It's time for an upgrade and my budget only allows me to buy either a new CPU or a Video Card (around $240 CDN),My options are, ATI Radeon 9600 XT or Pentium IV 2.8 Ghz (533 Mhz FSB - 512K Cache), both are in the same price range.My current system:Intel Celeron 1.7 Ghz (400 Mhz FSB - 128K Cache)Nvdia GeForce2 MX400 (64 Mb)768 MB DDR SDRAM (512 + 256)Intel D845EBG2 Motherboard - 533 & 400 Mhz FSB - supports up to PIV 2.8 Ghz (533 Mhz and 512K Cache) (No plans of changing this)Soundmax on board sound (works perfect for me)40 GB Hard Drive (more than enough)Microsoft Force Feedback 2Windows XP Home (SP1)My Sim:FS2004 @ 1280 X 9something - Windowed mode (better FPS) and 16 bits x( Before starting FS9 I set my window's desktop to the same resolutionNo AA (in both FS and the video card control panel) - 2X AS No autogenNo AISimple cloudsMax texture size (if I lower this my FPS deteriorate)Default MeshMip Map setting @ 4Every single tweak (applicable for me) available on the bookAirplanes I fly most of the time:PMDG 737-700 (12 FPS on the air - 8~10 on the ground)Fanda's Dash 8 (~15 FPS air - ~12 on the ground)Wilco/Feelthere CRJ-200 (~15 FPS)Piper 1 Meridian (so complex and so easy on the FPS, amazing, this one gives me a steady 19 FPS)FSD Piper Navajo (~20 FPS on the air but a nightmare for textures loadings eventhough they are DXT3)Add-on modules/programs:FS-ForceAS2004 (settings for best FPS)No noticeable deterioration of the FPS after installing these two products._________________________________This set up allows me to fly most of the time @ 16 FPS while on the air on not so complex add-on airplanes, in the ground it could drop to ~13 (at very simple airports), but with PMDG 737 I only get around 12 FPS the most, not smooth enough for me.I know I should have a strong combination of CPU and GPU, but for now and for the following couple of months I have to survive with only one of the two mentioned above, when time comes, I'll upgrade the other.I'm looking for a fluid experience especially with PMDG's 737, I would love to hand fly an ILS approach in the rain with a solid 25 FPS, I'm not looking for the best looking scenery but maybe something that allows me to fly with some 3D clouds (limiting it to only 1 layer with AS2004), some AI traffic would be nice too (UT and some general aviation). The thing is I'm getting bored of flying alone, no clouds, no ATC, no traffic. Also I would like to be able to have FS2004 under 32bits depth, not the 16bits I'm using now that even though it gives me better FPS than 32, also gives me odd visual effects and strange textures most of the time.So, the question, in order to achieve the fluidity and slight improvement in image quality mentioned above, should I get the video card or the CPU? After this upgrade I'll have to wait like 3 months before I buy the other components, so, what should I buy first?I've seen people with really old CPUs but with "decent" video cards and they are having a fluid experience compared to mine, for example JohnCi http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...29&page=#189131 who can amazingly achieve 25 FPS even with 3D clouds :-eekOn the other hand, I've heard so many things about FS9 being CPU dependant that I really don't know what to do now.Your advice is really much appreciated.Carlos.

It's a tough choice. You'd really need to upgrade both for the best experience.It seems like you prefer complex addons and lots of AI traffic rather than detailed scenery and complex weather. In that case, a new CPU would be more of a benefit, especially if you can live without using much Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering.

Hi Carlos,CPU now, card later.Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

Nothing will help until you get both a new CPU and video card...

Thanks guys for your suggestions, after talking with some other "experts" they also suggested me to buy the CPU first then the video card. So, I went today and bought a P4 2.8 Ghz, I'm going to install it right now and will let you guys now the results of this first upgrade.Carlos.