making new comp, need vid card suggestions

[legoalex2000]

i got everything i need except for one thing, a video card.

here's the specs on everything else.

Motherboard:
     Abit Kn8
http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/pro ... &model=284
$99.99

Processor:
     AMD Athlon 64 +3200
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/Pro ... 87,00.html
$155 (at factory)

Case:
     Antec - steel black
     Front - 2USB, 1Firewire, 2Audio
     power supply included
     


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811129155
$99.99 - $79.99 $20 rebate

Graphics:


Hard Drive (SATA):
     Western Digital - 250 GB
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products ... anguage=en
$121.99

Sound - onboard


CD/DVD Drive -
     Pacific Digital - DVD/R & CD/RW
http://www.pacificdigital.com/products. ... ItemID=777
$59.99

current total
(no tax/shipping/etc)

$536.96

i am switching to AMD. this is the selection im choosing, but i do need many much helps (lol, i spell weller) regarding ideo. im getting this motherboard because it's gonna have PCI express, not to mention it has no onboard video.

i also plan for an X52 (oh yeah!!) but that won't be well into next year, after i like my computer.

thats about it.

Ramos

[Delta_]

What's your price limit for the graphics card?

[GeForce]

What's your price limit for the graphics card?

Exactly, you should try and work out your maximum spend on the card, then try and find one.

As with anything, you get what you pay for...

Jon

[wealthysoup]

I'd say you should probably get at least a 6600gt If you can afford it to get the most out of your system ( I upgraded my fx5200 to a Radeon 9800 pro keeping my amd 64 3200+ processor and it pretty  much doubled my framerates in flight sim, as well as other games) If you can afford more then get a better card for better performance (or you could get a faster processor 3400+ or 3500+ for not too much more as far as Im aware probably about

[congo]

After testing a 7800GT recently, it's now my dream card.

Was twice the speed of my 6600GT and seemed faster.

I used it briefly in FS9, and it was 100+ FPS over coastal area with all sliders up and "building storms" weather.

[ctjoyce]

ATi X1800XT Faster than any nVidia single core on the market.

However for the $350 range X1800XL will do nicely

[legoalex2000]

well i was hoping for no more than $150,but since PCI is still new, i'll have to bump up the price. i would say no more than 350$.

ramos

[Jimbo]

After testing a 7800GT recently, it's now my dream card.

Was twice the speed of my 6600GT and seemed faster.

I used it briefly in FS9, and it was 100+ FPS over coastal area with all sliders up and "building storms" weather.

GT, or GTX version?

[congo]

it was a leadtek GT, very nice bit o' kit, had it on a 19" LCD as well, I think the resolution was 1280 x 1024 or similar.

[Jimbo]

it was a leadtek GT, very nice bit o' kit, had it on a 19" LCD as well, I think the resolution was 1280 x 1024 or similar.

And would this card peform ANY , and i mean ANY FS addon game, with FULL settings, weather, and EVERYTHING running LOL?

Just needed to know...

[Politically Incorrect]

should very nicely, but I got two just in case  ;D

[GunnerMan]

I have a 7800GTX and it runs FS Maxed out everywhere I go. No matter what senery or plane. Its always playable. Something FS really benefits from is the extra pipelines on the Nvidia cards. Makes things smooth even if you hit the lower frame rates. BTW what core is that CPU? It also seems you have forgotten your ram. My brief search of google shows the X1800XT is actually slightly slower than the 7800gtx.

[congo]

He's talking about buying the vanilla 7800GT.

Well, Leadtek have been using decent components, and they provide an overclock util on the disk, that's what I like. If things ever get a bit slowish, you have the ability to crank it up by 10% with the cards I've bought from them.

I'm not going to guarantee any performance when it comes to FS9 and your system, if you can find a better card for the price then by all means buy one. The GTX is superior, there is no doubt about that, but I think anyone would be happy with a 7800GT on FS9, providing the rest of the system doesn't bottleneck the sim.

I reckon that a 3200+ cpu is a tad on the weak side myself, and unless you plan on overclocking it, I would recommend stretching the budget to a more substantial CPU.

There are AMD cpu's that will run nicely at 2.6ghz and above with no stress on them at all. One of those is the 3700+ San Diego. I forgot to mention that the 7800GT test I did was with a San Diego cored 3700+, and I think it was probably overclocked at the time, but things were hectic that day and I can't remember the details of the CPU speed.

Suffice to say, I'm not going to recommend any AMD cpu's under the 3700+ San Diego's any longer for a gaming rig. They are the best CPU I've ever used and they are within most budget limits, or at least worth saving up for.

As far as Dual Cored cpu's go, I wouldn't recommend anything other than a 4400+ at the moment, because they are basically 2 x 3700+ cpu's with 1mb of L2 cache ram on each core, giving a total of 2mb L2 cache. Overclocked, I don't think anything will hold a candle to a 4400+ at present.

I just went from a venice cored 3500+ to a San Diego cored 3700+. They both have the same clock speed, but the Sandy has 1mb of L2 cache and overclocks easily and safely. If you want max performance in FS9, you'll need the most powerful core you can get, X2 dual cpu's are useless in this regard, hence my statement concerning the 4400+ as a minimum grade X2, because only that core or above will equate to great performance in FS9, matching the ability of the new graphics cards.

[GunnerMan]

Actually Congo a Single core San Diego beats the X2s. Only time that X2 would kill the Single core is multitasking or using a multithreaded program. Not many of those at present

[congo]

I agree, considering the 3700+ I've got now runs nicely at around 2.85ghz (rated speed is 2.2ghz) with the stock supplied cooler. (I just never could get it stable at 2.9hz)

It's probably the first time ever that I felt the CPU is actually powerful enough in a PC.