Hey all :)Wondering if I could bother y'all for some advice. I just purchased FS9 2 days ago. It's not running as smooth as fs2002 (I expected this) and trying to figure out the best way to max my performance. Now, my system (prepare to laugh HARD..lol) :Prepackaged HP, Intel celeron @ 633mhz512mb ramxp homeGeforce 4 Mx420 PCI (64 mb mem)Yeah...I know this thing is a dinosaur. I purchased this while at university about 5 years ago. I'm not a gamer, so this has served me VERY well over that time. only upgraded the ram, os, and video card. FS2002 ran great. 20-30fps in the air, 10-15 on the ground-- and smooth with settings about medium. With FS2004, rarely get over 10 and is somewhat choppy, but still flyable. Funny thing is, I get that performance set on "ultra high" or "low"-- not much difference (of course, been tweaking settings).Anyway, I thought if I perhaps upgraded the video card again, I may increase performance. However, after reading, I am not so sure. My only 2 options around here are the 9200se PCI and the 256mb fx5200 PCI (no agp slot).This is the only "game" I play, so I haven't been able to justify major upgrades just for FS as this current system works well for my daily use.What y'all think? I;m guessing just tweak away until I find the max and be happy :)Thanks!Shane.

With all due respect I'm afraid your system is never going to do a lot better than it is now with FS9.Upgrading the Graphics card is probably just throwing money away - in view of two things.......First PCI graphics cards are never going to give you as good results as AGP. Secondly - your CPU is quite literally at the bottom end for running FS9.IMHO your best bet would be not to spend any money on the current setup but rather to hang on to the money until you can afford to upgrade to a new motherboard/CPU with all mod cons.good luckDave

Thanks, Dave :)What you say is what I was thinking as well...just wanted another opinion :)I could buy a new system but, as I said, this one works fine for what I do. I think, well, I could spend 300-500 and get a considerable upgrade. Then, I think, well, If I'm gonna do that, why not go all out. lol...I just have better things to spend my money on. Maybe in another year so.Thanks :)Shane.