I'm having trouble finding a card that matches those specs. So you have a desktop with a 1gb GT 635? Everything I see for a 635 is 2gb.

 

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desk...specifications

except mine is a 1 gb

 

OEM supplied card...

 

Whoa it's a desktop?

Ok I figured, based on what Joe found - that it was a laptop and made more sense.

I will re-type what I posted, then deleted, then....

I did a bit of googling... and from what I could find (not much), the 635 desktop card performs slightly worse than my old GTX260 card I used to run back in ~2007.

1gb of video memory isn't a lot these days. It seems like the rest of the system is good enough. I'd recommend getting a better video card. If we consider it equal to my old 260 (which, it's not) then you should be able to get a MUCH better card for under $200... probably closer to $100-150 is my guess.

I find this chart kinda handy: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ew,3107-7.html

"They" say that going up 3 steps on this chart is noticeable, and I'd agree. I went from a GTX 260 to an ATi 6970 and it was a noticeable improvement. That said - I did still run triple screens (21" 4:3's) with the 260 and it was able to hold 60fps with pretty much all detail on except for shadows.

 

Also - possibly a stupid question, but bear with me:

You said you don't get over 85fps.

You don't have the box checked in your graphics settings that limits the max FPS, do you? Because I think the default limit is 84.

 

AMD 6970 is a great card for the money. But that IS the issue. The 635 card is not enough juice...

 

Quick search says the GTX570 is about equivalent with the ATi 6970.

The GTX660 is a step above the 570 - and NewEgg has lots of 660's for around $200.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=-1&isNodeId=1

Might be less of a headache to upgrade a video card if you stay with the same brand/chipset. Less driver issues.

 

I have a GTX570 and it runs around 200fps in race on max settings.

 

I dont remember having that box checked but i will look tonight when i get home. I know i should be getting over 85fps on a "test" session with the graphics set on lowest setting. I'll take screens of the settings if i cant figure it out. the only thing installed on this machine is itunes with zero music and iracing; thats it.
i have my eyes set on the 660 when ready for the 3 screen setup. I told myself when i get good i will get the 3 monitors plus video card. looks like at least the 660 might be in the very near future.

obviously i am doing something wrong. hmmmm

 

The 660 won't support 3 monitors with 1 card, you need either a second card, a 680+, or a ATI/AMD card with eyefinity.

EDIT: I'm seeing people online saying that the 660 WILL support 3 monitors. I thought the first nvidia card to support 3 was the 680.

 

i saw this and thought it was ok http://insidesimracing.tv/forums/top...-requirements/
660's has been bumped to 680

 

Ah I forgot that nVidia was a little late to the "native 3 monitor support" game. Joe might be right about the 660 not supporting it. Honestly I have no idea. I went ATi and Eyefinity specifically because most of the "triple screen" bugs have been worked out.

Maybe just step into the triple screen game now, vs waiting to "get good". Not trying to spend your money or anything... but the triple screens are definitely helpful.

 

I wonder if too HIGH of a FR has any ill effects? IIRC i'm seeing over 300 in the little iRacing gauge on the right (but FRAPS reports 130ish)..

 

The only real "bad" thing is that you're driving your graphics card harder than it really needs to be driven.

If you're on a 60hz monitor, the "theory" is that you only need 60fps since that's all the monitor will display (or 120fps for a 120hz monitor). I will attest that it certainly seems smoother to me to run higher FPS than the monitor can display... placebo effect? I don't know.

300fps is probably overkill though. You can probably cap it at 100 and not notice a difference.

 

I have 2 7970's in Crossfire and i7 CPU at 4.61Gz, slight overkill, Maybe i'll disable Crossfire for iRacing...