New Graphics Card - Help Please

[Hampo]

Hello all.

I currently have an ATI Radeon X300 graphics card (i think) which i got with my computer and its, well, not the best lets say...

I'm now looking for a new graphics card but have no idea where to start! I know my PC has PCI-E slot.

I'm not looking to spend a stupid amount of money as i only use it for Flight Simulator/Counter Strike.

Thanks, Sam

(PS- To all you spammers, don't post unless you ACTUALLY KNOW something about them )

[blue25]

Umm...yeah, they're a lot in the US
Just tell me a site of the store you'd most likely go. :wink:

[Jps]

I use a ATI Radeon 2400 PRO.. It's great and I wouldnt go further than this one because this is all I need.

[Hampo]

Thanks for the so far useless information.


 

[StephenM]

I sent this thread to a friend of mine and will send it to another. Both are PC "Builders" and should put you on the right track.

[Hampo]

Thanks Stephen

Now completely give up with my graphics card. Flight Sim is running like crap,settings refuse to work as they were before it decided to die on me... fook it!

New graphics card FTW!

[iranair777]

you can try out www.fs2004.com/forums and the technical section. They live on graphic cards, so you'll get your answer in no time

[MarBergi]

While a new graphics card may help with out the rest of your system specs it may not help enough - FS relies as much on CPU as it does on a GFX card.  If you could post system specs - CPU, Ram etc it would be more use.

[Hampo]

Ok, thanks for that here goes...

2ghz processor, 512mb RAM (I think i will update it with my new graphics card), 160gb RAM

[Hampo]

edit: 3.00ghz processor!

[StephenM]

Big difference there Sam. Sounds like my laptop. I've the same style specs and get on average 30fps when bombing around the place on VATSIM.

[Hampo]

My graphics used to be playable... A bit jaggy but not too bad, getting about 20fps using activesky, level d etc... But the other week they changed to a random setting. Tried to get it back to what it was but its not happening! I either have to have 30fps+ but really jaggy graphics, or smooth as a baby bum at 10fps!

New graphics card will be better tho!

4gb of RAM and a GeForce 8800 i've got my eye on

[iranair777]

My graphics used to be playable... A bit jaggy but not too bad, getting about 20fps using activesky, level d etc... But the other week they changed to a random setting. Tried to get it back to what it was but its not happening! I either have to have 30fps+ but really jaggy graphics, or smooth as a baby bum at 10fps!

New graphics card will be better tho!

4gb of RAM and a GeForce 8800 i've got my eye on

that 4GB ram and 8800 will give it a enormous boost! you can also increase the FPS by this little mod that you do to one of the cfg files which increases the bandwidth that you assign to the texture loading. PM me when you get it

[StephenM]

I am still considering sticking 2gigs of RAM into my laptop. If I ever decide to use my Desktop for FS I may do an upgrade similar to yours. But for now I will leave it for AM.

[Stephen D]

Hmm, just got the link for this from Stephen. Apparently my "knowledge" was needed

As regards posting your PC's specs - a 3.0Ghz processor could be just fine if it's a Core2Duo, not as much if it's a Celeron - AMD similar story with Sempron/Athlon Martin was certainly right - FS uses much more CPU than a lot of games and improving the graphics won't help there if you have a useless proc. Looks like yours is fine though pending confirmation that it's not something useless or really old.

What's your budget? I just picked up 2x7900GTX for €200 (about $300) and they run FS2004 fantastically. That said they were second hand, for a little more than that money a single 8800GT would be even better. If you have less than that in the coffers, an HD3850 should do a fine job at with FS9 on medium high. The 8800GT or GTS seem best value though, look for the OC versions with hjigher core speeds as default for a few yoyos/dollars more.

A lot of this is hearsay - I've never owned any of these cards I speak of - but I'd be very tempted to go with a nVidia card so I'd be pushin towards the 8800GT (around €250-€300, same in dollars).