Thought on Frame Rates vs Video Cards

[SteveLewis 0]

I've been reading a lot of posts and visiting the nVidia site to read the specs of various video cards. It occurs to me that the nVidia GeF4x00 series being only DirectX8 compliant may be the cause of a lot of our problems. Mine especially. Some have been able to download and use the older 30.82 drivers that seem to give good servce in FS9. My GeForce4200Ti AGP8X can't use the 30.82 drivers so I'm using the new 45.23s. Unfortunately, I'm getting stutters on take off and freezes on approaching my arrival airport.Bottom line for me is I'm ordering a new nVidia GeForce FX 5200 Ultra card tomorrow. I can get one for under $100 and it's DirectX9 compliant. Next, I'll have to upgrade from Windows 98Se to XP Home and add the extra stick of DDR333 SDRAM I bought earlier. Hopefully, that will give me smooth flights.Is everyone who is reporting SMOOTH flying in FS9 using a DirectX9 compliant video card? ATI 9700/9800; nVidia GeForce FX....?? Just a thought.

[Guest kilo_sierra17]

My flying is smooth, I have "GeForce 4 Ti 4200 AGP 2x" running Direct 9B and everything is smooth.

[SteveLewis 0]

Windows XP must be the key, then.. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet and upgrade that first! Thanks for the input.

[Guest kilo_sierra17]

I would try XP first Steve, even if it doesnt work out, XP still works a lot better then 98 ever did for me.

[Guest panda234]

XP Home gave me a huge boost in frame rates. And it's much more stable.

[Guest simnut]

STeve, again we meet...different post!I use the 44.03 drivers. I have found these to be the best of all I have tried. The newest drivers did not improve, and even hindered my graphics when I tried em. Just some info for ya....Harry

[Guest freequest]

Iv got smooth flying but my cards not DX9 complient Im just useing a gf2 mx-400 64mb card... and FS9 is smoother than fs2002 ... go figure?

[Guest daveg4otu]

With FS9 installed on a Dual Boot PC ,using WinME and WinXP(Separate copy of FS9 on each drive) the frame rates in XP are anything up to 25% better than WinME in identical situations.Get XP.System-->AMD Athlon 2000XP (@133/133)ECS K7S5A Mobo 3.1 :04/29/02 Rev BiosSiS 735 Chipset Rev 12 x 256mb DDR RAMGeforce4 Ti-4200-8x 128mb DDR AGPAGP 1.16 WHQL . 4403 Detonator XP Drivers(WinXP).4345(WinME)2 x Maxtor 40GB HDD (7200rpm)LG 8x4x32 BurnerLG 52xDirect X 9.0 Windows ME/ Windows XP dual boot(ME on C:.XP on E:both on IDE-0/HDD1.HDD2 is Storage)BIOS Settings- DRAM Timing Ultra. CAS Latency 3T,RAS ACtive 6T,RAS Precharge 3TL1 Cache Enabled.L2 Cache Enabled.Sys BIOS Cache Disabled.DRAM Drive Slew Rating - Fast

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

Stev, I do not think it is your card (unless it is defective..) a lot of us are flying with Ti4200s with very good results..

[SteveLewis 0]

I just talked to my PC Builder and a clean install on a reformatted NTFS drive will run me around $300. (That's $200 for Win XP Home Full Install + Labor & tax).... Looks like later this week/early next week. I've got to back up everything on my HD on CDs and reinstall all my programs. He will also instlal my extra stick of DDR333. When I'm done, I'll have Win XP + 1 Gb of DDR333 SDRAM and if that doesn't run FS9 nearly perfectly --- well, then it's time for the Soundblaster Live card to go. A new Audigy card is less than $100....... That's all I've got left to upgrade. It'd better work or :-fume.....

[Guest kilo_sierra17]

I got Soundblaster Live card and it works great for me.

[SteveLewis 0]

That's very good to hear. I'm now 99% sure that when I go to Win XP everything will be much better..... At least, it sounds like I will not have to change audio or video cards...Thanks :-wave

[Chris Willis 8]

Steve, Here is my system:Windows XP PRO, Latest DirectX installed, P4 2.53 GHZ 533, Asus Gforce4 TI4200 128 mb 8X Nvidia official 45.23 drivers, ASUS P4P800 BOARD 8X, 512 RAMNo stutters on take off, NO freezes on approaching airport, No Crash.-Many problems I have seen here, such as freezes, crash, dramatic frame drop, I am not able to reproduce those with in my system.Windows XP more stable and better OS for any application, it handle much better the memory than Win98/Me and no ressource problems. If your sounds card cause problems, disable the sound hardware acceleration in direct X or download the Directx.CPL and disable the Debug output level to full left.In my case the soundcard is built in the motherboard, 6.1 channel, when I press Q to mute the sound, I have the same frame rate when the sound is enabled, I have not a single fps lost, it`s depend on each card type, configuration etc. http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/32996.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/32999.jpgThanksChris Willis[link:fsw.simflight.com/FSWMenuFsSim.html]Clouds And Addons For MsFs

[Guest kilo_sierra17]

Thats what I have done with my SB Live Card, set the Direct Sound Acceleration to Basic when I run FS, have the sound quality in FS set to low, I have not been able to here any difference between High, Med or Low, nor when I Change the acceleration, the only thing is on Basic it is not as loud, so just turn the speakers up a little, I also changed Sample Rate Converion Quality from Best to Good.http://members.shaw.ca/kstangrecki/sound.jpg

[Hornit 3]

I am running on WIN98 SE here and honestly its a clean system and its been very stable for me. I will be upgrading soon, but so far this sim still runs darn good on my computer. I am seeing some issues in these forums that happen on all OS's and all card types so I doubt thats the issue with your system Steve. A fresh format and reinstall wont hurt though. After a week long bout of tweaking, reading, tweaking..etc I am happily running midrange sliders at 25fps and its darn near stutterless at this point. All in 1280 res and 4XFSAA and 16X Aniso! My dad has XPhome and I honestly have never noticed a truly measurable increase in frame rates over my 98 system with like games etc. he just got a new dell, and frankly in several games etc, his frame rates are not as good as mine with a very simlar set-up. I think 98 gets a bum rap on a lot of occasions because the average user just doesn't know how to keep it healthy.Hornit