Hi, first post, here we go..I have a 3G pentium, 1Gig RAM, but only an X300 graphics card, which I believe uses 128Mb motherboard memory. Normally I am happy with the frame rates, around 25 most of the time, only dropping to 12-14 when approaching big airports.But, the thing that really annoys me is when I suddenly look sideways, it takes a couple of seconds to fill in the ground textures square by square. I also get pauses when using spot view to pan around the sky.7300GT cards are pretty cheap and by my reconing should be about 5x quicker than the X300, it also has 256mb of its own memory.Will one of these improve the above problems? or will it just make framerates quicker because my bottleneck is somewhare else?Thanks for any opinions, Ady

I upgraded from G4 TI-4200 to X850PRO and saw a dramatic change in as far as the speed of loading textures... the difference in FPS was not all that big, but upgrade did add to smoothness a bit. However the textures do load a lot faster then compare to TI-4200... well they almost do not load now.. they like always loaded.I do not know about X300 card you have I just can tell you that from GF4-TI-4200 to X850PRO I got a super boost in loading texture time.. (again nothing special as far as FPS), but keep in mind few of my sliders went up together with the install of new card... :)Took me however to find a right driver I use some OMEGA drivers was so long I forgot what version... with ATI TRAY TOOLS.My CPU is P4- 3GHz

>>But, the thing that really annoys me is when I suddenly look>sideways, it takes a couple of seconds to fill in the ground>textures square by square. I also get pauses when using spot>view to pan around the sky.>One setting in your FS9.CFG file is called TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT.That value is by default 40, or 80 or I can't remember.Anyway, try setting it to 160, or 300, and see if the texture squares don't draw in faster.***You really should READ the pinned thread on FS optimization in the Hardware forum here. It explains in great detail what to do.With 128 megs vram, I'd try a value of 160.***>7300GT cards are pretty cheap and by my reconing should be>about 5x quicker than the X300, it also has 256mb of its own>memory.>A 7300GT would help some. With 256 megs you could set TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT to a value like 360, which would speed up the texture square redraw even more.>Will one of these improve the above problems? or will it just>make framerates quicker because my bottleneck is somewhare>else?>If your present video is on-board video, (which I can't quite tell, from what you describe) then yes, any modern standalone vid card will be superior to what you have now.Keep in mind, DirectX10 will come out early next year, and the minute it does, all existing graphics cards will be obsolete. So if it were me I would not spend a lot on a video card right now. Maybe $200 tops. In your case, you could probably spend $150 and get a much better graphics subsystem than you have right now. I don't think you would get out-and-out much better frame rates, but you WOULD get better redraw and fewer blurries.Rhett

Rhett,>>***You really should READ the pinned thread on FS optimization in the Hardware forum here. It explains in great detail what to do.With 128 megs vram, I'd try a value of 160.***I've got a printout of it somewhere, i'll try another readthrough>>If your present video is on-board video, (which I can't quite tell, from what you describe) then yes, any modern standalone vid card will be superior to what you have now.It's a standalone card, but it was at the very bottom of the ATI range when I bought my PC a year ago. I think it uses 128MB of the main RAM, but I was always happy with its performance in games like GTA or Battlefield 1942, so I never considered upgrading it until now. I have most of my sliders maxed out, the only thing I'm really cutting back on is by using simple clouds.I'll try the texture bandwidth thing and see what happens.OK, I'm editing this post 10 minutes later, that made a huge difference, there's no visible texture loading at all now, although I still get the pauses when panning around it doesn't seem as bad. Maybe I don't need a new video card after all, although it would be nice to have those fancy clouds and reflections on!Thanks, Ady

Hi Ady,I assume you have a PCIE slot. If so this may help in your decision. I just finished upgrading my ATI 600, which I believe is one step above the A300, with an EVGA 7600GS-256MB PCIE. I tested the upgrade at EGLL since that particular airport is where I have the lowest fps and texure redraws. Bottom line I have seen a 3-5 fps increase and the texture i.e. in 2D panel side views are now instant. I have AI set at 90% and slidders at max. The VC is smooth and overall texture redraws are much improved. I have been pleased to date although I am still evaluating this new card. What I have experienced to-date I would recommend it. It is one of the more resonably prices for the buck. I bought it at CC for $149 and $90 After rebates (2-$30rebates). Would also like to add I had excellent EVGA support per telephone.Hope this helps,CarlDell E510, P4 3.4GHZ, 1GRAM, EVGA 7600GS-256mb PCIE.

>OK, I'm editing this post 10 minutes later, that made a huge>difference, there's no visible texture loading at all now,>although I still get the pauses when panning around it doesn't>seem as bad. Maybe I don't need a new video card after all,>although it would be nice to have those fancy clouds and>reflections on!>What did you change TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT to? 160?It makes a difference on every system I've tried it on. You can experiment with other values. Keep in mind I have heard that it works in increments of 40, in other words, 40, 80, 120, 160, 200, 240, etc.The highest value I've heard of is 400. I think with 128 megs vid ram 160 is about ideal but you can experiment. Remember that TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT affects the "big texture square redraw issue".Rhett

Rhett,Yes I just put 160 in and gave it a quick blast out from Boston Logan (that's where I happen to be on my grand tour of the US!). Are the any disadvantages to setting a higher value?Thanks again, Ady

CarlYes it's a PCI-EI might stretch to a 7600GS, the cheapest prices I've seen in the UK are

Ady,I was aware of the fan noise for some of the 7600GS models. The one I bought has only the BIG heat sink. Using the Nivda drivers I am able to keep track of the temps, which have not been a problem. This model does state you need at least a 400 watt PS, which the E510 only has a 350watt. I don't think that will create a problem since past Dells I ran video cards that stated they needed a 400w ps and I only had a 250W. It also has a lifetime warranty.eGeForce 7600Gs, 256MB, DDR2, DVI SLI.Carl

If you go with too high of a value, you might get stutters and pauses.Too low of a value, and you'll see the gray texture loading squares.You just have to experiment. Generally 160 is good for 128 megs of video ram.Rhett

The Blurries problem is hard to eradicate. I have Niveda FX-5900 Ultra with 256MB AGP Video card... the bluries is killing me when I use a large size phtosceneries like Megascenery.I have tried everything and have given up on phtosceneries.I am pretty convinced that the weakest link in FSim hardware is the CPU. HT or multicore would help to some extent..but that singe CPU spead matters so much. I don't believe a quad core would matter one bit... I think..a core duo process that has the top speed is what we need.... that single CPU speed is the bottle neck for flight sim.. In my uneducated, unscientific biased opinion.A single 10 Ghz processor would do well for Flight Sim at this jucture. Going from dual core to Quad core processor is going the wrong way as far as flight sim is concerned. JMO.:)Manny

Hi all,Just a quick update, I bought the 7300GT card yesterday (actually the overclocked core/DDR3 version of it), and was mightily impressed. Old 3dmark03 score was 919, new one is 8937!OK, it doesn't get rid of the odd stutters, I didn't expect that, but now I have everything maxed out and it looks so much nicer.Thanks all, ady

>OK, it doesn't get rid of the odd stutters, I didn't expect>that, but now I have everything maxed out and it looks so much>nicer.You might try turning "Global Texture Size" down to medium or less in your FS9 display settings. That just about cured the occasional stutter I was getting.RhettAMD 3700+ powered by Gerbil wheel + gerbil, eVGA 7800GT 256, ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 gigs Corsair TWINX, blah blah, etc. etc.