FSX video card

[Jackietools]

I currently have a AMD 6870 GPU. Thinking of upgrading to a GT 670 or AMD 7950. Will these card actually show worthwhile increase in graphics or are they over kill? Running 16 gig RAM and i5 2500 along with the 6870. Thanks

 

[HEXiT]

they 670 most defiantly in both fidelity and fps. the 7950 not so much but will still give a noticeable increase . but only in games that push the absolute limits like bf3 or max payne 3 instead of high you will be able to run ultra. which means deeper richer shadows an increase in possible tessellation and draw distances. tessellation amount is very dependent on the game engine so the effective increase will vary from title to title. of the 2 cards mentioned the 670 is the better 1 as the 6870 is not much slower than a 570 and the 7950 trades blows with the 580 which in itself isnt much stronger than the 570. the 670 on the other hand will give a good 3rd as much again increase over the 570 current performance.
the problem is that fsx can easily be maxed out on the 6870 so all you would see on fsx is higher fps unless you add an ultra detail mod. you would see a difference on microsoft flight...

 

[Jackietools]

Don't know how familiar you are with flight sims but I just got an add on called REX which is a weather engine and also adds on must more detailed scenery. I notice the difference with the 6870, imagine the GT 670 would greatly increase and allow me to up the settings and not lose frame rate. What do you think?

 

[HEXiT]

rex is the ultra detail pack i was on about. its a while since i tried fsx so couldnt remember the name of it. but i managed to max it out on my 5870 all be at an extreamly limited frame rate, and thats not much stronger than yours. yes you would notice a difference but it wont be that much of 1 as the rex addon doesn't change the basic game engine so you wont have hbao or any of the high end offerings that dx11 gives. no matter what fsx is still a dx9 game at the end of the day and although it does have some stunning features it would be a lot less system intensive if they moved over to the dx11 api.
in my opinion i would get the 670 because i dont just play 1 game but if you are only getting it to play fsx then it would be a bit of an overspend. although i have just read on the forums the 670 will max it out @60fps+ as will the 7970 and 7950
like i say compare it to microsoft flight and you will see although fsx does look better with rex, fsx still doesn't match ms flight when the quality is turned right up. in fact if your spending money on a flight sim i recommend you get m.s flight. they are releasing new maps as payed content to add to the free to play basic version.
as you have a i5 2500 i think the 670 would give you the best results and you wouldnt need a gfx upgrade for at least another 3-4 years. you may even be able to do triple monitor setup and keep a reasonable 45 fps maxed. but you best check the fsx/rex forums for that info.

 

[Jackietools]

Thanks I think I will go with the 670. As far as the new Microsoft Flight I do not care for it. It seems more of an arcade type game than a real sim. I don't know how far you went with FSX but my uncle who servrd in the USAF has been training me and I learned how to use and fly with instruments, map out flight plans using real VOR ILS landings on runways on several aircraft and now learning the PMDG 737 and Flight just not have these options YET. Hopefully in the future. I do play other games such as COD, Battlefield, Crysis etc so the 670 won't hurt. Thanks again for your advice. Feel free to add anything else you have that may be helpful

 

[Jackietools]

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