Best low-end video card?

Question

I'm looking for suggestions for the best value in a graphics card to successfully run X-Plane.  Since I'm using this just to practice instrument flying procedures in the 172, I don't care much about the image quality, I just want to achieve a decent frame rate.  

I have followed the manual to reduce all the graphics settings to the minimal level of detail.  The only way I can get it close to 20 fps is to reduce my resolution down to the minimum setting, and even then it won't maintain 20 fps.

The PC has an older i7 processor and 16 GB of RAM.  Currently the video card is a GeForce GT 630 with 1GB of RAM.

Comments

Did you try "clear skies" and "no shadows"?

Answer 1

Hi Eryque

I'm not with Laminar Research, just a fellow simmer in the UK and even though I'm a qualified computer technician who builds his own desktop PC's, your question is going to be difficult to give an opinion on without more information.

1. What model of motherboard do you have and what is it's format i.e. ATX, uATX?

2. What model PC and/or case do you have and what is the maximum size graphics card it can accommodate?

3. What output is your power supply unit in Watts?

4. What model CPU do you have?

5. What is your budget?

Perhaps if you could answer these questions an opinion could be provided.

Regards

Answer 2

You may want to take a look at this review from an X-Plane user using a GT 1030:

   https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/163693-nvidiea-gt-1030-2gb-upgrade-review/

Answer 3

If you can get your hands on something with more vram, that will help. I have a late 2014 imac with a for the time pretty decent AMD 295x with 4GB. I get pretty decent framerates with this even with a lot of heavy scenery installed (ortho4xp, simheaven, etc.).You might be able to pick up a nice second hand mid range graphics card with 4 or more GB.The next limiting factor will be the single core CPU performance. I also have an  older i7 (4ghz quad core) and it is still holding up pretty well after five years.