Hi Guys,I went out and bought a new system last weekend.A new Gateway Athlon 64 3500+ with a 2000 FSB using the Winchester chip. It has 512 Dual Ch RAM and a Radeon PCI-E Xpress 200 and XP Media OS.I was using a P4 2.2 with a Radeon 9600 and 1 gig DDR 400.So I thought this new system would be a big step up.To my surprise, I am getting 40% less in Frames with the new Athlon system!!!! I can't figure it out, I have turned off all the virus apps and just have FS9 running. Does anyone have any ideas as to what I may have overlooked? (I have the same settings for FS9 on both systems). Right now on the P4 system I am averaging 25 FPS and 15 on the Athlon!!! I did intend to upgrade the RAM and Video card but...Any thoughts would be appreciated :)ThanksAstro

What kind of video card is that PCI-E Xpress 200?

Looks like a chipset/integrated graphics for AMD CPUs..."Built on the principles of performance, connectivity and reliability, RADEON XPRESS 200 provides AMD customers with a best-in-class platform for enthusiast gaming, high definition home entertainment, and rock-solid enterprise computing. The chipset series supports Socket 754 and 939 AMD desktop processors and is comprised of the RADEON XPRESS 200 with integrated graphics and the pin-compatible RADEON XPRESS 200P, which allows for high performance add-in graphics."Better hope there's a PCI-E/AGP slot in there because you'll need one.

Yeah onboard video is 10 times worse then onboard audio lol. Can

>I went out and bought a new system last weekend.You should have asked first here on this forum before buying. Gateway is not a vendor to buy a gaming computer from. Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/747400.jpg

i find that odd. Never knew gateway made systems with AMD's.Im plenty happy with mine. I plan to switch to the 6800 or the X800 this year.

Hi Guys,O.K. I installed a Raedon 800XL PCI-E and 1 gig of dual Ch RAM.Things improved considerably! I was able to bump my resolution up to1224X1024. Frames fluctuate between 20 and 30 with F.S. Environment, Active Sky and LDS 767. I am still getting some stutters.But then I flew into KORD and frames dropped to between 5 and 9!!!!Suggestions please :)Thanks,Astro

thats odd... cant figure that out. You shjould be around 50 atleast

Welcome to the Athlon's "World of Problems". LOL! :-lol :-lolNow seriously, since I work computers, I was listening how Athlons usually make troubles (it's not a rule but possibility), and Intels simply don't. Reason why I have Intel.But to possibly help your problem, can you attempt fresh install of XP with SP2, installing according chipset drivers and latest 5.4 Radeon drivers, configuring BIOS appropriately (for instance turning OFF completely the onboard graphics and other unwanted/unneeded stuff)??? Or maybe giving more detailed info about your setup... processes running, services, dx version, driver versions, hardware installed, FS9 configuration and/or sideprograms etc etc... Basically ALL that might even remotely be important.Even with XP 3500+ and X800 you should IMO be getting more than 20-25 fps in general. I'm getting 40fps locked usually (have distance at 100nm and clouds at 40nm - those two eat my performance if I put them higher, and IMO don't take very much realism away).Good luck!