BEST 'Bang for your Buck' Graphics Card for MSFS2024 | RX 9070 XT Shines!

Summary

In this video, Mark from SimHanger Flight Simulation ventures into the skies over New York with the AMD RX 970 XT graphics card, putting it through its paces in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. Known for its affordability, the RX 970 XT is tested under various resolutions and graphical settings to see how it stacks up against its more expensive Nvidia counterparts. Mark finds that despite minor VRAM limitations, this card delivers impressive performance, making it a worthwhile investment for flight sim enthusiasts without breaking the bank.

Highlights

• Testing the AMD RX 970 XT in flight simulation was an eye-opener, and it didn’t disappoint! ✈️
• Transitioning through various graphics settings, the card maintains solid FPS, proving its strength at different resolutions 🚀.
• At 4K with high settings, the RX 970 XT still manages to impress without stuttering much, showing it's built for more intense tasks 🎮.
• AMD's implementation of frame generation stands out, surpassing Mark's expectations over Nvidia’s approach 🌟.
• Affordable and potent, this GPU offers tremendous value for budget-conscious flight simmers 📈.

Key Takeaways

• Mark switches from team Nvidia to AMD's RX 970 XT and it surprisingly holds its ground 🌟.
• Flight Simulator 2024 requires a robust graphics card and the RX 970 XT impresses without needing a thousand-dollar investment 💸.
• With resolutions from 1080p to 4K, this card handles them all with ease, giving great performance for its price range 📊.
• Despite VRAM challenges, enabling FSR3 frame generation boosts FPS significantly, showing off AMD's prowess 🚀.
• Mark concludes that the RX 970 XT is a fantastic and affordable choice for Microsoft Flight Simulator enthusiasts ✈️.

Overview

Mark from SimHanger takes us on an exhilarating journey with AMD's latest contender, the RX 970 XT, becoming a potential game-changer in the world of flight simulation. Traditionally loyal to Nvidia, Mark finds himself veering into new territory, exploring what the RX 970 XT can do, particularly against the backdrop of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024’s demanding graphics.

During the flight over New York, Mark adjusts various graphical settings from 1080p to 4K to truly test the RX 970 XT’s capabilities. Despite its affordable pricing, the card holds steady, delivering exceptional performance even at ultra settings, and FSR3 frame generation further enhances the visuals with impressive FPS boosts. Mark is left surprised at how little compromises are needed to get top-tier visual fidelity with this card.

As the video wraps, it’s clear the RX 970 XT leaves a stellar impression. Mark praises its efficiency and price, making it an exciting option for gamers and flight sim enthusiasts who want great performance without overspending. He hints at future VR testing, leaving viewers eager to see how this budget-friendly marvel will perform in even more demanding scenarios.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Graphics Cards The chapter 'Introduction to Graphics Cards' explores the dominance of Nvidia in the graphics card market. The narrator expresses preference for Nvidia not out of brand loyalty but because, historically, Nvidia's products outperform AMD's in terms of power and features. The discussion also highlights the significance of purchasing a GPU, which is both costly and crucial for a PC.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Performance Decisions and RX970 XT Overview This chapter discusses the complexities involved in making performance-wise decisions when selecting a graphics card. It highlights the challenge of finding the right balance between price and performance value. The chapter mentions AMD's recent release of the RX970 XT graphics card, which has received positive feedback in the gaming community. However, it notes that flight simulation presents unique challenges due to its slower nature and the need to render a multitude of on-screen items, implying that performance considerations might differ from standard gaming scenarios.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Testing the RX970 XT in Flight Simulation The chapter explores the performance of the RX970 XT graphics card in flight simulation scenarios. The speaker points out that a graphics card's performance in general gaming does not necessarily equate to the same level of performance in flight simulation. The chapter involves a practical test flight over New York, using a Vision Jet to experiment with various settings to thoroughly evaluate the graphics card's capabilities and assess its suitability as a cost-effective option.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Initial Performance Impressions and Thanks The chapter discusses the Gigabyte Gaming OC 16 GB graphics card, highlighting its affordability compared to high-end models like the 5090. The narrator expresses surprise at the card's impressive performance and provides a quick summary for those with a shorter attention span. The focus is on the card's size and remarkable performance.
• 02:00 - 02:30: RX970 XT Specifications and Current Market The chapter discusses the RX970 XT graphics card, highlighting its size, which takes up two and a half slots, and the lack of included power connectors, requiring three 8-pin power connectors for operation. Thanks are given to Wired to Fire, a UK-based PC gaming and flight simulation specialist, for providing the card for testing. The RX970 XT is paired with what is considered the best CPU for flight simulators, the 9800 X3D, installed on an X870 motherboard with 64 GB of RAM.
• 02:30 - 03:00: Graphics Settings and Initial Testing The chapter discusses graphics settings and initial testing of the RX970 GPU, which operates at 6,000 MHz and runs on a 256-bit bus. It's PCIe 5 compatible, as is the user's motherboard, and has 16 GB of RAM, which is deemed the minimum for flight simulation. The GPU is priced at approximately £730 in the UK.
• 03:00 - 03:30: Frame Rates and Performance Testing at 1080p The chapter discusses the frame rates and performance testing of the RTX 9070 XT in 1080p gaming, with a focus on its availability and market price variations. It highlights the product's approximate position in the gaming market, noting that this general ranking may not hold for flight simulation. An important point raised is the pricing disparity, with the RTX 9070 XT being approximately 100 units cheaper than the 5070Ti while offering comparable performance.
• 03:30 - 04:00: Performance Testing at 1440p The chapter titled "Performance Testing at 1440p" explores the cost-effectiveness of different graphics cards, highlighting that certain models are significantly cheaper compared to others while offering comparable performance. The discussion is set against the backdrop of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, where the narrator describes departing JFK airport in a Vision Jet. As the flight progresses, performance is said to improve with altitude. The chapter also touches upon the variability of VRAM usage depending on the flight environment, noting a current consumption of 9GB out of 12GB available.
• 04:00 - 04:30: Testing at Ultra Settings In this chapter titled 'Testing at Ultra Settings', the focus is on evaluating the performance of a system under high-end graphical settings. The system is maintaining a frame rate above 90 frames per second with a response time of 13 milliseconds, which is considered good. The test settings include a 1080p resolution, the use of AMD's FSR3 in quality mode without frame generation, and a global rendering quality set to the default high-end, with most settings adjusted to high.
• 04:30 - 05:00: 4K Performance Testing In this chapter, the focus is on 4K performance testing of a graphics card. The initial settings yield a performance of 35 to 45 frames per second (fps), which improves as the altitude increases from the airport environment. However, there is a noticeable hesitation or lag when switching views or navigating through menus, attributed to the limitations of the available Video RAM (VRAM). The chapter concludes with the intention to increase the demand on the card to further evaluate its capabilities.
• 05:00 - 05:30: Further Testing and Observations In this chapter, the focus is on evaluating the graphics settings in a video game environment. Specifically, it discusses the effects of using FSR3 and TAA anti-aliasing techniques on image quality and performance. It notes that FSR3, like DLSS, may reduce the definition of distant objects. The text suggests switching to TAA for better clarity while running the game at 1080p resolution with high-end global rendering settings. It also emphasizes the importance of allowing a short period for the new settings to stabilize in order to accurately assess changes to frames per second (FPS).
• 05:30 - 06:00: Frame Generation and Final Thoughts The chapter discusses the performance of a graphics card while engaging with a flight simulation set in New York. The author notes a slight improvement in graphics when shifting aspects slightly to the left. An inadvertent flap adjustment occurred, which was quickly resolved. The system maintains a stable frame rate of over 100 FPS at 1080p with Temporal Anti-Aliasing (TAA), indicating that the graphics card isn't being heavily taxed. With no apparent performance issues, the user is exploring different graphics settings, currently set at 1080p.
• 06:00 - 06:30: Conclusion and Future Plans The chapter discusses popular resolution settings for flight simulation, highlighting 2K or 1440p as a preferred choice. Settings are kept on high-end with TAA mode enabled for optimal performance. It also clarifies that VSYNC was initially off but then turned on, which means the FPS would be capped at the monitor's refresh rate.

BEST 'Bang for your Buck' Graphics Card for MSFS2024 | RX 9070 XT Shines! Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 When it comes to graphics cards, I've been team green or Nvidia for more years than I care to remember. And it's not that I'm a fanboy. Far from it. In fact, the reality of the situation is on a like forlike basis. Nvidia products have tended to outgun their AMD rivals both in terms of sheer grunt and feature set. Buying a GPU for your PC is one of the most expensive and perhaps one of the most important
• 00:30 - 01:00 performance-wise decisions that you will make. And choosing the right graphics card is pretty difficult both in terms of price point and also bang for your buck. Now AMD have recently released a new graphics card. It's the RX970 XT and it's getting good reviews generally within the gaming community. However, flight simulation is a slightly different beast. Things move a lot slower. There's a whole lot more items rendered on screen and so on. So, what's
• 01:00 - 01:30 good for gaming in terms of graphic card doesn't always translate directly into what is good in flight simulation. So, I invite you to join me. We're going to be in New York in the Vision Jet. We're going to fly over and whilst we take a flight, we're going to be experimenting with different settings and putting this graphics card fully to the test and see whether it's an option. And why? Well, it costs less than one/ird of what
• 01:30 - 02:00 something like a 5090 would cost. So, it's certainly more affordable than the top end. For those of you with a shorter attention span, let me give you a quick summary. Now, this card surprised me in more ways than one. And performance, well, it blew me away. The graphics card we're testing today is the Gigabyte Gaming OC 16 GB. It's a sizable beast, not on the same scale as the 5090, but
• 02:00 - 02:30 taking up two and a half slots. I want to express my sincere thanks to Wired to Fire, the UK's PC gaming flight simulation specialists, for loaning me this card for testing purposes. To power this card, it takes three 8pin power connectors. I was quite surprised that the power connectors were not included with the card. I've teamed the card up with the best CPU for Flight Sim, in my opinion, the 9800 X3D running on an X870 motherboard and 64 GB of RAM, which is
• 02:30 - 03:00 clocked at 6,000 MHz. Welcome to the SIM Hanger. My name's Mark. Thanks very much for watching and let's get started. The RX970 runs on a 256bit bus, PCIe 5 compatible, so is my motherboard, and has 16 GB of RAM, which I consider the minimum these days for flight simulation. The price of this GPU currently in the UK is just over £700, £730 last time I checked. Current
• 03:00 - 03:30 availability is a little hit and miss. Taking an approximation of both price and performance, this is where the RTX 9070 XT sits in terms of gaming. But as mentioned previously, that doesn't always apply to flight simulation. Now, prices currently in the market vary fairly wildly. So, I can only give you a price indication at any point in time, but the RX970 XT is in and around 100 cheaper than the 5070Ti with roughly the same
• 03:30 - 04:00 performance, 3 to400 cheaper than a 5080 and up to 16 or 1,700 cheaper than a 5090. You join me as we depart JFK in the default Vision Jet for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. Performance is pretty reasonable at this stage and improving as we climb out away from the airport. The amount of VRAM actually available while you're flying will depend to some degree on where and what you are flying. Usage currently is about 9 out of 12 available. Frame time is
• 04:00 - 04:30 currently 13 milliseconds which is good. Frame rate now climbing above 90 fps and any performance is only relative to the settings that we're using. Let's take a look. Resolution is at 1080p and we're using AMD's version of DLSS which is FSR3 set to quality mode. FSR3's frame generation is turned off and our global rendering quality is the default high-end. Most items are set to high and
• 04:30 - 05:00 with these settings set on the ground as getting between 35 and 45 fps and subsequently improving as we gained height away from the airport. Let's exit back to the flight just for a moment. I do note a slight hesitation when we change views or jump from one menu to the next. That's the limitation of the VRAMm available. Well, it's pretty easy to get these sort of frame rates with the settings that we're currently using. So, I think it's time that we turned up the pressure. Started putting this card
• 05:00 - 05:30 to test. So, let's head back to our graphics settings menu. One of the disadvantages of FSR3 like DLSS is you do lose some of the definition particularly on items further away. Let's switch to TAA and remain at 1080p for now and our global rendering settings will leave them at high-end again. Using anti-aliasing of TAA will give us the best clarity. Let's have a look at what that's done to the FPS. Whenever changing settings, you need to give 10 seconds or so. Let it settle
• 05:30 - 06:00 down. The definition of New York slightly to our left there is marginally improved. Hang on, I must have bumped the flaps on. Let's just retract those again. But in terms of overall FPS, no real difference. We're sitting quite comfortably over 100 FPS at 1080p with TAA. So clearly we're not really challenging this card at the moment. No problem. Lots of other options to choose from. Let's head over to our graphics settings. Now, we're currently in 1080p.
• 06:00 - 06:30 The most popular resolution in flight simulation is 2K or 1440p. So, let's switch to that. We're going to stay in TAA mode. Keep our settings on high-end and we can get a raw 1440p performance. Just one point I'd like to mention for the purposes of clarity. Please note that VSSync is currently turned off. So, no VSYNC is being applied. now turned it on. And now my FPS would be limited to 100% of the monitor refresh rate, but
• 06:30 - 07:00 for these tests, I'm keeping it off. My monitor refresh rate, by the way, is 120 Hz. Back to the flight. We're now at 1440p DAA mode with our graphics settings to default high-end. Currently at just something over 1,000 ft and some relatively dense scenery below us. And we're coming up on Legardia. FPS seems fairly static. The flight is relatively smooth. Frame time is in and around 11 milliseconds. Currently, we're using
• 07:00 - 07:30 about 9 or 14 GB of VRAM. FPS has dropped slightly for our external view to the mid80s. You may have noticed at 1080p, we were limited by the main thread, which means the CPU. Now that we switched to a higher resolution, it's alternating between limited to the main thread and limited by the GPU. Having said that, we're still not really stressing this graphics card. So, once again, time to return to our settings. And this time, we're going to change the global rendering quality from high-end
• 07:30 - 08:00 to ultra. Got the that the wrong way around. I find it really irritating that you have to confirm every time you change a setting, not able to select a setting, and then hit save or confirm. Let's head back. We remain on TAA mode, 1440p resolution with our graphics settings now set to ultra. We've lost 10 to 15 fps, which quite frankly we could afford. Frame time around 13 milliseconds, but as you can see, we're limited by the GPU. A little warning
• 08:00 - 08:30 message comes up there. Currently using all of the available VRAM on the card. Nonetheless, performance remains good. FPS has now settled down and we're probably in the mid to low 60s as we fly over Lagardia airport. Got to say at this stage the card is starting to impress me. So it's time to bump up the resolution and this time we're going to choose 4K which is
• 08:30 - 09:00 3840x 2160. Once again we're going to stay on taa frame generation off and in sim settings to default ultra. We can have a quick look at these settings, but you're probably familiar with them. Terrain level of detail is set at 200, as is the object level of detail. Everything else is more or less set at ultra or high. Happy with that? Let's head back and see what the effect is. Once again, we'll just give it a moment or two to let the FPS settle, but we can see that it certainly had an impact. FPS
• 09:00 - 09:30 has dropped to around the 50 mark, which is still fine for flight simulation. Frame time is hovering around the 19 to 21 millisecond mark. Once again, we're maxing out the VRAMm. And as indicated, it's the GPU that's a limitation at this point, not the CPU. Of course, I am gaining the benefit. It's a PCIe 5 card using the PCIe5 slot on the motherboard. Let's up the ante a little bit. We'll change the time of day. Move the time to
• 09:30 - 10:00 early morning. That'll put a little bit additional stress on the system and the GPU. Frame rates have now dropped to the mid40s. I do occasionally get the odd micro stutter, but overall performance is very good indeed. Switching now to the external view, we can see we're taking an FPS and performance hit. Now in the upper 20s, early 30s, but let's see if we can help things along. going to remain at 4K and TAA, but what we're going to enable is frame generation
• 10:00 - 10:30 using FSR3. What this does is put one artificial frame between each actual generated or rendered frame. It can be used in TAA mode and not just FSR3 mode. Immediately, we can see there's been a big jump in performance. We're now in the upper 50s, but we continue to max out the VRAMm. I just want to highlight AMD's implementation of frame generation. Let's just get ourselves back into daylight. Frame rate has remained more or less unaffected, but
• 10:30 - 11:00 our frame time or inversely our latency has increased somewhat as inbuilt frame counter can't count the artificial frames. But I'm very impressed with the cleanliness of the implementation. Bear in mind, we are in TAA mode with frame generation on at 4K with ultra settings. As we take a close look at the aircraft, we can see there's no artifacting at all. No anomalies. I think you'll agree that New York's looking pretty good as well. I have to say, in my personal
• 11:00 - 11:30 opinion, this is a better implementation than that from Nvidia. As we get into the thick of Manhattan here, I'm going to stay at 4K with my settings on ultra and TAA mode, but I'm going to turn frame generation off. This should be the ultimate stress test for this card. Lots of water and reflections, high density scenery, photoggramometry, reasonable amount of scattered clouds, and is pushing out between 35 and 40 fps. That
• 11:30 - 12:00 is far better than I expected from this card to be honest. As I switch back to the cockpit view, I'm getting a few micro jutddters and pauses. That's okay in my opinion as we've got everything turned up. We could easily adjust some of the insim settings and eliminate those. For the last time,
• 12:00 - 12:30 I'm jumping back to my settings. I'm just going to turn on the frame generation. And why not? It works very well indeed. This will provide the boost to the FPS that I'm looking for for our final landing. Well, everybody, that brings me to the end of my tests. I will be doing a further video where I test this out in VR. That should be out soon. But overall, the AMD RX970 XT has impressed me. A very capable card and a good selection for
• 12:30 - 13:00 Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. So, you can get a card that can give you a great performance in the sim without having to spend over $1,000. Thank you as always for joining me. I hope you found it useful and informative. Stay well, look after yourselves. I'll see you all again very soon. And ciao for now.