Greetings all,I was just wondering out there, If anyone has one of the above cards, then what settings are you using for flightsim.This PC is about 6 weeks old and I am still getting used to it.Also if you could advise what temp your Graphic Card runs at.Regards,Ralf.Adelaide, Australia

hi Ralf,i'm using an X850 XT PE with Cat. 5.5's. using the following settings... 4X AA, 8X AF, Texture & Mip-Mapping set to High Quality. the Res. is 1280x1024 @32bit.happy flyin, FM

Hows the performance, based on what you had before, since I am thinking of getting one.Regards, MichaelKDFWhttp://www.calvirair.com/mcpics/mcdcvabanner.jpgCalVirAir International

Thanks for the posts guys,My old system was a P4 1.8 running @ 2.16 Ghz (MSI 645 Ultra Mobo) with 768MB DDR Ram and a Geforce 4800Ti Asus Card on a LG 19" CRT Monitor & a 120Gig HDD on XP Pro.My new System is an AMD64 3.8 (Gigabyte K8N Ultra SLI Mobo) with 1024 MB Ram (Corsair 3200XL)2x 200 Gig SATA Drives (Western Digital), Sapphire X850XT PCI-E Video Card on a 19" BenQ LCD Monitor on XP Pro.I have been using Intel forever and this is my first AMD CPU and ATI based Video Card so I am learning the settings.FPS are fairly impressive (I have them locked @ 30FPS and it rarely goes below that) however I noticed that the temp of the Video Card goes over 60 Degrees Celsius at times.

hi Michael,for me it gave the biggest performance boost in FS than any other video card upgrade so far. my previous card was a 9800XT. if you spend alot of time in spot view during a flight as i do this is where (imoh) you will see the biggest performance increase. since FS9's release what i have noticed is that the "spot view" especially with lots of clouds is really "Fill Rate" and "Video Memory Bandwith" hungry. and the X800 series XT PE's and non PE's has a ton of both. i agree that FS9 is still more CPU dependant but at the same time it appears to me that FS9 is more Video Card dependant than previous versions. but keep in mind i'm running a screen res. of 1280x1024 with 32 bit color with 4XAA & 8X Af. unless you are running the high Res.'s along with high AA & AF and depending on your CPU speed you might not see as much of a performance increase as i did. i disagree with those that say more than 128MB of video card memory will not make any difference in FS. the reason i disagree with this is because some (not all) of the cards total "memory bandwith" comes from the memory itself. and, high AA & AF along with high res.'s really sucks up some memory. it only makes sense to me that in this case more equals better. hopes this helps. happy flyin, FM

Thanks for the info guys, I ordered it today. I run an AMD 3200XP, 1 gig 3500 DDR, ATI 9800 pro, XP pro, all sliders maxed (except cloud draw distance), AA 4X, AF 8X, 1280 x 960 32 bit, locked at 30 and it does well except when heavy weather sets in, I fly mostly payware and seeing as flying IMC is the ONLY thing I find challenging about FS, I need that extra performance. I was thinking of upgrading to a new rig (my second, design rig is getting old, LOL), but I want to wait till the next version, as FS9 really doesn't take advantage of all the goodies that are out now.Regards, MichaelKDFWhttp://www.calvirair.com/mcpics/mcdcvabanner.jpgCalVirAir International

>FPS are fairly impressive (I have them locked @ 30FPS and it>rarely goes below that) however I noticed that the temp of the>Video Card goes over 60 Degrees Celsius at times.That's normal. I'd suggest you use ATITool to control the fan. For X850, don't forget to click "PWM" option. Mine doesn't go over 70C...much :-)

Hey Word Not Allowed,70 degrees mate jeez !Won't that eventually fry the board or something ??Thanks for the info mate.Regards,Ralf

>Hey Word Not Allowed,>>70 degrees mate jeez !>>Won't that eventually fry the board or something ??So far I've heard, going over 90C is defintely not recommended. Guys who are into video cards and overclocking told me that 70C is still pretty much OK, so I set my fans to blow at 50% over 75C and if it should cross 85C, 100%. But my motherboard temp usually doesn't go over 40C, and I have pretty good case cooling (two fans front, two fans back). I got mine overclocked to PE speeds, and until now it's been 100% stable and no problems.

Sounds good mate.I haven't even looked at overclocking the CPU and Ram as yet as I am new to AMD.;-0

70..Yikes!! I have an X800pro. I have in overclocked to 520/540 and when testing 100% GPU usage I can only get it to about 65. FS doesn't tax the GPU even close to that. I also agree with other posts about ATI Tray Tool. Excellent tool. You can setup, control, and test you card. Very nice indeed.Dave---------------------------------------------------System Specs:Athlon64 3500+ ClawHammer @ 2.3mhzECS NForce4 A-939 Mobo (1g FSB)1.5G of OCZ Performance PC3200 Ram (Dual Channel)ATI Radeon X800Pro PCI-E (Catalyst 5.5 @ 540/560)SoundBlaster Live 24bitSaitek Cyborg EvoWinXP SP1

Hey Ralf,Sounds like a killer system you got there mate! Hope all is well? :-wave

For those interested in a great video card cooling solution... Arctic Cooling Silencer. Keeps my GPU temps between 45-55C while gaming (depending on ambient, of course). Another advantage is that the hot air is expelled out the back of the case. Helps keep the case and other components cooler. Very quiet, too.Regards,Greg

Thanks for the info on the cooler. Might have to grab that one.Dave---------------------------------------------------System Specs:Athlon64 3500+ ClawHammer @ 2.3mhzECS NForce4 A-939 Mobo (1g FSB)1.5G of OCZ Performance PC3200 Ram (Dual Channel)ATI Radeon X800Pro PCI-E (Catalyst 5.5 @ 540/560)SoundBlaster Live 24bitSaitek Cyborg EvoWinXP SP1

Hi John,I dunno about "killer" but I have been waiting for this baby for over 3 years !Bring on those awesome graphics.;-)