Best Graphics card to run FS9 on?...

[Iroquois]

My FX5200 runs Jedi Acadamy and Il-2 Gold just fine. It's my CPU that's holding me back but that's soon to change.   I'd love an FX5950 or a Geforce 6800 but I just simply cannot afford to spend $300 on a graphics card. Plus I only have a 4X AGP port so they wouldn't run top notch anyway.

Obviously, I don't like Ati - once bitten, twice shy.....

Me two. Had one that wouldn't run on Windows 98  ???, the other one I got was broken even before I opened the box. Never had a problem with nVidia. My FX5200 is a Jaton, a lesser known company but they produce good products.  

[Gixer]

Ok ok ok, I dont wanna start a G/card war lol.

Hell the best advice for g/cards is buy the best one you can afford!!

If you can hold on and get one of the new X800 series or 6800 series.  I'm sure you would have no probs runnin FS with one of these, least I hope not  ;D

[Scottler]

lol it has nothing to do with starting a war....it's just that twice you said the 5600 sucked, but the 5600 was never relevant to this discussion.

[bm]

But surely if the FX5600 sucks then so does the FX5200?

[ludo62]

For me the best videocard is the Radeon 9800 XT 256 MB , it gives great resolution on my LCD monitor . It also works great with FS 9 and a lot of other great games like NHL 2004 , Jedi Academy and Knights of the old republic . ( just look at some of my pics in the screenshot forum ) Happy flying and keep safe

[Scottler]

But surely if the FX5600 sucks then so does the FX5200?

If performance were solely dependant upon the card, then I might be inclined to say yes.  But it doesn't.

[Iroquois]

If performance were solely dependant upon the card, then I might be inclined to say yes.  But it doesn't.

Too true. The CPU plays a big role in FS because of all the complex mathematical equations it has to compute in order to simulate real world physics. That's why I've upgraded from a Duron 950 to an Athlon XP 2000+. Prices were down again so I'll nearly double my speed.

The FX5200 may not be the most powerful card on the market. Trying to compair an FX5200 to a Geforce 6800 or a Radeon X800 is like trying to compair a Honda Civic to a Farari. Of course we know how fast a Civic can go with the right combo of parts. It's all what you can afford.

By looking at screen shots, I've noticed that all modern cards take  the same image quality. The big boys are just a little faster, that's the only difference.

[Gixer]

Yeah lol I think thats what I was gettin at that the fx5200 wouldn't be as good as the fx5600 I just put it in my own odd ball way  ::)

I can only go on what I have seen. I dunno why my bro's MSI FX5600 didn't work as well as my Gf4 it just didnt  He has same mobo as me but has an xp3000 barton cpu I only have an xp2800 barton.  So technically he should run better than me as he had a faster cpu and a newer g/card.  Admittingley my friend with the FX5200 only had a athlon 1333Mhz i think but still had 512 ram (same as i used to have) and same fsb.  I guess I was tryin to slate em quite bad just my experiences with those two cards hasn't been very good  :(

I think ATI had the hold on Image Quality in the last round Nvidia FX5*00 and ATI 9*00 series.  Most screenies I have seen on here last year the ATI's seem real nice, dunno why they just look that way to me.  I personally have never had an ATI but am quite impressed by my bro's new 9800pro.  I think things are a lot closer with the new gen cards commin out though so things could get more interesting  8)

[bm]

I went for ATi with my new pc - the 9800XT, it was meant to be the best card at the time and I believe it was the right decision. I'm disapointed if I see 20fps so I guess thats no too bad! I think the NVIDIA is meant to come into its own at higher resolution. Perhaps if we were back 6 months and had to make the choise again I would have gone for the 9800pro for values sake, you live and learn!

In reality I went for the opposite to what I had - AMD 2000+ and NVIDIA 5600. I just couldn't cope with it crashing, freezing constantly and giving up the ghost what seemed like once a month! Anyway so far with my Intel/ATi - not one problem! (famous last words). I do believe that hyperthreading has alot to do with it and i'm pretty certain its not just a gimmik.

Toms GC guide is a good place to look.

[Iroquois]

I have heard of the FX5600 having a lot of problems. The best cards in the FX series are probably the FX5200, 5900, and 5950. I've heard good things about the FX5700 too.

For thoses who still doubt the power of my lower-midrange PC, I've now tested demos for Battlefield 1942 and Star Trek: Elite Force 2 and they both run fine. Going to try the Far Cry demo later although it says it requires a min 1ghz CPU. We'll see about that. I prefer to test cards and drivers in games and not bench mark. That gives a more accurate picture of what it can do.

If you really want to see the power of nVidia, components are everything. Well the same goes for any graphics card. My ECS K7S5A mobo really likes nVidia cards. Try running  them on an nForce 3 mobo and then you'll see their real power.

[atotti2000]

I wish i could afford half the stuff were talking about here.
Ive been saving and just bought a FX5500 to replalace my GF4 MX440 (preseant) which was bought as a quick replacement at christmas to replace my broken GF4 Ti4200. lol
im pleased as punch, so no matter who slags the FX range off, especially the lower end ones,...ill... eat them  ::)

[Iroquois]

Far Cry, perhaps the most graphically intense game on the maket ran surprisingly smootly. 3DMark03 can bite me with its lies. Of couse, I don't know what people see in Far Cry. Too bloody for me.

[congo]

Well, I just had the misfortune to buy a FX5200 for my daughter's PC on the great reviews on it I've read here.

What a hopeless card!

Here are the scores of the various cards on my system using 3dMark 2001, and I assure you that the scores DO, in all certainty, reflect real gaming performance.

GF FX5900XT ......... 14200

[Delta_]

If you re-benched those cards with 3Dmark03 all the GF MX series would crash and burn.  Also the FX5200 can barely run it over 2fps and only gets a few hundred points.  The Ti range struggles aswell as it is accelerated for older programs and not newer ones.

[Gixer]

OOO My system doesnt do to bad then on that list bearing in mind I only got a GF4 ti4600.

My 3dMark01 is 12600  ;D.  I did manage to o-clock pc more and score 12900 but it was unstable so reverted back.

But on 3dMark03 I score bad, about 1300-1500 cant remeber but due to not fully supprting DX9 it doesnt run the nature test  :(