Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


craigknights

14 posts

Geek


#35245 6-Jun-2009 19:12
Send private message

Hi,  I'm upgrading a machine to provide better performance in MS Flight Sim X.  Thing is I'm not really gamer and not so up on which graphics cards are better than others...

It was a Core2Duo 2.4GHz and had 2GB ram with a pair of Nvidia 7950GT's (512MB ones) running in SLI on Windows XP

I've upgraded it to 8GB of ram and Vista 64Bit.

The problem is that with those 7950 cards it can't run Multi Monitor SLI. They need to be 8000 series minimum.  The owner really wants 2 monitors running, and was switching off SLI so he could.  Which of course is not the best for the graphics performance.

So my question is what 8 or 9000 series cards would give a bit more performance and be able to do that multi monitor sli?  Pricing closer to the low to mid range than the outrageous end.

Or would it be better to kick out the SLI and grab a fast single card?

Thanks,
Craig.

Create new topic

xpd

xpd
Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13765 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod
ID Verified
Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #222385 7-Jun-2009 08:51
Send private message

Single card probably would be better - we set up a multi-screen FSX system a few months ago and used a mid priced GTX200 series card that was out at the time. Ran very nicely apparently (I didnt see the end result) however they were using a Matrox Digital Triple Head unit to power the screens. ($600)
The thing with FSX is that it dosent matter what gear youve got, youll never get a "near perfect" experience, the game jsut dosent seem to have a ceiling when it comes to hardware vs performance.




       Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

 

                      LinkTree

 

 

 




andy123
9 posts

Wannabe Geek
Inactive user


  #227077 21-Jun-2009 05:58
Send private message

I agree with Xpd multi-screen FSX system has not great effect on experience. Go for a better single card rather than having 2 cards.

Batman
Mad Scientist
29760 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #227088 21-Jun-2009 09:00
Send private message

i wonder if the ati 4870x2 1gb will do your dual monitor thing?



z2k

z2k
320 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

  #227121 21-Jun-2009 12:14
Send private message

joker97: i wonder if the ati 4870x2 1gb will do your dual monitor thing?


I'm pretty sure all new cards support dual monitors so you dont need SLI or crossfire to achieve this.

Also, I heard that nvidia performs way better than ati for ms flight simulator..

craigknights

14 posts

Geek


  #227125 21-Jun-2009 12:27
Send private message

in the end I decided the existing cards were probably fast enough and upgraded the 2.4 Core2Duo to a 2.4 Core2Quad

it looked like the game was actually maxing out the CPU, and FSX will make use of all 4 cores when patched to the latest version

we'll keep one card driving each screen and see how that goes...  maybe replace the video cards later...

thanks anyway,
Craig

Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.