Hi all, first let me give a background to my current situation-I have a reasonably strong setup.2.4ghz,712mb ram(256+512) baracooda 80gb hdd, xp(home)all based on a asus p4xp motherboard. From day one I have had good frame rates but severe stuttering to go along with it. This issue exists in fs9,fs2k2,cfs3 and msts. Based on the excellent advise given during my previous rant on this forum I junked my fx5200 based graphics card and installed a 128 mb radeon 9800 pro. It made a HUGE difference to the frame rates-money well spent. But the stutters are still there!. I did all the usual magic-ending all uneeded processes,turning off avg,de- activating the firewall,setting my fps to a reasonable 25, turning down the sliders etc. I also defrag often and also use adaware.I have NO addons running in any of my games.What more can I do?. Could this be a motherboard issue?. One thing with my system is that the data cables inside are rather twisted courtesy of the lack of space inside. Could this cause any problems?. I have played around with the appreature size in the bios to no avail. I have also used the pci latency trick. Where could the bottle neck be?. Should I call it a day with this system and get something new?. Iam really lost!. Any further advice would be appreciated.RegardsBharath Narayan

Which version of ATI Catalyst drivers are you using with your 9800 Pro? I find that I get the best stutter-free performance using Catalyst 5.1 or using Omega 5.1 drivers.

Its the newest ones of the ati website(5.3?). But I have used older ones as well-it was no better. Thanks anyway but Iam starting to feel this is a hardware issue.RegardsBharath Narayan

Hi Bharath,I am no expert but in doing research for my first computer build, I understand that poor IDE cables and/or routing can lead to poor signal integrity and throttle data transfer rates between cpu and hard drives. Wheather this is enough to cause FS to studder, I don't know. Of course there are other settings in the drivers which could also affect performance--IDE DMA enable (for example).If the inside of your case, is really snarled with flat ribbon cables, you could also have a thermal problem. P4s can throttle themselves if overheated.Finally, I'm sure you have tried the ususal techniques for easing the load by FS. In my opinion, the most effective are: frame rate friendly clouds (FS environment or FS Sky World), AI traffic to 0%, reduce resolution (1280 x 720 for example), lock frame rates (20 - 25), display quality (AA 2x and AIF 4x for me), reduce or turn off autogen. -Jim

Hi; Try reducing your "Global Texture" slider, might help. DNProfessional Tourist