i need help please.

[chase s.]

for all of you who know about computers,

i have a 64mb video card [ i know, its small and old] but im getting a new one, and me and my dad were wondering what would be a good size? he said 120mb is the normal right now. and how many Rams as well.

{ yes this is for FSX}

[chase s.]

sorry, i forgot to include, its becasue its runs super slow.

[alrot]

For Run FSX

[chase s.]

so what would be a good size?

[alrot]

Its just not the size ,its also the quality ,find any Nvidia from 6200 to up like 6700 any of the 7000 series,a recent card with a 256, 512, or more RAM DDr2 8X ,.. the dream would be a SLI one 8600 or 8800 the one now ,but you need pci express ports..these last one are quite expencive

[chase s.]

ok thank you  ;D i dont know much about this stuff, but my dad does, so he will know what you are talking about

thanks  :)

[alrot]

Don't forget to tell you dad ,you need at least 1gb DDR2 ram memory better if 2gb ram (not video ram,system ram)to run FSX

[MattNW]

so what would be a good size?

The biggest you can afford.    

You want at least 256mb and if your system has a PCIE slot make sure you get that type of card. The AGP will work but PCIE is faster. Note I said PCIE (PCI Express) not PCI. There's a difference. I don't know your computer specs but I have a middle type system. Pentium 4 2.8mhz, 2Gb RAM and a Radeon 9600 pro 256mb AGP graphics card and I get flyable framerates with medium settings as long as I stay out of the major airports. I have replaced some of my textures and done a lot of tweaking though.

[BAW0343]

I have 2 gigs Ram with a Nividia 7900 GT with 512 mb memory and Its barely enough to pull out 13 fps with good graphics.  I push my system to the max (i.e. getting only 13 fps) which works fine with me. As said get the BIGGEST you can possibly afford or the max your computer will take (whichever is the limiting)  

FSX is power hungry, feed it.

[Brett_Henderson]

Computer specs are important here...  There's no point in buying a nice v-card to plug into an old system..  If the existing card is only 64mb, I suspect we're talking about a pretty old computer, likely plain old PCI. Even if it has an AGP slot, if it's something like an Athlon 2000, or 2.0Ghz Pentium (I got a feeling it's a Celeron), no video card in the world will help with running FSX .. Any money is best saved toward a new computer.

[alrot]

If the existing card is only 64mb, I suspect we're talking about a pretty old computer

It won't accept it anyway ,it will be a window will claim is not bla, bla bla with this software ,change your video card..I already done this few times (testing agps video cards in my PC because of my job)

[Slotback]

Videocards are made up of two important things. Memory, and Processing unit. The memory has the textures loading into it, as well as the frame buffer. The Processing unit is what draws everything.

Therefore, you need LOTS of FAST memory with a FAST Graphics Processing unit to run fsx well. Videocard manufacturers often put loads of memory on HORRIBLE videocards to get people like you to buy them. That only wastes your money. That's why, it's important to buy a videocard with not only lots of memory, but a fast GPU. Basically, read reviews on videocards then compare the benchmarks with your needs.

If your current videocard is 64mb, then your computer is most likely too old for a new one, and even if you did get a new one, it's unlikely that you'd use it to its full potential. Get a whole new computer.

The norm with videocards now is 512mb 256bit GDDR3 and 16 pixel pipelines at a clock >500mhz.

Tell your Dad, that it's not only size that matters. What matters is the frequency of the memory (e.g. 1.8ghz), the amount of memory (e.g. 512mb), the bus (e.g. 384bit). The Graphics Processing unit is also what counts. This is measured on the frequency that is runs on (e.g. 900mhz), and is also determined by how many pixel pipelines it has (Never videocards don't have pixelpipelines, but have ROPS, TMUs, Texture Units and so on). YOU NEED LOTS OF ALL THOSE TO HAVE A GOOD VIDEOCARD.

Also, tell him that it would be best to buy an entirely new computer because the current components may not be abled to run Flight Simulator X properly therefore a new videocard would make no diferance at all. It's called a bottleneck. For example, If you have the best graphics card in the world, it may still me slowed down by a slow processor as the processor simply cannot process the simulation fast enough so the videocard has to slow down to the processors pace. Bottlenecks can be caused by any one of the other parts in your computer.

Get a new computer.

If you must buy a new videocard, tell us your motherboard, powersupply, processor and memory is, then we'll inform you on the best videocard you can purchase that will be an improvement over your current one, while working, and being cheap.

[coulterww]

When I got FSX, I had a mid range computer, with a 2.4 gHz AMD processor, and went with the ATI X1600 video card at 512 mb, and three gigs of ram.  FSX Still ran rather choppy even at mid to low range settings.  

I ran across an article in PC Gamer's 2007 PC Builder's Bible.  "The World's Best $1400 PC."  I went to my local Micro Center and built this behemoth...  Here are the Specs:

ANTEC "900" Case (total of 4x Case fans 2 front panel, one rear, one 120mm fan in the top)
EVGA Nvidia 680i SLI Motherboard
Intel E6750 Core2Duo Dual Core Processor @ 2.66gHz (That is TWO Cores, both running at 2.66gHz!!!)
2GB of Corsair DDR3 PC6400 RAM
250 GB Western Digital SATA 300 Hard drive
Sound Blaster 7.1 Sound Card
TWO Nvidia GeForce 8600GT Video Cards @ 512MB each (Set up in SLI mode)
Hitachi DVD/CDRW drive.
ANTEC 600W Power Supply

I am now running FSX near maxed out and getting very good frame rates with little or no lag.  If you are going to buy a new computer, remember, you get what you pay for.  So, there are two options here.  First, you pick the components, and let someone else build it proffessionally, or secondly, build it yourself.

I'm not the smartest guy when it somes to Computers, so I did a lot of reading up on how to, and armed with the PC Gamer article and the instructions from all the components, I did it myself.  It's not as hard as it sounds, and if you run into trouble, the local computer shop will be able to help.

Hopes this helps you in your search for better Flight simming experience.

Wayne

[Slotback]

TWO Nvidia GeForce 8600GT Video Cards @ 512MB each (Set up in SLI mode)

Nice setup, but I would suggest getting a single Geforce 8800GT 512 or newer Radeon series videocard instead of that.