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Javis
November 11th, 2010, 17:54
Hey guys,

I have this brandnew Alienware Area51 ALX. Something wrong with either memory or vid card or both ( BSOD's all the time whenever playing FSX or any other graphically demanding program). Tried to solve this without success so far. Now Dell will send me a new video card and memory to replace the current. Current vid card is GF480GTX but not in stock at the moment. If i like they will send me a ATI Radeon 5970 instead.

What would *you* guys go for ??......

( i have no experience with Radeon vid cards at all. Always used nVidia to great satisfaction )

Go with the Radeon 5970 or wait for the GF480GTX, that's the question....

(in between BSOD's FSX looks and performs tremendously excellent with the 480GTX... :cool: )

I don't mind waiting a few days more for the 480GTX but the Radeon 5970 *does* get nice reviews too.

Any advice will be highly appreciated ! :salute:

Cheers,
Jan

Smokey Joe
November 11th, 2010, 18:34
I don't like to get into these video card discussions because they usual devolve into flame wars. I will only say that I have a Radeon 4870 HD and I have been very happy with it. It looks good and I have had no CTD's or BSOD's. My CPU is a Q6600.

rohan
November 11th, 2010, 19:50
Jan,
the only comment I will make begs an answer to the question of what you will use the card for most of the time. If the answer is FSX, then you should be aware that many folks (some of whom are quite well respected) say there is little to no advantage to using multiple GPUs (and the 5970 is a twin GPU card, in case you weren't aware). In fact, it has been said that twin GPUs have an adverse effect on FSX. As a result, I just bought an HD5870 instead of my planned 5970 for that very reason.

Contrarily, there are some people who say that using SLI / Crossfire does benefit FSX, though most people do not say whether their result is a comparison with a single card of the same type. With all the passion, bias and prejudice that ATi / Nvidia posts usually invoke, I'm afraid all I can do is advise you to move cautiously,
regs,
Ro

txnetcop
November 12th, 2010, 03:40
In all of my private tests at TechCorp ATI used to display the best color until FERMI by Nvidia came along. Now Nvidia not only has better tessellation but better color and a faster GPU. So based on that Nvidia is a far better choice for FSX and some of newer games coming out. That does not mean ATI, now called AMD RADEON is a bad video card but in FSX it seems to produce more shimmer and jaggies than the Nvidia does. The Catalyst Controller that comes with ATI is very weak at allowing full control of your ATI video card. If you decide to go with ATI use the ATI Tools utility to handle jaggies and shimmer and you will have a very nice display. Also if you decide to use either SLI or CROSSFIRE you would only benefit if using your monitor above 1920x1200 or with more than one monitor.
Hope this helps
Ted

What is tessellation and why is it important?
http://techgage.com/article/taking_a_deep_look_at_nvidias_fermi_architecture/2

Though it does not do quite as much for FSX it certainly will come into play on the latest games and simulators they come out with. Nvidia's tessellation is superior to ATI at lest right now...we know that is subject to change every six months.LOL

Javis
November 14th, 2010, 04:47
Thanks very much,gents. I didn't know that the Radeon 5970 is a 'twin GPU' card. Thanks for the reminder, Ro. For that reason I'll stick with the 480GTX then. ( of course FSX IS my main program. I've always found that if FS runs well other programs i have an interest in run fine as well. I am slightly into virtually driving race cars and trains on the side.. :cool: )

Btw, I know that FS9 versus FSX discussions can easily get out of hand, didn't know the same was true for video cards....:)

And thanks for the link on 'tessallation' , Ted. Very interesting !

cheers,
Jan