3870x2

[NickN]

You are wasting you money with SLi and FSX unless you are running a screen resloution of 2xxx and above, and, AA at 16-32x

With crossfireX its new and although the benefits are a bit better than SLi, its really not worth the cost

Right now purchasing is BAD. Everything is about to get changed this summer, when exactly I dont know but purchasing right now will limit you to the video cards and processors available today for full support.

The 8800GTX and its variants with the 384bit memory buss are the best performers but as always with Nvidia there are usually drver issues as they release new ones practically once a week. With ATi there are less driver issues but they can not out perform the 8800GTX and its variants

I have not been involved with hardware testing for several months now however I am expecting to be testing a AMD 7 series along with a Intel Nehalem/motherboard later this summer.

Nehalem processors will have from two to eight cores and include up to 8M bytes of level 3 cache. No motherboard on the market right now will ever support it. It requires an entire new platform to run it and it will require DDR3


I would not purchase SLi if you paid me for it

Your best bet if you intend to purchase now is either a x38 or x48 chipset board. If you are looking for the best performance than that would be the Nvidia cards that support 384bit memory buss.. the 8800GTX is still the best bang for the buck even with all the BS 9xxx upgrades they put out there.

[waspiflab]

I've seen plenty of proof that when AA + all filters are cranked up on the 3870x2 it annihilates the GTX.
Again this is common with most ati cards where nvidia lacks.
Ati will always look better in game than nvidia although the speed of games will be in nvidia's favour. I'd rather have great looking games with great fps rather than a ridiculously fast game that looks like lego blocks.
Just my opinion.

COD4 1680x1050 4xAA 16xAF (Anand) - VISTA
3870x2 - 84fps
8800GTX - 58fps

COD4 1920x1200 4xAA (Legit Reviews) - VISTA
3870x2 - 49fps
8800GTX - 42fps

DiRT 1920x1200 2xAA 16xAF (DH) - VISTA
3870x2 - 39fps
8800GTX - 31fps

Quake Wars 1920x1200 8xAA 16xAF (DH) - VISTA
3870x2 - 51fps
8800GTX - 26fps

Quake Wars 1600x1200 4xAA 16xAF (Hothardware) - VISTA
3870x2 - 77fps
8800GTX - 69fps

Quake Wars 1600x1200 4xAA 16xAF (Tech Powerup) - XP
3870x2 - 89fps
8800GTX - 75fps

HL2:EP2 1920x1200 2xAA 16xAF (DH) - VISTA
3870x2 - 99fps
8800GTX - 92fps

HL2:EP2 1680x1050 4xAA 16xAF (Anand) - VISTA
3870x2 - 145fps
8800GTX - 114fps

HL2:EP2 1600x1200 8xAA 16xAF (Hardware Canucks) - VISTA
3870x2 - 108fps
8800GTX - 94fps

HL2:EP2 1600x1200 4xAA 16xAF (Hothardware) - VISTA
3870x2 - 119fps
8800GTX - 100fps

Oblivion 1920x1200 0xAA 16xAF (DH) - VISTA
3870x2 - 95fps
8800GTX - 65fps

Oblivion 1680x1050 4xAA 16xAF Ultra Quality Mode (Anand) - VISTA
3870x2 - 58fps
8800GTX - 41fps

Bioshock 1680x1050 0xAA 16xAF (Anand) - VISTA
3870x2 - 72fps
8800GTX - 67fps

Unreal Tournament 3 1680x1050 Highest Quality 0xAA (Anand) - VISTA
3870x2 - 141fps
8800GTX - 98fps

The Witcher 1680x1050 Highest Quality 0xAA (Anand) - VISTA
3870x2 - 47fps
8800GTX - 33fps

COH 1600x1200 4xAA (Hardware Canucks) - VISTA
3870x2 - 139fps
8800GTX - 107fps

COH 1600x1200 4xAA 16xAF Ultra Quality (Tech Powerup) - XP
3870x2 - 199fps
8800GTX - 179fps

World in Conflict "DX9" 1600x1200 4xAA 16xAF (Hardware Canucks) - VISTA
3870x2 - 45fps
8800GTX - 40fps

Call of Juarez 1600x1200 4xMSAA (Hardware Canucks) - VISTA
3870x2 - 40fps
8800GTX - 21fps

Crysis DX10 All HIGH 1600x1200 2xAA (Hardware Canucks) - VISTA
3870x2 - 26fps
8800GTX - 21fps

STALKER 1600x1200 MAXED FDL mode (Legit Reviews) - VISTA
3870x2 - 138fps
8800GTX - 116fps

STALKER 1600x1200 4xAA 16xAF (Tech Powerup) - XP
3870x2 - 159fps
8800GTX - 143fps

Quake4 1920x1200 4xAA 16xAF Ultra Quality (Hexus) - VISTA
3870x2 - 167fps
8800GTX - 92fps

Quake 4 1600x1200 4xAA 16xAF Ultra Quality (Tech Powerup) - XP
3870x2 - 77fps
8800GTX - 67fps

Splinter Cell:CT 1920x1200 4xAA 8xAF (Hexus) - VISTA
3870x2 - 131fps
8800GTX - 103fps

Splinter Cell:CT 1600x1200 4xAA 16xAF (Tech Powerup) - XP
3870x2 - 139fps
8800GTX - 82fps

FEAR 1600x1200 4xAA 16xAF Maximum Quality (Tech Powerup) - XP
3870x2 - 117fps
8800GTX - 88fps

FEAR 1600x1200 4xAA 16xAF Maximum Quality (Firingsquad) - VISTA
3870x2 - 110fps
8800GTX - 92fps

Prey 1600x1200 4xAA 16xAF (Tech Powerup) - XP
3870x2 - 131fps
8800GTX - 100fps

X3 Reunion 1600x1200 4xAA 16xAF (Tech Powerup) - XP
3870x2 - 89fps
8800GTX - 73fps

3870x2 $389.99 newegg.com
8800gtx $379.99 newegg.com

$10.00 in it.
Review:http://youtube.com/watch?v=cDTgjbNd2AY

[NickN]

I've seen plenty of proof that when AA + all filters are cranked up on the 3870x2 it annihilates the GTX.

LOL

Try FSX

This is a Flight Sim site... If he wanted a card for other games I may have a different opinion however yours is very anti-nvidia and always has been

I dont care who is on top,. however right now ATi is crushed by FSX clouds and weather

And Nv does not look like 'lego blocks'

[Si_Combat]

yeah... I have done plenty of research on a lot of Graphics Cards and all I seem to find is benchmarking for proper games... I have yet to come across one done for FSX and it's this reason alone that I'm asking for help and advice on choosing the best gfx card set up for "FSX ONLY"...

I have a PS2, a PS3 and an Xbox 360 for which I do my gaming... I'm not a gaming junkie nor do I play online very much but I do really enjoy Flight Sim... the only other games I play on my PC are RTS titles and the rare FPShooter...

I'm well aware that new technologies are always just around the corner especially where PC's are concerned but I'm ready to commit to a new PC for FSX right now... everything just seems to be in the right price range for me and my budget at the moment...

[NickN]

yeah... I have done plenty of research on a lot of Graphics Cards and all I seem to find is benchmarking for proper games... I have yet to come across one done for FSX and it's this reason alone that I'm asking for help and advice on choosing the best gfx card set up for "FSX ONLY"...

I have a PS2, a PS3 and an Xbox 360 for which I do my gaming... I'm not a gaming junkie nor do I play online very much but I do really enjoy Flight Sim... the only other games I play on my PC are RTS titles and the rare FPShooter...

I'm well aware that new technologies are always just around the corner especially where PC's are concerned but I'm ready to commit to a new PC for FSX right now... everything just seems to be in the right price range for me and my budget at the moment...

Then I would go with a Intel chipset motherboard, a quad core processor and a 8800GTX for now

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814143080

Best bang for the buck and FSX

The rest of the Nv cards are a marketing joke


ATi can NOT hold a candle to the 8800GTX for overall performance in FSX

[Si_Combat]

Ach, now I'm proper bollock confused by this whole gfx card issue... I cannot understand how the 8800 GTX can be better / faster than the new cards available today... How long has the 8800 GTX been around.. and surely the ATI 3870 x2 would have the edge given that is newer and duel GPU, and surely it's bound to get better with updates...!!! it's quite a bit cheaper too if you conpare the age of the cards...

For a gentleman as experienced in this field as you perhaps it's the finer details like lack of cloud detail per certain gfx card that only you would notice... so... what you would consider to be pants I might consider to be amazing... I've seen FSX running at18-24 FSP at considerably high settings with an unclocked duel core CPU and one HD 3870 512MB card and I was impressed...

[NickN]

Ach, now I'm proper bollock confused by this whole gfx card issue... I cannot understand how the 8800 GTX can be better / faster than the new cards available today... How long has the 8800 GTX been around.. and surely the ATI 3870 x2 would have the edge given that is newer and duel GPU, and surely it's bound to get better with updates...!!! it's quite a bit cheaper too if you conpare the age of the cards...

For a gentleman as experienced in this field as you perhaps it's the finer details like lack of cloud detail per certain gfx card that only you would notice... so... what you would consider to be pants I might consider to be amazing... I've seen FSX running at18-24 FSP at considerably high settings with an unclocked duel core CPU and one HD 3870 512MB card and I was impressed...

It like this

You are reading revison numbers and number of cores.. they are marking bullsheit

the 8800GTX has the 384bit memory bus which means the fastest communication possible on the card to what counts

Dual cores are worthless BS without..

1. the right chipset support

2. the right driver support

SLi is bullsheit in FSX unless you intend to run very high resolution and very high AA, then you get the SAME FRAM RATE but higher resolution.. that

[waspiflab]

I had no problems with clouds with just one 3870? I have seen a few posts about this issue. I would not spend all that money just because FSX has weather issues thats crazy. I guess its worth it is thats all he plays.
Cheers.

[Slotback]

I've seen plenty of proof that when AA + all filters are cranked up on the 3870x2 it annihilates the GTX.
Again this is common with most ati cards where nvidia lacks.
Ati will always look better in game than nvidia although the speed of games will be in nvidia's favour. I'd rather have great looking games with great fps rather than a ridiculously fast game that looks like lego blocks.
Just my opinion.

No, I've owned multiple ATi & Nvidia cards from each generation since the Geforce 4, and that's just BS. You may want to actually own a Geforce 8 or 9. Image quality is actually VERY close, rarely disconcernable between the two, either way I might add.

If you use other things other than fsx then it's certaintly a good idea to look at the 3870x2, and even various SLI / Crossfire solutions. For the same price as a 3870x2 you can get dual 8800GTs which would kill 3870x2 in the majority of applications, but loose out in others. There is a use for everything.

ALWAYS consider all possible configuration for your computer, because broad statements like 'Nvidia sucks, ATi ownz', are just plain wrong. For example, fact is 8800GTX is the best for fsx, but I'd much rather get a single 8800GT which performs 90% of the GTX in the majority of applications, while being dramatically cheaper.

[Si_Combat]

Totally appreciate all the help and advice... a lot of questions have been answered so I'll just slip away now and make a decision before tomorrow afternoon...

Hopefullly things will come good and I'll be able to report good news perhaps 2 weeks from now... or... maybe you'll be able to say, "you told me so...!"  ;)

Si

[Flying Mouse]

I am pretty sure the majority of players here dont just play FSX. I think the secret is to find a GPU that provides great results in both FSX and other general gaming.

As for this so called "Weather" problem I must say, I dont have a clue what is spoken about since I have posted some shots where as my system actually loves dense cloud formations.

The HD3870x2 might maybe not be the best for fsx but I can assure you, few cards keep up, if any, when it comes to games like COD, Crysis, Witcher etc...

I guess I just really like the ok bullsheit I bought

[NickN]

[quote]
I guess I just really like the ok bullsheit I bought

[NickN]

[quote]The Radeon 3800 series had a serious flaw called texture low fill-rate, which was addressed by ATI with an increased number of TMUs (Texture Memory Unit) from 16 to 32. The specifications indicate that 16 TMUs can address 80 textures on the fly, which means that 32 units should be able to fetch 160 in the RV770: This should allow the new GPU to catch up with Nvidia