New video card

[RotBaron]

Hey all, per your suggestions, I'll be investing in a new video card. Several of you saw my post about the lag I get in a wirb/plane that takes place at different times, usually around smoke/fire, etc.  A friend of mine has suggested that I look into the following two: .Radeon HD 7770 GHZ Ed. OC Video Card - 1024MB, GDDR5 $109, XFX Radeon HD 6770 HD677XZNFC Video Card - 1024MB, GDDR5-$99.99.

He said it would be worth asking in here in the forum to see what the real knowledgeable ppl have to say. He said in the old flight sims he used to play like AW and Falcon4 it made a huge difference.

Beyond the lag issue, one of the bigger problems I'm having with SA is even being able to see the unfriendly plane, sometimes it's very difficult to see attitude and direction. I know a part of that is acquired, but I'm sure there is also a prerequisite amount of being able to actually see it. When I took the AFOQT I used study guides on identifying attitude and direction and I had no problem with that section. Yet at 3.5-5k sometimes it's still very difficult...

Here is the link to the post with my dxdiag and specs:
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,341825.0.html


Thank you very much for you time in this, I appreciate it very much, and I hope as my friend said, I'll "be seeing a new game" afterward.

Happy new year,

 

Rot

p.s. I should probably note that I'm willing to consider a cost up to 150, above that I will really have to think about the added benefits.

[BaldEagl]

I'm sure this post will be moved to the Hardware and Software forum but you should see a boost (although I'm not familiar with ATI video cards).

Generally speaking most cards in the $200-250 range should run the game pretty well but there's a few hidden gems below that price point.  If you want to know what's best go to tomshardware.com.  They update the "best video cards for the money" at several price points monthly and have an exhaustive comparison chart on most newer and older video cards.  Once you have an idea of what you're looking for go to newegg and go shopping.  Their customer service is second to none.

As far as seeing other planes I have a zoom toggle mapped to my JS and am constantly using it even in the midst of a fight.  Default zoom level works best for me while flying.

[The Fugitive]

As your running an on-board video set-up almost anything will be better.

I looked and your computer CAN take a new card. The second thing you want to check is how big a power supply you have. If your power supply isn't strong enough your new video card won't work well.

IF your power supply is big enough to handle a new card THEN start looking for one. Buy the best you can AFFORD. In your case the ones you mentioned should help, but both are are older "bargain basement" cards. As Bald said, you want to try and get into the 200-250 range, but I wouldn't go much higher than that. Your computer isn't the "top of the line" as it is and throwing a big video card in there is only going to help so much.

Of those two cards, I like the 7770 better. It has the faster core clock and the faster memory too. 

[morfiend]

  check PM.







   

[RotBaron]

Thanks for the replies gentlemen. I'll check out your recommendations.
 
Rot

[RotBaron]

Sorry for wrong forum, didn't realize that.

[RotBaron]

I looked at my power supply - it's 250W. I would imagine that is not enough to run a much better video card?  More like a 500W or do I need even more?


TIA,

Rot

[Badboy]

I looked at my power supply - it's 250W. I would imagine that is not enough to run a much better video card?

I'm surprised it even boots up

Go here and put your system details in it will calculate your power requirement and you can change the video cards and the one you are interested in is there so you can check out different scenarios.

http://www.thermaltake.outervision.com/Power

Hope that helps...

Badboy

[RotBaron]

Thank you all for the help. 

Definitely in need of more powerful psu.

 

[titanic3]

Thank you all for the help. 

Definitely in need of more powerful psu.

 

I have a spare 400W Diabolitek PSU I'll give for free if you want. It's not top notch or end of the line quality by any means...but it should run the 6770 just fine with your other specs. Not sure about the 7770 though. On the other hand, I do know that a 5570/6570 will run on a 220W PSU (my old set up) and in turn, it ran AH at 60fps, no shadows, no bump map, at max resolution and every other setting turned on. A 6570/5570 goes for 40$ I think.

Would be a cheaper alternative if you don't want to buy a new PSU and GPU.

[RotBaron]

Thank you very much for the offer Titanic, I've already purchased a psu though.

That is very kind of you though, 


Rot

[A8TOOL]

Generally speaking most cards in the $200-250 range should run the game pretty well but there's a few hidden gems below that price point. 

Think of it this way...last years cards worked and so did the year before. In fact, cards 4 years old that were 500.00 then are??? Look for those cards to save money....oh, and just because it says 1gig of ram does not mean it's a better card unless the 1gig used >IS< high quality ram.


I have not bought a new card in a long time and running 59 fps with

I 'm using a factory made "2006" Dell having an Intel 6600 cpu......with the worst operating system of all time VISTA.....running a very old factory installed (could be onboard??)  Geforce 8600 GT ranked at 260. The best cards today are ranked in the 5000+ range .

Check your card against mine here   http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+8600+GT

If you can do better than this.. your doing good for yourself and the game. If you invest in a CH stick your looking even better.

[A8TOOL]

Think this is one of those 500.00 cards from the past ranked higher than mine at 366.

RADEON X800    366      $14.99

[A8TOOL]

This site will help you find your next card I hope.

It will also help you determine what PSU you will need to run it.

Almost all of them will list specs. Card vs. card

Link set to Radeon HD 6770 1GB vs Radeon HD 7770

http://www.hwcompare.com/11927/radeon-hd-6770-1gb-vs-radeon-hd-7770/