Hi folks, I really need some good technical feed back about which is the best GFX card for MS Flight Simulator 2002, if it's the ATI's Radeon 8500 64Mb or the nVidia GeForce 4 Ti4400 64Mb. I really need a quick reply as there is a weekly offer in a store near by, and I dont want to miss out on this. At the moment I got a GeForce 2 GTS, installed on a Pentium 3 1.1Ghz and 512Mb ram, and MSFS 2002 is not that quite smooth, especially with PSS's stuff, and huge textures. I just want the best possible frame-rate with the best visuals possible. So, which is the best, ATI or NVIDIA.Thanks to all in advance,Alex CumboLMML

Alex, I too hope to see some comparisons, but here's my experience. With a Gateway 700X with a Radeon 8500 64 MB as you describe, FS is very smooth regarding framerates. I recall at Meigs in C172 with general display setting at High (most sliders about 3/4 to right and with water details and texture setting maxxed and all aircraft sliders to right, I would see about 23-27 fps during takeoff with very high density Chicago buildings moving past left side. Frame rates on other areas slightly higher. This is using the ATI driver released on 6/13. On the other hand, this is all with FSAA turned off, at 1280x1024 screen res and some visual jaggies along runway edges and airplane surfaces. If I try to get rid of jaggies by turning on FSAA, then artifacts can occur, like blurring of 2D cockpit gauges, and at 4X AA in their "quality" mode, making very smooth edges, the framerates drop to low teens, and in external views, the motion becomes jerky--smooth for a second, then a pause, then repeat. So if you can live well without AA, the images are sharp, colors good, framerates good and the Radeon is a good buy. However, I keep thinking the GF4 Ti will give maybe a little bit higher framerate but from what I read, will give distinctly better performance with antialiasing on, and also maybe better reflections and other effects. So this is my specualtion--anyone else who can add to the perspective? By the way, to those who say FS20002 is COU bound rather that videocard limited, before the Radeon card I had a GeForce 2 400 MX installed, and fps were easily 39% lower, and if I turned on 4X antialiasing, fps dropped to 4-8, so at some point the video card can also choke off performance.Richard Ball

Sorry for the above-- not easily 39% lower, I meant to type 30%. I also meant to add that my son would love to inherit the Radeon which could justify my updating to the GF4 Ti 4400. Has anyone run this card with a 250 watt power supply, or will it truly require a larger PS. The Radeon has no problem with heat or current draw.Richard Ball

Hi Richard, Thanks alot for your feedback!! Well, I didn't knew that the GF4 Ti needed a PS of 300W, I thought that was for the P4 CPU only. Well, I got a P3 1.1G and I dont know if this will damage the system if I put a 300W PSU in it. Well, I thought to go for the Radeon, since like you said, its a very good buy when compared with the GF4 Ti, but at those frame-rates, I think that I won't make any difference then the ones that I already have! (GF2 GTS). I would like to hear a feedback now by someone who runs FS2002 on a GF4 Ti.Thanks alot Richard, I really appreciate your reply VERY MUCH!!!! Hope that I can be of some help to you if you need it :)Best Regards,AlexMALTA

As I just wrote in a post of mine I'm now very happy with my ti4600.Needed some tweaking and a re-install of FS2K2, but it now runs extreme. Almost all options to the max, AA on, hardware AA on select.triple filter, anisotropy 32tap and MIP at +0.8 and I get Meigs at 30+ fps. Super dense sceneries at 20+fps.Running on a 2Ghz. Win XP Pro with 29.80.Cheers,R.

Richter, Do you know the wattage of your power supply using the 4600? Has anyone had success with a P4 2.0 with a 250 watt PS using either a GF4 4400 or 4600?Richard Ball

TI4400= These pic's.Just after sun-upP4 2.2Asus P4S533512 PC2700 DDR SamsungPNY G/F4 TI4400 128DDR (29.42)Xp Home (Clean install)Ed:-beerchug

How is this 29.80 working for you?I am still runnung the 29.60s.Alex

Alex if you are talking sure speed and power, I would no doubt take the TI4600 over the Radeon 8500. ATI make great cards, and I have used them to some success in the past, but since I got my first GeForce card, the ATI just don't compare. I now own the ASUS V8460Ultra GeForce 4 Ti 4600 Graphics Card and it really blow away my friends ATI 8500. I'm a computer technician and I speed a lot of time looking into these sorts of things. Though the GeForce is a more expensive card, I do believe that it out perform the ATI card enough to make it a viably choice. Here is a chart from Tom Hardware that might help you make a choice:http://www17.tomshardware.com/graphic/02q2...acharts-01.htmlRicky

R. you should try the newest Detontor drivers: http://www.guru3d.com/files/detonator/Ricky

29.80 are great drivers, I was also running the 29.60. The 29.80 seem to be more stable and a bit faster then the 29.60.Ricky

If you have money to burn get the Ti4600. If not you might want to look into a 128MB 8500LE. The card runs very well and I picked it up $320 CDN after taxes. I run witha 25 fps limit at 1280x1024 2xFSAA with all sliders maxed and rarely drop below 25 unless there are lots of AI traffic. I also normally leave a/c shadows and reflections off as those are a huge fps hit when you have 40+ AI planes on screen.

Dick,I have a 300 watt supply.Hope the info helps.Cheers,R.

From my personal experisences.....dont buy ATI.I've had 4 AGP cards so far, Riva TNT 8MB, TNT2 32MB, ATI RADEON 64MB DDR, and PNY GF3, and the only time I had freezing, drivers, and image issues was with ATI.I will never buy ATI again...