Simviation Forums

heres my thing guys, i currently have the nvidia mx440, and im not happy with it becuase of the lack of water textures in the game, and only geting 8fps with clouds turned down, 12-14 with clear skies...target fps is 30...  ::)

is the nvidia FX5500 worth getting? will it give me the water and of course, better graphics over all? if not, could one of you recommend something for about 100 or less that would work well with a HP Pavillion a430n?

thanks. Jeph

I'm guessing your on a budget, so I'm not going to shoot for the stars. Also with your processer we can only go so far with a card before it bottolnecks.

eVGA 6800XT is the card for you. Excellent preformance, low cost and the graphics will blow you away.

I also suggest you upgrade your RAM to 1GB insted of the 512 that is in there now.

Cheers
Cameron

Even a Geforce4800ti would make a vast improvement for you. The 6800xt is just over kill and the FX5500 will be more than enough to ensure your processor and RAM is the limiting factor.


Also the 6800 is PCIe. If your using a 440mx then the chances are you wouldn't be able to fit such a new card.

Sorry gave the wrong link.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130268

Thats the AGP version. But looking at your specs (rathar a list of possable combinations for a system), thats about the best your going to do. Your processer and RAM are going to be able to take it.

Cheers
Cameron

Jeph, the FX5500 would probably do much better than your current card and reach 30fps after setting the graphics, however if you want this video card upgrade to last much longer, I reccommend getting a faster card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814150157
It's a 6800XT like ctjoyce gave the link for, but this card is much faster with 500MHZ (1000MHZ effective memory) with GDDR3.

If you still intend to get an FX5500, consider this instead:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814143056
It's a GeForce 6600, which I used to have. I had a Chaintech model, and it performed quite well with settings around medium high.

The FX5500 is better than the FX5200 and pretty much the same as the FX5200Ultra in performance.  It is not a bad card, but there are better.  However on a very low budget it is a good option.  It will work with most games but the latest.

I have an FX5500 and am not able to run FS2004 on it because it is one of the cards which microsoft does not support. I have spent Many hours trying to get it to work but there is simply no way to fix it. I have found at least three of four other people who have had the problem and have not ben able to fix it either.

Heres a solution.

Spend the money and buy a good card. You will thank yourself in the end.

Cheers
Cameron

I had an FX5200 and could get water textures without a problem.  I had to run 2D clouds and turn a lot of the graphics down but could get 30fps.  A 5500 should work for you.

I now have a 6800GS AGP (the eVGA card previously mentioned) and can run the game almost fully max'd out.  A huge improvement in frame rate and graphics quality.

But if you don't have the money for the 6800 then a 5500 will do what you need it to do.

No, no it wouln't. Listen people a 5500 may be a good patch, but the lowest you should be looking at is a 6600GT. That or a 9600SE are two base cards to be looking at. For just over $100 they will fit into any budget.

Cheers
Cameron

Let's assume you chose the 5500 because of price compared to the price of a card that will actually do the job properly.

Do your research and find a much better card for the same price, or save a little more for a better card.

A 5500 is based on very old technology, and as stated by a poster above, seems not to support FS9 anyway (though I can't imagine why).

Once you get a decent G Card, you'll see the light, until then, you're in the dark and have no idea what you are missing out on.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130268

The 6800XT for a cool $150. Why not buy it? Its atleast four times the preformance of the FX5500 and only about twice the price.

Cheers
Cameron

an update! i should have posted sooner, but i was having way too much fun lately.

i got the geforce 6800GS/XT. i also upgraded from 512 mb ram to 1 gig. i get roughly 25-30fps with ALL SETTINGS MAXED, and "fair weather" clouds (100% 3d clouds) and unlimited visibility. i read it somewhere, i think, but i noticed you cant have water and land detail in the game. its either water OR land. well, i set mine for water, because i like the reflections, texture and effects it has. (i LOVE the morewatr texture!)

if you havent seen them yet, be prepared to see me crank out a few screen shots in coming weeks. i cant believe the difference between the mx440 and this 6800. the ram definitely helps too!!

thanks for your advice guys, it definitely came in handy.

Spend the money and buy a good card. You will thank yourself in the end.

Cheers
Cameron

couldnt agree more!!!

I run a FX5500 and only achieve a good average 20fps highest was 60fps and that was achieved only once, and the frames drop to around 10 around detailed areas around the sim, it's okay card. I recomend saving and finding a card with a equivilent price and loads of better performace like the cards suggested earlier!

He bought one The 6800XT to be exact.

Cheers
Cameron