I also took the AMD64 and PCI-e road. Reading several gamersite reviews (no FS2004 benchmarks :-()I decided to go for the GeForce 6600GT Extreme. The card disappointed me FS2004 wise, and that's where I bought it for! Like many others mentioned here, FPS suffers a lot when you increase AA/AF in the driver. FPS was even lower than my 9800Pro. As my reseller knew the new hardware was supposed to improve FS2004 performance, he agreed in taking it back. I now have a ATI X800XL 256MB PCI-e card. This card combined with the AMD64 3500 processor boosted my FPS in heavy graphical situations with approx 30-40%! (I came from AMD 2600+ with 9800Pro). In all circumstances fluidity of FS2004 is much much better than I used to have on my previous system. In general I too dare to state: when using AA/AF in FS2004, go for ATI.

I upgraded my ati 9800 pro to an x800 xl and while visually not much more quality because of fs9 limitations but performance is much better and 6x AA and 16x quality is now my setting compared to 4x and 8x perf mode. I'm quite happy with the extra 10 frames because its not a slide show not even in heavy clouds since ati is known of handling these clouds well. Also its worth the investment the x800 is a good price and doubles the 9800 pro in most things its also a 16 pipeline card. Therefore i find the x850 expensive BUT if you run at higher resolution than me maybe its for you. I prefer upgrading monitor so i can run 1600x1200 res and i think this card is perfect for it. Presently im at 1280x1024 but the good news is i can run 6x aa and 16x af. My other system specs are p4 3.0ghz and 1 gig ram asus p4p 800 dx and running the x800 XL AGP version. If anyone tried the x850 from an x800 and initially 9800 pro i really want to hear from you. Bare in mind at lower resolutions it may be overkill and the price is WAY expensive especially if you stay in AGP which will be around maximum 1 more year then PCI e will be a must. For me this will buy me more time before another system upgrade and i am still debating between this and x850 but again its double the price!!Comments are welcome!

Hi, what framerates are you getting in busy airports with lots of traffic? I want to upgrade my 9500 pro to an 9800 pro or maybe x800 but my limitation is de 2.4 cpu.thanks Joost

>Hi, >what framerates are you getting in busy airports with lots of>traffic? I want to upgrade my 9500 pro to an 9800 pro or maybe>x800 but my limitation is de 2.4 cpu.>>thanks JoostI have a 9800 pro witha 2.4G P4At JFK with 100% AI I get 7-11 before moving, less afterwards but not by much. But there are stalling instances, short periods of inactivity...when looking around in the VC.It is on approach that the frames take a hit.I usually use 50% AI or less and get 7 to 12 on approach depending on where.allen

Hmm. I seem to get great smooth perf with the BFG 6800 GT OC. I run 1600x with 4xAA, 8xAF, ActiveSky 5, FDC, ActiveCamera, FScene 2004. I set my lock on 31 fps, and it stays between 29 and 31 almost 100% with sliders maxed to the right. Plus, this benchmark comparison affirms this. My OC runs at Ultra speeds, so from this, you can see GT OC runs FS at 1600x 4xAA/8xAF at twice the thruput of the 9800 XT. If you aren't seeing this, something is set up wrong, and/or your processor is too weak. What's more, I have had no lock ups or driver problems as I had with my old 9700 Pro. That thing was a fragile sucker in terms of driver stability, and I know how to clean out and set up drivers. My experience with nVidia has been outstanding since buying this card.Cheers

Hi all,I have been following this topic with interest as I am considering a major upgrade soon.No one has mentioned how the 6800 and the X800/850 perform regarding mini freezes on panning, texture loading speed etc. Are these graphics card issues or are they affected by other components ? (processor, ram etc.)Thanks, Mark.Gigabyte 875P motherboardPentium 4, 2.4 ghz processorNVIDIA GeForce FX5600 128 mb graphics processor1 gb RAMSoundblaster Live

Update on my experience.........I just traded in my 6800GT (from 9800PRO) for the 800XL.I must say it is working much better for me than the GT. FPS are about the same during taxi and landing(around 17-21),but during flight in the clouds the X800 performed better. I still have that stutter during panning,but I guess everyone does.Unless you are running a super cpu. I am running P4 3 gig,1 gig RAM.For Mark....if you are going to do a major upgrade,keep in mind the 800XL is a few months old already......either the 850 or the new nvidia 7800 should do better,however those cards are not cheap.I am also going to build a new machine,but for now,what I have will have to do.On a side note,the 800XL also has video in/out and a very good DVD software player.

Hi Mark,I get no minifreezes anywhere. What's even better, is that I also rarely ever see texture loading--it's all loaded up front. If you would like, I will send you an uncompressed screen print so you can appreciate the IQ for yourself. I'm sure X850 are awesome, but the lack of problems with this 6800GT OC has made, as you can tell, a nice impression on me. I had very many recurrent issues with my Radeon 9700 Pro, which was awesome in its day, but the number if issues with this game or that, lockups, etc, gives me an especially good experience with the nVid card I have now. Interestingly, the 9700 Pro did not have issues with FS. But it did with a few other favorites, including nasty freezes in TW2003 and beyond, and a few other places. ALL games run super with this 6800GT.To be fair, I run lighter aircraft: Cessna Citation X, PMDG B1900D, Flight1 Piper Meridian (fantastic older payware), and an occasional trip in the PMDG 737NG--this guy slows down the system a bit, but again, very excellent perf all the same. Just a bit slower in terms of its texture loads. All other aircraft view switches are instantaneous.Noel

I get no stutters anywhere, including during panning, or mouse-panning with ActiveCamera. Silky smooth is the rule. 6800GT. What aircraft are you running? Must be the very heavy stuff . . .

Just curious i don't have a video in/out all i have is the s-video for x800xl?

Hi Noel and all,Now I'm really confused. Some are saying ATI and others swear by NVIDIA.I tend to be a bush pilot so the planes aren't that heavy, Aerosoft Beaver, FSD Porter, B1900, Mr Shupes beautiful new D-18. However I do have Mysty Fjords with lots of detailed airports, heavy mesh in BC and lots of other areas, that sort of thing.With my current rig in these places I average 16-25 fps which isn't bad.The mini freezes when panning are the irritating thing.Any opinions ?Cheers,Mark.Gigabyte 875P motherboardPentium 4, 2.4 ghz processor1 gb RAMNVIDIA GeForce FX5600 128 mb Soundblaster Live

>Just curious i don't have a video in/out all i have is the>s-video for x800xl?I have the Asus AX800XL that has vivo and 2x DVI. http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=2&l2...400&modelmenu=1

>Now I'm really confused. Some are saying ATI and others swear>by NVIDIA.I'm afraid it's been like this since a long time. NVIDIA versus ATI. It's like Canon versus Nikon. Minifreezes are not just videocard hardware related. It's your whole system that is involved, both hardware and (running) software. I still dare to state: most people and 'in general' the ATI performs better when AA/AF is used, aspecially combined with clouds.

"Now I'm really confused. Some are saying ATI and others swear by NVIDIA."I'd say in this forum you get a similar number of ATI users cheering on ATI as nVidia users cheering on nVidia, but I'd say you'll see more nVidia users wishing they had done the ATI thing instead of vice versa.Gary

Say what you will, but my 9700 Pro (as did my brother's who put one in his machine) locked up in odd ways in several games, on occasion, and just enough to make it an annoyance. No problems whatsoever with my 6800GT. Have no regrets . . .