Currently I would say my machine isn't too bad.. Windows XP homeASUS A8V DELUXEAMD64 3500+1GB GIEL RAM LOW LATENCYX850 XT PE ATI 256MB.. on AGPStandard HDs.. SATA II.. no 10,000rpm jobs..At the moment it chomps FS9 without too much of a problem at all.. I get pretty good frame rates for it.. at 1600x1200.. which is the res I usually run it at... with pretty much everything maxed out... Even with the PMDG 747 running it's pretty smooth really.. only pausing a little between switching views.. but it's nothing to get frustrated about..Bascially.. since my system is AGP.. I'm a bit restricted in terms of video cards.. and FSX kills my PC totally.. it just starts smoking and falls off the desk.. So I am in need of some more grunt.. The problem is upgrading to a PCI-E system is going to cost a lot.. I've priced a decent system up with the 8800GTS card on it for about

If your currently running a 3500+...I'm *Assuming* your A8V is a socket 939 mb...Right...I can't remember the 3500+ being avaliable in the socket754..(I could be wrong??)...*IF* you have a socket939 mb...I'd do your proposed videocard and one of these:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819103037You would stand a much better chance with FSX...FS9 should be Impressive...Just my .02Have Fun...

For AGP, nothing touches this card, it has got some great reviews, it amazes me that ATI havn't jumped on this niche market sooner, when this ATI X1950 card was initially announced a few months ago, it was just going to be a 256mb card, but as FSX likes 512mb cards, it was good to see them go the extra mile.Lots of people are in a situation where they have a pretty decent AGP system but don't want to or cant upgrade to a PCI-E setup needing newer ram, CPU maybe PSU as well as a motherboard graphic upgrade, this performance card fills that gap, nicely.I very nearly bought one this week, but it looks I do have more money coming in very soon, so will hold on and do my PCI-E C2D, DDR2 upgrade, but if I was going for an AGP ATI X1950pro card, it would be the silent, HIS card that has higher clocked memory, better silent cooling solution, OcUK have it on a *this week only* special offer for about

PS CraigHere is the URL for the HIS card, its actually cheaper than i mentioned in my last post ... on OcUK's this week deal, but still a better performer than the Sapphire card that they also do.http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct....rodid=GX-069-HTI think their *This week deals* are only valid until Thursday of each week? Not sure?This is what I'd go for, also, if you can can put another extra 1 GB of ram in that comp without splashing out too much that would be better spent on a complete revamp of your system, then that would help FSX too.

Hi Craig,You're in the same boat as me. I wasn't ready to splash out on a new system as I felt my P4 still had plenty of life left in it. So, I bought the Sapphire X1950Pro 512Mb AGP three weeks ago and it's transformed FSX. My previous 9800Pro 128Mb ran out of memory and the graphics looked awful on FSX although it ran FS9 pretty well.With a P4 3.0, 1Gb RAM and the X1950Pro I can run FS9 well and FSX quite well. I keep the sliders to reasonable levels and have seen frame rates in the 20's on the ground and in the 40's when airborne. And if I tell you this is on a Dell 24" display running at 1920*1200 you can see just how powerful this card is! AA is set to 6X and AF to 16X.Now the big difference on my system is I fly with no 2D or 3D panel visible because I use Project Magenta Boeing suite. This is glass cockpit software that you can run via WideFS on a second PC so it frees up resources on my main machine. I just have the full forward view which helps to keep frame rates high.But even with a default FSX panel the card will still do the business. It's the best

Your posts are really helpful guys.. I think I'm gonna wait for a while now... the software I want to run on FSX isn't here yet.. (waiting for the PMDG stuff).. I am gonna wait until then before I do anything and then take it from there.. Although.. I am keen on a new display (which I'll take to the next PC anyway, so that's not wasted money by any means) and getting this thing speeded up.. In the time it will take this software that I want to get released.. I am hoping prices for the ATI card will have reduced and this DX10 row to have settled down..But for me the best option, and most cost effective.. would be the new ATI GFX card for AGP.Thanks again to you all.. It's nice to hear from people who actually have this kit too..CheersCraig