Moving from a Q6600 @3.6 to a 2600K @4.7 with mostly new bits and a few from my old PC, but im unsure about upgrading my GPU.

I have 2 275s in sli at the moment and thinking about getting a 580, how much of a improvement will i see and will it be worth it?

Playing mostly COD(sim) and battlefield with prob Shogun soon.

cheers for any info and thoughts.

You might check Tom's Hardware comparison of all popular graphics cards with "modern" games.

Enthusiast Gaming Graphics Compared

In a quick scan, I see that the GTX275 is a weak card (under the HD5770 which is the minimum for serious gaming these days -- I have one in the house). Doubling GTX275 performance with SLI (and SLI is not quite that good), gives MUCH less than a GTX580.

Thing is, as an AMD/ATI fan, I note that the GTX580 is a bit expensive for the performance it actually delivers. Note, the GTX580 is only a few percent faster (not visibly faster) than the HD6790 -- but costs considerably more. None the less, an Nvidia fan can justify it (as I could justify AMD)

For cost effective power, one might consider GTX560 or GTX570 -- as indicated on the chart.

Two 460 1Gb will run close to a GTX 580. Cost about 280 if you shop around.

cheers...il have a look at the ATI HD6790.

HD 6970

I'm also thinking of upgrading. My GTX 285 seems to struggle with FSX. I turn the sliders all the way to the right and during long flights, my card turns red (I can see it in the side window) and starts struggling to keep up. I prefer Nvidia, so I'm not willing to consider ATI (I'm a former ATI owner) again. Will a GTX 580 do the job for me with FSX? Or will FSX also bring the 580 to its knees? My CPU is i7, 920, o'clocked to 3.6GHz. 6 GBs of 1600 MHz RAM, Win 7 64 Bit. I have REX 2.0, GEX, and Traffic X installed as add-ons. Everything was damn smooth until I added GEX (my latest addition). Any advice?

FSX seems to be more CPU limited than GPU limited these days. FSX only uses two cores, I think -- and not particularly effciently (a lot like IL-2 1946 which only uses one core).

Might be worth downloading an application that gives real-time per core CPU usage graphs and GPU usage. For AMD/ATI, AMD has a single free application (called "AMD System Monitor") that plots usage for each core and for the GPU(s) in real time. Hopefully, you can get the same for your CPU and GPU.

Then, run FSX with the settings you want to use and check the CPU and GPU usage.

If the CPU cores being used are near 100 percent and the GPU is well under 100 percent, then a new GPU won't help.

On the other hand, if the GPU is at 100 percent and the CPU is well under 100 percent, then maybe a new GPU will help.

Certainly, a GTX580 is the top of the Nvidia heap. But, if the CPU is the limiting factor, a GTX580 won't matter much.

FWIW

Oh crap! I can't afford to upgrade my CPU right now, I don't think. FSX is like years old. Why is it so demanding on more recent CPUs? All I have is an i7, 920, O'clocked to 3.6GHz. Every game I have in my PC is maxed out at 1920 x 1200, with AA and anistropic turned up. But, then there is FSX, this old Sim that seems to bring every PC to its knees, no matter how advanced.

I'll follow your advice and find some free softward on the 'net to test cpu and gpu usage. Thanks.

Physics, AI traffic, ATC, Winds, ILS, Radar,

A Bunch of under the hood engines running that have NOTHING to do with the GFX.

FSX was designed to be a CPU Benchmark for Windows as well. (supposedly)

I recently made the switch from 2 285s in SLI to one 580. I didn't see that great of a FPS increase in contemporary games that effectively support SLI (usually the increase was only about 10 percent), but for games that don't--like the third wire series--my FPS basically doubled. I have a fairly extensive collection of older games, and since many of them don't support SLI, moving to the 580 helped a lot with them. Being able to run games like Shogun 2 in DX11 is also a bonus.

But was it worth the $500 cost of the 580? For me it was because I sent my 285s to my son, so he could use them, and I like the fact that I'm now halfway to a 580 SLI setup, when that time comes. It's also flat out fun to buy a new video card, and then test all your programs to see how much faster they run.

But absent those factors, I'd say it's a close call on whether it's worth the money to upgrade to the 580. If most of the games you presently play already support SLI well, and if you are not working towards an eventual SLI for the 580, probably not.

DKM