Here's to all of you who are considering upgrading your pc for a few extra fps.
First of all: don't expect the "latest and greatest" in graphics card to do wonders in FSX! It's been mentioned here before and it's true. After some research online I found a PDF file specifying the impact of hardware on FSX performance. I don't remember exactly where I found it, but I put a copy here. The main point in the article is that a powerful processor is far more important in FSX than the graphics card. Besides an explanation about the importance of components, the guide also includes tables showing which display settings rely on which hardware component
I already put the theory to the test by just overclocking my CPU. I forced my E6600 to put out 3.15GHz (30% OC) and the result was an impressive improvement in performance (+15fps on average). The extra headroom allowed me to max out things like mesh resolution and mesh complexity without any loss in fps. Also the impact of increasing autogen and AI, were drastically reduced with the CPU beefed up.
Now I'm looking to upgrade my PC, the FSX way. Keeping in mind that FSX is not like most other games, a graphics card will not be the top priority ... a powerful quad-core will be on top of the list, along with an overclockable motherboard and ditto memory.
I've already upgraded my graphicscard (which was the most affordable upgrade in view of FSX), to an Nvidia 9600GT with 1024MB GDDR4. If you look at http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-charts-q3-2008/Microsoft-Flight-Simulator-X-SP2,785.html you'll see that this card (at €130) is right at the top (#2).
Next will be a Q9550 paired to an Asus P5QC motherboard and 4GB of 800MHz CL4 memory. I'll post detailed results as soon as I've gotten the money together to finance it ;-)
Paul Haubourdin
EDDF-AHM
Cat IV
767 & 737 Bus Driver
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"The helicopter approaches closer than any other vehicle the fulfillment of mankind's ancient dreams of the flying horse and the magic carpet." - Igor Sikorsky