Hi all,I would like your opinion on upgrading my graphics card.My system is:Pentium D 2.80GHz, 2.79GHz Radeon X1300 Series1GB RAMXP Professional SP 2 Media Center Edition + all updatesmy drives are simply what came with the machine so nothing special.I'm considering upgrading the graphics card to:Sapphire Technology Radeon X1950XThttp://www.sapphiretech.com/uk/products/pr...?gpid=169&grp=3Am I likely to see any improvement with this upgrade in FSX or FS9 or am I kidding myself?Currently I can fly with 17 FPS in FSX in rural areas which has been really fun. I just about survive flying over airports with the FPS set to 12. Most of the built in missions in FSX are just too slow to be fun.I've been contemplating building a serious rig for FSX, but I feel now would be the wrong time with so many questions regarding Vista, DX10 etc and the possibilities of new hardware coming out soon. Also the reports on here that nothing seems to be guaranteed with current hardware.Is it worth staying with my current system and adding some upgrades such as the graphics card above, some more RAM and better disk drives to get a little more from FSX for the next 12 months or so, or is my base computer simply not up to the job?Many thanks for your time,Gemma

Hi Gemma,<When I changed my 128Mb 9800Pro for a Sapphire 512Mb X1950Pro I did expect a small improvement in frame rates but my primary reason was to be able to run FS9 at a much higher resolution than 1280*1024. I had longed for a large screen display and my heart was set on the Dell 24" running at 1920*1200.I knew the 9800Pro wouldn't have the muscle and when I saw that a new AGP card was out with 512Mb I jumped at it. The end result is that my frame rates are the same but I'm getting them with 1920*1200!In FSX it has made a considerable difference and I'm more able to enjoy the scenery than I could with the 9800Pro. If you want to extend the life of your system for another 12-18 months until processors are fast enough then this card will help. 1Gb RAM should be enough for XP but wait until you've changed the card and then reassess things. No point spending too much for 12-18 months.For

Thanks for that Ray, it seems like the best bet for me at the moment, rather than spending mega amounts on new hardware just for FSX and then to get SNAFU. It's good to know you got a positive result with the card.My board is PCI-E, but the reviews are the same for both version, the card coming out as one of the strongest right now in the cost vs. performance equation.This way I can save up the rest of my pennies for an outrageous dedicated rig for FSX when we know a little bit better how FSX SP1 (news sounds positive from MS) and DX10 implementation on Vista goes.Best wishes,Gemma

Hi Gemma,Glad that was of some help. I have FSX installed but rarely use it preferring FS9 with Ultimate Terrain, Ground Environment and FS Global. In comparison the default European scenery in FSX is hugely disappointing. :-(DX10 is going to have to be really good to convince me to switch to Vista and a new machine. There have been some negative vibes coming out regarding Vista that make me reluctant to change to it. Very pretty but quite expensive. Now who does that remind me of? :-lolMaybe the new Intel chips due out later this year will finally allow 25fps performance in FSX with all sliders to the right and in built-up areas with 100% Ai.Cheers,

Hi Ray, I kinda like FSX, being a newbie on both FS9 and FSX, so not having many addons for FS9 only Realflight VFR and airports to me FSX looks better! I'm hoping that the new UK VFR scenery for FSX will be really good, screen shots I've seen look the business and that should help out in FSX even more. Somehow FSX seems to me to be more convincing as a flight model, not sure what it is but I do get a much better feeling of flying so for me it is more immersive. I also just love that Grumman Goose, something about it makes it really dreamy to fly around in especially on my 1680 x 1050 wide screen monitor, it looks more like watching a movie half the time. A real plus to me is the mouse pan in the VCs too, I nice feature I think.I was thinking along the same lines with DX10 - I'm not sure when we will see it and I'm also not sure it will be worth the wait, certainly not in its first incarnation, time will tell. I suspect things won't really move on until sometime after the release of DX10 when the hardware catches up with it, maybe FSX will go by the wayside in that time. Like many I'm not rushing to buy Vista, I've just this week purchased a spare license for XP Pro to keep handy. With that in mind I had a bit of a brain storm and thought well in for a penny in for a pound and clicked on the buy button for a Sapphire Radeon X1950 XTX a tad more pricey than the XT, but I hope it will see me well if the best way with FSX in the near future does turn out to be shear CPU grunt and XP Pro. All the best,Gemma

Hi Gemma,<<...not having many addons for FS9 only Realflight VFR and airports to me FSX looks better! >>Very understandable. The raw FS9 also doesn't look that good.<>I've seen good reports from those that have it. I doubt you'll be disappointed.<>The default models are much improved on FS9 but not many use the default FS9 aircraft. I fly the PMDG737 range which are very good. I saw on your profile that you're starting your PPL so you know a lot more than me about flight models :-)<>I don't fly the Goose but agree that a widescreen monitor makes a big difference to the immersive factor.I hope you enjoy that XTX. :-waveCheers,