I've tried to search for reviews that cover this topic rather than just the graphics quality (which is impressive), but what is the frame rate hit/improvement like with this addon?I'm running a dual core AMD 6000+, 3 gigs DDR Ram, ATI 3650 1gig ram card.

I've tried to search for reviews that cover this topic rather than just the graphics quality (which is impressive), but what is the frame rate hit/improvement like with this addon?I'm running a dual core AMD 6000+, 3 gigs DDR Ram, ATI 3650 1gig ram card.

I should also add, that the default clouds slow my 30 fps (locked there as well) to 9-10 fps

I should also add, that the default clouds slow my 30 fps (locked there as well) to 9-10 fps

I have the same processor with an NVDIA 9800 Gt card and REX + Fs9 runs great on my system. FPS down in the low 20s with advanced aircraft.

The reason your frames drop so low is because of your ATI card. Nvidia historically does a better job at rendering MSFS than ATI. This is not mindless "a really excited user" talk. This is because of a number of technical reasons I won't go into there... But if you can, I would first try and upgrade to a Nvidia card... Even something like the 9600 GT that is fairly cheap... Before you get REX 2004.

The reason your frames drop so low is because of your ATI card. Nvidia historically does a better job at rendering MSFS than ATI. This is not mindless "a really excited user" talk. This is because of a number of technical reasons I won't go into there... But if you can, I would first try and upgrade to a Nvidia card... Even something like the 9600 GT that is fairly cheap... Before you get REX 2004.

Yes, I get that- I was using an ATI 2400 card before-but the 1 gig of on board ram of the 3650 caught my attention, but if I read correctly, the card presents too many bottle necks for the ram to be of any effect. Like many others, I didn't want to up-grade my PSU- the first error that cascaded into another. Thanks for the info!PS. generally, the latest drivers are always the best, I had to roll back to the January release, otherwise it wasn't pretty!

The reason your frames drop so low is because of your ATI card. Nvidia historically does a better job at rendering MSFS than ATI. This is not mindless "a really excited user" talk. This is because of a number of technical reasons I won't go into there... But if you can, I would first try and upgrade to a Nvidia card... Even something like the 9600 GT that is fairly cheap... Before you get REX 2004.

Sorry, but I've seen this stated before and I beg to differ. I am running a ATI 4890 and have no problems with clouds. Before that I had a ATI 3870x2, and had no problems with clouds. I am assuming that my ATI card is the same card that anyone else could buy...why do I have no issues with clouds..or anything else for that matter?

PS. generally, the latest drivers are always the best, I had to roll back to the January release, otherwise it wasn't pretty!

The latest drivers are def NOT always the best, esp when we're talking about a game that came out in 2003... Never update or upgrade anything unless something is wrong (don't fix what ain't broke).

The latest drivers are def NOT always the best, esp when we're talking about a game that came out in 2003... Never update or upgrade anything unless something is wrong (don't fix what ain't broke).

You DON'T wait until something is broken to fix it, that's why so many people here are running obsolte versions of drivers and patch for and are afraid to put patches on their OS or even upgrade to FS9.1! This is also one reason why FS9 and FSX runs and looks like crap on their systems. Meanwhile they've missed out to optimizations and fixes that weren't so obvious which is why the vendors put the drivers out in the first place.The rule of thumb is to READ the documentation that comes with the updated driver or patch, its really that simple. You should ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS keep your PC up to date IF POSSIBLE which ensures the latest compatibility and bug fixes are ensured. 1) Read the docs and take a few minutes to understand what you're installing (preperation). 2) Be prepared with a back-out plan if the new patch or driver breaks something (recovery plan).3) Test your system after installation to verify (regression testing)Its that simple. You don't wait until something is broken to fix it. It's far better to be proactive than reactive and takes only a little preperation and time to ensure that you keep your pc up-to-date and optimized.

You DON'T wait until something is broken to fix it, that's why so many people here are running obsolte versions of drivers and patch for and are afraid to put patches on their OS or even upgrade to FS9.1! This is also one reason why FS9 and FSX runs and looks like crap on their systems. Meanwhile they've missed out to optimizations and fixes that weren't so obvious which is why the vendors put the drivers out in the first place.The rule of thumb is to READ the documentation that comes with the updated driver or patch, its really that simple. You should ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS keep your PC up to date IF POSSIBLE which ensures the latest compatibility and bug fixes are ensured. 1) Read the docs and take a few minutes to understand what you're installing (preperation). 2) Be prepared with a back-out plan if the new patch or driver breaks something (recovery plan).3) Test your system after installation to verify (regression testing)Its that simple. You don't wait until something is broken to fix it. It's far better to be proactive than reactive and takes only a little preperation and time to ensure that you keep your pc up-to-date and optimized.

While I may agree with you on certain items like OS updates, security updates, etc...in regards to drivers I would have to respectful disagree, esp when new video drivers are coming out in 2009 and people somehow think it was made to optimize their 6 year old game.

I run FS9 pretty much maxed out on my AMD 5600+ 2.8 ghz, ATI 4850 system and I rarely if ever see less than 30 fps under any circumstances and once I'm away from the busy airports I'm pretty much locked at 60fps (and this is with 4x fsaa/4 x aniso @ 1680x1050 res with the freeware HD clouds package and AS6.5 RW weather)...

I run REX fs2004 with the same processor overclocked to 3.25 Ghz, 4GB 6400 RAM, and a GeForce 250 OC 1GB video card on Windows 7 64bit. I use the highest resolution clouds (1024x1024) with no issues. REX also gives you the options to run at lower resolutions plus you can use DXT3 compression so you should have no problem finding a good combination.

...in regards to drivers I would have to respectful disagree, esp when new video drivers are coming out in 2009 and people somehow think it was made to optimize their 6 year old game.

Actually, we agree 100% when you put it in that context. For me, I upgrade to each new driver and test FS9 to make sure it hasn't broken anything to ensure that my drivers up to date, I have a high end system and performance is not an issue. But you are 100%, people DO somehow think that their Pentium D with a 128MB $50 video card and drivers are going to make a difference and it absolutely won't.

What do you guys think I will get with Quad PRocessor (9300) and 9800GTX2 with 4G ram?

Complete overkill for FS9 in my opinion ^ It will be able to handle anything you throw at FS9 - to get down to it, there should be zero impact on framerates after REX installation - there may be some if you use HD clouds but there's options to change all of that - that goes for everybody.

REX screenshots that may be of interest:http://flyawaysimulation.com/modules.php?n...gall&gid=37