Salute, all!

I'm going to start shopping for a new rig and would like the community's recommendation for the best video card to get that won't break the bank--i.e., nothing over $500. I've always used NVidia but I'm not married to them, and RoF is all I fly anymore. Obviously I'll be getting a quad-core.

What about operating platforms? Are there any problems with Windows 7 and RoF? Also, what's the recommended power supply (would probably depend on the card, I suppose)?

Thanks in advance for your help!

I would go with a gtx 580. Most are over 500 but i have seen some as cheap as 470 dollars. And you might not want to go any less than 800 watts on that card.

Bang for buck, I'd go with an ATI 6970 2 gig:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7091949&Sku=P450-6970

I run a 5850 and can run almost every setting on high. A 6970 should be able to run RoF maxed out and not even break a sweat.

If you are in no rush you should wait for the next generation of AMD cards that will be released in January. IMHO the HD7970 should be around 50-70% faster than the current HD6970.

At the very least it will push the prices of the current cards down to much cheaper levels.

I am using a HD6970 and it runs RoF at max settings apart from Super Sampling at 2560x1600. I get 50+ FPS in most scenarios, it drops to 40+ in heavey overcast but is still very playable. I run it on Windows 7 Pro 64 bit and am having no issues whatsoever in RoF. As far as PSU you will be good to go with a branded 650W version at the very least, unless multi GPU is an option in which case you will need a lot more.

I'm quite happy with my GTX 570.

GTX 580.
I'm running one now in a recently built i5 2500K rig with everything maxed out - flawless play.
You might wait for the new card to hit, the grab one when the price drops.

I'm running an AMD 5970 with an i7 920 overclocked to 3.5 ghz and everything is set to max except for AA which is set to X4. I'm running it at 1920 X 1080-it's smooth as glass and looks beautiful.

$330 bucks for a dual GPU 2 gig card sounds pretty good. I paid more than twice this amount for mine when they first came out!!!

I'm running a 6970 ( specs below) with RoF @ 1920 x 1080 , 8xAF, 2xAA, and supersampling.
I also have bloom and other effects. I can run HDR without problem but I don't particularly like the effect.

Haven't had an issue. Hope that helps. I went with the HIS card which I believe is a reference design card.

Edit #2: I started a thread in which I described my "tweaking" experience for this card, the above are the max settings I was able to squeeze out without any impact on performace. The card can do 8xAF, 4xAA, and supersampling but it some stutters with overcast skies. I never OC'd the card.

Also, you should have a full tower ATX case (I have the CM 690) as these cards take up a lot of space... though you probably realize this, I just thought I'd mention it.

Good luck

I run a 460 GTX and get reasonable performance (I.e no lagg in current Career dogfights) but then again my CPU is not the best ("only" 3.8 ghz overclocked Intel 775 socket quad core)
From what I`ve read everywhere, a good AMD rig should allow you some insane RoF performance.

Wait for the AMD cards. If anything Nvidia might drop their prices.

Also get a card with 2GB. When my GTX 560ti 2GB worked, RoF used all of the video RAM according to EVGA Precession.

Make sure your power supply can support the new card.

Truthfully, I've done the reviews and have built my own computers for the last few years, for myself and for friends.

I start with a solid quad-core processor, which right now is the Intel i5-2500K (2600K for the extra $100 just for hyperthreading and a speed bump didn't much impress me). Things will change soon I imagine, but right now the best bang-for-buck is hands down the 2500 or 2500K.

I also went with the Z68 chipset motherboard for a few reasons, mostly the option to use SSD caching should I choose to. I like Gigabyte boards, but ASUS and MSI are very nice as well IMO.

Power supply, I decided to stay with my Antec 750 watt in case I want to SLI later, and for RAM I decided on 8gb of DDR3 1600, as that RAM speed has been shown to work best with Intel Sandy Bridge per Anandtech.

I also like to use SoundBlaster cards and moving to Windows 7 64-bit was a good option.

As for graphics, I'm very satisfied with my GTX 560Ti...I can run Rise of Flight maxed, with hardly a ripple...;)