Video card for Microsoft Fight Sim 10

[Worf421]

Building a system for a friend of a friend.

Core I3 2120
8 (4x2)GB ddr3
500GB HDD
Antec Sonata 3 with 500w Antec PSU
He already has a Samsung SyncMaster S24A300B 24in (1920x1080) monitor

What'd be a good video card to play Microsoft Flight Sim 10 at max?

[Raptor156]

Building a system for a friend of a friend.

Core I3 2120
8 (4x2)GB ddr3
500GB HDD
Antec Sonata 3 with 500w Antec PSU
He already has a Samsung SyncMaster S24A300B 24in (1920x1080) monitor

What'd be a good video card to play Microsoft Flight Sim 10 at max?

First question is he planning on using any add on packs for scenery, lighting, etc? That will being the graphic demand up higher than the stock game, which is more CPU dependent than GPU. You or he may want to do more research, but since FSX is more CPU bound, you might want to consider a quad core. I say do more research because I'm not 100% certain if it uses more than 2 cores, and to what extent it helps if it does. From the quick browsing I did, it appears SP1 and SP2 for FSX add multicore support.

On just a single 1920x1080 monitor, something along the lines of a 6870 or GTX 560 Ti should be sufficient.

[Worf421]

Good to know, I updated his quote to a I5 2500k and a Asus EAh6870 1gb

[Godz]

For FSX, you will not need much of a power house of a video card. While with SP1 and SP2 it does add "some" multi-core support, but only for texture conversions. Everything else is still single threaded processing. I fly quite often using a GTX460. I get smooth FPS just about every where I fly. Sometimes my AI traffic bogs things down a bit in the big cities.

FSX is a far more CPU demanding program, so concentrate your resources there first a foremost for smooth flying.

[Worf421]

For FSX, you will not need much of a power house of a video card. While with SP1 and SP2 it does add "some" multi-core support, but only for texture conversions. Everything else is still single threaded processing. I fly quite often using a GTX460. I get smooth FPS just about every where I fly. Sometimes my AI traffic bogs things down a bit in the big cities.

FSX is a far more CPU demanding program, so concentrate your resources there first a foremost for smooth flying.

So a i7 2600k and a 6850?

[Godz]

You want to aim for speed with FSX. It is basically a single threaded game as I mentioned. So, going with the 2600k wouldn't help any. The I5-2500k would be your best bang for your buck. I would strongly suggest getting a motherboard that will allow it to be overclocked though.

The 6850 will work well for a single monitor. If he starts to get serious, then something faster like a 6950 or 6970 with 2GB of memory would be the way to go. For multi-monitor support.

[Jarnis]

FSX is notoriously NVIDIA-friendly, so you should really look into sticking NVIDIA into it. In my opinion you should basically pick and choose between 560ti and 580, depending on your budget. 560Ti will probably do fine unless you want to run multi-monitor. CPU matters a lot more.

[Worf421]

Thanks for the info guys.

--- Post Update ---

Ok, changed it back to a i5 2500k and a GTX560TI.

I'm not going to overclock it, I'd like to limit the reasons for having to work on it and support it. As it's for a friend of a friend I'd just like to build it and not have daily phone calls about it..

[Godz]

That should do wonderfully in FSX. Janis is correct about Nvidia and FSX. Even with that said, I have seen some very nice setups using ATI and Eyeinfinity that work well too.

I hope he will enjoy the new system.

Shameless plug for our airline below. :)