I was running with ATI driver suite 8.10 over the last couple of weeks, and also, last week updated my DX9.c to the latest November/2008 update. With running 8.10 along side it, I didn't truly notice any real performance increase. I also didn't notice any DECREASE either. I was running around 24-27 nominal FPS's.But...with this morning replacing ATI 8.10 for ATI 8.11----and doing NOTHING ELSE in any form of a tweak---just flying... I am most happy to report that I am getting 7-10 FPS more than I had at any time with using the previous driver suite release (8.10).I have much smoother animation as well.I also keep my hard drive groomed with O&O v8.5 with SPACE and NAME/COMPLETE on a regular basis. I'm sure this helps in my great (for my P4 3.4) FPS performance.RUN AND GRAB suite 8.11. FSX will thank you, lol!!!P4 3.4 MHzATI 256 1950 Pro4 gigs of RAM'Das al folks....and now back to flying! :)BTW---am flying today in heavy cloud formations..and am pulling 34 mean average FPS, with highs and peaks into the 40's and 50's. 34 FPS is easy to maintain with this latest driver suite. Yeehawwwwwwww!cheers,Mitch

Forgot to mention, that with 8.10, I had some building textures that would flash or disappear when viewed at a certain angle. Also the taxi guide yellow markers would do likewise, but not always.ATI suite 8.11 has removed the above two anomalies.

...in my system blurb.Yeah, I know...everybody already knew that... (smile!)

Hey Mitch,Glad to see you're still chugging along with your P4 and X1950 Pro :)Latest and greatest aren't always mandatory requirements for us lesser mortals..LOL! I too have been using the 8.10's along with Ray's ATTs (v.1.6.9.1368) and I'm wondering whether you have been noticing that ATI's driver forces a reset of the monitor's colour calibration data on switching to full screen? As you may recall, I have the SyncMaster 226BW and the factory defaults are dreadful with a nasty blue bias. I managed to fix this by calibrating with Spyder2express and this customized .icm file is loaded each time XP loads.Rather than harp on at length in this thread can I ask you to amble over to the Guru3D forums and view my various posts on the subject? I think my concerns are evident although I do have to say that I'm a little surprised that more folk haven't chipped in. Ray appears a little reluctant to invest some time on this and I can understand his position if the need for a solution is not high on his list of priorities and, indeed, he may not be able to do anything anyway.http://forums.guru3d.com/forumdisplay.php?f=33I'm 'Cruachan47' and you will note I had to post several times to coax Ray into providing responses ;)I'm very tempted by your recommendation to try the 8.11's. I updated from the (WHQL) 7.10's to the (WHQL) 8.10's a few weeks back and so far they have been working fine, apart from this calibration issue.Best regards,Mike :-waveASRock 939Dual-SATA2 (AM2CPU Board), AMD Athlon 64X2 6400+ (BE,3200MHz,Windsor), Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro, 2GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 PC2-6400 4-4-4-12(2T) (Dual Channel), (PCI-E)Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB (Catalyst 8.10 WHQL), SB Audigy2 ZS Platinum (Drivers version 5.12.0001.1196 WHQL), Antec NeoHE 650W PSU, Windows XP Home Edition (SP3), DirectX 9.0c

After installing the 8.11 I ran, not walked to the storeand bought a 260 maxcore;):-)

Hi Mike!You know Mike, I have been following VERY CLOSELY, (oh yeah....) other folk's forays into the newer and greater rigs from P4's, through multi-cores...and truly they haven't had the big bang for the buck that I thought they would over a fast P4 core. Of course, just a personal opinion.I have a long-paid-for 3.4 GHz system pumping out pretty respectable FPS in both FSX and totally---within FS9 with cr*p loaded to the max..lol.I can't see dropping hundreds to thousands for a few more FPS's, or slightly crisper ground textures. I am waiting to see what FSXI will bring to the table, and then if the flippin' thing actually runs well out of the box on every body's current high end units...then I'll start seriously looking to retire my P4. Until then...most happy with my savings....and acceptable performance to run both FS9 and FSX.I use Samsung's MAGIC TUNE PREMIUM to set up my color temps...and it holds those values no matter what I do with any application. I suggest you give it a try. You can pick it up on SAMSUNG's site, Mike. There are a few boards that won't work with it, but happy to report that an ATI branded chip set 1950 Pro does...and excellently so.I'll read your posts and see if I can add for the better to the mix. If not..at least I'll be informed. :)Cheers!Mitch'er

Hi, Id like to know if the lag with the menus when the ALT key is pressed, is still there. I have my 4870 waiting in the box. With Cat. 8.10 the bug was present.Thanks in advance.Miquel Egea.

>Hi, Id like to know if the lag with the menus when the ALT>key is pressed, is still there. I have my 4870 waiting in the>box. With Cat. 8.10 the bug was present.>Thanks in advance.>Miquel Egea.--------------------------------Hi Miquel,I have had that 'lag' ever since I bought FS9, and through all driver sets. It is still there with the 8.11's. I'm not sure if it is a driver issue, but rather FS9 itself?!?I CAN tell you that the 8.11's are great performers. Give them a try. :)Mitch

Thanks Mitch.Regards.Miquel Egea.

Hi Mitch,Clearly you've had better luck than me. I can't even get MagicTune Premium (1.0.109) to start. The following message keeps appearing despite several reboots:"Please restart your system for the program to operate normally"Hmm!? I've submitted a support ticket and wait to see what Samsung have to say.Seems I'm being thwarted at every turn with this calibration issue in full screen :(Regards,Mike

Hi Mitch,Got a reply from Samsung:"The error message you are receiving is caused by an incompatibility between your graphics card and the software itself, unfortunately at this time your particular card is not supported in MagicTune.Samsung attempt to make our software compatible with as many graphic cards on the market as possible, however unfortunately it is not always possible, due to the large amount of these products on the market, and the ever changing technology. I would suggest monitoring our website for future software updates."The current compatibility list is available at http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/learnin...patibility.htmlWell, I do have to say that I find this revelation to be extraordinary! What on earth are they doing at Samsung? Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised in view of the nonsense over the factory calibration of some of their monitors, including mine sadly, following their initial release. Fortunately I found a way around it, at least for 2D applications. Some games running in full screen seem okay, but not so currently for FS9 and FSX with the 8.10 Cats driver set.Perhaps I should go back to the 7.10s as it seemed okay with them for some reason. Goes against the grain, however.I am assuming the lack of response from other folk suggests that their monitor factory defaults are much better than mine and consequently they are not aware of this problem. This might include you, Mitch, if you still are running with the X1950 Pro. Yet I am assuming MagicTune Premium is working successfully for you and your card despite Samsung's assertions. Are you sure you haven't in fact got the Radeon X1900XT as it is included in their compatibility list of ATI GPUs whereas I see the X1950 Pro isn't.--------------------------------------------------------------------You, and others, might be interested to know that I have also received some feedback from Datacolor (Spyder2express):"The problem with these 3D-Applications (games) is, that usually they do not support color managementfrom an application point of view. They are accessing the LUT (Look Up Table) of the graphic card directly to create effects, etc.As we are not game-developers ourselves (unfortunately ;-), there is nothing we can do from our side, because we do not have any influence on the programming of these applications. Its up to these programmes to include color management in their applicatons."Looks like I am scuppered! I suppose this is forcing me to run FSX and FS9 in a full screen Window from now on :(Regards,Mike

>Hi Mitch,>>Clearly you've had better luck than me. I can't even get>MagicTune Premium (1.0.109) to start. The following>message keeps appearing despite several reboots:>>"Please restart your system for the program to operate>normally">>Hmm!? I've submitted a support ticket and wait to see what>Samsung have to say.>>Seems I'm being thwarted at every turn with this calibration>issue in full screen :(>>Regards,>>Mike------------------------------------Hi Mike,Mike, My exact card is an ATI (branded) X1950 Pro 256 meg. I am running XP Pro with all the latest security and enhancement updates.My running and no-problem version of MagicTune Premium is the following: 1.0.88.2007.12.27 See if you can download that version, and if not, P/M me with your email address and I'll try to attach this version on the back swing.Cheers,Mitch'er

Mike, I do not have an XT---but a true X1950 Pro.Try to grab my version..and give it another go. If you can't find it yourself, I'll get it to you.ATI X1950 256 Pro and MagicTune Premium = what you want to get done!:)Mitch

Hi Mitch,Thanks! I appreciate the gesture.However, believe it or not I have found a solution!!http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?p=...784#post2925784Cheers!Mike :-beerchugSorry, I appear to have hijacked your thread, but it is kind of on topic ;)

Miquel & Mitch,Sorry to say but I am glad to see others with this menu lag with ATI. I have just changed after many years with NVidia {to stop the Nvidia FSX menu crashes} to a 4850. Stops the menu crashes but has that very irritating delay when selecting any menu item full screen in either FS9 or FSX. I guess you cannot have everything although earlier ATI cards were ok - I have just looked at a 9200 card in FS9 and that has no menu lag. Wonder if anyone knows how to fix it with these newer cards.A second question - does anyone know of an idiots guide to using the ATI CCC so that you can ensure you get AA etc in FS. It was so easy with NVidia - now it seems a bit of a gamble??John R