I have the following system:. Dell XPS Pentium IV 3GHz. 1024 MB DDR SDRAM at 400 MHZ. 128 MB DDR ATI Radeon 9800 Pro graphics cardI would like to improve my frame rate and the flow of graphics (occasional sutters). I find that at some add on airports (World Airports 2) my fps drops to 8.I have been advised that I have sufficient RAM, and that additional RAM would not help much. Would an up grade to ATI x800 xt 256 mg card help much? This is a very expensive card, and I would not want to buy it if the increase in fps is minimal (say 2fps).What is your opinion? Thank you for your help.Stanner

While the X 800 series cards are really very nice, I would first ask if you've optimized your system before recommending it as a solution to your stutters. This is almost always a system issue that won't be cured by spending a few hundred $ on a piece of hardware.How many apps are started when you boot into Windows? Pare these down to a minimum (I have one... my AV).Have you tuned your services? A great resource is http://www.blackviper.com/index.html He explains the purpose, functionality, and dependency of each service.Are you using Ken Salter's FSAutostart? A must have for any gamer.Have you sacnned for virus' that might be loading your system with resource hogging uselessness. Spy Sweeper is a very good choice (finds stuff that SpyBot and Adaware miss).While the latest gen cards may offer you some increase in FPS (this is always system and FS config dependant), the increase may not be worth it (each of us has different perceptions of "value"). What you would gain is better IQ. But that won't help your stutters.Hope this helps,Greg

No Ram Just Video Card I suggest 256 Geforce 6800GT or ultra.I have the 256 X800 Pro card I doesn't work well.I reveiws of the 6800 GT is better than X800 Pro.http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/2..._charts-09.html

Would not bother getting a new video card. I have the 9800pro and it makes no sense to me to buy an X800 when I know that the performance increase will be minimal. FS is always bound to the CPU speed / power. I was suffering with some stutters when landing the PMDG 737. I upgraded my RAM to 1gb from 512mb and the stutters have gone. Views load faster and the page file usage is virtually gone.I see you already have 1gb of RAM so you should be able to run fine with that system as is. Just follow the above advice to make sure the system is running at it's optimal. A word of caution about older scenery in FS9(like World Airports 2)it tends to eat frame rates unless it was done in GMAX. I have many of the older Simflyers airports that simply do not run well in FS9. In FS2002 there was no problem. I have larger, more complicated scenery that runs vey well in FS9 so it is all about how the scenery was originally designed.At UK2000 Heathrow (not pro) for example, I have my frame rate locked at 22 and it does not drop below 15 at any time even with 100% AIHere are my specs: (I have many service tweaks running ranging from suggestions at Blackviper, Ken Salter's great FSAutostart and a program called Tweak XP which I use a lot.AMD Athlon XP2800+ASUS A7N8X Deluxe mobo (nforce2)1gb Kingston HyperX memoryATi Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb1 x 80gb serial ATA drive (Windows, FS9)1 x 60gb serial ATA drive (swap file + other things) - BIG HELPHope this helps,Glenn

Thank you all for your advise. I decided after reading your posts not to get a new video card. Perhaps more RAM, but not for now.Stanner

A great piced of advice. I found that the black viper site helped my quite a lot... Then again I have an FS specific machine (only fs and the OS go on it). I think that if you want to go the X800 route then fine but make sure that the rest of the system can cope with the sim too. A lot of people have low end systems and then churn out $$$$$$ for the video card. They get a 2fps increase!!! Make sure that the rest of your machine is updated first. You have 1 gb ram so I wouldn't go there. I would check out the Processor / MB combination.One last thing if you are going the MG route make sure you get PCI express don't make the same mistake I did!!!!Cheers