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View Full Version : Whats a good graphics card for fs2004 these days.


Simran737
09-30-2007, 10:52 PM
Hi,

Just whats the best but not that $$$ graphics card out there now. My Radon 9800x thing, might of blown its stack.

I have a main XP server running fs2004. Using this one for outside views and have 2 smaller ME (yes ME at this time) clients running the PM stuff on the panels.

Something wit nice graphics for the outside views.

Thanks
Randy
Westozy
10-01-2007, 03:27 AM
I reckon the best value for money at the moment is an 8800 GTS. 50-60FPS in FS2004, ~ 45FPS in FSX. About AUD$590 (US$495) I've been told to avoid ATI cards and stick with NVidea.

Gwyn
Kennair
10-01-2007, 12:06 PM
Depends what your motherboard handles at the moment. Gwyn is right if you have the latest PCI-EX thingy motherboard capable of taking the 8800 series cards. I suspect you have an older AGP slot and I think the fastest AGP card was the 7900 series. Not sure, could be wrong, but certainly the 7600 series cards will place in there no problem. Something with 512MB of memory should see you right. Take a look at the link to Toms Hardware Video card review on the front page of Mycockpits for a comprehensive comparison of all available video cards currently and FSX.

However don't be surprised at the lack of improvement by upgrading just your video card, as most of the video crunching in FS is done by the main CPU. Certainly if you want to run FSX you might find that a total upgrade is in order (is for me!!)

Ken.
Ray Proudfoot
10-01-2007, 01:08 PM
Hi,

Just whats the best but not that $$$ graphics card out there now. My Radon 9800x thing, might of blown its stack.

I have a main XP server running fs2004. Using this one for outside views and have 2 smaller ME (yes ME at this time) clients running the PM stuff on the panels.

Something wit nice graphics for the outside views.

Thanks
Randy

Randy,

I changed my 9800Pro 128Mb for a Sapphire X1950Pro 512Mb AGP card for around £150 9 months ago. That card is now available for around £100 in the UK.

Whilst it doesn't offer any improvement in frame rates it delivers the same performance at 1920*1200 as at 1280*1024 thereby allowing me to feed the picture to a Dell 24" display. The X1950XTX is a bit faster but probably more expensive.

Cheers,
mpl330
10-01-2007, 03:55 PM
I reckon the best value for money at the moment is an 8800 GTS. 50-60FPS in FS2004, ~ 45FPS in FSX. About AUD$590 (US$495) I've been told to avoid ATI cards and stick with NVidea.

Gwyn

2nd that - running a 8800GTS here with 640Mb - great card! Dont bother with the GTX.
Also easy to overclock it if required...
Mike
Ray Proudfoot
10-01-2007, 04:28 PM
Isn't the 8800 series PCI-E only? That won't fit into a mobo that previously had a 9800Pro.
mpl330
10-10-2007, 03:59 PM
Sorry Ray - missed your last post...
Yes its PCI-e only...

Cheers
Mike
Deesystems
10-10-2007, 07:39 PM
Ati has come out with the HD series the # start off at 2400 to the 2900 They are DX10 cards. Id look at the 2600 series price wise



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VisionTek 900178 Radeon HD 2400PRO 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 AGP 8X HDCP Ready Video Card - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129096)
</TD><TD width=150>http://images10.newegg.com/Ggewen/Themes/2005/Nest/none.gif
EVGA 512-A8-N559 GeForce 7600GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 8X Video Card - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130099)
</TD><TD class=nullCol></TD></TR><TR><TD style="WIDTH: 125px">Price</TD><TD width=150><LI class=lblB>Unit Price: $89.99 <LI class=noteSavings>Save: -$6.00
Total: $83.99</TD><TD width=150>
Unit Price: $124.99</TD><TD class=nullCol></TD></TR><TR><TD style="WIDTH: 125px">Notes & Disclaimers</TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">Standard Return Policy (http://www.newegg.com/Info/ReturnPolicy.aspx#1) </TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">Limited 30-Day Return Policy (http://www.newegg.com/Info/ReturnPolicy.aspx#2) </TD><TD class=nullCol></TD></TR><TR><TD>Shipping</TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px"><DL><DD class=shipping>3 Business Day Shipping $5.84 </DD></DL></TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px"><DL><DD class=shipping>3 Business Day Shipping $6.33 </DD></DL></TD><TD class=nullCol></TD></TR><TR><TD style="WIDTH: 125px">Rating</TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px"> </TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">http://images10.newegg.com/Ggewen/Themes/2005/Nest/goldegg.gifhttp://images10.newegg.com/Ggewen/Themes/2005/Nest/goldegg.gifhttp://images10.newegg.com/Ggewen/Themes/2005/Nest/goldegg.gifhttp://images10.newegg.com/Ggewen/Themes/2005/Nest/goldegg.gifhttp://images10.newegg.com/Ggewen/Themes/2005/Nest/goldegg.gif (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16814130099) [4 reviews (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16814130099)] </TD><TD class=nullCol></TD></TR><TR><TD style="WIDTH: 125px">In Stock</TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">Yes </TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">Yes </TD><TD class=nullCol></TD></TR><TR><TD style="WIDTH: 125px">Item#</TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">N82E16814129096 </TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">N82E16814130099 </TD><TD class=nullCol></TD></TR><TR><TD style="WIDTH: 125px">Model#</TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">900178 </TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">512-A8-N559 </TD><TD class=nullCol></TD></TR><TR><TD style="WIDTH: 125px">Brand</TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">VisionTek </TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">EVGA </TD><TD class=nullCol></TD></TR><TR><TD style="WIDTH: 125px">Interface</TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">AGP 8X </TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">AGP 8X </TD><TD class=nullCol></TD></TR><TR><TD style="WIDTH: 125px">Chipset Manufacturer</TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">ATI </TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">NVIDIA </TD><TD class=nullCol></TD></TR><TR><TD style="WIDTH: 125px">GPU</TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">Radeon HD 2400PRO </TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">GeForce 7600GT </TD><TD class=nullCol></TD></TR><TR><TD style="WIDTH: 125px">Core clock</TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">700MHz </TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">580MHz </TD><TD class=nullCol></TD></TR><TR><TD style="WIDTH: 125px">Stream Processors</TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">40 Unified Stream Processors </TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px"> </TD><TD class=nullCol></TD></TR><TR><TD style="WIDTH: 125px">Memory Clock</TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">800MHz </TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">800MHz </TD><TD class=nullCol></TD></TR><TR><TD style="WIDTH: 125px">Memory Size</TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">256MB </TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">512MB </TD><TD class=nullCol></TD></TR><TR><TD style="WIDTH: 125px">Memory Interface</TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">64-bit </TD><TD style="WIDTH: 150px">128-bit </TD><TD 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