[PapaG39]

This is probably my best all around graphics card upgrade for il2 ever.
I went from a GTS 8800 to the GTX 280.

With the 186.18 drivers, conf.ini set to 1280 x 1024 x 32 and the il2 setup @
Custom, Anisotropic, None and all checked except Disable all, Clip hint and use palette..
The Nvidia control panel set to highest except for Bilinear and Quality. and in il2 I have great ground view of objects and the aircraft coming at me do not disappear for an instant.

I am seeing the best all around graphics that I have ever viewed with my HP w2007 flat screen.
native resolution is 1680 x 1050, but I use the 1280 x 1024 in game.

I suppose that the GTX 275, 280 & 285 would be basically the same, but I got the 280 for only $10 more then the 275 so I got it.

I can't even spell ovorklock, so this card it is set just as it came out of the box.

hope this info helps someone to make a decision...

[Paulo Hirth]

I will upgrade my computer in end of this year:

I am thinking in a i7 920 or + processor, 6GB DDR3, a SLI mother board with 2 or 3 video cards and maybe a new LCD24", i dont care if my car is getting old...

[Flanker35M]

S!

Good to hear PapaG that your system runs well now Does the 280GTX get noisy under load? Mine does sometimes and partially because it is overclocked at factory already. These new 186.18 drivers made a difference for me I run 1920 x 1200 with FPS at 50-60 as I have VSync set On.

Paolo, the i7 920 is a great CPU, good price/performance ratio. I run one on the Intel DX58SO motherboard that can fit in both SLI and CrossFire, so no need to get a separate board if I want to go ATI 6Gb DDR3 is nice, got it too and a fast USB stick as ReadyBoost

[walter_solito]

Hi!

I have a dual core @ 3g , 4g ddr3 , ati4850 and all works quite good anyway at the 1920x1600 of my 26"LCD!

cheers

walter

[miker8]

PapaG39, thats a good single card, it can get hot [85 degrees and more...] so take care on cooling, yes like Flanker35M says it can be noisy but IL2 on a 24 inch tft all graphic settings maxed out is no problem , have fun m8 its a definate good choice ,



Paulo Hirth, i'm sorry m8 but havin used all kinds of different SLI vid cards for the past 3 years I've come to the conclusion SLI\tri-SLI isn't worth it,

1- before it works ok ,you'll have to wait for the right driver to come...
2- by the time you have a good driver there is already a high end card which is as fast as ur sli rig + the new card renders new shaders ...and believe me thats frustrating
3-with al the different sli cards i had , there was always a little but noticable stutter in all my games [IL2, crysis, call of duty, stalker ectr...] and gues what?..I wasn't the only one
4-mayby money budget is no problem for u but tri SLI is expensive and needs a PSU with more than a 1000 watts so cooling problems could be an issue
5..2 cards don't mean they are twice as fast , same goes for 3 cards...sry m8 my advice would be to buy the fastest newest quadcore there is and the fastest single highend vidcard that\s on the market, it saves u money so you got room to buy the next newest highend vidcard the next year that follows

[Flanker35M]

S!

I am using the Antec NineHundred case for my rig, provides excellent cooling as it has 2 x 120mm fans in front, 1 x 120mm fan back and a single 200mm fan at top with a provision to another 120mm fan to the side. Fan speed can be adjusted. I run on Slow and it is more than enough to keep the system at around 30-35deg Celsius inside the case with games running Also good as you can route cables behind the motherboard thus not obstructing the airflow.

The PSU I use is the Corsair 650W with more than adequate current feed Also very silent one. These days the systems need more and more power so I think with my next update to the new Intel CPU later this year I need a new one

About SLI..last time I used it was with Voodoo2 I had 2 of them running and oh boy was it hot stuff back then Now..hmm..Nothing is enough sadly. As I do not play many titles except IL2, AH2, Brothers in Arms etc I do not need a SLI system. A single card runs any game well enough Maybe I could get some boost or should I say more stable FPS with a 295GTX, but again is the gain worth the investment. So far the 280GTX has provided most bang for the Euros invested

[PapaG39]

The fans on this setup have always been noisy so I can't really tell if this new GTX 280 is adding any more noise. On a scale of 1-10 my hearing is about a 4 so the only one to complain is the wife..., but hell, she hates seeing me on the computer when there are weeds in the yard...

Hey, I bought her nice new gloves & a dandy little weed wacker...Don't know what else I ccould be doing...

The big problem with il2 seems to be getting all of the various settings fine tuned to where they work in harmony with each other.

I know that there are other settings in the conf.ini besides the forest & water that would help, but I don't know which are for what.

I do know that a re-worked Dll can make a big difference.

Also, the Nvidia drivers can and are just a hit and miss situation with il2. They make some changes for another game & those changes eiither wipe out or make il2 better...A real crap shoot on drivers.

I used the 178.13 drivers on the GTS 8800, but now the 186.18's are just as good...

[GeneralPsycho]

miker8, you are absolutely right regarding sli and drivers

though 186.18 drivers are optimized for sli, they work extremely well for IL2 or any of the older gen games, but as for Crysis, Team Fortress 2 i am having horrible problems with frame rates.

maybe someone can hint me to the source of the problem :wink:

[PapaG39]

A few days ago I desided to put Brothers in arms back on my computer for a little change.

With my new GTX 280 and the 178.13 drivers it was just a shimmer show with 11-20 fps.

That's when I put the 186.18's on & Brothers in Arms smoothed right out and, I stumbled upon good working drivers for il2 at the same time.

What is seems like (and always has) is that one set of drivers just happens to work for some games and not for others.

You just have to get a couple of games to play that work well with one particular driver & then when you tire of those games then change drivers to suit the next game you want to play.

At least that is what has become apparent to me from playing the driver game over the years with il2.

S!

[Flanker35M]

S!

I use 186.18 and they work like a charm for me now. In Brothers in Arms, IL-2 and Aces High 2, Eve Online. No artifacts or glitches..just smooth FPS So it seems these drivers are keepers. I had a discussion with my local computer store and we concluded that my rig is now a very good balance between performance and price so no idea to upgrade yet. Been buying and testing my stuff from this store for years now so know the staff very well

IL-2 is a pain to tweak as there is very scarse information what all those settings do for the game and how they affect the graphics card's own settings etc. I recall there was one long time ago describing conf.ini but long lost info now I have found a pretty decent setup now so will live with it until finding something new

PapaG..sometimes women are hard to please Always something seems to go wrong no matter how hard you try

[JAMF]

I recall there was one long time ago describing conf.ini but long lost info now I have found a pretty decent setup now so will live with it until finding something new

There's Mission4Today's guide: http://mission4today.com/index.php?name ... how&kid=27

SturmoWiki is German, but explains more: http://wiki.sturmovik.de/index.php?titl ... _OpenGL.5D

[Flanker35M]

S!

Thanx JAMF, very much appreciated Will take a look on them both.

[miker8]

GeneralPsycho, ur right about the new whql driver but afther my asus extreem strikerII sli motherboard got broke 2 months ago , I got stuck with a replaced MB ,which was a fraction of the price of the asus MB, it didn't support sli, so my other 280GTX card is in rest now but using only 1 28ogtx isn't bad at all, sure framerate is less, graphics are a little reduced [Ambient occlusion in crysis] and my 1000watt psu is not needed, but the overall feel is good and more stabil, the game IL2 didn't suffer a bit ,its due to the fact that the game is highly CPU related and so far my quadcore extreem QX9650 [OC-Ghz3.4] can handle it more than enough ,so i'm not going back to sli and if i decide to upgrade it will probably be the next generation highend vidcard [300-400GTX??!]

btw ,although i read different opinions about nHancer this program is realy working good for me, whenever i use a new nvidia driver [beta's included] nHancer forces my vidcard tweaked settings so i got no issues regarding crysis, IL2 or other installed games