Hi GuysMy newly aquired Crucial Radeon 9700 Pro arrived today!!! :-)I currently have a Leadtek Geforce2Ti installed running Nvidia's 40.72 Detonator Drivers on Windows XP Professional. What is the correct procedure for installing this card? I see that Detonator Destroyer is not yet for use with Windows XP. Can anyone who has made a similar move in respect of moving from an Nvidia based card to an ATi based card provide me with some pointers of what to do in order to get the best out of my new card and getting rid of Detonator remnants?Also what is the installation reccomendations for drivers for my new card? It comes with a driver disk from Crucial but I have also downloaded the Catalyst 3.2 Drivers from ATi's site. Should I install the Crucial drivers first or just the Catalyst 3.2 drivers?System as follows:AMD XP2100+ Asus A7A266 MotherBoard with Ali ChipsetGeforce2Ti running @ 265mhz - soon to be Crucial Radeon 9700 Pro :-)512 MB PC133 MemorySeagate 7200rpm 40Gig HDFujitsu 7200rpm 20Gig HDWindows XP ProfessionalHope you can help.Kind Regards,RobFAJS

Hi Rob,A good way to remove all remnants of the Detonators is to first uninstall them from Add-Remove in control panel. Once rebooted, use the NVidia Nasty File Remover (or Detonator RIP) to get rid of all extraneous reg settings and files - if any. I personally prefer the NFR utility as the RIP util requires a download of the MS .NET framework at 23.1 megs (if you don't already have it install from WindowsUpdate that is). Either utility works fine in my experience, on XP as well as the 9x series.As for the Cat's, simply install the 3.2 by themselves - don't install the previous ones first.Here's the links:nVidia - Nasty File Remover v0.6http://download.guru3d.com/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=582Detonator RIPhttp://download.guru3d.com/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=603Good luck,Elrond---MS Flight Simulator Tips and TricksEnthused AVSIM Peon - with minor Bucket and Mop duties (they only let me roam near the AVSIM toilets!)

I too just got the 9700 pro, looking forward to installing it tonight. Elrond, usually when I uninstall Nvidia drivers, the computer asks to reboot, but it is at this time that Windows XP finds the card and installs it. Is this going to be a problem or by following your instructions should I be ok - even if windows asks?I take it too that after it is uninstalled from the RIP program you referred to, that is when I insert the new baby?Thanks. Just don't want to blow this - heard some stories of how tedious it can get if you do not get the old drivers out cleanly.

Hi Kyle,When switching to a new architecture (NVidia to ATI for example), I usually remove the old card and install the new during the reboot: the reboot you'll get after using Add-Remove for the Detonators. You of course should turn off they system when the reboot gets to the bios screen :-), then install the new card and start back up. Using RIP or NFR after the reboot will remove any left over Detonator and Registry entries.If its an NVidia driver upgrade only (Detonator to Detonator for example), there's no need to worry about the card being redectected. XP has a built-in basic NVidia driver (v29.58) that will be used after your Detonators are uninstalled. Thats fine. Installing the new Detonators on top is perfectly safe and nothing to worry about.Which brings up a good point I forgot to add: if you use the NFR utility and are keeping the same NVidia card, don't remove the default NVidia driver (nv4_disp.dll v29.58). All other found NVidia files are fine to remove (they'd be from your previous Detonator set), but not that one file. This only applies to people doing Detonator upgrades - not switching to an ATI card.So, here are the basic steps you'd use tonight:1) In control panels Add-Remove, uninstall your current Detonator drivers. This will ask to reboot when completed - say yes.2) When the reboot gets out of windows and is at your BIOS screen, turn off your computer and unplug it from the wall or back of they case. Open the case and remove your NVidia card and install your new Radeon. Follow the standard anti-static precautions (eg: use a grounded anti-static wrist band or touch a grounded piece of metal in your room while replacing the card). Close your case and plug it back in.3) Turn on the computer and reboot with the Radeon. Once windows is fully loaded, run RIP or NFR and remove any latent Detonator files/reg entries.4) Install your downloaded ATI drivers.Good luck,Elrond---MS Flight Simulator Tips and TricksEnthused AVSIM Peon - with minor Bucket and Mop duties (they only let me roam near the AVSIM toilets!)

>>screen, turn off your computer and unplug it from the wall or>back of they case. Open the case and remove your NVidia card>and install your new Radeon. Follow the standard anti-static>precautions (eg: use a grounded anti-static wrist band or>touch a grounded piece of metal in your room while replacing>the card). Close your case and plug it back in.>I generally leave my computer pluggeg in when I'm working inside of it because of the ground provided by the power cord. I spent lots of years working on Sun computers used as servers on big Xerox printers and we always left them plugged in whenever possible and used an antistatic wrist band. It really eliminates the possibility of static build up.RegardsBill

Indeed, Bill... I do and have always done the same as well. But I give the above advice to others (specially strangers I haven't met) because of the slight possibility of electrocution. While the chances are slim to none working on the innards of a PC, they do exist - and I have no idea what "interesting" things someone else might do once in there that I've never seen before :-).Take care,ElrondPS: I love your tagline by the way :-).---MS Flight Simulator Tips and TricksEnthused AVSIM Peon - with minor Bucket and Mop duties (they only let me roam near the AVSIM toilets!)

Got it , ok. Everything worked perfectly. Can not believe how much it has changed the look of FS2004 but more so, it is 10x smoother now.Thanks, Elrond! Now to upgrade my cpu ;-)

I am running an Athlon 2800 on an ASUS A7N8X motherboard with 1 Gig of PC2700 DDR ram with the Radion 9700 Pro 128DDR. I have every slider maxed except Visibility on 100. 4X AA and AGP8X. This is my result at EGLL with PICPOSKY. That is the lowest I get for F-Rates under those conditions. I upgraded from the Elsa GF3 64, and the difference was like night and day!http://forums.avsim.com/user_files/5052.jpg

I am getting considerably lower then those FPS. With weather, everything maxed except for visibility, I am sitting about 7-9 FPS.I have gone through Windows XP and tweaked it as much as I can. Can anyone recommend some good tweak sites for the 9700?