Newer Video Cards

[nwabri]

Do some of these newer high powered video cards increase the texture loading time? I get really choppy when things have to reload...

[Qballbandit]

Hi Brian,
Indirectly, I may answer a bit of you question. I just upgraded from 512 PC3200 ddr dual channel 400mhz. memory, to 1 gig Corsair PC3200 ddr dual channel 400mhz. and on both sims, 2002 & 2004, the texture loading is now not even an issue.
I don't know what your system is runnig at memory wise now, but if it's under 1 gig, and you upgrade in that way - you will see MARKED improvement.
I am stil running a 9600 pro (128mb), and if the price of a 9800pro EVER comes down, that will eliviate the last bottlenack on my system..
Just thought i'd mention memory as an option as well! :7

Neil

AMD Athlon XP3000, 333fsb
Asus A7N8X 2.0, Ultra 400 mobo
1 gig Corsair PC3200 dual channel ddr
ATI Radeon 9600 pro, 128mb
WIN XP Pro, dx9b

[shermank]

I'm using an older nvidia ti4200 with 128 megs of ram...and have no texture loading issues at all. I think it depends more on matching the card to the best driver, as well as sheer cpu power. btw, I was using the new 66 series drivers and rolled back to the 61.77 ( I think that's the number) my textures load without any white dropouts or sluggishness. I can do an external pan of aircraft and scenery without any measurable hesitations. So,before you go spending $$$ on a heavy duty card, consider other options.

Sherm

[nwabri]

Maybe I should get new drivers...havent done it in a while. As far as computing power, I have a 2.8 P4, and 1 gig of RAM...I dunno...*shrug*

[kc10]

of ram but rather the bandwidth. That's why dual channel ddr is such a big deal for FS. Most other (normal) games don't utilize this "switching views" type viewing that flight sims do, so they don't show how big a difference an increased bandwidth makes.
But I'll try to remember to answer your question directly when the new vid card gets here. Should be here Wednesday. I'll be using my current 9700pro as a reference.
Yes, in a frenzy of immaturity and delirium, I changed my sig to show the new vid card, directly after pressing the "buy now" button.

[shermank]

>Maybe I should get new drivers...havent done it in a while.
>As far as computing power, I have a 2.8 P4, and 1 gig of
>RAM...I dunno...*shrug*

that should be plenty of power for most situations. I have a 2.4 asus mobo, oc'd to 3.13mh

Sherm

[kc10]

>Do some of these newer high powered video cards increase the texture loading time?<

As promised, here's what I've found after upgrading from a 9700 to nvidia 6800gt:

First, the textures do load faster. When switching to side views or from the cockpit to outside view,it's even faster than the 9700 was.

Secondly, the terrain unfortunately still has the mipmaps popping in and out, from blurry to sharp, a square at a time. I'm convinced this is by design, and no pc upgrade is going to change it. This is not a matter of hardware speed or power, it's just a not-so-good utilization of mips. Hopefully FS2006 will implement a superior method or improve on the current method.

[Localizer]

Hi, kc10

Did it worth the money ?

Regards,

Val

[positiveg]

What is better, AMD or ATI? (I know this is a Boeing vs. Airbus type of question).

[kc10]

>Did it worth the money ? <

No, not really. I've always said no card (or any hardware) is worth the price when it first comes out. My advice would be wait for the price to drop a bit, and by that time the drivers will be better too.

>What is better, AMD or ATI? <

What? LOL, Isn't that like comparing Toyota and Kenwood?

[Localizer]

Hi, kc10

Thanks for the advice.

Regards,

Val

[azflyboy]

From my experience, it does help with that. I went from a MX400(stop laughing) to an FX5600. I got better texture load times as well as generally smoother preformance.