What am I doing wrong ?!?

[Guest northwestEWR]

I've spent 1000s of dollars and lots and lots of time working on my machine and I don't know what I'm doing wrong.... I decided to try a new video card this morning and bought a BFG Tech Nvidia 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI-Express to replace my old ATi Radeon X800XL 256MB GDDR3 PCI-Express. So far it's not going well.Current specs :AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 2.2GHz Socket 939 2MB L2 Dual Core 2GHz FSBAbit KN8-SLI Nvidia N-Force 4 2GHz FSB2GB Ultra PC3200 DDR400Seagate 250GB SATA 8MBDual Sony DVD-RWs IDENvidia 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI-ExpressSound Blaster Audigy 4Ultra X-Connect 500 watt PSWindows XP Pro SP2 with all new driversDell 2005FPW 20 inch widescreen LCD at 1680 x 1050I'm using FS2004 with a ton of add-ons and with my old ATi card I'd see about 28 FPS at FlyTampa's KSEA with max AI and all the sliders to max in fair weather in the default C172.That's not bad at all but when I add weather and go to various other airports the FPS can get down towards 15 FPS. With my new 8800 card I'm not doing any better than that...... The quality of the texture seems to be a little worse on this card as well. The texture just isn't as sharp and looks slightly blurred.What am I doing wrong and what can I do to improve my FPS ?Thanks guys !

[tf51d]

>I've spent 1000s of dollars and lots and lots of time working>on my machine and I don't know what I'm doing wrong.... I>decided to try a new video card this morning and bought a BFG>Tech Nvidia 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI-Express to replace my old>ATi Radeon X800XL 256MB GDDR3 PCI-Express. So far it's not>going well.>>Current specs :>>AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 2.2GHz Socket 939 2MB L2 Dual Core 2GHz>FSB>Abit KN8-SLI Nvidia N-Force 4 2GHz FSB>2GB Ultra PC3200 DDR400>Seagate 250GB SATA 8MB>Dual Sony DVD-RWs IDE>Nvidia 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI-Express>Sound Blaster Audigy 4>Ultra X-Connect 500 watt PS>Windows XP Pro SP2 with all new drivers>Dell 2005FPW 20 inch widescreen LCD at 1680 x 1050>>I'm using FS2004 with a ton of add-ons and with my old ATi>card I'd see about 28 FPS at FlyTampa's KSEA with max AI and>all the sliders to max in fair weather in the default C172.>That's not bad at all but when I add weather and go to various>other airports the FPS can get down towards 15 FPS. With my>new 8800 card I'm not doing any better than that...... The>quality of the texture seems to be a little worse on this card>as well. The texture just isn't as sharp and looks slightly>blurred.>What am I doing wrong and what can I do to improve my FPS ?>>Thanks guys !>As been stated in the past FS9 (and FSX) is essentially CPU bound. Unless your replacing one of the really old Graphic card, don't expect a big performance boost by upgrading to a faster card. FS just won't take advantage of it. You may improve the quality of the image though, and be able to use higher AA and AF settings. Right now the only real way to boost performance of FS is to upgrade the CPU! Right now, as I'm sure your aware the big kid on the block these days is the Core 2 Duo's (And Quad core). In your case that would mean a new system, so you would have to weigh the cost and whether you really need to at this time. I had to because my old system bit the dust! That was a P4 3.8Ghz 2GB system with a GeForce 7800GT (Although I managed, to get it working again) My new system is a E6700, 2GB and Dual ATI X1950XTX Crossfires. (Was originally a E6600, 2GB and a ATI X1900XTX but had a H/W problem with it and had to send it back for replacement! For some reason, they upgraded me to the E6700!) I use it mainly in FSX these days, and am very happy with the performance. ATI Video drivers though are crap! Nvidia drivers are much more stable. I had the same issue with my previous system with an ATI X800XT Card.

[Guest northwestEWR]

Ok, so I don't want to replace the entire system right now but I can take the new video card back and buy a new processor. Would the AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 2.6GHz 2MB L2 2GHz FSB do me any good ?

[tf51d]

>Ok, so I don't want to replace the entire system right now>but I can take the new video card back and buy a new>processor. Would the AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 2.6GHz 2MB L2 2GHz>FSB do me any good ?I'm no AMD expert, but from what I heard that chip does well in FS. Before you go that route, are you sure you tried all the tweaks and optimizations for both FS and your video card? If not, you may be able to squeeze a few more FPS out of your system! For example renaming the default.xml file in your autogen folder. That will probably be your biggest boost, if you haven't done that already! Look in the MSFS tip and Tweak sub forum, under the FSX forum! There is going to be significant advances in cpu's this year, particularly from INTEL, who just announced, they have figured out how to build CPU's based on 45ns dies. If they come out with that one, you'll start seeing dual and quad cores with significant increases in clock speed. That will really help FS, especially FSX! If you can hold out and your thinking of replacing your system within a years time, that may be your best option. Of course that is your own personal decision to make!!

[Guest northwestEWR]

Ok, I don't want to have to replace my motherboard just yet so my options for upgrading my processor are -AMD Athlon 64 4000+ 2.4GHz 1MB L2 2GHz FSB Single CoreAMD Athlon 64 FX-57 2.8GHz 1MB L2 2GHz FSB Single CoreAMD Athlon 64 FX-60 2.6GHz 2MB L2 2GHz FSB Dual CoreI'm going to take the new Nvidia 8800 back and get a refund because it's not doing me any good and I can use that $500 to get a new processor.What do you think I should do ?

[Guest dpc]

I have my FX-57 running at 3.0Ghz on the stock cooler. I am very pleased with it. Remember, FS9 is written for single core so the faster you go a the core it's using the better. If you can hold off for a bit on a dual core the the 57 is a good bang for the bucks these days. I upgraded from the 4000+ and it was a noticable difference in FS9.

[Guest northwestEWR]

Would the FX-57 be any better or worse than the FX-60 ?

[Guest SoarPics]

The FX-57 is a single core clocked at 2.8GHz and sells for $319.00 at Newegg today.The FX-60 is a dual core clocked at 2.6GHz and sells for $550.00 at Newegg today.FS9 will not take advantage of dual cores (the only adavantage would be if you wanted to run some other high end app while simming).I have my FX-57 loping along at 3.0GHz (it's not even breaking a sweat) on a A8N32-SLI w/ 2GB of OCZ PC4000. Does well in FS9 (can't compare with the way you fly... I do all I can to avoid large airports). I'm using an X850 XT PE.But before spending more money (and getting rid of the 8800) I'd make sure you have minimized the number of services and applications running in the background. MSFS (any version) demands your computer's undivided attention (and all the resources possible). With regard to the video card, perhaps someone more expereinced with nVidia (I'm an ATI guy) can assist you in tweaking the card. It should cut thru FS9 like a hot knife thru butter.Edited to add: I just saw your PSU... I strongly recommend you consider something else. I bought an Ultra X Connect 500 PSU right after they were introduced. It lasted a grand total of 7 months and then blew-up (no, literally it blew up... started a small fire!!!). The real problem is that PSU does not have a very good effiecency rating. The warmer it gets the worse it does. The power can drop off drastically as heat rises. If you decide to keep the 8800GTS Nvidia recommends a minimum 400W and 26A (+12V) PSU. Steady power. Hope this helps,