Switched from GF4 TI4600 to Radeon 9700pro..

[Guest erjboy]

Well unless I need to tweak the 9700pro, but when I had the GF4 Ti4600 I was getting 40 fps in LAX default scenery with the default 747-400. After hearing a lot of hipe about the radeon 9700pro on the forum I returned my GF4 TI 4600 for the Radeon 9700pro.. After installing the new catalyst 3.1 drivers I fired up FS2002 and went to LAX with the 747-400...To my suprise my fps is between 18 and 25 with all sliders max...I have to addmit the fs2002 looks great with the radeon 9700pro, I can even fly a night without night scenery enhancement and I can see everything... I scenery looks great there are no stutters but I wish the fps could be better. My new system is a P4 2.8 Runing @ 3.04 with Gigabyte 8HXP mobo 512MB of Rambus and 120JB GiG western digital Special edition 8mb cache hard drive.. I run 3dmark03 and am around 4900 with the radeon 9700pro. Any help tweaking this card will be appreciated...Thanks...

[Guest FPSFREAK]

Glad to hear you like the card but you have to realize one thing. you would have never gotten those frame rates w the 4600 w all sliders maxxed.Do yourself a favor and ditch the 3.1 ATI drivers and download the Omega series drivers for the card.(Latest is a mod of the 3.1 from ATI). I'm currently running those drivers w the rig in my sig and will pull 25-35 FPS w all sliders maxxed, realism hard w 6XAA and 16XAF.Any problems keep in touch.Bobby

[Guest]

Hi,I have a similar system to yours and have noticed something similar to you since I upgraded to the 9700pro. I have my fps targeted at 20 and most of the time that is what it is pegged at with everything cranked but I started to notice at times, particularly switching to an external view, my fps drop almost in half. Last night I stumbled on to something that I wonder if you might get the same result. Try hitting the alt-enter to switch to "windowed" mode then hit the same keys and switch back to full screen. My fps when I do this jump right back to 20 and everything seems to work great and liquid smooth.This isn't really a solution for you but I am curious if anyone else notices this.Cheers,Cam

[Guest Bigshot]

I posted my settings and recommendations here: http://ftp.avsim.com/dcforum/DCForumID8/19025.html And I've experimented since last September with about every setting you could conceive of in FS. FS has a DX7 Terrain Engine. I really can't tell the difference between Performance AF and Quality AF in FS unless I really look hard. I can in other sims; but not in FS. Running Performance AF, you'll notice that when you switch to outside views and pan around fast, everything stays nice and smooth. Also, if you're tree tops twinkle, lower the Mipmap to Quality from High Quality. Took care of that annoyance for me. And lock that framerate down. FS is not a First Person Shooter where you need a high framerate. Low twenties is fine and nice and smooth and displays all the terrain. If you don't lock it down, you'll see less terrain quality. That's a biggy for me.

[Guest Bigshot]

____________________________________________________________________Try hitting the alt-enter to switch to "windowed" mode then hit the same keys and switch back to full screen. ____________________________________________________________________Just switch to 16xAF (Performance). Tell me if you can see any significant difference between Performance and Quality modes of AF in FS?? I can't. And the 9700 Pro really screams with 16xAF Performance and doesn't even give FS a chance to mess it up. Where in quality mode, FS can challenge the card in certain scenarios. Like taking off with Bill Grabowski's panel with the clouds set on the deck at a high res airport. That'll make it work hard.

[Guest]

IMHO: The higher the framerate does not imply you are getting the best performance from your system (CPU and graphics card). If I was running FS2K2, graphics look stunning visually, stutter free and liguid smooth, it wouldn't matter if I had 18 or 20 fps. To me, if you lock your framerate at 20 or 18 and it stays pegged at that rate, then you should have an efficiently running system.I have found that if I set the fps higher than 23, I start getting fluctuating fps that vary 5 to 6 fps and stutters begin to show up. With my system locked at 18 fps, my framerate runs between 17.3 to 18.2, and the system runs smooth.The RivaTuner Tweak Manual recently posted to the AVSIM forum has really helped in making significant improvements to the overall fluidity of FS2K2.Bottom Line: Do not get hung up on the fps. Lock the framerate as low as you need to go to get a minor variance in fps while flying. The lower you can make the fps, the more you will free up resources to allow a better visual display of the graphic environment.Hope this helps somewhat!Keith

[Guest erjboy]

Thanks alot Bobby for your help, but when I had the TI 4600 all my sliders were maxed out and I still got 40-50 fps..Anyway fps is not too important as long as its smooth and stutter free..Where can I get those omega series drivers? and are you using rivatuner to oc your video? I tried it and right now my core clock is 324 and the core memory at 310.5...Any more advice on that will be appreciated. Also thanks Bigshot I've tried your settings in fs but the highest resolution I can get is 1600x1200x16 not 1600x1200x32...More help will be appreciated...Thanks All..

[Guest rbbarker]

Joseph, What drivers did you use for the TI4600? What is the general consensus on TI4600 drivers?Boyd BarkerSenior Command CaptainKBOS Hub ManagerWestWind Airlineshttp://home.houston.rr.com/checklist/DFexperience.jpghttp://home.houston.rr.com/checklist/checklist.htmlMy DF737 Around the World Adventure: http://home.houston.rr.com/checklist/aroundtheworld.html

[Guest erjboy]

Believe it or not I was using the original drivers that came with the card from MSI, it was the 30.00 version of nvidia drivers. I was not able to update the drivers before I return the card.. I've got to say that there are both good and bad things about both cards...I seems to me that the Nvidia base cards are better in FS for fps but the scenery doesn't look as good.. I lost some fps with the ATI card but the scenery is stunning especially at night...Hope this helps..Joe Panford