Nvidia 470 GTX delivers excellent FSX Performance

[SpiritFlyer 987]

Hello Everyone,After two weeks of trying to score a Fermi, I actually have an EVGA 470 GTX up and running. The short verdict is that Nvidia's new offering, even at the entry level, is a treasure for FSX. Everywhere I have flown in the past few hours has been a smooth and fluid delight, without stutters, flashes or artifacts of any kind. There are not even micro stutters. The only thing that happened negatively is that I had a sudden and strange CDT for no apparent cause that probably is a driver issue. I use bufferpools=0, Nhancer, FPS limiter at 25 FPS, Affinitymask at 15, and other minor sundry tweaks. The big news is that all, I repeat, all my sliders are to the right except ai traffic at 50%, and other traffic at 15%. Quality is motion picture like.StephenOver Seattle

[crashmax 1]

Hi StephenCongratulation! Pic looks very nice and your Report sounds wonderful!Have still some issues with my config. Perhaps I'm tweaking and overclocking too much. But that is my hobby too :( Have CDT's too, but only in heavy Areas. Think too that this is driver issueCheersPatrick

[sargeski 17]

Stephen,What kind of performance do you get if you you lock your frames within FSX and do not use the FPS Limiter and keep all other settings the same? Glad you finally scored a card.......eventually I'll luck out and get a 480 ordered.

[TechguyMaxC 516]

Excellent news, this confirms my earlier suspicions about Fermi. I wonder where the naysayers are now...

[shiloh 0]

Very nice screenshot and IQ! congrats!I love my GTX 470 too. A world of difference with my GTX 275cheers!

[HUSSAR 272]

Hi Stephen, congrats on the system upgrade and I have to say that screenshot of the Seattle area looks fantastic! Have you got any scenery enhancements or is that pic by the grace of your new GPU? I have GEx and UTx and although the scenery looks great I think yours looks better.One thing that I have read about the FPS Limiter is that you have to set your frames to half the dispaly refresh rate, and it is best to set the LCD to its native resolution. The last thing to do is to make sure that the resolution setting in FSX matches your screen resolution.With the recent inclusion of *******' settings I can say that I am experiencing extremely smooth frames during my flights with the odd flicker but if you are saying that you have all but eliminated the issues then a new card is in the works for me.Thanks for posting

[Buckster 0]

a good card but CTDs ? is that not an oxymoron ?I have to say these are promising due to their grunt, but the crashes worry me - FSX is not that popular a game now relative to other games, new releases etc - do you think the CTDs will be fixed ? Is it something else in your system other than the graphics card causing them ?I ran FSX on a 8800GTX for a few years, and a 4890 currently and I don't think I ever remember FSX crashing to the desktop on either card

[MattSC1 4]

Hi Stephen, Congrats on your upgrade, nice screenshot! I'm really happy with my PNY 480GTX, very smooth even on an AMD Phenom 965BE at 3.4. For once, pleasantly surprised! Hope you get your problem taken care of. Mattbtw, what aircraft were you flying in the screenshot?

[Guest GamePlayer]

a good card but CTDs ? is that not an oxymoron ?I have to say these are promising due to their grunt, but the crashes worry me - FSX is not that popular a game now relative to other games, new releases etc - do you think the CTDs will be fixed ? Is it something else in your system other than the graphics card causing them ?I ran FSX on a 8800GTX for a few years, and a 4890 currently and I don't think I ever remember FSX crashing to the desktop on either card

One thing that could be causing his CTDs in FSX is that he has his CPU overclocked.

[Guest UlfB]

The CTDs are probably caused by the BP=0 tweak, which causes artifacts and in some cases crashes on many systems.

[SpiritFlyer 987]

Hello Everybody,Thank you for all the responses. It is gratifying to see that you are interested in what the results are with the junior member of the new Fermi technology. The Seattle scene is taken in the Realair Scout with the ORBX PNW scenery which, for the most part adds a significant level of realism to the city and the region. I have not experienced anymore CTDs but have had a few artifacts when I over-overclocked the card. I shoved it well past 750mhz core clock speed (607mhz stock) and it did not particularily like it so I dialed it back to where it is stable now with almost a 20% increase. I understand that if I use MSI afterburner software, I can increase the volts and actually get well past 800. I might try that next!Sargeski, I have not run it without the FPS Limiter utility, but I will do so in order to let you know the results. Can I ask why do you not like FPS Limiter? By the way, I have upped the FPS baseline from 25 to 30, which it holds flat-lined without any noticable problems keeping up with the increase demanded. Maybe I should try 35 if I can utilize the voltage tweak. As it is, the large i7 930 cpu overclock and the new gpu seem to have a bit of a love affair going on, finding each other fairly evenly matched. Perhaps a 480 GTX would be even better, but I fail to understand how that might look since, so far, there does not seem to be too much lacking in the 470 GTX. Like everyone else, I want more and better, but truthfully, this is probably as good as it gets, at least for now.I have however registered for the EVGA step-up program to trade the 470 GTX in for a 480 GTX when they have them available to do so, since that is what I wanted to buy in the first place. So hopefully, I will be able to directly compare one with the other in the same settings. I doubt if there will be a huge difference between them. Both of them have tamed FSX.By the way I tried not using Bufferpools=0 and the results were less smoothness and a lower fps, so back in it went. I feel that the instability will likely be addressed with incremental improvements of the drivers as they mature. OH, almost forgot, I also stopped using Nhancer and set the Nvidia panel itself which yields an even better result than the one posted above without losing framerates.There is a lot we don't know about these things yet. The heat and power thing is not important enough to dampen what is otherwise an experience that has surpassed my expectations. Having a combination of Nick's and *******' settings has rocked my virtual world. As I learn more, I will share things. Thank you for your kindness and interest. Happy landings!Stephen :(

[MattSC1 4]

Hi Stephen, Out of curiosity, what were your temp readings on your card before you overclocked it and after? So far, my pny 480 runs around 63-66C while running FSX with the fan set at 65% and is pretty quiet. I'm sure it would be better if I had it in a different case, I'm restricted by height and am running everything in a Zalman HD160 Home theater case. Thanks for the info on the scout, will have to check it outMatt

[McCrash 3]

Looks very nice indeed. How about a few more screenies.

[sargeski 17]

Sargeski, I have not run it without the FPS Limiter utility, but I will do so in order to let you know the results. Can I ask why do you not like FPS Limiter?

Stephen,The reason I ask is, if I use the FPS Limiter on my system I get microstutters. If I use the FSX Limiter and limit frames to 30 no microstutters. I'm curious as to how your system reacts and if you perceive any difference between limiting frames in FSX or using the FPS Limiter.Regards,Bob

[madfred 5]

Great pic.As I am looking for components to build my next FS rig, this kind of info very valuable. I might wait with buying my graphics card, untill EVGA has it's 480 available. My current rig has a EVGA 8800GT OC and I like it very much. That's why I want a EVGA card in my next rig.I am looking forward to hear the difference between the 480 and 470.