Microsoft Flight Simulator X SP2
In Flight Simulator, all graphics cards can convert the power of the overclocked quad-core CPU into a higher frame rate. Nvidia, as expected, does a slightly better job, while AMD is up to 30% behind. Nvidia loses performance by using SLI—a single card is always faster. This is also true for AMD and its CrossFire technology, but the differences are less or not present at all there.
Driver Comparison: Catalyst 8.9 Versus Catalyst 8.10 w/ Radeon HD 4870 X2
You can see a slight drop in performance. When you take a close look, all results are within tolerances, because from our experience we know that the variations in Flight Simulator X are usually more significant.
| MS FlightX SP2 in fps | 12800xAA | 16800xAA | 19200xAA | 12804xAA | 16804xAA | 19204xAA | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HD 4870 X2 8.10 QX@3.67 | 29.1 | 29.7 | 29.4 | 29.8 | 29.8 | 29.3 | 177.1 |
| HD 4870 X2 8.9 QX@3.67 | 30.4 | 30.7 | 30.2 | 30.8 | 30.3 | 30.5 | 182.9 |
| Performance difference in percent | -4.3 | -3.3 | -2.6 | -3.2 | -1.7 | -3.9 | -3.2 |