Help with Graphics card

Question

D5Tweddle

First Officer

Joined: Apr 27, 2006 Posts: 106

Asked Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:21 pm

I currently have a ATI Radeon X800 series (VX912-3) graphics card, and I would like to upgrade to a better one so my FSX can run hopefully quicker (I am only getting about 17-18 FPS at the moment).

I am not very technical when it comes to PC's, I know 2 years ago my PC was custom built from work. I know I have 228gb of hard drive (if that means anything) and in system information is says for 'total virtual memory' 2gb.

I have heard that I might need more hard drive? to run FSX quicker?

My PC also runs on Windows XP Pro

Look forward to any advice!

Answer 1 · Sat Mar 15, 2008 2:19 pm

Bob (Traches)

First Officer

Joined: Jan 31, 2008 Posts: 412 Location: Louisville, KY, USA

Answered Sat Mar 15, 2008 2:19 pm

The graphics card has a huge impact on your framerates, but it's not the only factor. Bring up your run command (Start->Run) and type 'dxdiag'.

Under the system tab, Can ya please Let us know the system manufacturer, Processor, and memory? And under display, let us know the name and approx. total memory on the card.

I'm an nvidia guy myself, so someone else will have to give ya advice on which gfx card ya want 🙂

Also, Tweaking your settings goes a long way. Some things will slow down your computer more than others... FSX is a game of compromise; Pretty vs. playable 😞

Answer 2 · Sat Mar 15, 2008 5:32 pm

D5Tweddle

First Officer

Joined: Apr 27, 2006 Posts: 106

Answered Sat Mar 15, 2008 5:32 pm

Thanks for that, the details are as follow:

System manufacturer: Eveshamvale
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40Ghz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 1022MB RAM

Display:-

Name: RADEON X800 series
Approx. Total memory: 256.0MB

I hope this helps and I look forward to any responses!

Answer 3 · Sun Mar 16, 2008 7:42 am

Tailhook

Chief Captain

Joined: Oct 12, 2005 Posts: 7013 Location: El Dorado

Answered Sun Mar 16, 2008 7:42 am

D5Tweddle wrote:

I have heard that I might need more hard drive? to run FSX quicker?

The size / capacity of your HDD has nothing to do with how fast you can run FSX. Your CPU and GPU however will make a difference.

Answer 4 · Sun Mar 16, 2008 12:04 pm

D5Tweddle

First Officer

Joined: Apr 27, 2006 Posts: 106

Answered Sun Mar 16, 2008 12:04 pm

so....what do I do now?

Answer 5 · Sun Mar 16, 2008 6:05 pm

n7xlq1

First Officer

Joined: Mar 25, 2007 Posts: 310 Location: KLUF and KGEU

Answered Sun Mar 16, 2008 6:05 pm

I see you only have 1GB of memory. I would get another stick of 1GB.. It won't do anything to windows, but it might help with FSX.

Answer 6 · Sun Mar 16, 2008 6:17 pm

Luke (warlord40)

First Officer

Joined: Nov 19, 2007 Posts: 452 Location: Western Australia

Answered Sun Mar 16, 2008 6:17 pm

your processor will do the job,but more ram (random access memory)as n7xlq1 wrote,(I would actually recommend having 4gig)depending on how old your motherboard is there are 3 types that I know of:
*DDR(slow)
*DDR2(good)
*DDR3(fast)
and new graphics card(if interested,make sure your motherboard and powersupply are compatible with the new card)256mb cards are substandard these days

Answer 7 · Sun Mar 16, 2008 10:12 pm

Rodney Jacobs (GundamWZero)

Captain

Joined: Dec 29, 2006 Posts: 525 Location: Ft. Bliss, Texas

Answered Sun Mar 16, 2008 10:12 pm

Did he mention whether or not he was running either Vista or XP? That would explain everything.

I see...he is running XP......he should bump up on the Memory.

Answer 8 · Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:13 am

Tailhook

Chief Captain

Joined: Oct 12, 2005 Posts: 7013 Location: El Dorado

Answered Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:13 am

Does Windows XP Pro support 4 Gigs of RAM then?

warlord40 wrote:

...I would actually recommend having 4gig

Man, am I getting confused Wall Bashing

Answer 9 · Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:55 am

Luke (warlord40)

First Officer

Joined: Nov 19, 2007 Posts: 452 Location: Western Australia

Answered Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:55 am

4gigs, but no more than that.

Answer 10 · Mon Mar 17, 2008 8:56 am

Tailhook

Chief Captain

Joined: Oct 12, 2005 Posts: 7013 Location: El Dorado

Answered Mon Mar 17, 2008 8:56 am

I want a written guarantee.

Answer 11 · Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:13 pm

D5Tweddle

First Officer

Joined: Apr 27, 2006 Posts: 106

Answered Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:13 pm

Thanks for your replies, it is greatly apreciated. At least I am armed with more inforamtion that I had before!

Thanks again.

Answer 12 · Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:19 pm

D5Tweddle

First Officer

Joined: Apr 27, 2006 Posts: 106

Answered Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:19 pm

Sorry to be a pest but I have seen this: XFX Nvidia 9600GT 650M 512MB DDR3 Dual-Dvi PCI-E, would this be suitable for FSX with the specs that I have given above for my PC, any advice on what I should be looking for??

Thanks once again.

Answer 13 · Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:44 pm

n7xlq1

First Officer

Joined: Mar 25, 2007 Posts: 310 Location: KLUF and KGEU

Answered Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:44 pm

D5Tweddle wrote:

Sorry to be a pest but I have seen this: XFX Nvidia 9600GT 650M 512MB DDR3 Dual-Dvi PCI-E, would this be suitable for FSX with the specs that I have given above for my PC, any advice on what I should be looking for??

Thanks once again.

What's the make and model of your motherboard??? If it has a PCI-E slot then yes it could work.

Answer 14 · Tue Mar 18, 2008 4:16 am

freedspeak

First Officer

Joined: Apr 24, 2005 Posts: 162 Location: Santa Barbara (KSBA)

Answered Tue Mar 18, 2008 4:16 am

I have an X800XL PCIe 256mb card which presumably is what Mr. Tweddle has. I dont understand how it can be such a bad card when it works great for me. I'm running all settings pretty much maxed out everything looks smooth and clear.

I realize that a 512mb card is the norm by today's standards and perhaps I'll upgrade to one soon, but in the mean time my X800 will do fine.

Answer 15 · Tue Mar 18, 2008 3:56 pm

D5Tweddle

First Officer

Joined: Apr 27, 2006 Posts: 106

Answered Tue Mar 18, 2008 3:56 pm

How do I find out if I have a PCI-E slot?

Answer 16 · Tue Mar 18, 2008 4:14 pm

Heyjoojoo

First Officer

Joined: Jan 11, 2007 Posts: 180

Answered Tue Mar 18, 2008 4:14 pm

Your motherboard specs will determine whether you get an answer to your latest question or not.

PCI-E is the type of physical connector that is built onto your motherboard. There will be no way to tell unless you know what it looks like or you know the make and model of your motherboard in which we or you can look it up to see if this type of connector is included as a feature.

I believe a few people have asked for your motherboard specs. Are you able to provide this information?

- Kareem

Answer 17 · Tue Mar 18, 2008 6:49 pm

RadarMan

Chief Captain

Joined: Aug 25, 2003 Posts: 17928 Location: U.S.A

Answered Tue Mar 18, 2008 6:49 pm

D5Tweddle wrote:

How do I find out if I have a PCI-E slot?

You'll find board photos in the 3 links.

http://www.flightsimulationforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=1054&highlight=pcie

Radar

Answer 18 · Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:29 am

Tailhook

Chief Captain

Joined: Oct 12, 2005 Posts: 7013 Location: El Dorado

Answered Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:29 am

D5Tweddle wrote:

How do I find out if I have a PCI-E slot?

The easiest way is to download 'EVEREST Free Edition 2.20' from here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

Run the program, expand 'Motherboard' and look for 'Expansion Slots'

Mine looks like this:

Expansion Slots 3 PCI, 2 PCI-E x1, 2 PCI-E x16

Help with Graphics card

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