New Video Card Experience- from GF 2 to FX 5600

**lnuss** · 06-30-2003, 09:49 AM

My 3-year old GeForce 2 died yesterday, so I had to find a replacement. In the local stores, no one had a GeForce 3 or 4 (except MX series GF 4), so I wound up getting an Nvidia FX 5600 with 256 MB onboard RAM. It turns out to be a good choice. My system is as follows:

Alienware 900 MHz Athlon Thunderbird
256 MB RAM
FX 5600 video card (formerly GF 2 GTX)

After an intense multiplayer session yesterday (after installing the new card, of course), I can say that the 5600 is a definite help, even on my 3-year old system, and that's with FS2002. For testing, I ran with frame lock at the default 25 fps, instead of the 20 fps I'd been using before. Frame rates were very slightly up (1-2), but the overall experience was MUCH smoother. Stuttering in turns is gone. Much less blurring (usually none). Flying an aircaft that formerly brought FS to its knees now is somewhat useable- used to get 6-8 fps, now get 10-14. Better yet, when my multiplayer partner was using the same aircraft, and when he was in view, I used to get 3-5 fps- now it runs 7-11.

After flying this way a while, with identical settings that I used with the GF2 (except frame rate lock, as above), I changed the autogen display parameter from dense to very dense. I then got an occasional brief stutter, but not nearly as bad as I used to have with the GF 2 on the lower (dense) setting.

I also noticed that in areas with dense add-on scenery, the frame-rate hit was less, and operation was more smooth.

So if you need an upgrade for an older system (with AGP), the FX 5600 seems to be a good choice, with an overall improvement in smoothness and scenery sharpness. The more difficult stuff improves more than the simpler stuff (aircraft and scenery). My additional expectation is that, since FS-ACOF (AKA FS2004) apparently uses DirectX 9, that I'll gain additional benefits when that program comes out, since the 5600 is DX 9 compliant.

All the above experience was with the Nvidia drivers that came with the card on CD. I'll eventually update the drivers, but with the improvements I've already seen, I'm in no hurry.

Hope this experience helps someone else.

[HR]
Larry N.

http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...7454c071bd.jpg

**Northy** · 06-30-2003, 11:17 AM

Hello,
I recently changed from Geforce Ti4200 card to the Fx5600,and what an improvement it is!Much sharper graphics,no blurry textures and a slight increase,maybe 1-3 FPS!What driver version are you using with youe FX5600? I'm using the 43:45 which is not bad for my system.

Regards
Martin.

Win 98 (soon to be Win XP Pro)
Geforce Fx 5600 128mb
512 RAM
Asus Motherboard.
AMD Athlon 2400+XP.

**baddadnv** · 06-30-2003, 11:47 AM

Hi Larry,

I also purchased a card, about a month ago. Just to upgrade.

nvidia G4 Ti4800se w/128mb DDR . ($200 usd)

Big difference.......The harder you work it the better it performs!. Performance gains, very similar to what you describe above.

Lots of posts here, giving advice, that a Video card upgrade, won't help performance much.........WRONG!.....At least in my case..........Bin grinin from ear to ear, ever since.......Totally Amazing.......

700mhz
20 gig HD
512 mb ram (upgraded from 128 mb)
Win98Se

Have fun,

Randy Burton

**shwncplnd** · 06-30-2003, 01:26 PM

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jun-30-03 AT 01:26PM (EDT)[/font][p]The only downside to upgrading from a GF2 Ti 64MB to the FX 5600 256MB card was the reaction from my wife when I told her. :-)

Shawn
Nobody beats the Rizz

**rfputtini** · 06-30-2003, 02:02 PM

Hey, try the latest drivers for the FX... some nice improvement! And get AGP 8x as soon as you can ;-)

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe..."

PIVc 3GHz, FSB 800MHz
512MB DDR400 RAM
80GB 7200RPM, 8MB cache
GeForce FX5600 256MB
Loving FS since version 3.0 ;-)

**lnuss** · 06-30-2003, 03:26 PM

I was using the 43.45, which came on CD with the card. I just downloaded and installed the 44.03 drivers, and performance is at least as good, after a quick check -- haven't had time for more than that, to this point.

I might note something else about this card -- it has an S-video out jack, which can be used as a second monitor (poor resolution, though). Currently I'm "cloning" the main monitor output, which can allow me to record it on tape. To get everything that's on the screen onto the TV, the main monitor must be at no more than 1024x768. Flightsim looks fairly good on a 13" TV, but I'll eventually put it on Hi8 tape and watch on my 64" TV downstairs -- that'll tell me how good it really is(n't).

[HR]
Larry N.

http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...7454c071bd.jpg

**shwncplnd** · 06-30-2003, 06:29 PM

Would going from 4x to 8x make that much difference? I've been kickin' around the idea of getting a new mobo that will support 8x and have a faster RAM. I just wonder if it will be worth it.

Shawn
Nobody beats the Rizz

**rfputtini** · 06-30-2003, 06:42 PM

I don't know how much difference it would make, but it should make things more confortable, reduced loading times... at least for me it permits doing low level flight at 450kts (FSD T-38) over SRTM mesh terrain, sliders to the max, 22 fps @ 1280x1024.

And sure, for windows you should see also an improvement.

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe..."

PIVc 3GHz, FSB 800MHz
512MB DDR400 RAM
80GB 7200RPM, 8MB cache
GeForce FX5600 256MB
Loving FS since version 3.0 ;-)

**shwncplnd** · 06-30-2003, 07:02 PM

Your right, there wouldn't be a bottleneck in that department.

Shawn
Nobody beats the Rizz

**The_Association** · 06-30-2003, 08:39 PM

Most benchmarks and tests show that the difference between AGP 4x and AGP 8x is minimal, although individual results will probably vary somewhat. If you were planning to upgrade, I wouldn't do it just to get AGP 8x.

Tim Kotula
KDTW/KPTK/KPLN

**New System Specs Coming Soon**

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