Hello, At this time I currently have a NVIDIA GeForce 5500 256mb video card. I was wanting to know if anyone out there could offer some assistance or suggestions for an upgrade. I would like to stick with NVIDIA. I have been contemplating on this card here Verto GeForce 6600GT Video Card, 8x AGP, 128MB DDR3. The only thing is it's 128MB. But I can get it for about 189.00. Would this card be sufficient for FS9 and running all the details on high with the add-ons of Ultimate Terrain, FSGenesis meshes etc.. Well just put it this way I have a but load of add-ons. Can someone educate me and push me into the right direction or would that card that I suggested be right enough? Oh I have an AMD Athlon 3200+ But it is the socket 754 instead of 939 and I heard I would have to upgrade motherboard and CPU to go PCI Express. And I will just wait on that. Thanks,

>>> Hello,>> At this time I currently have a NVIDIA>GeForce 5500 256mb video card.>> I was wanting to know if anyone out there could offer>some assistance or suggestions for an upgrade. I would like to>stick with NVIDIA.>> I have been contemplating on this card here Verto>GeForce 6600GT Video Card, 8x AGP, 128MB DDR3.>> The only thing is it's 128MB. But I can get it for>about 189.00. Would this card be sufficient for FS9 and>running all the details on high with the add-ons of Ultimate>Terrain, FSGenesis meshes etc.. Well just put it this way I>have a but load of add-ons.>> Can someone educate me and push me into the right>direction or would that card that I suggested be right>enough?>> Oh I have an AMD Athlon 3200+ But it is the socket 754>instead of 939 and I heard I would have to upgrade motherboard>and CPU to go PCI Express. And I will just wait on that.>> Thanks,> I noticed alot of people have read this... Can someone please educate me on this? Thanks,

Hi Josh, I fear it's a difficult call whether a 6600 will do FS much better than the GPU you have. Nevertheless - practically and simply put - an eventual new display adapter will adapt to a very specific display --> yours. :-) So, without an indication about the resolution you're aiming at, advise could be speculation? Please tell us more about your Flytendo and maybe, what you want to achieve? Hope this adds to thoughts, good luck and kind regards Jaap

>Hi Josh, I fear it's a difficult call whether a 6600 will do>FS much better than the GPU you have. Nevertheless ->practically and simply put - an eventual new display adapter>will adapt to a very specific display --> yours. :-) So,>without an indication about the resolution you're aiming at,>advise could be speculation? Please tell us more about your>Flytendo and maybe, what you want to achieve? Hope this adds>to thoughts, good luck and kind regards >>Jaap Baksteen, Thanks for your reply... I am striving on smoothness while flying ocassionally in alot of cloud cover it will kinda stutter very briefly. And I am also striving to get faster framerates. I just didn't know if that NVIDIA GT6600 128mb would be any better than my Nvidia Geforce 5500FX 256mb.. I would like to max out my resoultions on the flight sim and max out my visibilities. I have the latest ActiveSky, Flight Enviroment, and alot of FSGenesis Mesh. And a bunch of others. I figured the processor and ram I have is sufficient enough to run what I have. But I am not sure this stuff is constantly changing. I had a gentlemen tell me that the NVIDIA GT6600 128MB would be better than the one I currently have. But he is also a salesman. So I am not sure. I would be giving up 128mb of ram. But what good is it to have ram when there is no speed behind it. I have noticed the processing speeds on the GT6600 seem to be pretty fast. Just looking for advice from some veterans out here on these subjects and are educated in the area.. Thanks,

Hi Josh, thanks for explaining what you want to achieve. Great information. I only missed a concrete number regarding the res. Anyway, 800x600, 1024x768 or 1280x1024 are pretty big, significant differences. The following links take you to a site which I really like. It lists the technical differences between the various flavours of each GPU. Nvidia: http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx?locat...&var1=88&var2=1Ati: http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx?locat...&var1=88&var2=0As you might be guessing and can see @ Rojakpot's, the difference between the one you have and the one you're considering, doesn't seem too large (a couple of additional pipelines vs more video memory). This is what I usually suggest (ideally spoken and very generally put): - 1024x --> 128-bit/128MB - 1280x --> 256-bit/256MB The type itself depends most on the kind of software you use (compatibility). I think it's fair to state: Radeons seem to suffer less with lots of clouds, whilst Geforces seem to be more compatible with all kinds of apps. Unfortunately, there is no 'this is the ideal GPU' for FS. Hope this answers your query a bit and that the links work. Please don't hesitate if you have further questions. Good luck and kind regards Jaap

At this point, you can't go wrong with a Geforce 6600GT. I have the same CPU as you do and also Socket 754 and have great result with this board. I also use Ultimate Traffic, Ultimate Terrain and a ton of add-ons and have a stable 30fps in the 2D cockpit and around 19-25 in the virtual cockpit with all sliders maxed and 4xAA.PCI Express or AGP does not make any difference at this point - maybe in the future (1-2 years), but by that time you'll have a new mainboard anyway.

Gents, Thanks all for your help suggestions & input. Yeah I couldn't believe it... I just found out recently with my current CPU which is 754 socket set. I will not be able to upgrade to PCI down the road UGH... Oh well guess that is the way the computer world turns (LOL) Take Care,