I'm looking into upgrading my ATI 7000 to the 9500. If you use the 9500, I'd appreciate any comments as to FPS or overall performance. Thanks very much.Regards,Canadian HawkC-GTGK

I recently upgraded from a GEforce Ti-200 to the Radeon 9500 Pro. I also purchased a new CPU, but that hadn't arrived yet and I slapped the new card in not expecting any particular improvement in FS2k2 since it is so CPU-dependent.Surpisingly, the frame rate improvements were pretty drmamatic. I did some before-and-after tests. On the runway at LAX, the fps went from around 15-16fps to 21-23fps. I can now run comfotably at 1280x960 rather than 1024x768, which makes a big difference in the virtual cockpit.The image quality is very nice, much better than my GeForce. The landscape looks really stunning now. The 8x anisotropic filtering looks great - crisp detail out to the horizon.I've read that there are some hardware and bios cheats that turn the 9500 and 9500 pro cards into 9700's (or close to it).I am very happy with the 9500 pro. I had sworn off ATI's since I wasted money on a Rage Fury Maxx, but it is good to be back.

I'm actually building a machine for a friend using a Saphire ("powered by ATI") 9500 128Mb, P4 2.66, Asus P4PE, 512k 2700, etc. He's not into flight sims, but I'll be sure to load it just to see how it compares. To me, the 128Mb 9500 at $160 USD seemed like a good deal. He will be using it mostly for business but since it will be at home he wanted at least adequate gaming performance. With Altec 50W speakers, 19" monitor, XP Pro, DVD, CD-RW, Antec Case, etc it came in under $1,400!I was acutally surprised at how heavy the 9500 card is. It must be twice the weight of my old 7500.He wants to be part of the build process and to get our schedules to align it will be after Thurs before I have any results. If you can remember to bump this post on Fri and/or Sat I'll try to check in and give you an update.

Thank you very much for your detailed opinions. They are greatly appreciated. I've just ordered my 9500 Pro, so when I install, I will post my comparisons as well. Thanks again.Best regards,Canadian HawkC-GTGK

Hi C-GTGK, Her is a link to some screen shots I have taken with my 9500PRO. I am really happy with mine.http://www.pbase.com/ront/screen_shotsRon