graphics card upgrade!

[omar777]

So, I ran across some spare money (which rarely happens ) and decided to use it to upgrade my graphics card. I currently have a GeForce 5200 256MB PCI which was an upgrade from a Geforce Ti4200 APG.
over the year i noticed that the PCI card lacked somewhat in speed than the AGP. So now that i have a chance to buy a new one, im considering the GeForce 6600 256MB AGP. I havent heard much news about this one. so if you have/had one, or know something about it, Id like to hear some more about it.
Thanks,
           O

[FridayChild]

If your motherboard does not support PCI-express, as it appears, an AGP card the obvious choice, since this bus outperforms, generally speaking, the PCI bus.
I haven't tried any vcard based on the "basic" 6600 chipset.
As for the 6600*GT* chipset, it's fairly good, maybe still a good choice if you're on a tight budget. 256 MB is a decent amount of VRAM. I have a 128 MB PCI-E 6600GT based card, and at the moment I'm quite satisfied with that. Frame rates in FS2004 are good, and I've everything maxed out. I'm using BlueSphere textures and a choice of freeware planes, and I've only had minor frame drops (nothing major) on busy areas with medium-high AI traffic settings.
Hope this helps.

[garymbuska]

I do not know how much money you have to spend but if you can afford it I strongly recomend the GeForce 7800 GS this is considerd one of the top cards for the

[wealthysoup]

About the only thing above this card right now would be a PCI express card, which is also a 7800 series card
There are several cards above the 6600 series and if you are serious about updateing I would not get anything in the 6600 series.

Actually theres a 7900 series out for a while now although its only pci express,a good cardd to look at MIGHT be the 7600gt which is around

[ctjoyce]

Okay youngins I'm gonna explain this to the poor guy, as you are confuseing the hell out of even me.

So it would seem that you have both PCI and AGP slots on your motherboard, but NOT! a PCI-E. Since you dont have that lane, disregrad anything refering to a PCI-E card above mentioned.

Currently there are a range of good cards from ATi and nVidia that support AGP.

ATi's 9x series, the whole X6/7/8/85 series, and the X1600 / X1800GTO all come in AGP.

nVidia's whole 6 series, and the 7800GS come in AGP. No other 7 series cards are AGP, due to manufacutes trying to sway the market to PCI-E.

Out of all these cards, personally I would buy a ATi X800GTO / GT, or an nVidia 6800XT. Both cards will run about $180, and serve you very well, until you have to upgrade for DX10. True you could spend more, however you may as well take the $250 your going to spend on a 7800GS, and use it to buy a decent $70 PCI-E motherboard, and a good PCI-E card. As for where to go, Once you Know, you newegg. Newegg.com has by far the best selection of parts around, and by far some of the cheapest prices I have ever seen.

Cheers
Cameron

[kipman725]

I'm amazed you "upgraded" from a ti4200 to a 5200pci I would have thought the 5200pci would have been slower than your old card  ::)

[omar777]

Yeah, at the time i though the better the memory and the higher the series = better graphics, oh, and i thought PCI was faster.....was i wrong. sometimees when im flying in FS my framerates are between 5-10 fps( when taxiing and in low altitudes or city areas) and 15 fps (in high altitudes). If im lucky to get more than 10 while on the ground its pretty cool. and i dont know if anyone has noticed that spot-plane frame rates are usually higher than in cockpit....i find that weird.
 I have looked into the 6800gt OC 512MB and seems that a lot of ppl have had burn outs. kinda freaky. still kinda want a 6800 or 6600. as for the 7800 or any of that series id have to upgrade my PSU from 330 to something better.
newegg.com has some good deals but havent seen many of the 6600 that i was looking for at my local electronics place.
question: 6800 and 6600 users, what are your approximate FPS in FS9 and settings?
p.s. the further i look into video cards the more i feel like i might end up with a slow performance like with my last upgrade.
-thanks,  
                 O

[ctjoyce]

Like I said go with the 6800 Ultra, or 6800XT. Both are amazing cards that will get you 40+ FPS. Also remember that more VRAM dosn't make a card good. 128MB of good RAM works much better than 256MB of bad RAM, and 512MB of bad RAM will slow the card even further.

Cheers
Cameron

[Chris_F]

I just upgraded from an FX5200 AGP to a 6800GS AGP.