And now I have to buy a new videocard just for FS2004 and I read all the pro's and con's in forums and wonder in short: what will YOU buy today (without all the specs and tech detail) that will a hint for me?Can't believe that with a GeForce4 MX I have reflections in every other game (even FS2002) but not in FS2004 and now it has become another obsession! -- I have to see the reflections on the water ...Please give me advice on what to buy.RegardsTerblanche

I would be worrying more about CPU power/memory bandwidth than a video card... What are your system specs? If you're running a P4 2.4GHz or higher or an Athlon XP 2400+ or faster you should be fine on CPU speed, in which case go ahead and get a new video card. But if your CPU is significantly slower than the aforementioned speeds, upgrade your CPU and possibly memory and motherboard if the CPU you chose calls for it. If you do want a video card though, I'd look at the high-end Radeon cards (9700 Pro, 9800 Pro, and 9900 Pro when it comes out next month). If you want an Nvidia card don't settle for anything less than a Geforce FX 5900 Ultra. This is assuming, of course, that you want the most video power money can buy. If you just need something better than what you've got you may want to look at the Radeon 9600 Pro or the Geforce 4 Ti 4200.hope this helps,-Max Cowgill

There are some issues with Radeon cards which ATI are currently addressing. You might like to see what the outcome is before deciding.

MaxIt sound like good advice ... I have at the moment a P4 1.7 (which is too slow I know) with 512 DDR RAM. I'm just so tired that a lot of people blame the graphics problems (like reflection) on the videocard while the same videocard shows all I need in other games including FS2002. It seems the problem is with FS2004 and not the videocard (?)Just for interest sake - what does the Radeon9800Pro cost where you live and the GeForce5900Ultra ...?It costs an arm, a leg, both testicles and your left lung where I live in South Africa but a friend of mine will visit the far East the end of the month and maybe he will be so kind to bring one for me at half the price.Thanx againTerblanche

The cheapest I've seen a Radeon 9800 Pro (128MB) go for around here was just about $320. The GFFX 5900 Ultra on the other hand hasn't dropped below $400 yet. If you can afford either one go ahead and get it but I'd definitely up that CPU speed if I were you.-Max Cowgill

Morning,Spent the most of last night researching video cards. Need an answer to the following. There are 4 grades. so to speak, of the 9800 Pro. Like you said, bottom price, about $320. Now, the top grade of the same card is $430. Would you please go to Radeon and see if you can figure out the difference, as they all look the same to me. Just different colored boxes. Thanks.Bob I

>I would be worrying more about CPU power/memory bandwidth>than a video card... What are your system specs? If you're>running a P4 2.4GHz or higher or an Athlon XP 2400+ or fasterI agree with you on that one Max I have only a geforce2 mx-400 64mb vid card but my CPU is only a 1.6Ghz P4 on a intel MB with 512MB of the old 133Mhz SDRAM.... (was ok for fs2002 but not for fs9)So instead of buying a vid card upgrade im getting a a ASUS P4S800 MB 512 MB of DDR PC2700 ram and a P4 2.4Ghz cpu with Hypertreading...I figure that is the best option and i can live with out bump mapping for another 6 months...My 2c

>Morning,>>Spent the most of last night researching video cards. Need an>answer to the following. There are 4 grades. so to speak, of>the 9800 Pro. Like you said, bottom price, about $320. Now,>the top grade of the same card is $430. Would you please go to>Radeon and see if you can figure out the difference, as they>all look the same to me. Just different colored boxes. >Thanks.>>Bob ISorry for the late response, Bob. The different versions of the Radeon 9800 are listed as follows with their clockspeeds & memory sizes:Radeon 9800 SE (128MB) 325MHz/300MHz(DDR 600MHz)Radeon 9800 (128MB) 325MHz/290MHz(DDR 580MHz)Radeon 9800 Pro (128MB) 380MHz/340MHz(DDR 680MHz)Radeon 9800 Pro (256MB) 380MHz/350MHz(DDR 700MHz)The 9800s are distinguished only by their clock speeds and memory sizes (with the exception of the SE version only having 4 pixel pipelines enabled vs. 8 w/the other 9800s). hope this helps,-Max Cowgill

My 9700 Pro has been great in all games, FS9 included. And I am running AGP8x on a Granite Bay board@! I am inclined to wonder if 256mb of video ram couldn't hurt with the occasional "tiling" that I can get with 128mb. I will keep this guy until ATI's R4xx comes along or something else that can double my 9700 Pros perf. Noel

BIG smile. Thanks againBob I... in sunny Florida

*waiting for R400 and athlon 64*

I prefer Intel my self if the cpu fan dies at least you dont fry the cpu it just goes slower....