I'm *reasonably* satisfied with my current system, but lately I've been pining for a few more frames per second in FS2002 - or better said, consistent 20+ fps with More Stuff Turned On. One thing I've noticed recently is that Anti-aliasing and multi-texturing are framerate killers, although I seem to be able to get by without anti-aliasing for now.The main question is, can I do this by a mere video card upgrade?My current system:Athlon 1700XP+ (4x AGP max)Soyo Dragon Plus! mobo512Mb RAMGeForce3 Ti200 w/ 64MbWinXPI'm wondering if I'm already processor-bound with this setup... But it seems like I ought to be able to upgrade my vid card and get a little bit more oomph. Criminy, this is a 1.5gHz system after all! (I do not need DVI, TV out, etc.)So, the questions:- can I get Mo Bettah with just a graphics card upgrade?- if so, can I do it for around $200? I'm not going to spend $300 or $400 on one of the top-end cards.- if so, what should I get? One of the GeForce4 cards? A Radeon 9500? Something else?My current thinking is that some sort of GeForce4 or Radeon card with 128Mb would do it, but as of yet I haven't been able to find any data that compares a GF3 Ti200 with a GF4 in a system that's similar to mine.some related questions:- how much diff would 8x AGP make? I'd have to upgrade my mobo *and* graphics card of course. I might consider it, if the improved performance due to purely 8x justifies it.- I've also been contemplating putting my instrument panel and some other 2D stuff on a second display... - would that help? in other words, off-load the 2d stuff to another display surface. - if so, should I go with a dual-head card or an AGP/PCI combo?Those are a lot of questions; if anyone could answer even a few of them I would appreciate it. I'm asking these questions here because my main 3D application is FS2002 and I know that it makes different demands on a system than typical 3D games (FPS shooters, etc.).Thanks much,Dave Blevins

AGP 8X won't get you much. Video card is a bit dated...higher end ATI might help like a 128MB 9500Pro or nvidia Ti4800 for around $200. Then it will only be the CPU holding you back.. Depressing ain't it?

CCGR is right about the AGP 8X as there is nothing out that can fill even the 4X AGP bus. As far as your choices go I would skip the 4800 as it is nothing more really than a polished 4600. For around $200 bucks you can pick up a Radeon 9500 and with a bios upgrade to the card and a software patch have it humming along at very close to Stock 9700 specs. With AA and AF enabled it should still outperform the 4800 w the mods I speak of. And yes your CPU is becoming the limiting factor w your system.Bobby

Have you tried Overclocking the video card? I recommend the RIVA tuner utility. Besides tweaks you can overclock the heck out of those GF3 Ti200s wit h RIVA tuner. Available at guru3d.com. If money is an object I would try that first and maybe wait for price of higher end cards and/or systems to go down.

Thanks for the replies!re: overclocking - I have been loathe to overclock, because my system is quite stable - e.g. I have had no issues in upgrading to DirectX 9.0a whereas others have had issues; I've wondered whether those problems were due to overclocking. That said, I will play around with Riva Tuner a bit and see what happens.cheers,dB.