Hi guys,I currently haveDell P4 2.4 mhz 533 FSB1 gig RAMATI 9800 Pro 128 MB videoI get ok performance with the default planes, but only about 15fps with LevelD, Flight 1 727. Settings 4X AA, 8X AF, Traffic 75% airline only, most settings to max except scenery density and autogen - normal.What improvement could I expect going to the following:* ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail * MSI NX6600GT-TD128E Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail *AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3700BNBOX - Retail *1 gig RAMI've heard only about 20% increase for every 700mHz clock speed. That would put me a little over 20fps. Not exactly mind blowing for about $1,200 .Any comments?Thanks,

Hi Graig, the CPU will definitely signify a substantial upgrade. Nowadays, CPUs aren't about frequencies but their technology and rules like the one you mention will usually only apply when comparing same types. Fyi, I went from a P4 3GHz to a 3200 AMD64 (@ 2GHz) and whitnessed a ca. 30-40% performance increase (there where FS 'hurts' most, in dense areas). On the GPU side of things; the one you're currently looking at will probably be a downgrade compared to your 9800pro (256-bit vs 128; 4 vertex pipelines vs 3, etc). IMHO, a 6600 will only do a decent job upto 1024x (maybe 1152x?). Above the b.m. resolution(s), a better card - preferably with a 256-bit interface and 256MBs of RAM - seems indicated. Hope this adds to considerations, good luck and kind regards Jaap

I disagree with Jaap on the GPU...the 9800 Pro is 2-3 year old technology, the 6600GT is only about 1 years old...stay with the 6600GT unless you have $299 (ATI 800XL) or $399 (Nvidia 7800GT) for the higher-end video processors. Tests slow that the 6600GT out-performs the 9800 Pro even at higher resolutions and experiences with my brothers AMD 3200+ (6600GT) system (which I built) out-perform my current Intel P4 2.8Ghz (OC to 3.08) with the 9700 Pro by a considerable margin even with my faster SATA hard-drives and faster memory! :-)>Hi Graig, the CPU will definitely signify a substantial>upgrade. Nowadays, CPUs aren't about frequencies but their>technology and rules like the one you mention will usually>only apply when comparing same types. Fyi, I went from a P4>3GHz to a 3200 AMD64 (@ 2GHz) and whitnessed a ca. 30-40%>performance increase (there where FS 'hurts' most, in dense>areas). >>On the GPU side of things; the one you're currently looking at>will probably be a downgrade compared to your 9800pro (256-bit>vs 128; 4 vertex pipelines vs 3, etc). IMHO, a 6600 will only>do a decent job upto 1024x (maybe 1152x?). Above the b.m.>resolution(s), a better card - preferably with a 256-bit>interface and 256MBs of RAM - seems indicated. Hope this adds>to considerations, good luck and kind regards >>Jaap

Hi D.Enault Comparing a P4-2.8GHz with an AMD64-3200 system is comparing apples with oranges (IMHO) and my guess is the difference you whitnessed was mainly CPU related. I've seen numerous reports by FS-users swapping away from Geforce Ti4s for 6600s and their conclusions were often a ca 30% improvement. Coincidently, this number more or less equates to the memory clock difference... I think this is no surprise as both cards otherwise share similar technical data; i.e. a 128-bit interface and 8 pixel pipelines. My - simplified - conclusion with regard to display adapters, is, that they should be adapted to the display (or resolution) attached. I own 'a couple' of GPUs and tests here showed relatively good to good results for almost any 128-bit/128MB card upto 1024x (with elevated AA/AF settings). This goes for 9600pros and Ti4600s or better. To give you another example, at 1024x, the difference between a 9600pro and 9800pro (both 128MB) was zero - nada. The difference between these two @ 1280x was ca. 40-50%. Now, what could this tell us? IMHO it at least tells us a 256-bit card is more adequate for 1280x resolutions, be it 2-3 year old technology or not. Good luck and kind regards

Many benchmarks have shown that the Radeon 9800 series are excellent performers for the money with FS9 and can even run head to head with the Radeon X800s and Geforece 6800s.Take a look at this:http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/dis...-27gpu2_26.html