Reposted from General Forum by advise from "Slacktide":My friend has just installed a Dell Dimension 8400 3,2 G with Geforce 6800 256 MB graphic memory, and 1040 MB RAM.He's running FS 2004 on it. He get flashes in the textures like photo-flashes from an audience at a rock concert. Is the anything we can do to stop it?Could it be that we haven't adjusted the graphic card properly?Everything else works perfectly. The framerate is like heaven.

Here are some suggestions based on an ATI card but think these would apply to a NVIDIA card too: http://www.tweakguides.com/ATICAT_12.html. Hope this helps.Jim

This sounds an awful lot like graphic artifacts due to either too much overclocking, or poor cooling. Artifacts tend to take two forms. Transient phenomena, such as hot pixels (the flashes you are experiencing) are usually due to errors (caused by heat or overclocking) in the GPU chip itself. Persistent phenomena, such as color errors in a texture, or a checkerboard pattern within a texture, are often due to errors in the memory. So, I'd make sure your friend is not overclocking, that the GPU heatsink is fitted correctly (99% of the heatinks that come stock on the ATI 9500/9700 series do NOT fit correctly, for example.), that the GPU fan is operating and not clogged with dust, and that the case has adequate airflow.Dan

Well, the card is a nVidia Geforce, so the instructions are not for them. Also, the Dell computer is brand new, so if they built it right, it will not be overclocked.Anyway, we'll follow your advise and check it up and try to find the right adjustment.Thank you!

Sorry!I forgot to ask for info about Geforce card, maybe anything similar to the information above, which was excellent.Thank you again.

Here's the link: http://www.tweakguides.com/NVFORCE_1.html. He plans to update monthly as new drivers are issued.Jim

Thank you!By the way. I've heard that some flightsimmers prefers the 6500 card because it seems to work better on FS 2004. And the 6800 requires a lot of cooling (as you wrote).I'm looking for a similar equipment myself. I've been recommended a P 4 3 GHz, 1024 MB RAM, Geforce 6500 256 MB and two fans for cooling the processor and the hard disc.Theese advises came after my postings, but your advises also made a great deal of help. I will go for the tweak guide after this.Thank you again. See you later when I'm in business.