CPU.  Now do some kind of test or benchmark which is repeatable.  For example save a flight, and upon loading the flight record you FPS.  Maybe try a few different locations. 

Once you know what framerate you get from the CPU bottleneck, turn your resolution back up to what you normally use, and re-enable AA and AF.  Now load the same flights and see if your framerate is reduced.  If it is not, you don't have a GPU bottleneck and no need to upgrade.  If you do find your framerate is recuded, then you are seeing a GPU bottleneck and you know you can benefit from a more powerful GPU. 

Keep in mind a more powerful GPU means you can run higher levels of AA, such a supersampling via nHancer.  No matter how powerful your GPU is you can always soak up the extra headroom with AA, so in any case a new GPU can still benefit.

[LBPN]

Here's how you find your answer.  Go into your settings and set your screen resolution way down, like 1024x768, and then turn off AA and AF.  This will completely remove any kind of GPU bottleneck, hinging your framerate on the CPU.  Now do some kind of test or benchmark which is repeatable.  For example save a flight, and upon loading the flight record you FPS.  Maybe try a few different locations. 

Once you know what framerate you get from the CPU bottleneck, turn your resolution back up to what you normally use, and re-enable AA and AF.  Now load the same flights and see if your framerate is reduced.  If it is not, you don't have a GPU bottleneck and no need to upgrade.  If you do find your framerate is recuded, then you are seeing a GPU bottleneck and you know you can benefit from a more powerful GPU. 

Keep in mind a more powerful GPU means you can run higher levels of AA, such a supersampling via nHancer.  No matter how powerful your GPU is you can always soak up the extra headroom with AA, so in any case a new GPU can still benefit.

Ok I did this test and indeed it's not a big difference, maybe I get 5 to 7 FPS more when turning off AA and AF. Anyway I notice when AA and AF are turned off it appears that the game runs a little smoother, but I could be wrong. I thought that a powerfull GPU will take some of the calculations from the CPU and will improve the gameplay, but I guess FSX is mostly CPU dependent.

Although I see a very big improvement in FSX with my Q6600 OC-ed at 3.2Ghz, than with my old dual core, it seems that we'll rather see a new Flight Sim in the following years, than CPU and GPU able to run FSX with better FPS.

[Virtualwombat]

I gotta say 5-7 fps is a large difference as a percentage of my frame rates. I'm lucky if I can maintain 30 fps in FSX, even with pretty conservative settings. So 20% from a new GPU is not to be sneezed at; particularly so if you can up your AA and AF as well.

But overall I agree, the CPU is the key component. I won't be upgrading my 8800GT this cycle, as the return on investment would not be justified. I'm hoping to see another round of GPU releases in December, then there is Nehalem after that.

Cheers,

Noel.