Help choosing right Graphics card.

[Mooneypilot1993]

Hey guys ive been really looking in the last two moths at getting a graphics card that would run fsx flawlessly on my comp. Now i definately know i need some Ram in the worst way but here are my specs.
Nvidia T.I 200( this thing is 5 years old, can you say dinosaur )
Intel R Pentium R 4 cpu 3.00 Ghz 768 mb ram.
Well theres my specs im looking at a card in the 350 to 500 dollar range. Im trying to get Fsx to run for my dad and me because my dads trying to get a job as a commercial pilot and would like to use fsx as training and practice aid. And im getting my private. I want a great card that can handle the some of the worst weather situations thrown at it. Thanks Guys.
And i will listen to every comment on what i should do to make Fsx run like a bat out of heck.
Thanks everyone.

[Mermaid Man]

Buy a new PC. FS-X needs a dual core CPU, or ideally quad. Fitting a new GPU won't really help.

[Brett_Henderson]

Does a five year old board even have a PCI-express slot, for a newer v-card ?

[Mooneypilot1993]

No my comp is a Gaming comuter just when we got it my dad took a Nvidia T.I. 200 out of another computer and put it in this one.
Computer is an X-blade. Its, i think a year and a half old.

[Mermaid Man]

Even if you do replace GPU, the bottleneck will be CPU.

[Mooneypilot1993]

Yeh your right mermaid man. Well shoot i guess ill have to save up for a dual core processor. What are they going for i wonder.

[JSpahn]

I think Mermaid Man is trying to save you some money, if your computer is not up to snuff a GPU will not help much at all.  FSX is very processor dependant. You need to look into what specific hardware you have in your computer.

For me it is as follows:

P4 3.4ghz Prescott CPU 800 mhz FSB
2 gb DDR2 800mhz dual channel ram
8600gt 512mb nvidia GPU

so on and so on.....

Getting good performance isnt as easy as installing a new GPU, you must look at the whole picture and decide if its worth it, or maybe a series of upgrades will need to take place.

[Mooneypilot1993]

Oh lol guys you got me scared that i had to go out and buy a whole new computer. Thanks masternerd. It looks like im gonna need a good processor, some more ram and a card. Ill save up some more pennies and make this thing run great. The moneys well worth it if i have a comp that cun run FSX flawlessly then having oddball frames.
You guys are the best! [smiley=bigsmile.gif]

[Mermaid Man]

Also need a new motherboard and probably a higher rated PSU. So actually it is a new computer, unless you use the existing bits like case, optical drives and hard drives.

[FLFlyGuy]

Oh lol guys you got me scared that i had to go out and buy a whole new computer. Thanks masternerd. It looks like im gonna need a good processor, some more ram and a card. Ill save up some more pennies and make this thing run great. The moneys well worth it if i have a comp that cun run FSX flawlessly then having oddball frames.
You guys are the best! [smiley=bigsmile.gif]

Unfortunately for your budget, you'll need alot more than just a new card.  As a matter of fact, your m/b 5 years old will not take a PCI-Express card.  So you need a new M/B.  Your present memory will also not be compatible with a new M/B, so you'll have expense of DDR2 memory, along with PSU to power this all.  Furthermore, most new M/Bs have only one or two IDE connections, the rest are SATA drive connections.  Now, if you don't have many drives this won't present a problem but if you're a packrat like me, you'll either have to get IDE/SATA converters (which work, but can be fussy, take up extra space, especially with the video cards so big/thick now, etc.) or switch over to the SATA drives.  For best performance I recommend a Raptor drive for C:, for Windows and programs including FSX.

I have two computers....P4 3.8 GHz with 4 GB memory (only 3.75 is recognized, and a BFG 7950 GT card.  Other is Core2Duo (2.4 GHz) with 2 GB of memory, and an EVGA 8800 GTS card, and a WD Raptor drive.

There is NO comparison, core2duo wins hands down and will run FSX default aircraft with sliders pretty maxed out and still 20 or so frames on ground in heavy traffic/graphics airports like ORD/LAX/JFK/LHR, etc...once you get a little altitude I easily get 30+ FPS.  Payware aircraft vary.  The only thing that will be 100% transferable are your optical drives and hopefully you have any firmware updates for them, if ever issued.  Be sure to check so you have them if necessary.

So, in reality, you at least need all new computer "guts" to really get the benefits of FSX which, after all, is why you are doing this in the first place.  

Here's the good news, the economy of the world is slowing down, here in US, Europe, and even Asia is catching it.  This should provide you with some good overstock deals now or in the near future.  Good luck and hope you can build your FSX dream machine 8-)