New GPU and High Hopes

[falcon409]

Ever since V2.5 left the building I have been unhappy with P3D. Blurries came back, stuttering came back and I had to sacrifice the perks that were added periodically just to maintain a flyable sim. I feel certain that the main reason for that has been my Graphics Card (a GTX 650Ti with 2gig and 128bit memory interface). . .it was a perfect marriage at 2.5, sharp ground textures, no blurries, no stuttering but beyond that I really believe it lost the ability to keep up with the improvements in the sim.

So I've purchased a new graphics card. . .a Gigabyte GTX 960/OC, 4gig and 256 bit memory interface. Not exactly doubling the capacity of the old one, but an increase that I hope will smooth the Sim out and allow me to enjoy flying in P3D once more. The remainder of my setup, for those who are wondering:

Win7 Home Premium - 64bit. . .16gig
DirectX runtime version 11.0
3.9 gigahertz AMD FX -4300 Quad-Core
Multi-core (2 total)
Hyper-threaded (4 total)

[roger-wilco-66]

I'm sure you'll enjoy it, Ed. I went from a 6xx generation GPU to a 9xx myself some time ago.
There was a very satifying difference in performance and rendering quality, which really justified the investment.

Cheers,
Mark

[DagR]

You should probably see improvement but the CPU is also a bottleneck. Think Intel next time. Also, SSDs for the sim install.


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[RockStarofRust]

You should probably see improvement but the CPU is also a bottleneck. Think Intel next time. Also, SSDs for the sim install

Ditto on the Intel chip but that also means a new mainboard! Just came from an X58 platform...but it was still viable for P3D...especially with a high end first generation i7 (990X).

[falcon409]

Ditto on the Intel chip but that also means a new mainboard! Just came from an X58 platform...but it was still viable for P3D...especially with a high end first generation i7 (990X).

Unfortunately, I'm beginning to think I should have done a lot more research on this card before just jumping on it because of the price. I believe the size is going to be a problem and I may end up never taking it out of the box and just shipping it back. I am bad about "assuming" that things will work without really checking and this time I think it's bit me in the butt. The dimensions are 12.2"x5". . .and the box it's shipping in weighs 6lbs. . .it's massive compared to anything I've ever had in this tower. . .not good. So I think I'm going to have to rethink this when it arrives sometime tomorrow.

[ksheadley]

Unfortunately, I'm beginning to think I should have done a lot more research on this card before just jumping on it because of the price. I believe the size is going to be a problem and I may end up never taking it out of the box and just shipping it back. I am bad about "assuming" that things will work without really checking and this time I think it's bit me in the butt. The dimensions are 12.2"x5". . .and the box it's shipping in weighs 6lbs. . .it's massive compared to anything I've ever had in this tower. . .not good. So I think I'm going to have to rethink this when it arrives sometime tomorrow.

Don't really judge by the shipping weight, as the box is usually larger than the card and will include a manual. If by chance your tower is a bit snug, then you could put the money you saved towards a server case and just put all of the internals into that. It would leave you plenty of room for expansion. I had mine built into a server case and have not looked back.

i7-4790 3.6 oc to 4.0, 32GB RAM 4GB nVidia GTX970 pushing three monitors

[Daube]

My GTX 970 is barely bigger than my old GTX480 if I remember correctly. You might not have problems to install it.
What is your computer case ?

Concerning your FPS, unfortunately the video card has nothing to do with that (excepted for multi screen or high antialiasing settings).
It's mainly the CPU which impact the FPS.
But your choice of a GTX 970 is not bad at all. It has good power, which means you won't need to change that for a long while. My GTX480 was more than 5 years old when I switched to the 970, and it was still giving me quite good performance, even on recent games...

[roger-wilco-66]

[..]

Concerning your FPS, unfortunately the video card has nothing to do with that (excepted for multi screen or high antialiasing settings).
It's mainly the CPU which impact the FPS.

[...]

I respectfully disagree with that statement, Daube. For FSX, that might be true, but not for P3D. LM went to a great length to transfer previously CPU handled functionality over DX11 into the GPU (e.g. tesselation, shadowing, effect engine, 3D water etc). That's why we notice such a big improvement when we switch from older (I'd say >=2 generations) GPU models to newer ones. I've experienced it myself.

As for Ed's AMD CPU, no doubt that it - as well as the architecture around it - is a bottleneck to a certain extend. But I'd give it a try if the case permits it. It definitely should be better and smoother than before.

My 970 card has about the same size in length like my previous card, but it is a lot fatter and very heavy due to a massive heat pipe cooling system that is designed to run the card almost silently. It didn't interfere with any other internals though.

my 2ct.

Mark

[Daube]

Of course, my expression "nothing to do with that" was a bit exaggerated, I admit.
However, a video card upgrade is less likely to bring additional FPS than a CPU upgrade, especially in this case where the original CPU is totally outdated.
I switched from the GTX 480 to the GTX 970 a few months ago. Of course, I had a few more FPS, but it was not "night and day".
The thing is: if I had upgraded my old CPU (i7 960 @ 3,2GHz) and motherboard to a more recent standards, my FPS would have jumped way ahead.
But of course, upgrading the CPU+motherboard leads to a complete reinstall for the OS and games/sim. Not a step I'm willing to take right now.

[wombat666]

Of course, my expression "nothing to do with that" was a bit exaggerated, I admit.
However, a video card upgrade is less likely to bring additional FPS than a CPU upgrade, especially in this case where the original CPU is totally outdated.
I switched from the GTX 480 to the GTX 970 a few months ago. Of course, I had a few more FPS, but it was not "night and day".
The thing is: if I had upgraded my old CPU (i7 960 @ 3,2GHz) and motherboard to a more recent standards, my FPS would have jumped way ahead.
But of course, upgrading the CPU+motherboard leads to a complete reinstall for the OS and games/sim. Not a step I'm willing to take right now.

I'm building new PC from the ground up, I decided it was time to go 'New Generation' everything.
Until I have it completed and with the OS loaded (Yes, W7 again) my FS and Race Sims stay on my present system.
Going this route allows me the luxury of sorting out any component bugs and getting things right up to speed, but not everyone can indulge themselves in this way.


PS: Just looked at the dimensions of the Gigabyte GTX 960/OC 4G, H=42mm, L=181mm, W=136mm (include bracket), certainly not over sized IMHO.

[RockStarofRust]

Unfortunately, I'm beginning to think I should have done a lot more research on this card before just jumping on it because of the price. I believe the size is going to be a problem and I may end up never taking it out of the box and just shipping it back. I am bad about "assuming" that things will work without really checking and this time I think it's bit me in the butt. The dimensions are 12.2"x5". . .and the box it's shipping in weighs 6lbs. . .it's massive compared to anything I've ever had in this tower. . .not good. So I think I'm going to have to rethink this when it arrives sometime tomorrow.

I know what you mean Falcon. My new card is so massive that it barely had a half inch it before it hit the Hard Drive cage. My case is a full tower NZXT Phantom 530. However the good news is that I found this $130 case brand new in the box on craigslist for $40. Craigslist is a great resource for such things. Before some naysayers assume my case deal was shady, It has a small half inch crack in the rear plastic that effects nothing. Just a suggestion for future expansion!
As for FPS that's sure a subjective topic. I was perfectly happy to turn my settings to, what I judged as modest settings with the best stutter free GPU drivers flying Nap of the Earth tree top and fast @25 FPS...my i7 990X and GTX 970, (I think some missed the fact that you purchased a 960), depending on urban or rural settings would bottleneck each other...turn up the lighting the video card gets bottle necked, turn up the traffic and the CPU maxes out, you know what I mean.
I think you'll find that, although you may not get MORE FPS with your new GTX 960, you will be able to turn up visuals in settings to a more satisfying level. Let the house know how it works out please!
Happy Flying!!!

[falcon409]

I know what you mean Falcon. My new card is so massive that it barely had a half inch it before it hit the Hard Drive cage. My case is a full tower NZXT Phantom 530. However the good news is that I found this $130 case brand new in the box on craigslist for $40. Craigslist is a great resource for such things. Before some naysayers assume my case deal was shady, It has a small half inch crack in the rear plastic that effects nothing. Just a suggestion for future expansion!
As for FPS that's sure a subjective topic. I was perfectly happy to turn my settings to, what I judged as modest settings with the best stutter free GPU drivers flying Nap of the Earth tree top and fast @25 FPS...my i7 990X and GTX 970, (I think some missed the fact that you purchased a 960), depending on urban or rural settings would bottleneck each other...turn up the lighting the video card gets bottle necked, turn up the traffic and the CPU maxes out, you know what I mean.
I think you'll find that, although you may not get MORE FPS with your new GTX 960, you will be able to turn up visuals in settings to a more satisfying level. Let the house know how it works out please!
Happy Flying!!!

Actually I purchased a 970. . . .I got it wrong when I typed it in and didn't catch it. Thanks for you observations though, I agree!

[RockStarofRust]

Coming from a 970 you'll love the card...I hope!!!