I have been running with the Cat. 7.1's for the longest time, but yesterday in reading at Tom's Hardware the article on the newly released (Cat 7.10's) and how ATI claims FPS improvements of up to 30 percent as well as better graphics in quite a few games, I decided to try them out. What the heck, it's easy to go back to the 7.1's......well....the Cat 7.1's are retired!The Cat 7.10's are giving me visuals that I have NEVER HAD before.An example: If I look out onto the rotating patch/swath of the left prop on the B300, I now have a biting-edge 'glint' of the tip of the props. This is something new for me. Obviously the drivers are 'opening up' greater detail. At least on my card. It could be the Alpha Channels, new or tuned up.Also, you now have SUPER SAMPLING as well as Multi-Sampling for Adaptive A.I. I am using the SUPER Sampling mode at present. I am using the ATI CATLYST CONTROL CENTER (that the driver suite sets up).The textures, whether on the ground or upon the aircraft are all razor-sharp. The clouds have never looked better.And this is from a guy who was staying back with the 7.1's for the longest time. Everything past those had given me less performance UNTIL yesterday and the release of the new 7.10's.This is a great driver release for all ATI products.They do say though that this release is TUNED for all 1000 series cards. The Cat 7.10's are driving my ATI X1950 Pro fabulously.Back to over Thunder Bay... :)Cheers!Mitch

Very cool. Excellent news. It's always cool when 'something' makes FS look even better and makes us say: "D*mn! Why didn't I try that before!?!?!" :)

You bet! I was heading back to my flight and caught your comment. So, I'd thought to respond.Yes..that prop 'glint' coming off of the tips is REALLY neat!!!!!So...it DOES prove that drivers make the world of difference in what you finally see.Check it out for yourself. I am at around FL 210 and breaking out from the scud. They look so flippin' real, and also check out how 'chromed' the prop hubs are in their reflections, also brought to you by the Alpha channels.:))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))Yeee-haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!Life is good,Back to flyin'...Mitch

This is so cool...that new prop tip 'glint' is morphing and flexing as the props are biting into different air densities, NO KIDDING!It gives the visual that your props are flexing along the lateral line of the fuselage in relation to the air density as I said.My friend just set up his copy of the ATI 7.10's (he runs FSX) and reports the exact same new visual (off of his X1950 Pro) for the prop tips on the FSX stock B350 King Air.Good stuff for both platforms!Mitch

I took your advice a while back and downloaded some special drivers for the x1950 pro and my performance has been amazing ever since. I'm a bit nervous about messing with a system that runs almost perfect.Rob Prest

Rob, you can always go back to what you have at present.If my advice was good then (smile), let the logic flow...:)These (new 7.10's) make my 'standard/fall back' 7.1's look like a DOG. and THEY were good!Try the 7.10's out. I can't imagine based upon what I am getting in performance that you will disappointed! But possibly if so, you can simply reinstall what you are now running with at this time.Cheers!Mitch

Hey Mitch, Lol thanks your right again! these drivers Rock... the fs9.cfg writes another display entry so it's a good idea to go in and delete it. So far so good. going to do a short hop online from Ellx - Eham to see if any bugs are lurking. Thanks mateRob

How do i find out what drivers iam using.Tried dxdiag but cant find any numbers relating to anything like 7.xxx.ThanksDavee6600x1950xtx

I can only confirm everything. Same here, better performance, better visuals.

Anything in Tom's hardware article about nvidia cards and video drivers giving the same improvements?Thanks.Paul.

Nope...this was only because ATI released this driver suite for their product '1000' line yesterday.Only for ATI and CAT. 7.10's.Mitch

As always, you are most welcome! :)BTW, I went into my .cfg file and couldn't find another entry because I changed/updated to the 7.10's.I still have the Radeon X1950 Pro running at 1920x1200.Where did you find the pointer to the 710's, Rob?Mitch

Dave, just open up the CATALYST CONTROL CENTER and see where the TAG is for driver information. It ill tell you the package you are using, like for example 6.8, 6.9 blah, blah, 7.2, 7.8 etc.The latest is the newly released 7.10's I originally posted about.Cheers,Mitch

Here is the link talking about the performance improvements by using the new 7.10's. It sure spices up FS9! FSX too!http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/34344/135/

I knew I should have stuck with ATI.