Hey,I am planning to buy a new video card to efficiently run flight simulator 2004. What cars do you guys have and what do you recommend on buying? I was looking at the the least the Radeon 9600 XT 256 mb or the Radeon 9800 Pro 128. Now I know that 256 is better than 128, but the Radeon 9800 is a better card. So will the performance be better with the 9800 Pro than the 9600 XT? Im confused on what to get. Also please post some pics that you took in fs with your cards so I can see what it looks like.ThanksBWIA330

I can't really comment on the 9600, but I have a 9800 Pro 128MB, and I simply LOVE it! Here is a link to some shots I just posted with the card..kinda small, but you get the idea...http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...id=149230&page=Danny[a href=http://library.avsim.net/search.php?CatID=root&SearchTerm=fritsche&Sort=Added&ScanMode=0&Go=Change+View]My work...[/a][a href=http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?photographersearch=Danny%20Fritsche&distinct_entry=true]See me at Airliners.net...[/a][a href=http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?userid=6673]Also at jetphotos.net...[/a]Intel P4 2.4GHzAsus P4PE MoboCrucial 1GB PC2700 DDR128MB Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro/Omega 4.6 - DNA 2.6.4.7Maxtor 120GB 7200Rpm HD

Hey Danny,Those are some really nice shots. What sort of frames do you get with everything maxed out in fs?ThanksBWIA330

It depends, lets just say I'm dissapointed with FPS below 20...in cruise, I can see anywhere from 30-70 FPS, it just really depends on scenery, weather, etc...Danny[a href=http://library.avsim.net/search.php?CatID=root&SearchTerm=fritsche&Sort=Added&ScanMode=0&Go=Change+View]My work...[/a][a href=http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?photographersearch=Danny%20Fritsche&distinct_entry=true]See me at Airliners.net...[/a][a href=http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?userid=6673]Also at jetphotos.net...[/a]Intel P4 2.4GHzAsus P4PE MoboCrucial 1GB PC2700 DDR128MB Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro/Omega 4.6 - DNA 2.6.4.7Maxtor 120GB 7200Rpm HD

The best bang for the buck today is the 9800 Pro 128Mb. Many vendors (including ATI) are selling them with R360 cores, which means the card can be easily flashed to a 128 Mb XT BIOS. The advantages are that the card will boot at XT speeds, and do so with D3D Pixel Shaders enabled. Sapphire is currently shipping some cards that are even built on the XT PWA, which means when flashed to an XT 128 Mb BIOS the card will have temp monitoring and Overdrive enabled (the latter is pretty much useless, but it's there).Can't beat the performance for $200.00US.Greg

A 9800 Pro 128 will DESTROY a 256MB 9600XT - the extra pixel piplines...

The extra 128MB makes very little difference so the 9800 Pro is indeed much faster, especially for FS which doesn't really use that much video memory. The 9800 XT is a little faster than the 9800 Pro but not that much considering the price difference.

Typically, the 9800 Pro will be about twice as fast as the 9600XT. The rest depends on whether FS2004 will take advantage of the extra texture memory... given how texture-heavy it is I'd assume so, but given how poorly programmed the graphics engine texture handling appears to be, I wouldn't bet on it :).

Hey Guys,So then forget the 256 9600XT and go for the 9800 Pro 128 then? Im planning to get this card based on the comments posted in this post because you guys have these cards and use FS as well.Thanks againBWIA330

>Hey,>> What cars do you guys have and what do>you recommend on buying? >>BWIA330WEll I don;t have a car I have a Mountain bikeBut I highly recommend the Bentleyor the Jag

HAHAHAHAHA, sorry about that. I meant Cards, lol Video Cards, but thanks for that info. I have a mountain bike to, I will be getting my car soon.LOLBWIA330