It's all about the video card

[Forkboy2 27]

Ok, I finally gave up trying to get FSX to work with my ATI 9800 with 128 megs. So went out to Fry's today and threw down $199 for a PNY 7600 GS with 512 megs of DDR2. I'm still stuck with AGP since I won't be ready to upgrade MB, for at least 6 months.Wow....what a difference. FSX was pretty much unusable with the 9800 and is amazing with the new card. Clearly, it's all about having enough video memory. I think now my processor (P4 3.0 ghz. with 1 GB dual channel RAM) is probably the limiting factor, but I think I can get by for the next 6-9 months with what I have now.So if you have a 128 meg card, I would highly recommend moving up and getting a card with 256 or 512 megs of memory. A 256 meg video card really should be the minimum system requirement to get any enjoyment out of FSX.Anyway, just my 2 cents. Matt Fox

[Bray 1]

Ok so what was the improvement in FPS? We need numbers :-)Bill

[jsshields 0]

I did the same, going from a Geforce 6600 128MB DDR to a Geforce 7600GS 512MB 128-bit GDDR2. I have a 3.0 with 2 GB RAM.The following is anecdotal, at best, since I haven't tried to replicate flights in the same areas, aircraft, etc, between the two versions and cards:Running the demo, I was getting about 4-6 FPS running the visual approach mission in the CRJ. I didn't play with the settings at all. Just encountering the stuttering graphics prompted me to upgrade the card before I got my hands on the retail version.Since the card upgrade (I now have the retail (deluxe) version), I was getting 8-9 (with some swings up to 11-13) FPS on the ground at KSEA and KBFI in pretty much every aircraft. In the air on flights to PDX I would get upwards of 18-20. I've since made the terrain adjustments to the FSX.cfg found in this forum and on PC-12's blog, added Matt's autogen file, and played with the sliders a bit. Most are set pretty high (none below medium high, except for the cars, which are set at 10%, which looks perfect to me where I fly).Now I'm getting 13-15 on the ground (larger airports including KSEA and LAX), and easily 21-25 in the air. I set my target FPS for 25.My plan (once I escape from work) is to go back in and lower the TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_TREES_PER_CELL=XXX to something lower than 300, which is what I have it at now....see if I can squeeze a few more frames outta that.Jeff

[Guest Derek D]

Yes, if you have a low memory graphics card then that is one of the best upgrades you can make (and relatively low cost too). I had an ATI 9800 Pro as well and the game was constantly blurry--the game wasn't able to load the high res textures completely even if I sat in one spot. The VCs were blurry as well.My new X1600 Pro with 512MB took care of the blurries although I can't say it did much in the way of improving fps, which is likely being limited by my CPU (2000+ Athlon MP).

[Forkboy2 27]

>Ok so what was the improvement in FPS? We need numbers :-)>>>BillIt wasn't even a matter of frame rates. In my opinion, FSX wasn't even flyable with the 9800.With the new card frame rates can be all over the place depending on the settings, but is definately flyable with enough turned up to make it a worthwhile move from FS9.Also, related to FPS, FSX seems smooth with frame rates locked around 14-15. FS9 that wasn't true until around 18-19 fps.Matt

[Guest twsimfan]

"Ok, I finally gave up trying to get FSX to work with my ATI 9800 with 128 megs. So went out to Fry's today and threw down $199 for a PNY 7600 GS with 512 megs of DDR2. I'm still stuck with AGP since I won't be ready to upgrade MB, for at least 6 months."I wasn't planning to do any hardware upgrading until after Vista releases and not then unless I could figure out where to come up with some cash. But yesterday morning when I booted I found that I had graphic annomollies all over and going into any game with 3D was like a psycadellic light show.I also had a ATI Radeon 9800 Pro with 128MB of video memory. I went to CompUSA and got a BFG GeForce 7600 GS OC with 512MB of DDR2 for $150. It not only cleared up my problem but wow what a difference in sims.I don't have the full FSX yet... my copy of the deluxe version should be here late in the week. So I went into the FSX demo and watched the demo flight... not stutter free but probably 500% better than before. Then I went into settings to bump aircraft detail to max before doing a free flight but I got carried away and set the water to max detail too. I knew I'd never be able to get away with that but wanted to see how it went. Wow! Stutter free and no filling in of texture blocks... they were all there already and it was drop dead gorgeous. I couldn't believe it. I can't tell you the fps because I can't remember how it turn it on... thought Ctrl-F but that must be another sim. But like I said it was stutter free and that is all that really counts. :)I have a 2.8ghz P4 with 2GB of DDR RAM. I imagine having the 2GB helps too but that is how I configured this system when I bought it 2 or 3 years ago. I now have hopes that I can hold off a year or two on a new system so I can save up for a good one.I also wanted to try out a resource demanding driving sim so I fired up GTL and cranked the detail to full on it and ran a 5 lapper against 10 opponents and again... wow! Even the replay was totally stutter free and the detail was so pretty it would make you drool. Now I need to go into FS04 and try out the Manhatten scenery with this video card.I have never had a GeForce card before. I had some issues with them a few years ago but heck I can't even remember exactly what they did to upset me now. I've only had the install done for about 2 hours but so far this card is a dream come true. :)