Graphics Card

Computer RAM and Graphics

Hi there anyone who doesn’t know what their PC has installed can get a free scan and report by logging on to www.crucial.com/uk and running the diagnostic scan. It will tell you what is installed, and recommend suitable upgrades. I have used it for doubling my RAM, and upgrading my graphics card.
Regards from
Geoff.

frankly speaking anything less than 6600GT is waste if u want to play games and not only one game.
but 6600gt’s r obsolete…. so 7600gt much economical and better, atleast for a year :).

if your talking about the 6600 vanilla then its a waste buying it even 25 ram on it is of no use as of slow bandwidth.
here is a easy comparison for you.
6600gt > 7300gt ddr2
6600gt > 7300gt ddr3
all on normal scale.
7300 GS > 6600 vanilla.
but 7300gt and 6600 vanilla are almost same…. but if u overclock 7300gt wil go higher due to its new fabrication.

a easy comparison http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html?modelx=33&model1=541&model2=532&chart=212

You can’t really get a 7600GT for much less than £90. Isn’t the 6600 a smite faster than a 7300?

FS-X vs FS2004. Same settings more or less 😉

Says it really, doesn’t it? 😉

Isn’t Illy-2 OpenGL? Can’t remember. Some cards still throw a sicky if it is not DirectX :rolleyes:

I have a Nvidia 6600 with 256MB RAM which runs FS2004 quite well and Illy-2 is blindingly quick being an “old” game. The card transforms your general game performance without spending a fortune on the latest and greatest geek route. The 6000-series Nvidia card is getting on a bit now but as said above a 6800 (somewhat faster) should be within your price range.

In the case of MSFS, I suspect that FS doesn’t totally make use of your graphics card. This is Microsoft after all who are not entirely known for 3D efficiency so sticking that extra RAM on your motherboard comes in handy.

FS-X Demo seems to run faster comparitively to my FS2004 install. Any thoughts? More 3D-efficient, or is it just because the demo is cut down?

LOL!! I DIDNT EVEN LOOKED AT THE BUDGET!
get the 7300gt then…i think 7600gt are under $150?right? i’d highly recommend to get a 7600gt its priced at a sweet spot and also not sohigh end a mid end card which is comparable to the 6800ultra.

FS-X Demo seems to run faster comparitively to my FS2004 install. Any thoughts? More 3D-efficient, or is it just because the demo is cut down?

Possibly a differnce between your graphics settings on your FS2004 install (quite high ?) and the standard settings on the demo (pretty low ?)

I find FS-X runs a lot slower than FS2004 when at the same resolution and comparible settings.

Bruce

I don’t want to spend more than £60

Says it really, doesn’t it? 😉

Isn’t Illy-2 OpenGL? Can’t remember. Some cards still throw a sicky if it is not DirectX :rolleyes:

I have a Nvidia 6600 with 256MB RAM which runs FS2004 quite well and Illy-2 is blindingly quick being an “old” game. The card transforms your general game performance without spending a fortune on the latest and greatest geek route. The 6000-series Nvidia card is getting on a bit now but as said above a 6800 (somewhat faster) should be within your price range.

In the case of MSFS, I suspect that FS doesn’t totally make use of your graphics card. This is Microsoft after all who are not entirely known for 3D efficiency so sticking that extra RAM on your motherboard comes in handy.

FS-X Demo seems to run faster comparitively to my FS2004 install. Any thoughts? More 3D-efficient, or is it just because the demo is cut down?

NO IMO its waste of your money to buy a graphics card now cuz Directx 10 is on the horizon and its not backward compatible with dx 9.
also to run vista with all bells and whistles 2 gig ram with a dx 10 compliant card is must.

if u want a upgrade for a year i’ll suggest u to go for 7600 gt.

then get a config like this core 2 duo e6400 , 2 gig ram with fatboy d9 chips , ocz gamestream 700watts PSU with a ATI R600 or Nvidia 8800gtx card.
and dont fotget to have a dell 2407fpw with it cuz without a cool monitor such high end graphics card and rig is wasted.
and in HDD if ur tight on budget get 2 * 320 gigs 7200.10 seagate.
else get a Raptop 37 gb and a 2 * 320 gb.
use the raptor to boot the OS.

i think all these wud fit comfortablly under $1500 🙂 including monitor which wud itself be >$400 and graphics card which wud be around $400 too so cheers.

Thanks for your assistance.

It’s a PCI express one that I need.

I was looking at the Nvidia 7300GT 256MB

Does that sound good.

Might get some extra RAM in due course too.

Thanks for your help once again.

Any advice about cheapish graphics cards (specific ones) in PCI-E would be appreciated based on FS performance. My new computer comes with a PCI-E Nvidia 6100 128mb integrated 🙁

G’day Kenley ,
To succesfully upgrade the graphics on your computer , you need to look at the three most important components CPU ( Processor) , RAM ( Memory) and GPU ( Video Card) . They all need to be matched , so that the slowest component does not create a ” Bottleneck ” in the flow of data. Simply putting a very large , very expensive video card in your system will not give you the results you seek ( although it would make a slight improvement) .

As previously mentioned , you need to find out what type of video card your machine is able to accept ( AGP , PCI , PCI-E) . You cant fit an AGP card into a PCI-E slot for example.

I would be looking at a 128MB Video Card , and adding another 512MB of RAM. This will give you a considerable performance boost , without breaking the bank. With the release of all the new technology cards at present , the older ( but still quite good ) cards can be had very cheaply.

Ross

In that case then a replacement graphics card is required.

You will need to check you have an expansion slot in which to fit one as some motherboards with integrated graphics dont have one. It’s likely that if you have an expansion slot it will be an older AGP slot, but there are many good AGP cards which will be an improvement over the integrated one. I’d suggest looking for an Nvidia based card (as I have more experiance of them, others will recommend ATI for the same reason !) You can pick up a 256Mb Nvidia 6800 AGP card for less than £90. There would be little point in getting a ccard with any higher specs just for IL2. Lower cost card would also make a noticeable improvement.

EDIT: I’ve just noticed some motherboards with Intel 82945G graphics have a PCI-E slot for graphics upgrades, so be sure to find out exactly what you have available befoer you spend any money.

It might be worth considering upgrading RAM at the same time if you can run to it.

Hope this helps,

Bruce

I think my graphics are integrated into the motherboard. When I follow your instructions it says Intel(R) 82945G Express Chipset family.

You certainly DO have a graphics card, otherwise you wouldnt have anything to connect to your monitor !

Right click on ‘My Computer’ on your desktop

Left click on ‘Properties’ in the resulting menu.

Left click on the ‘Hardware’ tab

Left click on the ‘Device Manager’ button.

Left Click on the small ‘+’ (plus) sign next to ‘Display Adaptors’ and make a note of the Graphics card information displayed. The manufacturer will probably be Nvidia, ATI or maybe Intel, with a model number and or letters.

It’s quite possible you have a low spec graphics card but I suspect a cheaper way to increase performance would be to upgrade to 1024 Mb (1Gb) of RAM.

RAM upgrades are fairly simple but would recomend you find out more about your system before you decide. If I can help directly feel free to drop me a private message

Bruce

Mentally busy as ever Deano!!! hoho

Arnie – how are you getting on?

Hiya Chris, likewise, I’m very well, yourself?

Arnnie – just whack the PrtScn key and then open up paint or something and whack it in via the Paste function (CTRL+V) – then save em and pass em on….

Deano – nice to see you!! You ok mate?

Chris,

Tried with the settings not sure what or how to take screen shots… not something ive ever done

AMD 64 3200+
2 gig DDR 400

will take some pics of the settings later this evening. Many thanks for advice so far

I had that problem until I downloaded the latest drivers for my 6600GT, something does not sound right, that card is a GPU as well so it should not rely on your CPU, what memory have you got installed?

Load up FS, select settings, and take some shots of the various screens in there for Display, Aircraft, etc. etc.