ATI Radeon 9800Pro=better performance with AI traffic?

[Ckeatin 0]

Hi guys,A follow up to my question on upgrading from a GeForce4 4200Ti 64meg to an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (my computer is a P4 2.4 gig 512 RAM).Currently I get acceptable performance in FS9 and the 737NG, but only if I turn AI traffic off. With traffic on, the frames dip to like 8-12. Too hard to control the aircraft.Will upgrading to the Radeon unable me to turn the traffic back on and get good performance?Thanks again and thanks for putting up with my non NG questions ;-).

[Guest cf_sas]

Hi Craig,My setup is almost identical with yours (except 1024 MB RAM) and I recently upgraded my Geforce4 Ti 4200 to an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro.I must say that along with the upgrade came a significant increase in FPS. The most significant difference is that now I am able to turn on all the bells and whistles (AA and AF) of the graphics card and to max almost all sliders in FS and still get better framerates than with the 4200. Of course, when sitting at a large and complex add-on airport with a lot of AI traffic, the framerates may dip to around 15 FPS, but the stutters are almost gone and everything seems a lot smoother than before. And, on top of that, the graphics are much better, thanks to AA and AF.Although AI traffic is considered to be especially challenging for the CPU, I think that upgrading to the Radeon will improve FPS enough to give you room to increase your AI traffic a lot.

[Guest Ray CYYZ]

Thats really a trick question.The simple answer is maybe.The complex answer is this:A faster video card will speed up the amount of time and work that your cpu currently does to produce what you see now. This frees the cpu up for other mundane activities such as traffic. How much of an improvement you get depends directly on how much of that cpu load shifts onto the video hardware.The general problem is that the very first thing you will do is crank up the graphics settings when you get the new card to see how much better it can look which will completely offset any improvement in the performance. If you can keep your hands completely away from the settings, you will get traffic. I doubt you can though ;)Ray

[lefteris 70]

Before you think about purchasing anything else, spend $100 to get another stick of 512MB RAM. It makes a ton of difference.Then, get the new graphics card.Hope this helps.

[Guest Buck Bolduc]

I have tto agree with Lefteris on this one. I gig is becoming mainstrem and somewhat requierd for FS.Having said that, a 9800Pro wont help much if you couple it up with a petiumII/350 or something.It's all about ballenc, I mean 747 tires on a VW???.Regards

[Guest Sartori23]

Craig, I just upgraded from a P4 2.4 512MB with a 9800 Pro which I had been running for a year. With that setup, I had all the graphics bells and whistles maxed and AI traffic set to 50%. When flying the NG my framerates were great until I reached the arrival airport where my frame rates would drop to around 12-14. With any other aircraft, my framerates were consisently around 30fps. I agree that another 512MB of RAM would help, but if you are planning on upgrading the rest of your system any time soon, I would get the Radeon now. If you were to buy the RAM now, it most likely wouldn't be compatible with a newer motherboard. Back in February, I upgraded my processor, MB, and RAM to a P4 3.2, ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe, and 1024 Corsair Twinx 3200C2 for around $700US. Not bad for the increase in performance I received.Just a couple of things for you to consider.Regards, Carl Moore

[Ckeatin 0]

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice.Carl, a motherboard upgrade is not in my immediate future as I have a Dell Dimension 4500 and they're not the most upgradable machines, motherboard wise. I'm pretty much limited to the memory and/or video card upgrade.For me, sounds like the memory AND Radeon is the best bet. ;-) I'll see if I can swing both....Thanks.