I finally took the plunge and upgraded my PC from Win98SE to WinXP-Home(SP2) and have to report the upgrade went great. Don't know what took me so long (I've had the XP disc for over a year!)... Anyway, I have a GeForce Ti4200 with 128Mb of 266Mb SDRAM. I inadvertently ruined a stick of RAM while doing the upgrade and thought it was my video card so I ran down to BestBuy and purchased a GeF 5700VE with 256Mb 400Mhz DDR Ram thinking that I was upgrading. Well, I ran some tests last night with the two cards and had the exact same results. I set up at Houston using SimFlyers KIAH and was in the 7 fps range on both cards. I was certain that the 5700 with 256 Mb of RAM would exceed my old 4200. (One thing I did notice on the Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager tab it showed only 128Mb of RAM being used with the 5700.) I didn't completely remove drivers, etc., when I did this test and both cards seemed to work and be identified properly. My question is: Is the increase in video RAM going to show me any fps inprovement? If so, I will keep the card (cost $159). Otherwise, if it doesn't improve my frame rates appreciably, I'll keep the old one.Thanks!

"Is the increase in video RAM going to show me any fps inprovement?"I wouldn't expect to see $159 worth of increased performance.While there are a few games that can make use of 256MB of video memory FS9 isn't one of them. Many top of line video cards today come standard with 256MB of memory (512MB is right around the corner), but a game must be coded to make use of that quantity of memory. FS9 will work quite well with 128MB of video memory.To increase fps one needs to increase raw power throughout the system... faster CPU, faster FSB, faster video card... faster everything.Greg

Thanks, Greg. I suspected as much. Back goes the 5700. Now, my motherboard supports the P4 up to a 3.0Ghz..... Hmmmmmm. That would increase my fps by about 25%, right? (3.0/2.4 = 1.25) Still, that would cost a pretty penny so I may as well wait until I need a new rig. :(

Not quite sure what you did and why - you ruined a stick of RAM by upgrading software so you ran out and bought a new videocard?Anyway FS 2004 doesn't really use more than 128MB VRAM and if the 5700VE is anything like the 5700LE it probably isn't much faster than the GF4...

To explain: On my motherboard, in order to add RAM you have to remove the video card. When I did that, I forgot that there was a little clip there and I semi-forced the video card out of the slot. Then I installed the new 2nd stick of 512 RAM. I replaced the video card and booted up. Unfortunately, nothing happened. No boot, no HD activity, no nothing. I thought that I had fried the video card as I tried everything else (removing the new RAM, etc). I bought the new card, installed it, and tried to boot up and still nothing. Off to the shop it went. The repairman (who built my rig) said that I had fried the original 512 RAM stick. He put the new one in the "0" slot and it booted up. Now I have 2 video cards available and, thus, my question in my original post. Sorry for the confusion. *:-*

$%*# happens, Steve. ;( The 5XXX series cards are as a group largely underperforming and overpriced (the lone exception being the 5950, but then it is waaayyy overpriced). If the 4200 is working fine your best bet would be to return the 5700 and take your wife out to dinner (in preperation for that forthcoming upgrade you mentioned, of course :-) ).Greg

I'll certainly do that, Greg! The SimFlyers KIAH scenery is really tough on frame rates. I had most everything checked except the fence and construction cranes. I went back to the default with my AFCAD (available here at AVSIM -- shameless plug) and my frame rates are back up to the 18-22 range as they are everywhere else. (All of my sliders are full right). I was just looking for that eleusive consistanc 24 fps......

OK I understand now :)Keep the Ti4200 for sure. It's not the fastest any more but you'd have to spend a little more than $150 to get something noticably faster (and avoid the Geforce 5xxx line).

You aren

No FS Water. And, I'm using DX9.0c.

You mean you run with water detail to low?

Yes