I was wondering if the people who are having success with this card can help. I bought it recently, and feel that I am not utilizing its powerful graphics. I have 256mb. My question is (keep in mind I am no that technical), what settings should I have the card set at? I want to make sure I am using this card to its fullest. My pc is a Dell h8/3.0, 1MB 256mb 6800gt. Thanks~!Brad

Most likely the rest of your system is such that you can't get the full potential out of the card.Things like motherboard speed, harddisk speed, etc. all have an influence on overall performance.

Well it

Brad you have an excellent card, at least mine is. I highly recommend the 71.20 forceware drivers from guru3d.com. Remember that FS9 is highly CPU dependent, and you have enough CPU to get plenty out of your 6800. If you are very PC savvy in terms of all the settings and things to do, great. If not, you can noodle through the various advice here for free, or pay FS-GS service to work with you to tune your machine to the best possible. Noel

(DISPLAY.Device.MSI MS-StarForce GeForce 6800 GT (NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT).0)Mode=2048x1536x32TriLinear=14xAA, 16xAFMobo=p4p800 se, cpu 3ghz+ht, 1gig ddr400 mem.Iiyama vision master pro 510.Only 3D clouds set at low, all other sliders full right.Addons;Ultimate traffic, USA mesh from R.Taburet, Ariane 737-600 vce, trackir+vector exp.UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=20, enough for fluidity; much higher gives stutters.All drivers from installation cd.Runs like a dream!

HI,Looking at the figures here its plain to see that ATI are still wayahead - even with my 9800po I can run with most sliders maxed,full 3d clouds AI traffic etc etc. Fps set to unlimited, verylittle pausing or stuttering. Full AA and AF - at 1150 x 780 great graphics.Slow PC (2.5) and only 785M RAM. fps usually in the 20/30 area. Large Airports 15fps, in the sky40/70 fps almost any weather!If you want speed and quality in FS - switch to ATIMickB

>HI,>>Looking at the figures here its plain to see that ATI are>still way>ahead - even with my 9800po I can run with most sliders>maxed,>full 3d clouds AI traffic etc etc. Fps set to unlimited, very>little pausing or stuttering. Full AA and AF - at 1150 x 780 >great graphics.>>Slow PC (2.5) and only 785M RAM. >fps usually in the 20/30 area. Large Airports 15fps, in the>sky>40/70 fps almost any weather!>>If you want speed and quality in FS - switch to ATI>>MickBMickB you really can

Hi,Hope you're right, just testing the water.I should receive my new vid card this weekend - MSI 6800GT. After reading various reviews this card rates highly for FS9.Have I done the right thing???????Mick

The water is a bit better on ATI cards but otherwise I get just about the same. ATI do have a bit better antialiasing but if you run 4xaa at least there is little difference. Big enough to notice however if you have a big screen.But the 6800 GT do perform well so you are not doing the wrong thing anyway :). nVidia cards are a bit louder with reference cooler though and runs a little on the hot side. But anyway they do perform you can

I found that my 6800's AA visual quality was about the same as my 9800 PRO at the same setting, with the exception of the 8xS mode which was clearly better on the nVidia card (but the overall performance penalty was a bit too great).Then I discovered the S (supersampling?) modes can be used with lower AA settings like 4x and 6x by using a tool like RivaTuner to set them. The performance penalty is minimal over the non-S mode at the same AA level and in FS I find it significantly reduces swimming textures and smooths out jagged lines beautifully. As a result, my standard FS setting is now 6xS AA / 16x AF and, IMO, looks much better and is far smoother than my 9800 PRO was ever able to produce.Gary

Mick, as a very long time ATI user, I was very pleasantly surprised that my BFG 6800GT OC is absolutely miles ahead for compatibility and glitch-free video processing--and at very potent performance and IQ levels. There is no question, this card is very superior to any of my past ATI cards (Radeon 7200, 9200, 9700 Pro) especially in terms of stability. It NEVER screws up! I run it at 400mHz and I get zero artifacts. I use FS and multiple add-ons, TW 2004, a few FPS's like Medal of Honor and Far Cry (AWESOME with this card with its 3.0 shader support!)I loved my ATI cards for their then cutting edge performance. But the amount of lockups, artifacts with very minor overclocking, odd rendering here and there, and especially the insane steps you have to take to clean out old .inf files and so forth can be annoying at best. This 6800GT OC has had not one lockup, not one artifact, not one other issue period end of game. It runs FS like a dream come true--esp with teh 71.20 drivers set up properly.You made a very decent choice Mick. Make sure you install it properly and all will be very well, barring a lemon :((Noel

You obviously got a FUBAR:ed 9700 PRO :). Just like I have a FUBAR 6800 ULTRA. These things happen weither it

Nonesense Mick. You 9800 falls far short in FS and every other application versus the 6800GT.

No Par, I didn't obviously get a fubared 9700 Pro. I actually had two, both from different lots put into two different machines, and both had their share of lockups nad other annoyances in two different machines in several games. The card was fine for what it was, but as I say, this card now DOES NOT screw up in any way (knocking on wood . . .). My brother and I built the same machines with the same parts. Despite attempting to keep everything correctly installed and so on, the 9700 Pros proved effective but definitely more finnicky than these 6800 GT OC's.Cheers

Maybe your mainboard chipset drivers who knows? I have the total opposite experience am going crazy on my 6800 at the moment lol.My 9700 PRO was the most stable video card I have ever owned. Have never had a computer that never crashed (overclocked) for 6 months and ran whatever game I throw at it flawless :).